I know many moms count down the days to summer vacation. No schedules, warm weather, pools, baseball, popsicles and fun. I, on the other hand, kind of dread it. Fighting, messes, high energy constant bouncing balls and the endless battle over screen time. So over the years I have created several schedules and charts that have kept my kids busy and kept me sane. Maybe someone else can benefit! Feel free to use as you would like! I have never posted anything on the blog for people to print before so they are all jpegs, so hopefully you can figure out how to make it work!

Bennett has always been a sweet child.

As a baby he would always lay his head on my shoulder while I sang to him before bed; And never tears. He was always thoughtful, careful, and calculated. Never needed baby gates, drawer locks, or anything of the sort, because he was very content to play with what I gave him. He still almost never has tantrums.

So I knew the day I sent him off to school would be a hard one for me. It's never easy to send a child off into the world hoping you have taught them enough, and that the other kids and teachers will recognize what an amazing little person you have created.

But to be honest, as the day grew closer, I was really just excited. Not 50% excited and 50% nervous. Just 100% excited. Maybe I was just being a bad mom, but after a long summer of being pregnant, I knew the kids were ready to be engaged and learning and interacting with friends.

Shopping for school clothes was easy. No sentimental thoughts, just another check mark on my to do list. Backpacks, haircuts, even the family night before school went without a hitch. And without tears.

The interesting part was how unaffected Bennett was by this whole experience. I kept asking if he was nervous and he would give me this look as if to say "Nervous? Why would I be?" To him, kindergarten was just any old day. And for someone so cautious and usually timid, it was clear that he was ready.

The day came and I walked him to the line where all the kindergartners gathered. He stood patiently there with a backpack way to big for his little body and looked around with a blank expression. No fear. No crying. His teacher came out to lead them in to the classroom. The boy in front of him began to lose it. "No mom! No! Don't leave me!" His mom broke away from his grip as the teacher gathered him up and lead the crying child inside. And there stood Bennett, unfazed, still walking into school. He didn't even look back at me.

Something about that boy embodied the Bennett I thought I would see walking into Kindergarten that day. But he had grown. He was confident and happy. As I walked away I felt tears on my face. I was shocked! Surely I wasn't crying. This was my second round at this after all, an old hat. And Bennett clearly wasn't sad, why was I?

And that was exactly the point. Seeing how far he had come had struck a chord with me. He wasn't the boy that wilted at every little thing, he was strong and ready.

But a minute later the feeling was gone. I was back to taking care of another little one: holding hands, buckling, singing songs, and watching the process begin again.

We are a completely boy house in all it's stereotypes. We don't own a single baby doll. We like trucks, dinosaurs, weapons and potty talk (well "we" is a loose term). And girls and kissing are disgusting. Like, the worst of all offenses.

Well, times are a-changing, and it seems as if we have turned a corner in our home. I should have seen the signs that it was happening when Jackson started treating his cousin like this at Disneyland this past Christmas.

But I wasn't totally prepared for it for at least another couple hundred years.

But one morning at the bus stop, Jackson revealed to me he had a girlfriend.

On the outside I was cool "hmm a girlfirend huh? What does it mean to have a girlfriend? What do you like about her? She must be pretty special!"

But the inside me was having a panic attack, "aaaaahhhhh what the heck? You are seven years old, and a BOY! There is no way on earth this is going to happen!"

Luckily I kept panicky mom under wraps. Jackson explained that he knew he couldn't have a real girlfriend, but that Lily was just a girl that was also a friend. More like a girl buddy. Panicky mom liked that answer.

But it was clear that Jackson thought of this "Lily" as more than a girl buddy. One night he stayed up for a few hours after bedtime crafting the perfect gift for Lily. Included was a pink pencil sharpener, a fruit roll up, a pixie stick, a valentines notebook and a heart shaped eraser, all wrapped in red and white duct tape. Clearly the items close to a seven year-old's heart.

The next morning Greg reminded him about his gift. I shot Greg the glance that said "please do not encourage this." He whispered "but he worked so hard on it!"

