Summer is a weird place for us. We just kind of live our lives without much rhyme or reason to it, seeing where the days end up taking us. My lack of frequent blog posts are just another part of how summer affects me. We're all out of the house pretty often, doing stuff that we love, and that you've mostly heard before. J is dancing. W is footballing. K is teenaging. B and I are working.

My get-up-and-go bug usually winds down at the beginning of summer and picks up again in September. We're still doing a lot, though.

W's football practices are at twice a week now. He's fully padded and helmeted up (today he'll start wearing his padded pants - and other little boy accouterments that go with it) and slamming full-force into the other kids, loudly encouraged to "hit 'em hard" by the coaches (and the macho parents). He loves it, but sometimes looks at me like, "he wants us to do WHAT?". He had a birthday party yesterday at a nearby sports complex and has been at the playground most days.

J's second summer dance session ends this coming Thursday and she gets a week off. Then she starts on the new season's choreography on August 4th. That will be for 2 weeks and there's another break til September (I think). She's been hanging out with her friend (S) almost everyday, swimming in S's grandma's big pool, and still giggling and gabbing about V-Factory.

K's been loving summer so far. She spent 4 days at my mom's - going to beach every day, shopping, and living the high-life, lol. She's got a new boyfriend and has been spending a lot of time with him. B and I both met him and he seems like a great kid. He and his parents have driven to our house a few times to pick up K and we were very glad to meet them. His mom is a school principal, so yeah, she's home when the kids are there and is well on top of where they are and who they're with when they go out (I like that, since I'm the same way, lol). K is happy and talks about him nonstop. She's being very mature and I love that she tells me all about him. I'm ok with this. No really, I am. I mean it, I really am. Sigh.

J and W decided they want to wait til September to start the AO curriculum. I think it's because K's home. But that's fine. We try and squeeze in a few readalouds here and there. W has been into puzzle books lately and sits quietly doing several pages out of one every day. J's dance studio has their essay contest up and running. The winner gets a month free tuition. 2nd place gets $100. J said the topic is perfect for her and will be getting started this week (it's due Aug 6th). 3 years ago she won one of the prizes for her essay. It was the same year we started homeschooling. And her teachers always criticized her writing. The contest is judged by a third party of folks who do not know the kids, and J did wonderfully. That sure cemented our belief that homeschooling was the best thing for her.