February birthdays can be kind of a bummer. I know because I have one–and so does my son. So I try to throw parties for him that make people with summer birthdays jealous. There will be no awesome tail gate sledding party for you, Gemini. Ha ha!

This year, my son wanted a winter picnic party on the ice (take that, Cancers). Also requested were, marshmallows, glow sticks, a cake shaped like a 6, and popcorn. All birthday wishes granted! I wasn’t too sure how the cake would turn out, but it seems there is nothing more frosting can’t solve.

I stumbled on these glow swords at Target, and wow! were they a big hit! I had planned to have some sort of balloon game with glowing balloons (a la pinterest), but you need 1. clear balloons (not just white ones), 2. super bright glow sticks (not the skinny, cheapy ones from target), and 3. actual pitch black, not 7pm.   Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

The kids didn’t seem to mind.

Before the epic glow battle, we built a big fire and roasted marshmallows. By the way, roasted marshmallows in your hot chocolate is the best thing ever, which is also how my son described his party.  I have to agree–nothing better than turning 6 with a giant fire on a frozen lake!

I haven’t been down in my studio for a good three months. Three months! You could call it creativity block or you could call it my own personal soul sucking, fear mongering, mental fog inducing, self-esteem deflating, psychosis making machine.  Not to put too fine a point on it or anything.

I try not to ask myself why I tape flowers and leaves on the wall, or make my kids’ undies, or crochet cozies for our ottoman, because there is no satisfying answer. But questions do creep in: why not make something less ridiculous? why not make something that is actually profitable? why waste your time making silly things to show the internet? why do this when so many people do it better? why not use that expensive education of yours? Once the questions start, they don’t stop, and they become debilitating.  Soul sucking now seems a more appropriate term than creativity block, don’t you think?

But making things, be it underwear, tools, flying suits, computer programs, or whatever, is what humans do. Our survival once depended on our ability to solve problems creatively. Now that drive is part of who we are and when the urge to make things goes unfulfilled we feel less human.

So I’m trying, trying to make things again, trying to feel human again. I know I hit these creative brick walls yearly and slam into them repeatedly until I find a ladder, but this time the ladder has been hard to find. I cleaned up my studio yesterday–even slapped some paint on the wall–hoping the ladder was there somewhere. Does this happen to you (hit a wall, let the sewing machine gather dust, avoid even thinking about making)? How do you get past it?

Wow, August really got away from me. I’m sorry I didn’t check in here more often! The month was just crammed full of summer:

swimming whenever and wherever we could,

having our first lemonade (and tattoo!) stand,

playing games on too hot days (games mama made!),

and riding roller coasters for the first time!

How was your summer? Over too fast? Too ridiculously hot? Busy? Lazy? I want to hear from all of you! I’ve missed being here and I’m glad to be back.

I looked around for a pretty system to use for chores this summer (something like this, or this, or this) but in the end everyone got a list on a sticky note. Sometimes easy is better than pretty. They get a new list everyday, except Sunday, with two or three things on it depending on our schedule. Picking up toys, brushing teeth, getting dressed, etc. are not chores, just things they are responsible for everyday. Our chores are more like this:

for the 6 1/2 year old:

• cleaning the bathroom (with a squirt bottle filled with vinegar and water)
• sweeping
• washing the floors
• doing dishes
• folding towels and sheets and putting them away
• weeding
• + any thing else the younger set can do

for the 5 year old:

• vacuuming (his favorite)
• taking out the garbage
• wiping down the refrigerator, stove, dishwasher
• emptying the dishwasher
• folding clothes and putting them away
• + anything his younger brother can do

for the almost 3 year old:

• crushing cans (I was surprised he could even do this!)
• wiping off the table
• folding napkins and rags
• bringing in the groceries
• feeding the dog
• watering the plants

Honestly, I had been doing most (umm, all) of the chores because I thought it was easier and faster to do it myself. Well that was stupid. My kids do whatever is on their list and almost never complain that their chores are too hard. Complaining happens for other reason, for sure, but not because the work is difficult. As long as I mix it up enough they are happy to do their jobs. Do you have any good ideas for chores little kids can do?

Summer is in full swing here and our days are full up to the top. Around mid afternoon I come up for air (thank god for quiet time) and then I think of you and this little blog. Then I feel guilty for not posting something–anything! Instead of feeling crappy for not writing long meaningful (ha!) posts, I thought I’d keep a kind of slap dash summer journal: most pictures will be from my phone, there might be links to crafts or recipes, or there might not be any words at all, but they will all be a little window into our summer days.

Desperate for a first day of summer activity, I ran into Walgreens for some cheap kites. I chose the not quite so dirt cheap ones and they work out pretty well. I got one big one, but it wasn’t windy enough for it to fly. There were mini kites for sale too–3 for 5 bucks–that I bought on a whim. These tiny kites worked out the best. The kids could control them and when the wind died down they just ran to make them fly.

If you like the idea of a simple, summertime blog I would love it if you joined in. If you have a blog, use summer journal as your title. If you are more of an instgramer/twitterer/tumblrer type use the #summmerjournal hashtag. Leave a comment if you’d like to play along, so I can follow your summer journal!