Well, I think the title about sums up how things are going around here. Our house is still on the market and we have only had 4 people look so far. Still trusting God and we know he has a plan; we just don't know what it is yet.
We visited a new church the past two Sundays and it was a really good experience for Kevin and I as well as our kids. We visited the Sunday school class this Sunday and it was very refreshing to feel connected with people in the same stage of life.
Our kids start pre-competitive swim tomorrow and they are so excited and I am very excited for them. We have all of our curriculum lined out and we are just waiting for the right time to start. My original plan was to start today but my sister had child care issues and I am watching 2 of her kids all week this week and all 3 of her kids next week. So I am thinking that we are just going to wait until the first of September.
We are working very hard at trying to figure out what being a family without projects looks like also. When you have spent the last 6 yrs working on houses that you live in, other things take the back burner. We have a lot more free time to say yes to our kids when they want to go and do things. Hopefully we will have a little bit more cash since we are not dumping it in to our house projects. I would love to do a little bit of light traveling with our kids and do a few things that we have not been able to do up until this point.
We have done several playdates this month and gone to the $1 summer movies every week. We had a Cub Scouts kickoff party at the lake and the kids swam for hours. We also attended a back to school block party at the church. Our sweet neighbor has let us swim at his house several times a week which is great when its 100 degrees outside and the kids are stuck inside all day.
We are going to go to The Great Wolf Lodge in September for the Homeschool week. My kids are so excited that we have already started a countdown. We will make it an extended weekend and stay with my sister and brother in law while we are there. Hopefully, we will be able to continue enjoying the rest of our summer break before it's over!
So I have put together snack boxes for my kiddos. I bought school supply boxes when they were on sale. I made sure I got three different colors, one for each child. I try to fill it with three or four small snacks. I then place them on the shelf in the fridge that they can reach on their own. I have given them the rules of the snack box and they are: you can eat your snacks whenever you like but when they are gone that's it there will be no more. So if they choose to eat all of them in the morning they won't have anything in the afternoon to eat.
So far it has worked out really well. They pick out one or two items and then place them back in the fridge for later. I really thought my 6 yr old would eat them all in one sitting but he surprised my and has rationed them to have throughout the day.
This has been so helpful to me because I still have control over what and how much they get for a snack. This has also helped them by giving them some independence, to chose when and what they would like to have. Let me know if you try this and how it works for your kiddos.
