June 2026 part 1

 I love, love, love summertime. Heading out for the day, with my kids and a rough draft of a plan, and just seeing where the day takes us, might just be in my top 10 favorite things to do. There are so many fun things to do in the summer, and while I don’t wanna do them all, I’m down for most. The downside to providing so many fun experiences for these kids is, on the days where we don’t have anything planned and/or we need a day of rest, the boys struggle to entertain themselves without fighting 🙄. Quinn complained our first day home after several outings that he was bored and wanted to go somewhere, and I had to set the record straight. I told him it isn’t my job to entertain him every second of every day. I like to do fun things with them, but every day isn’t going to fun filled by me. It’s good for them to be bored. That’s where imagination takes over ✨---

Boxes can be super fun when you're bored. I kept picking him up and moving him around while he was stuck inside 😂

When they’re getting along, it’s the most wonderful sound in the world. But when they’re not, which is often now that they’re spending so much time together 😂, my patience is constantly tested. Funnily enough, separating them is almost their least favorite punishment. They can’t stand being made to stay in different rooms. It makes them get their shit together pretty quickly. 

I get unreasonably angry at Quinn when he hits his brother. I know from experience what it’s like to be the younger sibling who gets smacked around by the older one, so the trigger is strong. If you asked my brother, I know he would say that I always started it, which isn’t true because of that definitive ‘always,’ but sometimes, yes, and my penance is now to witness firsthand just how obnoxious that is 😂. Being the constant mediator in their squabbling is annoying AF, but I do see both sides of it. I have higher expectations of Quinn because he’s older, but sometimes I have to remind myself that he’s still just a six year old boy, and six year old boys hit their brothers sometimes. That’s not excusing the behavior, I still step in to redirect and discipline when necessary, but it helps me to calm my excessive irritability over it. 

Quinn and I have been getting along better lately, and I feel like that has lead to frequent, what I like to call, connection breaks. He just randomly hugs me 3-10 times a day. While I’m more than happy to give him a quick squeeze, some times aren't very convenient, like while I’m eating, or operating a self checkout at the store, or in the middle of my workout 🫠. 

Asher is even clingier than Quinn lately, which I had hoped was getting better, but here we are 🫠. We are pool rats and I usually love going, but those first few trips were almost more than I could handle. Quinn wanted to do the lily pads, but Ash didn’t because I didn’t want to get in. The water was about two degrees above freezing and I’m not into cryotherapy 🤪. I sat on the side of the pool by Ash, and he talked nonstop. Most of what he was saying I couldn’t quite hear, so it was just a constant stream of noise, but just about every sentence started with the words, hey Mom. I was like, “I’m the only one here, you don’t need to say, ‘Hey Mom’ before everything you say, just say it.” This didn’t stop him from addressing me though 🤬. I wanted it to be a time where I could just chill and watch, but instead I was overstimulated. I would rather have just stayed home, at least there I wouldn’t have been freezing. 

On our third trip, I told Quinn he needed to limit his lily pad time and play with his brother some, too. I often tell them adventures are only fun if everyone is having fun*, and I wasn’t having fun last time. He agreed without an argument, surprisingly. It also helped that the temperature had warmed up and I was willing to get in the pool, so Ash felt more secure to move away from me and play since I was in the water. 

*I make sacrifices and often do things that aren’t fun for me, I’m not a complete selfish asshole. So, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask them to be considerate of my feelings sometimes, too. 

Speaking of things people don't find fun, on June 1st, we began our summer homework 😂. Quinn was pretty put out about it. I don't know how many times he told me he thinks he should just get to 'relax' and have a break. I get where he's coming from, however, I've made him read to me and do math homework, and my decision is justified 😂. There's no way he would retain what's he's learned without practice. I also gave them a chore schedule, which is minimal, but if you asked them, you'd think they're out doing manual labor for pennies. The drama 🙄. They alternate emptying the dishwasher every day, which isn't even the entire load because they can't reach over counter height, so I do anything that goes up high. They also have to help with laundry---the laundry that they create with 15 wardrobe changes a day 🙄. They help fold and each put their own away. Sometimes I have them help with vacuuming. Quinn keeps telling me I should allow him to wear his shoes in the house. I asked if he was going to clean the floor and he said no, so I did too. Well, that answer wasn't going to change either way, but it helps stop the conversation when he thinks he's been given a choice 😂.

