the thing about my summers is that i don’t spend my days with preschoolers.
i do notice the joy of having school age kids.
but the magic of stories and snacks fixing everything isn’t there.

we’ve been getting ready to be gone,
we were gone,
and now we’re cleaning up from being gone.

soon my routine will be back!

before things get crazy around here, let me say that i KNOW mason jars are glass.  i KNOW that if dropped the jar will likely break.  i KNOW that a preschooler could get cut on broken glass.  so, use at your own risk.  BUT when my kids were preschoolers they drank out of glass all the time.  we’ve used small mason jars for years.  but i never did this.  and i can’t believe it.  i would have in a second.  i drilled a hole in the lid, pressed down the sharp edges, pushed a strong plastic straw from our camelback water bottles and YES!  no spill!

though i missed my chance for little ones, it turns out 13, 9 and 6 isn’t too old for the benefits of a spill proof mason jar.  especially with blue kool aid. especially in our basement with a carpet that is already struggling.

they loved them.

 

i’ve done it twice now…both times with smiles from the kids.

(baby eliza in 2008)

we used stevia in place of sugar (we just added bit by bit to taste).

(3 summers later)

last year we successfully grew a stevia plant.  those were tasty leaves, alright!  i would love to do that at preschool next year. mmmmmmmmmmmm.

where have i been?  
at the museum, of course!

i have my own photos to upload and share,
but in the meantime, take a look at the week from a camper’s perspective!  
thanks, tina. : )

i can’t stop thinking about this article…get ready for a couple “passionate” words.

“From one generation to another, we slowly destroy the emotional lives of children and call it “good parenting”.

what do you think?