Adventures in La La Land

1. Sunday was father's day . . . and I didn't get a single picture of my father or my kids' father. Lol. But we had a really nice day. I made monkey bread for breakfast, and Justin opened the present Levi made him at school. Then we went to church and Justin got to choose the restaurant for lunch. After teasing us for a while about choosing Russ's, he eventually settled on Buffalo Wild Wings . . . where none of us ordered wings. We left with significantly lighter pockets, but that was Justin's only father's day gift, so it was budget-approved. That evening we went to my brother's lake house (which is also his only house - it's just cooler to call it The Lake House). It was brutally hot, but there was a nice breeze and sitting in the shade on his deck was comfortable. We had a delicious dinner of kebabs, then the dads went fishing while the kids tried out the new swimming mat off the end of the dock . . . After a while, Justin and Tristan came back to do ...

First week of summer break! We jam packed it full of fun. 1. We'd been sticking strong to our "Weekend Only" Screen Time rules while school was still in session, but I knew that wasn't realistic for the summer. So I decided to allow one free hour of screen time a day, and then opportunities to earn more by doing chores/reading/exercising/etc. And I've finally  started to see the fruits of limiting screen time more harshly. I told Levi that he can't do screen time until 8:00 each morning. He's usually in my room around 7:50 counting down the minutes. I hand him my phone at 8 then go back to sleep until 9. Then we get up and have breakfast. Sometimes he asks me to turn on an audio book for him, but sometimes he actually finds something to do! I never thought I'd see the day! And in another crazy twist, he and Lena have been playing together! Making up games, playing outside, entertaining each other without my input! It's a summer break miracle! There...