This is It...

This is it...the last full week of summer before we have a kindergartener.  On the first "official" day of summer the girls and I made a list of all the things they wanted to do during summer vacation.  It looks like we have a lot to get done this week!   Here's how we've been doing with our summer to-do list:
1. Go Swimming at a Waterpark
Go to a Park
3. Eat Ice Cream on the Deck
4. Play Hide and Seek
5.Play Duck Duck Goose
6. Play Ring Around the Rosey
7. Ride Bike as a Family
8. See Brave at the Movie Theater
9. Go to a Pool
10. Go to the Library
11. Sidewalk Chalk
12. Make a Butterfly Craft
13. Paint our Nails
14. Have a Luau
15. Go to the Zoo
16. Go to Chuck E. Cheese
17. Plant Flowers
18. Make Cupcakes
19. Make Popsicles
20. Mommy/Taylor Date
21. Daddy/Taylor Date
22.Daddy/Kendal Date
23. Mommy/Kendal Date

I think we can knock out 4-6 today since it's rainy.  We haven't made cupcakes, but we made cookies.  Does that count?  We're hoping to go to the zoo this weekend because it will be cooler.  Kendal tried the nail painting on her own.  It was nothing short of a miracle that there was not red nail polish all over the carpet when her big sister let me know what she was up to.  I think I'll pop over to Pinterest now and find a butterfly craft. :) 

Confessions of an Email Hoarder

My name is Kimberly, and I am an email hoarder.  Tonight, I undertook the task of purging a large number of emails from the inbox of my 2nd most important email account.  Let me explain.  I have an account that was my primary account in 2000.  This is now my go-to account for sharing at stores and online when signing up for rewards cards.  I check it once every two weeks.  It ranks lowest in importance.  I created an account in 2005 or 2006 that became my primary account.  It got bumped down a peg when I created a new account about five months ago.  My primary account gained even more relevance when I chose to become a full-time SAHM two months ago and gave up my work email account.  Anyway, back to account number two.  After deleting some emails tonight, I noticed I still had almost 600 emails in my inbox.  That's right SIX HUNDRED.  And...I'd actually opened them all.  They were just sitting there.  What were these gems of messages I'd saved you ask?  Well...about 20 library books due in 3 days notices, 10 failure to deliver messages, advertisements for sales at a variety of stores...the usual must-save junk I never delete.  However, there were some fun "trip down memory lane" emails.  I found an assortment of invitations and itineraries for trips and holiday parties, online proofs from photo shoots for our family, messages and photos from friends before we only shared through Facebook, a welcome letter from my new boss when I landed an awesome job, receipts from toys I ordered online for the girls, and MANY emails from fellow students and instructors during grad school.  The majority of my saved emails were from 2007-2009 when I had an infant, started grad school, and then was pregnant again.  Obviously I didn't have time for frivolous tasks like cleaning up my inbox!  :)  I also tend to save emails relating to school or work until I'm certain I will NEVER need them again.  Truth be told, I had one such grad school email from 2006.  So, now only 16 messages remain in my inbox.  Here's to hoping the hoarding is over and that in 2018 I'm not blogging about a message I still have from 2012!

Monica and Fred

Have you met Monica and Fred?  This couple has been known to drive a mean racecar, fire truck, or any other vehicle that's attached to a shopping cart.  Any time we pull into the parking lot of a store that offers kid-friendly shopping carts, little K eagerly encourages her sister to play "Monica and Fred."  They happily turn the steering wheels attached to the cart and K chats with Fred (how lucky to have an older sister who always agrees to be the boy).  While the kid-friendly carts are a PAIN to drive, they do make a grocery trip much easier! :)

Here it is!

It's time to celebrate the small things.  The littles and I had fun at our local branch library's summer carnival.  We grabbed a quick lunch, then I took them bowling for the first time.  There's a great program that gives you free online coupons for kids to bowl TWO games A DAY for free!  The weather here has been HOT, but after a small rain shower cooled things down (about 3 degrees) a kind neighbor came over with her daughter to introduce herself...with cookies!  Here's to the small things!  Oh, and welcome to my blog! :)