I hate Mondays

There's an extra pang of loneliness that hits me on Monday mornings as my husband gets ready and leaves for work. I felt it several years ago when the girls were still babies/preschoolers and now that we've moved my hatred of lonely Mondays is back. Don't get me wrong, one of the blessings in life I'm most grateful for is the opportunity I've had to stay home with my children, but I still really dislike the beginning of Matt's work week. This probably sounds extra whiny given that Matt's office days are only Monday-Thursday, but the beginning of those 4 days bothers me.  So be it.  

Here's how I saved my sanity last week...

We shoved uncooked spaghetti into bites of hot dog, boiled them, and served it for lunch. Julia happily prepped it but wouldn't eat it, Audrey thought it was ok with shredded cheese, and I thought it was bleh... It's appropriate for lonely Monday food to be 'bleh', don't you think?

We also decided to salt paint: Draw designs with white glue, sprinkle with salt, remove excess salt, and then paint with a food dye/water mix.

This project was easy peasy! It was also neat to watch the salt absorb the drops of color.

 How else to entertain on a lonely Monday?!? Well, the girls enjoy card games (and Go Fish, War, and Uno get old) so they learned a few more, Speed and 21 to be exact.  No worries, I didn't spend too much time this week teaching these girls to be card sharks. 

And the last no fail way to entertain for a few minutes... we break out a tea set and have a tea party outside.  

And then apparently bring a hamper full of toys outside too.

Last Monday turned out not to be too bad and this Monday I'm not feeling lonely at all! I'm visiting family in TN! YAY!!!!!

Hike to Little Falls

 We were invited to go with a few other families to take an easy hike up to a little waterfall Wednesday. We were thrilled to have something to do. 

Julia went hiking... hiking!! She squealed every time a branch brushed against her and also when she had to walk through a tiny bit of mud, but good for her for being ready and willing to try something out of her usual comfort zone.  

As we packed our gear for our hike, Audrey insisted she wouldn't want to play so she didn't need to wear a bathing suit.

Momma knows her child, though.  Dry clothes were in our bag.  :)

Despite my warnings, Audrey hiked back down in her flip flops. She didn't get hurt, but she did (very loudly) exclaim repeatedly that the mud she stepped in was actually "Bear POOP on her foot!"

Fun times with new friends!

We've moved

Well, it happened again. The Bowman family has started life in a new city as Matt pastors a new church.

(excuse me while I take a deep, calming breath)

We live in North GA now, and I am handling our move better than I did last time.  (FYI "better than last time" means that I haven't spent every night of the first month crying hysterically while seriously wondering if I need therapy... let's all celebrate.)

 

Things have gone pretty smoothly so far:
* The girls have made several little friends at church.
* We've already checked out the local library and their summer kids activities.
* Extra events at church have helped us get to know members a little faster.
* We've had out of town friends visit already... all others are welcome! Seriously, we're lonely. VISIT US!
Our visitors, Will and Miranda - fabulous people!

* I've only gotten lost in town once.  Unfortunately it was our first night here, it was dark, I was by myself, and googlemaps and I weren't on the same page ... tears did happen that night.
* We've visited Toccoa Falls twice now. The girls love playing on the rocks!

 * Miranda and I (and the big vein in my forehead) had our picture taken with Batman.

So yeah, things are going pretty well. Don't you agree??

Today, I went ahead and made a "Summer: To Do" list for the girls. I did this last year too and am confident it will help keep me from being a completely lazy mom with lazy kids the entire summer.  Water balloons, ice cream sundaes, and different craft projects all made the list.  I also included several science experiments (more ideas welcome), and Matt and I decided to put a trip to the Georgia Aquarium on there too.  Fun!