Housework is quicker without the help, of course, but it serves several purposes--1. They learn responsibility and how to live independently one day, 2. They contribute to the household, which is everyone's job, and 3. It's a lesson in listening and following directions, which dear lord, do they need the practice! 😂. I had no idea how frustrating it could be to try to tell someone how to stack bowls or pots in order, from biggest to smallest. They just go forth, deafly, as if they know what they're doing, which, to be fair, they should--know what they're doing, that is. But alas, they don't 🤦🏻‍♀️. 

My little worker bees. I do it out of love, I swear. And it doesn't even take that long so they can save it 🤪

where we've been

We stole Lincoln and Harper and went to Playgroup at Sistersville Park and then to Story Time at the library. It was a great day for it!

We borrowed Lincoln again for our first trip to the pool. They don't care that's it's too cold, they always want ice cream 🙄. 

Speaking of ice cream, we took a walk to Stalder's, and Ash was very excited to discover that they had a puzzle. He's very into puzzling at the moment. He can complete both 40 and 60 pieces in an impressive amount of time for a four year old! This one was different and easier than the jigsaw ones he works at home but he was still proud of himself 😆.

Ash got a free mini golf coupon in an Easter egg and he's been asking to go since April 😅. We finally stopped putting him off and stopped there on our walk home from Stalder's. He held the club right for about 2 holes and then I gave up correcting him 🤦🏻‍♀️.

Because I'm extra, we took a trip to Moundsville Dunkin to celebrate National Donut Day. I'm a novice to Dunkin and made bad choices on our drinks, so they got a thumbs down, but the donuts got a thumbs up. I'll stick to making my own coffee 😂.

We finished up the week with a family fishing event put on by the Center for Children and Families. There were 5 bazillion people there, and it was so hot! Quinn did make a catch, but then he was ready to leave. He said he never wants to go fishing again 🙄. Ash didn't enjoy it either. so that I guess that's that, for now at least. 

 

May 2026

 May flew by and we had so many adventures! Ash and I visited the library to celebrate the 80th anniversary with snacks, friends, and fun. Quinn didn't wanna go, so he missed out, but Ash had fun. Anything that involves snacks is pretty much a guaranteed winner with these children. Mollie captured a fantastic action shot of Ash frog jumping across the sensory mats and then his Spiderman landing 😂.

The following week, when we visited during Story Time, Miss Lacey turned on the Party Freeze Dance Song, and I just happened to take a perfectly timed photo of Iris turning around to share her excitement over it with Asher. Now, on the regular, Ash becomes a third appendage attached to my body when we're there, but that song is nostalgic for them from Miss Tella's days of being Story Time leader. It was enough to get Ash up off my lap and dancing along 🥰.

We got to peep the new sound garden out back of the library, too. Some of it was there before, but the new landscaping made it more accessible and pretty!

🎶🎶🎶

We got to watch Kate's middle school softball team, which has only been active for two years, win the LKC championship against Tyler. It was a nail biter, with both teams taking the lead and even tying it up at one point. The NMS team pulled ahead at the end and Kate made the throw that ended in the final out! They did amazing and I'm so proud of them!

🥎

Mother's Day weekend was celebrated with our annual trip to Stacy Family Farm for some strawberry picking. The boys were apprehensive because the weather was iffy, but we made the trip anyway, running into some drizzle on the way down. It was a good lesson about not letting a little rain ruin the day. Luckily, the rain took about a twenty minute break when we arrived, just long enough for us to pick 12 pounds of berries! Quinn helped Philip and Ash helped me, and we liked seeing who could find the funniest shaped and biggest ones. We stopped at the Jug in Newport on the way home, so any grumpiness from the rain was washed away with ice cream anyway 😉.

The boys had both made me Mother's Day gifts at their schools, playgroup, and with their dad 🥰.  This certainly was a holiday of lessons because we had to have a discussion about gift giving. Quinn made me a million drawings, most of which were a full sheet of paper with just the words "Love Mom," written on them, which he later explained meant he loves Mom, which is a lovely sentiment, however, 52 (literally) pieces of paper was excessive. Philip and I both tried telling him that he had made me plenty of artwork and I felt very loved and didn't need anymore, but he wasn't hearing it. He then told Ash that the two pictures he made for me weren't enough, so we had to have a talk about quality versus quantity. Also, while Quinn was busy using up every piece of paper in the house, Ash was bored and driving me nuts, so I told Quinn what I really wanted from him was for him to play with his brother and give five minutes of peace. He said he didn't want to do that, he just wanted to make me more artwork 😑. So, I, again, nicely, explained that gift giving should be centered around what the receiver wants, and not just about what you want to give them. I think he started to understand, but I'm sure this won't be the last time we have this conversation. When he went back to school, I sorted through his pile and any of the pieces that didn't have the words dead center got cropped and I put the half sheets back in his desk drawer for reuse. He was excited to discover he had "baby papers," as he called them 😂. He didn't ask where they came from, so I didn't volunteer the information. 

