May/June

 We've had a busy few summer months.

After the concert we celebrated Mother's Day.  Caleb got me a record player and it's been really fun listening.  I can't wait for some White Christmas on it.

The kids finished school June 2 so we've already had quite a bit of summer.

Arya got to go to a few nights of theme park camping with a friend.

Caleb got the start of a really really amazing second sleeve, but I don't want to post pics until it's finished, which I suppose will be months from now.

Casen also got to spend a few days with friends.  He worked putting in hay on a horse farm making a few extra bucks and he also got to go on a chartered fishing boat for a birthday.

Casen got to spend a week at summer tech camp, which he really enjoyed.  He did some 3d printing, flying drones with coding, and even putting characters in video games.

Arya will be heading to a theater summer camp next week.  I'm so thankful their schools are offering so many opportunities in these no school months.

We celebrated Father's Day and my birthday.  They're only one day apart and Caleb unfortunately had to work Father's Day, so we did a little joint fancy dinner at our favorite local steak house.

I also was surprised when amazing Crumbl cookies were delivered to my doorstep.  Twins really do know what ya need.

Since Caleb works midnights, summer months can be a little tricky for us.  The kids don't have school to keep them busy during the day time sleeping hours so I tried something new this summer and so far it's been working really well.  

I made them summer binders.  It has full calendars of all the planned activities and events i'm aware of as well as Caleb's work schedule. It has a daily loose schedule of tasks my kids somehow forget are supposed to be done daily. I added a lego build challenge calendar (which I think has been the biggest hit.)  They have a reading challenge calendar, which Casen has already gone through once.  I really didn't expect five long chapter books to be done as quick as he did.  Lastly, it has a schedule of the days they're in charge of their own laundry (learning to wash loads themselves, dry, fold) and day's they're in charge of dinner.  They find the recipes, they come with me on grocery shopping days with a list and get their own ingredients, and they're in charge of cooking.  It has been so much fun.  I'm thankful they're learning really important life skills and we're able to make it into enjoyable activities.  Also...highly highly recommend summer binders!

Casen chose a salmon sheet pan dinner as one of his meals

And lastly, Casen somehow turned 12.  I say somehow, but his age is definitely showing these days.  He's way too cool for us, is finally liking sleep, and would choose video games over most else.

He informed me he may be too old to have birthday decorations, but that doesn't really fly with me, even Caleb gets the cheesy decor.

The kids always get to pick anything they want for birthdays.  Casen had simple requests.  He wanted blts for lunch, dad's homemade wings for dinner, get to play games with his friends during the day, and play games with us for the evening.  We had a lot of fun.  If you have older kids, you should definitely check out the game You've Got Crabs.  And his last birthday request was chocolate cupcakes with chocolate orange frosting and he wanted to make them himself.  They turned out delicious!

Now onto July, which means the annual New York trip :)