The NUMBERS of Summer

450 popsickles (no joke - when you have a half a dozen boys in and out of your house on a regular basis those boxes of 100 popsickles disappear in a hurry).
10,000 perler beads (these are all the rage in our neighborhood - after an afternoon of catching bugs and amphibians in the creek it is not uncommon to have 5 or 6 boys sitting around the table making designs out of these funky beads) They are not only a fun craft, they are the perfect toddler "bling". (They fit right over Lewis' teeth, so he sometimes has some pink, blue or other bright color in his smile!)
10 toads
20 crickets
5 grasshoppers
1 dragonfly
1 frog
14 trips to the swimming pool
3 nights by Lake Superior
2 trips to Grandma and Grandpa's in Britt
1 trip to Grandma and Grandpa's in Fremont
1 emergency trip to the doctor
1 trip to the Science Center
4 pairs of crocs
30+ craft projects

We had an incredible summer that was much too short! I am not a mom who cheers when my boys go to school. I know I will have more time to myself, but I already miss the noise, the dirt and the slamming doors. After the boys went to school yesterday, I couldn't bring myself to put away the perler beads that have been sitting out on our table for the past few weeks. I like a clean house, but I like my boys a lot more!