At Playgroup, the employees had found some caterpillars and we watched them go through their metamorphosis over the course of the month. We got to watch them be released once they reached their butterfly state. 

We got a membership to Oglebay Zoo last fall, so we made use of it and took our first trip of the year. It was our best trip yet! We got there last in the afternoon, so next time we will plan to leave earlier so we can spend more time. The obstacle course is now free to use, and we had never done it before, so they were excited to try that out. We had packed our lunch, so we stopped there to eat and then they climbed across it for far longer than I would have expected. We missed the last train ride of the day, and we only had about 5 minutes to bounce on the big blob thing, so we're planning to go back soon. 

That trip was extra exciting because we got to see the tortoises "fighting" 😅, and Ash was centimeters away from petting the kangaroo's ballsack 😂😭🤦🏻‍♀️. 

I got to attend Quinn's Make and Take Day, where I went with his to school and did activities with him. I also volunteered to help with his Kindergarten class picnic. It was an all day event, so Philip took the day off work to hang out with Ash. At first, I was helping with face painting, but then another mom said that she would need to have a job that involved sitting, so I traded out with her and just walked around with Quinn's group of kids. They didn't really need me because they were already being chaperoned, but I knew he wanted me to. He and his friend, Ravi, were the two in the group from his class, and they had a great time together. 

Make and Take Day. We got stuck in traffic on the way home due to a wreck just past the school, and Quinn asked if he could take pictures on my phone. That is usually a no, my phone isn't their toy, but I let him just that once. I regretted it when I saw I had about 100 selfies like the ones below.

🙄🙄🙄🙄

Class Picnic: dino racers, 

and soccer,

and bubbles,

and good old fashioned racing. Quinn tells me all of the time that he's faster than the kids he races with on the playground, but I've never known if that was actually true 😂. I don't know how that happened because he literally complains every single time we want him to walk somewhere 🙄.

Ash also had end of the year festivities, his graduation and class picnic. The ceremony was themed around this year being the 250th anniversary of America's birth, so they learned some patriotic songs to sing. He can't see a flag without announcing it and calling it a "grand old flag." 😂. He and Iris practiced that song anytime they were together in my car, for some reason, which was super fun for me, as you can imagine 🙃. They also sang Rockin in the USA, which Ash still belts out occasionally. 

The ceremony itself was way too long, and included a slideshow that we couldn't really see because they didn't turn the lights down. I'm thankful that both boys got to attend Little Red Schoolhouse for the introduction it gave to them to school, but I'm not sad that I won't have to attend another graduation ceremony there 😂. 

🥹🥹🥹

Ash's class picnic was the following day, and it was supposed to take place at the park, but the weather didn't cooperate. Dawn set up an obstacle course in the gymnastics studio instead, and Ash and Iris had a fantastic time! I'm sure they liked that better than the park anyway, so that really worked out. 

totally blurry because he didn't hold still for 2 hours 😂

We went strawberry picking a second time and got 12 more pounds 😳. We froze a good bit of the first round, but Ash was also on a kick and he probably ate 3 pounds by himself 😂. The boys were super excited that one of the employees asked us if we wanted to ride on the Gator over to the backside of the field. That made their day!

Market season kicked off at the Wetzel County Farmers Market, aka Thursday Night Social Club. We want to get some stickers made that say that 😅. I love seeing my farmers market friends! Quinn spent the first couple of weeks obsessed with building a "camp," as he called it, over by the mini golf. It kept all of the market kids busy for the duration, and we parents got a couple of hours of premium adult talk. It was awesome while it lasted!

Their "bed" they built 😂

Mollie and I had a memory pop up from the market four years ago, when Iris was about 8 months old and Asher was 2 months, so we had to recreate it. 

We were twinning with our Wetzel 4H trail hoodies, that day 😊. We tried to get the kids to do what they did in the other photo, but that was a no go 🙄. We'll give them 4 more years and try again 😆.

Speaking of the Wetzel 4H Trail, had a great time hiking with the boys and Sophie. We went on the new trail and found the new Almost Heaven WV swing. We saw lots of beautiful scenery, like the four leaf clover that I didn't pick, and some wild daisies that Philip accidentally picked with his toe shoes 😂. 

