Toxin! X

Okay, peeps. Double-post day!

One more quick blurb for now before I pivot to other afternoon things!

This one is a fun, and all about...exercise!

(Ha. YES, I do swear it's kind of fun! [Maybe-kinda-sorta.])

Long and short...Chica has now completed her years of school-centric athletics, and other than a silly little athletic course-requirement at some point in High School, she's done-done.

I'm so proud of her dedication these past few years--especially as she pushed herself with Cross Country and Track, and learned her likes and dislikes, while she kept her body moving and grooving.

But now, she's transitioning into that wonderful and terrible adult-ish life challenge of keeping her body active and giving it exercise, when there are no requirements to do so!

(A challenge for all of us, right???)

Welp.

For the past few summers, Chica was required to attend a summer conditioning camp at the middle school, to keep her endurance up. Four days a week, in the mornings (that we were in town), for about 6-7 weeks of the summer.

That camp was called Venom (an homage to the school name), so we took a funny play on it and created Chica's very own self-directed exercise plan called...

Toxin! X

Tehe.

Long and short: she decided on a three-day-a-week schedule of launching morning exercise when Chicklet now leaves for her turn at Venom Camp.

Chica tackles some warm-up activities, then sets off for a slow walk when I take Coda pup for hers, and then ramps into a full-mile run (sometimes a bit more) to try and beat me home. Then, when she arrives, she tackles a few more conditioning exercises...and promptly showers and collapses on the couch.

I think she's totally enjoying the freedom of this self-directed exercise, and the joy of doing it on her own timetable, in her own neighborhood, with no peers to measure herself against.

She's her mother's daughter, in this exercise regard.

Plus, Little Man has joined her, on occasion, when he needs to get some wiggles out, and it's been really cute to see them work themselves to exhaustion in a short, half-hour time frame.

This was Day 1:

(Side note: I love seeing Chica bust out her cute athletic gear that she's a bit too self-conscious to wear around allllll her peers.)

Day 2 and Day 3 were just as jovial--and painful, ha:

This week, she's had to switch things up because of morning VBS commitments (more on that, later), but it's fun to see this new summer exercise adventure grow some roots and bloom.

There is truly nothing more valuable than a lifelong ability to work some tolerable movement into one's life--as much for mental health as physical! And I'm so glad Chica is exploring one way to accomplish this, during a looser summer schedule.

More catch-up posts soon, peeps!

Over and out.

A Summer Launch Redirect

Okay, peeps.

We're about to wrap Week 2 of Summer, but I'm on a time delay (shocker), so let's rewind a bit to discuss the launch of things--and our vibe, in general.

Every dang year, I head into summer with printed schedules of the kiddos'/our family's camps, activities, appointments and excursions, color-coded by week.

And every dang year, that color-coded schedule gets a little more daunting!

Fewer "free" weeks.

More "unscheduled" social hangs and events.

And major school "creep," meaning later summer launches and earlier fall returns (for fine arts and such).

It's a whole vibe. 

Plus...I'm not gonna lie: it takes more and more out of me, every year, to handle the whiplash of toggling between the massive change of having the kids in school and then out--not to mention, the toggling of week-by-week changes for the entirety of June and July.

No two weeks are the same.

And sometimes, it makes me this Type A Mama want to scream into a pillow.

THAT SAID. 

Last summer felt like a bit of a low point for me, emotionally.

I think I spent more of it frazzled and trying to counteract or boycott all these changes, and less time sitting back and enjoying the pockets of disarray and unexpected adventures.

So this summer, I'm determined to LET IT GO (as Elsa would say).

With every age and stage of my kiddos' development, there seems to be a year when I fight some kind of new or different something-or-other. It takes me a hot sec to catch up and accept the things I cannot change. To level up, so to speak. But as soon as I do, things get so much better.

Luckily, I'm in the breezing easier stage at the moment (though I'm terrified, even as I type this, that we're about to hit a new level/new devil, with Chica's launch of High School in August). I'm just going with the flow. Leaning into the chaos. And doing my level best to accept the total insanity of summer and focus on the blessings and not the angst.

Case in point:

One of our only true "free" weeks each summer is literally Week 1. And I always try to plan a few little outings or adventures for us to reconnect and spend some time doing something out of the ordinary.

We had grand plans for a trek out to Enchanted Rock State Park (something we haven't done since the pandemic!), a visit to the drive-through zoo, and a visit to this planet/universe art installation.

And did we do any of these things????

No. We did not.

Apparently, we made plans and God laughed.

Chicklet was struck down with this ick/cough/congestion that terrorized a bunch of kids in the homestretch of the school year, and she was just down and out.

Even after a doctor's visit a week into the gunk, not to mention lots of prescription meds, it took her two full weeks to be a functioning human again.

So we had to scrap all plans and just hunker down (and tackle some odds and end for the other kiddos as time allowed so that the week wasn't a total loss).

In the end, it was actually kind of....nice? 

(Not for Chicklet, of course).

Forced time at home. Slow schedules. Fewer to-dos. I think it was exactly what the doctor ordered (if you bypass the fact that the doctor actually ordered cough medicine, ha).

In fact, I had one of the best moments, EVER IN THE WHOLE WORLD, when we gathered for an afternoon viewing of some of the Baking Championship show that we love.

Chicklet snuggled into me (I die), and within a few minutes, she grew still, her breathing leveled out, and...yup. She fell asleep. Nuzzled into me like her human mattress--and eventual human pillow.

