I, I Will Survive!

       Day three is through and we ARE surviving. No cheater, cheater, pumpkin-eater movie night tonight either! Linc only complained once today and it was a weak one, followed by a request to play a game with him. Logan, Owen and Ellie seem to have forgotten entirely that we even own a television! Hip, hip, Hooray!!

        I think today was so much easier than the first two because we got out of the house and went swimming. It almost didn't happen. Severe thunder storms have been on the forecast everyday now for about two weeks and the weather channel said to expect them as early as ten this morning. The kids were distraught (they've been looking forward to swim day all week!) and I was racking my brain, trying to figure out what we were going to do with the rest of the day.

       I have this little quirk where I picture things a certain way. I kind of get my heart set on things. Not with everything, but when I do get an idea in my head that I am excited about, I get very disappointed when it doesn't work out.  Anyway, when I thought we weren't going to be able to make it to the pool I was as disappointed as the kids. Thankfully, the forecast switched and the thunderstorms were pushed ahead till one o' clock, so we decided to give it a try. We piled into a van stuffed with sunscreen and floaties and away we went. The kids had so much fun practicing their swimming and jumping. Owen and Logan were even mustering up the courage to go off the diving board when the first bout of thunder rolled across the sky and the whistle was blown to end pool time. It was one o' clock exactly, the kids had a full two hours of fun. I am so very glad that we went!

      I had to stop for gas on the way home and thought it would be fun to get the kids a treat. I picked four different flavored packs of Starburst and gave them each one. They spent an hour trading and combining flavors and then I taught them the fine art of un-wrapping a starburst in their mouth. I think they thought I was a super star with that one. After that, the afternoon was spent lying around, running around, reading, playing sword games with anything remotely resembling a sword, doing some geography trivia (what could be more exciting than geography trivia, right?) and finally, faking a black-out  downstairs so the kids could bust out the flash lights for an hour. I think the flashlights were the highlight of the day!

So, what do I like about this little experiment so far? First, I love mornings without television. It is much more peaceful and the kids sleep in a little bit longer. Jobs have been getting done faster and we've eaten breakfast together a few times. Secondly, I love how much they interact with eachother. They are creative and fun and have done so much together this week. Dan and I have felt more involved with them as well. I really like it.

What I don't like: I don't like not having a break in the middle of the day. Even if we decided to cut out all television(which we aren't!) I'd fight for their afternoon shows...I think they make everyone a little bit happier.  Also, I don't like that they are missing some of the learning shows and games that are available online. We use those kinds of things a lot and I think they are a great way for kids to learn. Lastly, they really are very active kids and being stuck inside on a hot or thundery day without a little help to distract them makes them even more wound up. I feel like I've been shorter tempered this week...surprise, surprise, right?

So...day three is over and gone. Three down, two to go. Our goal was to make it to Saturday!

I don't have any pictures to post today, but I'll be back with another update tomorrow!