No hiking outfit is complete without the lei you get on your last day of kindergarten 😂

April 2026

 April started off with a jam packed week with Spring Break, and the rest of the month was just as eventful. Quinn had spring picture day on his second day back to school and I let him choose his outfit and background. I wasn't surprised he wanted to wear his suit, it's often his Outfit of the Day #ootd when we go places. You can catch him looking dapper just about anywhere--at home, a track meet, Lowe's. 

If he runs for a political office one day, he already has the look down 😂

Sometimes he changes it up a bit and switches out his button down for a black polo. I like to think of this as his undertaker look, or maybe a mob boss. He said he was trying to look creepy 😆

And other times he goes less formal, ditching the jacket and adding Crocs 😂.

Quinn has always had his own style, and I truly love that about him. He wore a pink shirt to school the other day and said some of the kids were making fun of him for it. I asked if that bothered him and he said it didn't. I told him, "Good. Don't let other people tell you what to wear. You wear what you like. Their opinions don't matter." 

Last year's slightly too small Hawaiian and sweat shorts? Cool.

Next year's slightly too big Christmas Hawaiian shirt tucked into basketball shorts? Great. 

I think he is rubbing off some on his brother, who has never been as nearly into costumes as Quinn, but who could be? 😂. Ash got it in his head that he wanted a new werewolf costume so he "can howl at the moon", and that's a direct quote. The boys had an expensive werewolf mask, but they finally broke it after a few years, and I told them I wasn't buying them a new one. However, the boys have been earning money for good behavior and doing some chores, so I told Ash he could save his allowance and buy it himself. They each earn $1 for every day they don't go to time out a week, and the costume he wanted was $40, so he had a while to wait. He told everyone he encountered about his savings plan, and that even convinced a few people to contribute to it 😂🤦🏻‍♀️. I ordered it way before he knew and set a deadline for when it would be here. He waited for about three weeks and then I gave in and let him have it because I was tired of hearing about it 😂. 

🐺

 

Iris was here when it "came," aka Philip sneaked it onto the front porch while they were occupied. They wanted to play with bubbles shortly after, so Iris and the werewolf did just that 😂.

I made sure to give it to him on a Tuesday so that he could wear it to school that week (he only goes on Wednesdays and Thursdays). He had told his teachers all about it, so I knew he wanted to show them. That thing came with a massive tail and buckling him in his car seat with it was a challenge 😂

😁😁😁😁

Of course, he has barely worn it all since then, and now he's onto the next thing he wants 🙄. 

Asher is the clingiest, tattliest, mess makingist version of himself right now and he's driving me nuts. He asks me to get everythinggggg for him. We'll both be sitting at the table, usually I'm eating and he's not, and he'll say, "Can you get me some water?," and I'll be like, "Can you get you some water?" Obviously, I get him things, but I'm not going to be his maid, he is perfectly capable of getting water for himself. He usually asks when he's preoccupied on his iPad and doesn't wanna stop his show to go get it. That's been a consistent issue, and we've cut down their iPad usage significantly for both of them. Well, for Quinn whenever he's allowed on his at all, which isn't much these days. 

We were trying to push bedtime back after the time changed in March, but Quinn's behavior was out of control and when I talked to him about it, he identified that he hadn't been getting enough sleep. Say less! We fixed that, and while his behavior is still hit and miss, it's no longer because he's tried and grumpy 😂. It's just for the thousands of other reasons six year olds are sassy boundary pushers. 

As if dealing with my own children's annoyances wasn't enough, we've got some kids coming around now who've been pushing my buttons, too. They're coming over saying, "F*** this, and f*** that," and it turns out I'm not cool with kids cussing after all. Maybe one day, but today isn't that day. I've told them all to clean up their mouths or they won't be playing here. I've also had to tell them not to throw their trash in our yard, we have two trash cans outside, and not to break our things 🤦🏻‍♀️. I'm not sure how much longer we're gonna be the hosting this crowd. I want my kids to play with other kids and have fun, but I don't want them picking up behaviors that I've worked hard to train out of them. 

These other kids are quick to tattle on Quinn, which is good and bad. I told them all that if my kids are doing something they shouldn't, primarily being too handsy or rough, because I know Quinn struggles with that and it has lead to blowups before, I want them to come tell me. I would rather they work it out first, of course, but these kids are a lot bigger than mine, so sometimes they need some adult intervention before someone gets hurt. However, I've caught on that they often only tell me one side of the story, and that's not cool. I'm fine with stopping the activity, giving my kids a time out to regroup, or whatever needs to happen, but I don't want to always punish without the full details. I also want my kids to know that I have their backs, but I won't co-sign their bullshit 😂. Ash told me a 9 year old was hitting him on the head--that's not gonna fly. Quinn told me someone was chasing him with a stick, trying to hit him. When I questioned the other kids, it was because Quinn started it 🙄. There's so much drama, everyone should probably just go home 😂. Geez. 

