“Summertime is always the best of what might be.” – Charles Bowden

The ocean breeze is perfect for flying a kite — but keeping up with toddlers at the beach is exhausting!

happenings

I kicked off summer with a hysterectomy, followed 5 days later by my 45th birthday. Yep, I know how to party. I timed it that way because I could make my schedule work best then. We had a visit just a few weeks later from Brandon and Diane and the boys; the only bad part of that timing was that I couldn’t pick up either of the boys. Oh gosh, they’re handsome little fellows. This month, they both celebrated birthdays: Carter is 3 and Jackson is 2!

In the month leading up to my surgery, I phased out of some of my work outside the home but I’m still teaching fitness classes three days per week and I’ve started offering online coaching for personal training clients anywhere. I’m deciding when to resume in-person training, and considering offering another fitness class as well.

Kathryn and I “graduated” as sea turtle nest parents this summer! We trained for two summers before this and now we’re official with the shirts to prove it. Even though the nights run late, we let Scout and Jem join us sometimes and they got a kick out of watching the stars come out.

Lindsey and Quan have lived here a whole year now! This month they moved to a cute little 2-bedroom home with a nice yard. Lindsey started working a part-time job, which means sometimes we have grandbabies in the house for a few hours in the afternoon. Greyson’s personality is coming out big-time, and Khloe is talking more and more. I’ve started teaching her the VERY important life skill of how J-Ma makes tea.

Scout turned 11 earlier this month, and it’s not long before Kathryn will be 18. It’s crazy how time flies. That’s cliché, I know — but as a parent, it’s so true. And yet, there are still days that feel like they’ll never end. Weird how that works, isn’t it?

homeschool highlights

Next week, we all start back to school. Scout will be back at the local private school as a 5th grader; meanwhile, here at home we’ll be starting Jem’s 4th grade year and Kathryn’s senior year of high school! I’ve been cleaning out the bookshelves and reorganizing pretty much everything to get my brain prepared.

I said to someone the other day that this will be my 13th year of homeschooling, and it was kinda crazy saying it out loud. THIRTEEN YEARS.

what we’ve been reading: our faves

This summer we read, read, read. In fact, since my last “life lately” post in May, I think I’ve read 20 books. Of course, part of that time was during my hysterectomy recovery so I didn’t have much else to do and I had a HUGE stack of library books to go through. Of those, my favorites were Now That You Mention It and Beauty: A Retelling.

I started a #seejamieread hashtag on my instagram account so it’s easy to see what I’m reading. I’ve made my account private recently but you’re still more than welcome to follow; just click the request button.

Right now I’m reading a book with man-eating water horses, which sounds kind of crazy but I’m trusting Kathryn’s recommendation and I’ve read and highly enjoyed another book by this author and it’s really good so far. And if you’re a reader, you NEED this brand new one by Anne Bogel!

on the blog {in case you missed ’em}

• In which I overshare about my uterus
• Tourists in our own town: field trip fun
• Returning to activity after hysterectomy
• Our best summer ever: 3 things that helped

I haven’t been posting as often this summer and I may or may not get back to a weekly-ish posting schedule because I’m just posting when I’ve got A) the time and B) something to say — but you can subscribe to updates to make sure you don’t miss anything.

Jamie

Wife, mom, J-ma. Introvert who enjoys good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand – unless it’s lost yet again in the microwave. Read more »