And you better bet I took a million creepy Mama pics to commemorate the gloriousness.

I didn't move a muscle for the entirety of the show. And when it ended and Chicklet still hadn't roused, I stayed put (even when I very much needed to use the little girls' room).

Eventually, Coda pup barked at a delivery and Chicklet roused--then promptly repositioned herself in a sitting position...where she fell asleep, again. With Coda and I both keeping watch. 

God was basically telling us all week to chill the fudge out, and just BE.

And, in the end, despite all our grand plans of adventure and color-coded schedules, the thing we needed is the thing we got: forced down time.

Throughout the week, the kiddos spent time indulging in things they enjoy, like binge-watching TV, drawing, FaceTiming with friends, playing basketball in the driveway, and just vegging on their iPads. It was a lot of mushy, non-productive, brain-wasted time, and it was perfect.

Chicklet did, eventually recover (thank goodness!) and even spent last Saturday swimming with a buddy--though it took a lot out of her.

And the other two kiddos had plenty of chill time before we launched a much rowdier Week 2 (more on that, later).

So much more to come, regarding our summer plans and our latest happenings.

Until then...

Happy Summer 2026, peeps!

Over and out.

Summer Kick-Off Pool Party--2026!

Okay, peeps.

I've done the posts to commemorate the end-of-school wrap-ups (except for Little Man's school year overview that will come, soon!), so now it's time for...

The PARTY vibes!

I'll be totally honest, the above pic is practically the only one I managed to take, last Thursday!

It's been our long-standing tradition (three or four years running?) to host a big, rowdy, happy pool party the day before the last day of school.

Why, then, you might ask???

Because the last day of school is usually a half day and people are OVER it-over it--and so many families immediately flee to head out of town.

So several years ago, we decided it would be super-fantastic-amazing to celebrate just before everybody scatters, and it's been a formula that really works for us.

Like always, it was fast and furious leading up the event, with lots of spinning plates and flaming chainsaws (as the hubby would say).

So I didn't manage to take any pretty prep shots and I'm also highly aware that it's not coolio to take a bunch of pics of my tween/teen daughters and their friends in bathing suits, so...enjoy these few precious pics I got before everybody was in the water!

Oh! It's also important to note that this event sort of became a tradition because we realized it was very hard to get Chica's friends together for her midsummer bday. Everybody is always so scattered. So for the past couple of years, it's been a bit of a pre-birthday celebration.

However...we decided to make it double the fun this year and throw Chicklet and her friends into the mix, as well, since there are a handful of older/younger sister combos among the group, and everybody seems to get along pretty well.

In the end, it was a gaggle of 18-20 girlies all very, very happy to be celebrating the end of the school year--and the end of middle school, for a bunch of them!

Now.

It has to be said that, although I love hosting this party, it definitely takes a lot of work, and I'm always super-excited to have the fun and then have the fun done, ha.

However.

This was a year where the fun just kept on coming!

Toward the end of the event, the only girlies left were Chica's closest group of buddies and they all started giving me the puppy dog eyes, begging for a sleepover.

Shocker, I know. 

Originally, I was going to tell them to keep on dreaming (or, at least, that was my answer when the whole gaggle of 18-20 girlies was collectively lobbying for a sleepover (NEVER GONNA HAPPEN).

But...after some consideration, some consult with other Mamas, along with the realization that it was already evening, so by the time they ran home to change, shower and gather up their overnight gear, it wouldn't be long before my bedtime...

I caved.

What the heck.

We went for it.

On a school night, no less!

Albeit, the last school night of the year--so who cares if they stayed up until 2:30 in the morning and then dragged themselves out of bed four hours later. 

(OYE.)

It was actually such a joy to feel like the heroine for saying yes. They were all so happy to be together (for even longer than they already had been). They happily crafted at the dining room table to prep their commemorative t-shirts they all wear and have one another sign on the last day of school. Such a happy milestone--that Chicklet got to participate in, as well!

You'd think a handful of girlies sharing one bathroom to get ready the following morning would be an epic disaster, but they were all sweet and adorable, applying makeup and straightening hair throughout Chica's bedroom, and it warmed my heart to listen to them all sleepy but happy before sending them off for their very last day. :)

Oh! And it's important to note that the hubby rescued Little Man for a decent portion of the evening, evacuating him from the girl-overload zone and taking him for dinner with a buddy.

And then, when the pool party turned into a sleepover hoopla, I double-caved and invited Little Man's buddy over for a sleepover, as well.

Talk about kids, kids, everywhere!

So many happy vibes--and then so many exhausted vibes. But they were still smiling when they walked home from the bus that afternoon. :)

Honestly, it's been nearly a week since many of the events of my last few catch-up posts, and I feel like we're still recovering a bit, ha.

As any parent knows: May is no joke. It's overflowing and never-ending, but...we made it through yet another school year, we're so happy for the change-up of summer, and we're looking to make the absolute best of June/July before we gear up for another wave of insanity!

More on all of our summer plans, soon!

Until then...enjoy some of the historic posts of our pool party shenanigans!

Happy Hump Day, peeps!

Over and out.

https://delappenings.blogspot.com/2024/05/a-smashing-splashing-summer-kick-off.html

https://delappenings.blogspot.com/2025/05/splashy-honors-splashy-summer-kick-off.html