I like that they've been playing outside more and making less of a mess inside. To save our sanity, Philip and I started making them do a nightly cleanup of shared spaces, which are the only spaces they want to put their shit in 🙄. Ash plays at the table a lot, which is great, but we actually eat there, so it can't constantly be covered in toys. He's a tiny tornado and makes lots of messes without cleaning up the one before, so we really have to stay on him. Quinn loves to make forts in the living room that involves getting out every toy they own. They complain about the cleanup, but it's helped resolve some of the anxiety that visual clutter gives me. They are always welcome to make as big of a mess as they want in their rooms, but they're not bedroom kids. They're stuck up mom's butt kids, so here we are 🙃.

Anyway, other April happenings were Ash's Pre-K bootcamp and Quinn's Kindergarten field trip to Discovery World. I didn't go on Quinn's trip because they don't ask parents to chaperone anymore, but he would've liked for me to go. He almost didn't go himself because he wanted me to go and I couldn't, but also because he  hates long car rides. I messaged his teacher and asked for her help in convincing him to go. She let him pick his seat mates and I did lots of talking about how I hoped he didn't miss out on fun because he was scared of doing something out of the ordinary. We've been there lots of times before, but I knew he would still have fun going with his friends. I was proud of him for choosing to go! I was nervous all day because we didn't get any updates about arriving safely, or anything throughout the day, and I would never have forgiven myself if something happened to him on a trip that I talked him into going on. All was well, though, thankfully. I asked when he got home if he had fun, and he did, but he still said it wasn't worth the drive 🙄 🤦🏻‍♀️. 

I got to take Asher for Pre-K bootcamp and he got to meet the teachers and do some activities. He was super shy during the whole event, and even cried at one station because a speech teacher wanted him to come and play with her while I did paperwork 🤦🏻‍♀️. I was literally, like, six feet away. I have a feeling his first day of school isn't going to go as smoothly as Quinn's did 😬. His skills are ready, but his emotions are not. He completed everything on his Little Red Schoolhouse checklist--days of the week, seasons, months, ABC's, count down from 10, count to 10 in Spanish, spell his name, and vowels. The only thing he didn't pass was counting to 100, they said he can only get to 59, but that's still pretty good for someone newly turned 4. I can add that he also knows his address (street number, city, and state 👏🏻) and my phone number, so I'm pretty proud of him!

During the Pre-K readiness event, I was reminded that Ash could use some work on his fine motor skills, so we've been doing some activities to strengthen his hands. I have big plans (maybe dreams because I'm a realist about how well Quinn and I work together anymore 🤦🏻‍♀️) for some structured summer homework for both boys. We're going to try to resist the summer slide--which happens when kids regress in their reading and other skills over the summer because they aren't using them. 

Soph was a big help in getting some worksheets prepared for them 🙄

I made slime and put pony beads in it and Ash used tools to pick them out. He didn't like the paired, connected chop sticks because they were hard (again with the weak fine motor), but he was able to use just one and lift them out. One he got them all, he lined them all up like a graph, and then counted them to see which color had the most. 

Another activity we did involved squeezing, which will definitely strengthen his hands! I cut up some sponges and put them in our small water table with water. He used a lemon squeezer and then just his hands to transfer water from one side to the other. 

  

The water table is useful for lots of things. Ash loves when I freeze his toys and then he uses warm water to thaw them. I gave him an assortment of bottles to use to for squeezing the warm water--generic condiment bottle, a Mio water flavor bottle, a ketchup bottle, and a sriracha bottle. He said the ketchup bottle was the most difficult and condiment bottle was the easiest. 

Where we went   

 We got to see Kate in track action at their only home meet of the season. I grew up at track meets and sporting events, so I love going to them. I hope the boys choose to get involved with a sport at some point. 

They don't really care about what's going on but I do 🤦🏻‍♀️ 😂

The 4 of us participated in a family fun run put on by The Center for Children and Families. We had a great time! 

It wasn't my best 5k time, of course, but both boys finished it, and I was super proud of them!

We got to celebrate my beautiful nieces turning 21 and 14. How did I get so old? 🥺😂

Ash and Iris planted zinnia seeds with Miss Lacey at the library at the beginning of the month and we watched them grow each week. We brought them home to transplant, and I can't wait see them bloom!