First, I am happy to report no one seems to have COVID. C had a mild cough which is better and tested negative. (A had similar symptoms 1 week ago and also tested negative).
Assuming G (or Josh, or me?) will be next week’s victim. There is plenty of COVID going around but also plenty of other things. Will there be a time when you can buy an inexpensive viral test card that looks for all kinds of different common viral antigens at once? It might not be THAT useful but would be kind of cool.
Camp Packing Update: It only occurred to me last week that because the camp bags are being shipped up to camp (camp is in NY), I actually have to have everything packed much earlier than the camp start date. Yesterday I received my date and it’s June 9. AHHHH! #%*&#$ is getting real. I did watch the camp packing video over the weekend and made a final (large) Target order. Yes, there was a packing video. It was more of a “what to pack” than a “how to pack” but still somewhat useful.
I also just realized that this means there will be 2 weeks (including our Williams reunion trip) where 90% of the kids’ clothes will be stuck in a trunk in another state. I hope they are fine with wearing the same outfit for days (or um, school uniforms?) because I cannot bring myself to buy another garment at this point.
Hopefully it will be worth it and I’m assuming this process will be easier in future years but I definitely made it a little harder on myself by sending 2 kids simultaneously for the first go-round. Or maybe they will hate camp and never want to return. I guess we will see.
Summer Reading Guide!! The MMD Summer Reading Guide is out! I am surprised at how many backlist titles are included — even 5 I’ve already read (Love Lettering, This Tender Land, Olympus TX, What We Were Promised, and Maybe You Should Talk to Someone). ((side note: I LOVED This Tender Land and What We Were Promised of those 5!!))
There are a lot of really enticing options on the list, so even though I’ve been choosing books more freely/randomly lately, I do plan on making a summer reading list. I’m thinking 10 novels and 2-3 nonfiction?
Will report back with a pic of a handwritten list later this week!
Trip #1: Our summer will be kicked off by trip #1 this weekend – Josh and I are going to the Keys for 2 nights to celebrate our 16th anniversary. Super excited to relax for those 48 hours and just hang out and enjoy time together. And I look forward to giving my romper its first spin!
END OF MONTH NOTE: May has definitely been an “up” month for me, as you can probably tell. I often sort of lose steam/crash at the end of every month but so far, things are okay. I decided to be particularly aware of that this time, and am very happy that our aforementioned brief trip (and then Memorial Day weekend, when we are all OFF!) will be capping off this month.
I know some people talk about “May-Hem” (ie, May being terribly busy with school activities etc) but it hasn’t actually been too crazy for us; there are some school parties etc but most are contained AT school. I have been selectively ignoring some of the requests for parent help when they fall on days that I am busy with work (or solo parenting weekends). It probably helps that no one is doing any serious organized sports yet. Is it bad that I hope my kids enjoy sports but in a low-key 1990s way? Though back then even my cheerleading practice schedule was fairly intense if I really think about it . . . but not until high school.
So maybe “May-Hem” is just a matter of time, but I’m enjoying the relatively calm wind down to the end right now.
Happy Tuesday . . .
9 Comments
This is the first year in several years that I’m not packing a kid up for sleep away camp. As sad as I am that they won’t have those incredible experiences, I do NOT miss packing for camp!!
Does NY have mosquitoes?? This “bug bite thing” suction tool appeared in my insta feed last year, and I threw it in a kid’s trunk at the last minute. I got a teenager “that’s so lame” stare, but guess what came home with her name written on it? It works week, especially if you use it soon after you’ve been bitten! Amazon and Target has them if you’re interested.
https://www.bugbitething.com/
Lucky for you on not being crazy busy in May! I do think it *might* be an age thing? Maybe it also depends on the school. But I know like when my kids were little, they would have “music concerts” DURING the school day, but all of that kind of stuff (middle school band concert, for example) is in the evenings now.
Mine are both just finished doing middle school volleyball (not club/ not competitive) and that still has been 2 afternoon practices per week (different grades, so at different times = more running back and forth to school….), plus multiple games on the weekends (traveling up to 30 minutes away, even for just the school league). This past weekend they both had school VB tournaments at different schools, with a total of 5 games between them, in different places. Then our school had also an end-of-season athletic banquet on Sunday night, too.
In HS I played school VB all 4 years (1990s style, not talking Club), and we practiced from 3-6 pm every single night M-F, with games some evenings at 7 pm and several all day tourneys on weekends! So even “just” school sports can become quite a bit, as soon as middle school, especially if you have multiple children. 🙂
Sports will definitely pick up, just looking at my sister’s experience (her kids are 6th and 8th grade). Sports dominate their family time now — not in a bad way, just a phase of life. My kids are not quite at that age yet but I know it’s coming.
Can’t tell if they will all be sporty (though I’m pretty confident C will be!)
Yeah, I guess “sports” can also mean, like, music or theater or debate club etc too. At least one of mine is very sporty, not sure if my daughter will be or if she’ll pivot to dance or music by then. Basically I’m just preparing myself to have my life revolve around their extracurriculars, at least to an extent, for a while 😐
I was kind of disappointed in this year’s SRG. I don’t mind backlist, but the backlist she highlighted were books she has talked about quite a bit or they appeared in previous SRGs. Maybe she is feeling burned out or something? I would have preferred a scaled down guide with new releases or backlist that hasn’t been mentioned. I went back and counted the new releases and there were more than I thought there were. So I think all the backlist sort of detracts from the excitement of the guide. I am a Patreon member for Sarah’s Bookshelves Live and I think her summer reading guide is great: https://www.sarahsbookshelves.com/2022-summer-reading-guide/
This month has kind of sucked to be honest. I tested positive for covid on 5/10 and felt pretty crappy for about 2 weeks and then the toddler tested positive on 5/21 and can’t go back to school until 6/1. And then the 4yo had a rash/stomach bug combo for 4 days. So it’s just been a month of sickness. I had higher hopes for May as this is usually when we stop getting so sick but not this year. 🙁
I’m so sorry Lisa – it sounds terrible. I hope the summer will be the needed respite that you deserve!
Not excited about this either. I would (1) have to hire someone to drive my daughter, and given some of our experiences with nannies who drive, I am pretty gun shy about the idea, and (2) devote every second of my already non-existent free time on weekends to traveling to games, which sounds like my version of hell. (And yes, I realize if I were a good mother I would never miss a game, and in fact would enjoy living my best life through my child’s athletic endeavors, but I am not a good mother, as we have already established I think.)
You are a great mother and D is lucky to have you. And I am avoiding travel sports hopefully forever.