Well things began to escalate and panicky freak out mom was losing out to calm and collected mom. This was when the note writing began. I caught wind that this was occurring as Jackson kept running upstairs to ask how to spell "beautiful, seriously, and actually" in a very covert kind of way. Here is a picture of the first note to Lily:

It says the following:

Lily Lovers

Love Jackson
To Lily
2nt Note

I love Lily because she looks beautiful. I want to kiss Lily on the lips. I also want to marry you to. Actually, seriously, you do look beautiful. I love you lily so much. Lets kiss on the playground in  a hideing spot so nobody sees. Like Jacob, Jaydin, Ben, Cooper, Luke, like those people. Can you send me a note please, but a love note? Can you come to my house?

My address
My telephone number.

Call me.

Panicky mom had to intervene.

So I sat him down and explained that it was perfectly alright to write notes telling girls that they are pretty or nice, because any girl would like to read something like that. "But," I said, "imagine if Lily's mom read this. How would you feel?"
"Lily's mom is NOT going to read this" he responded.
"It's not about whether her mom reads it or she doesn't, but you may only write things to girls that you would be okay with her mom reading."

Thank goodness for a logical child. One point for mom.

So the next night he drafted note number two. It was much longer, but (after a few edits) also MUCH tamer.

I am not from Minnesota. In fact, the thought of dressing your kids in snow pants and boots for school every day is so far from my childhood that the fact that people lived like this never crossed my mind. Not once. Not ever.

When I tell outsiders that we live in Minnesota. I usually get the response: "Why?" Followed by a discourse about how hard it must be to hole up inside 8 months of the year.

I am here to tell you that Minnesota Winters are the most glorious thing ever to a 6 and 4 year old. I asked Jackson and Bennett last week what their favorite season was. They both cheered out in agreement: "Winter!"

So I am here to tell you that we love Minnesota for the Winters, not in spite of it. I am also going to clarify why it is not borderline child abuse to move a child here.

1. Summer: Yes we all love summer. It is beautiful here. Everything is green. Everyone in the entire state is soaking up every last bit of sunshine: walking dogs, going for runs, gardening, biking, and I could write an entire post just on the water sports. Our city probably has 5 recreational lakes within a 15 minute drive. What better summer could a child ask for than playing in the sand on a beach at a minutes notice? We love Minnesota Summers.

2. Fall: Crisp fall nights and Autumn leaves aren't exactly how we do Fall in Minnesota. It's pretty much Winter already. But there is nothing as magical as that first snowfall. The kids build snowmen, dig holes with shovels, sled, and all kinds of normal snow activities. They stay outside until the sun goes down. And as a bonus I don't even have to bundle them up because they are already in their snow gear from school.

3. Winter: Just when most people are starting to get sick of the weather (January, February) my kids are bursting with excitement for one thing: the lakes and ponds to freeze. Then instead of getting sick of the snow, they get introduced to an entirely new activity: Ice skating heaven. And with a pond in our backyard, they ice skate all the time. And it's not just me. Many many homes have ponds in their yards. I love looking out the window to see the kids skating around, pushing each other on the sled, running and sliding, and even hitting a puck around with a hockey stick. They stay out way past dark, thanks to a good neighbor who turns on his flood lights so that they can stay out until the last possible second. I never imagined this kind of winter wonderland where my kids ice skate out back, but I LOVE it. Yes it gets cold. Sometimes too cold to go outside. But those days we start up the fireplace and watch our winter wonderland from inside. But then again, what is cold to regular people is not cold to Minnesotans. I just took the kids to the doctor last week in -8. And tons of people were out.


4. Spring: Oh Spring. Glorious Spring. I would venture to say that nobody appreciates Spring like a Minnesotan. I get a kind of euphoria when the ice gets slushy and the ducks come back. It's like the warmth goes straight to our soul. Everyone is chipper, sitting on porches, emerging like butterflies. I wish I could explain in more detail or with better words the feeling that Spring brings after a long Winter, but all I can come up with is joyous. Spring is joyous.

 So there you have it. This is a GREAT place to live, and especially raise a family. I probably didn't convince anyone the joys of long winters, but I at least achieved some kind of satisfaction by writing this. And if a girl who spent her entire childhood in California can make a case for Minnesota, there's hope for everyone.