summer woes & the perfect solution

It's been a while....

a very long while....

since I have strutted what my mother (and plump grandmother), gave me in a swimming suit.

(You know where this is going).

As the baby slept today, I sat out in the hot sun watching the other 2 kiddos play in their 4 foot wide imitation swimming pool filled with mud. I was melting. So, I glanced across the fields to the neighbors. It looked like no one was home. Perfect.

Inside the house, I dug through my unorganized, drawers and found the bit of fabric that was, a baby later, still supposed to cover everything I wanted covered. Riiiiiiight.

Slipping in to it......scratch that ......stuffing my glorious self in to it, I then spent 20 lazy minutes on my back patio. That was long enough- definitely easing myself in to a little post baby skin exposure.

Anyhow, to make what I could turn in to a very long depressing post, a little shorter: I needed something to cheer myself up. SO, I am announcing, the best ever give-aways from the Ponytail Challenge are coming next week.
I am so excited that it is borderline ridiculous how excited I am. If you check back on this blog on no other day in your life, I suggest checking back on Tuesday.
And, if you didn't pick up on it already, I said give-aways, plural.

First week of June = Sign up for FREE!

Picnic table, dolls, Dora the Explorer, Diego, legos, blocks, books, squirt guns, toys, toys, toys!

Just a little tip for all of you moms, aunts, sisters...anyone who is involved with kids.
This is the week. Right now. Today.

Schools are out & reading programs have begun!
Public library + Summer + children 1 & up = FREE stuff!
Please insert into your imagination a loud girly can't-contain-it squeal of delight right now coming from your screen.
EEEEEaaaeeeeeee!

I'm talking about cool, good free stuff. Not just dollar-store-break in-a-week free stuff. If you happen to live in or near a small town library, the prizes are even better because the libraries are generally funded with extra govt. grants. The list above is just a sampling from the prize table at our library.

Libraries across the nation are starting their summer reading programs this week! We live in a po-dunk tiny town where our library is literally in an old double wide trailer.......and it is AWESOME!

Kids earn "book bucks" for reading/being read to. They cash in their books for prizes. Almost all libraries have the program- it is nationwide. This year there is a bug theme. What kid isn't intrigued by bugs- whether in fear of delight.
Our library has an hour each week for the month of June. Kids get read to, make crafts and don't have to be on the typical "ssshhhhh" library behavior.

Get going! Call your library. Most programs are only for the month of June. Move it!