Summer!

It is now officially summer, and that means summer fun with the kiddos I babysit!

The reading chart is now sweeping the nation (and by sweeping I mean that I did it in Kansas and now I'm doing it in Philadelphia)! You may remember it from here. Basically the way the reading chart works is you get a poster board and put each kids name on it. For every ten minutes that the kid reads, he or she gets one sticker. Get to 100 stickers, and you get a special prize. I learned the hard way last year that you have to make the prizes far out there...Austin had gotten about three prizes within the first night because he read for something like eight hours straight....oops.

Something that is also really important to me during the summers is family dinners. I make a huge effort to make sure that everyone sits down to dinner; Johnny will sometimes join if he can make it. The kids set the table, and I do the cooking. At family dinner, the kids usually try some kind of newish food (like salad), and they get to share the best part of their day and the worst part of their day. There are also enlightening conversations like this one:

Jack: "I'm glad I'm not going to die."

Rachel: "I hate to break it to you but you are."

Jack: "But I threw that penny...ah man."

I believe that at some point in the recent past he had wished in a fountain that he wouldn't ever die and apparently thought that the deal was done. If only it were that easy Jack, if only.