Like S’mores, popsicles have been all the rage this summer. From my parenting magazines to blogs to friends from church, everyone has been talking about popsicles!

So it only made sense to include “make popsicles” on our summer to-do list. Did you have a summer list? I saw them all over the blogosphere, adorable and ambitious lists of the creative and clever ways families were going to spend their summers. Of course I needed to make a list of my own! Of course we would be just as clever as those other people! Field trips! Crafts! Family fun!

Um, yeah.

First of all, my printer ran out of ink and I didn’t get our summer list actually printed out until August. And, as usual, I waited too late to jump on the popsicle bandwagon. By the time we started shopping for molds, I couldn’t find them anywhere. Thanks to Twitter, I found some online and ordered them, though – and eventually promptly put them in the cabinet and forgot about them.

Thankfully my daughter is not so forgetful and asked almost every single day, “Can we make popsicles now?”

So, just days before the end of summer, we finally made popsicles over the weekend. My fancy fudge pop recipe is pudding mix plus 1 1/2 cups chocolate milk and 1/2 cup white milk. I would’ve added whipped topping but mine had been in the back of the fridge much too long. And I would’ve used all chocolate milk but I only had 1 1/2 cups.

Neither Mark nor I thought the popsicles were that great. But Annalyn? SHE LOVED THEM. I am not sure I’ve ever seen her grin so big!

It just goes to prove that I am WAY more concerned with checking things off my “this is what good moms do” list than my daughter is. She was simply happy to do something special, with me. And the fact that it involved chocolate didn’t hurt, either.

If we had never made popsicles? She probably wouldn’t have noticed and even if she did . . . she’s three. She wasn’t going to remember that!

What will she remember from this summer? I hope – and I believe – that she’ll remember lazy mornings building castles with blocks in our pajamas, special snuggle time with Mommy and Daddy, swim lesson Saturdays, playing at the park with her friends, and road trips that actually offered more excitement than the opportunity to watch her portable DVD player. (Although, let’s be honest: If the high point of a road trip actually WAS the DVD player, she’d still be happy!)

Has our summer been perfect? Far from it. We’ve had two grandparents have surgery, an almost transfer and move to another state, major discipline issues and even more major family drama. But as I look back on this recent season of our life, I know that we did our best to enjoy our days and each other – and I’m pretty sure Annalyn is thrilled with the end result.

I’ve decided to start a weekly (or, as close to weekly as I can manage) series called Giving Up on a Perfect {Everything}. I’ll write about exactly how I’m giving up on perfectionism and living life instead of fearing and criticizing it.

I’m a little nervous about it – forcing myself to write something serious and vulnerable every single week. I guess that could be part of my post on giving up on a perfect {blog}.

Have you given up on a perfect anything lately? How perfect – or not so much – was your summer?