Looking back on May and Setting Goals for June

How is it possible that the year is nearly halfway over? I set very simple goals for May, and while I didn’t take as many photos of the kids as I would have liked to, they are hardly under-photographed children. We made some very exciting summer plans: we’re going back to Massachusetts for two weeks in June – getting ready for that trip will be one of my June goals for 2014! Mike had meetings out there and I was trying to figure out what the kids and I would do, since I wasn’t very interested in hanging out on my own with them in our not-air-conditioned condo. Finally I realized that tickets to Massachusetts were doable (hooray for blog income!), and since we could stay with my sister (Thanks, E!) we were all set! We are all very excited to be going back to the state we loved living in for seven years, and catching up with my sister and our friends there! Emma and Johnny made cards for all their teachers. Lily still has a few days of school, which is good because her cards aren’t finished yet. As stressful as this school year has been, running three kids between three schools with a baby in tow, I really appreciate all of my kids’ incredible teachers!!!

We were running late on the last day of school, but I couldn’t resist pulling the kid aside for a quick photo shoot. I don’t know if you can tell, but Anna’s hair is in a teeny tiny pony tail – not in the top “best of the batch” photo (she had pulled it out by then – she loves having her hair done but can’t leave it alone so her hair was just sticking up), but in these other two, which are more representative of most of my photo attempts. I love these blooper-ish pictures for the personality they capture from my four kids!

Anna is in love with this play broom, although I have never seen her use it to sweep. She tried to bring it to school with us nearly every day this past month. I always made her leave it at the last minute, but that didn’t stop her from trying. She wasn’t about to part with it for the photo shoot, and now we will always remember her love of it, particularly when it was time for school runs! Johnny’s tiny “let’s see if you can find out what I’m finding so funny” smile is one his teachers have said that they see a lot, so it is appropriate for his last-day-of-school picture! I also love that he is trying to tilt his head to accommodate my tilted camera! Emma and Lily have very similar expressions on their faces – which happens with them a lot!

Mike was out of town for the last day of school, and I had no idea how I would get the three kids to three schools on time. I nearly called a friend to see if she could run Johnny (they live in our neighborhood, and her daughter is in kindergarten), but by the time I thought of it I figured they would have already left, because we were that late. As we were driving out to get to Emma’s school (first of three stops), we passed them walking and they were able to take Johnny, who was thrilled since he and M are good friends. Small miracles make a big difference! All three kids made it to school mostly on time!

I actually got some unexpected things done this month – like finishing up Emma’s crochet baby (Lily is still waiting on hers, very patiently). That red dress is my favorite so far! We also took Memorial day to move our room (well, our bed – there wasn’t room for clothes in there) to the library and transform the master bedroom into a playroom. It was a monster project that took the entire day, but well worth it. This change has transformed my life – and I feel that it brought me a lot closer to my 2014 word of the year – peace! The kids have a designated space to play, which is also the space that still houses my sewing machine – so hopefully I can get more sewing done this month!

Cohosted by:

Mama Smiles – Joyful Parenting
3 Dinosaurs
Happily Ever Mom
Kids Yoga Stories
Lemon Lime Adventures
Smiling Like Sunshine
The Educators’ Spin On It
The Life of Jennifer Dawn

June Goals for 2014

My kids are out of school, and it is so nice! We have fun goals for June:

• Plan our trip to Massachusetts Theme: responsibility
• Enjoy our trip to Massachusetts Theme: gratitude
• Enjoy having free time in California Theme: simplicity
• Finish Anna’s Owie doll, which I cut out when I made the other three four years ago (just in case) so she can bring it on our trip and so that she will stop stealing the other kids’ dolls. Anna’s doll has hair, but she needs her face embroidered, and her body sewn up and stuffed, and then some clothes. Theme: education (besides all the pretend play, Anna likes to dress and undress these dolls, which is great fine motor skills practice for a toddler)

MaryAnne Kochenderfer

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MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.