Clara's cousin slumber party

Last month Clara had her slumber party at Aunt Amy's house with Madi and Madison. We joined them in the morning for the 4th of July parade.

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Cousin slumber party

Jonas got to sleep over at his Aunt Amy's house with his cousin. They went to a display of playhouses at North Park Mall and had a great time as you can see. Amy did the video, so all the credit to her.

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The countdown -1 week left

Well, I have been feeling all this pressure the last month to do stuff with my kids before school starts. I also want them to enjoy being home and having time to play. We have crossed a few things off our list. We didn't plan a family vacation in one block, but decided to do activities around town throughout the summer. We have gone to Six Flags, Bounce-Town, Dallas Nature and Science Museum, Ft Worth Science Museum including the Star Wars exhibit, The Cowgirl Museum, Barnum and Bailey Circus, spray park, swimming, miniature golf, laser tag, and bowling. We still want to go to see Underdog, go fishing, and roller skating.

I also make sure and stay home at least 3 whole mornings a week, so they can have unstructured play time including chores. You might think it is crazy to feel like I need to cram so much in, but since Jonas is going into 2nd grade, I feel like I am a seasoned school parent. I am not excited that Clara will be in all day Kindergarten. I feel like I will have very little happy time with my Jonas and Clara once they are in school. Mornings will be getting them out the door, afternoons are snack, play, and homework while I get dinner done. So I might have an hour before bedtime when I can enjoy them; assuming I don't have a RS appointment, Jonas doesn't have cub scouts. Then Jonas wants to start karate or soccer and Clara wants to do gymnastics. I want to give them these experiences, but I feel like it takes away relaxed family time.

I am looking forward to being with Greta during the day and focusing on doing fun 3 year things. I have new play-do for the first day of school and we are decorating a folder with Spider man stickers to make a letter book. I hope she doesn't get too bored with me; she plays with Clara a lot. We will go to the gym, do playgroups, library story time, and visit baby cousins and grandparents.

Zip Line

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This is a video of the zip line that Mike and Ivan put up in the backyard. The kids all loved it even Ivan took a turn. It was all squeals and laughs.

Baby school

Mike decided the kids were going to have baby school the other day. Clara always wants to play school with Mike. It was pretty fun to watch him show them how to hold, sing, and play with a baby. I think this lesson was how to dance with the baby. Of course when he taught them how to change a diaper- he said call Mom. Jonas kept goofing off and didn't get as good a grades as Clara and Greta. The kids have had lots of fun with their 2 new baby cousins and are excited for our new baby to come in January.