Summer

Ahhhhh the sounds of summer have begun. I have this sudden feeling of freedom. I can't really pinpoint what I am free from, but I feel light, happy, and relaxed. I actually noticed myself taking deep breaths three times today. Can you believe it? I had enough time to do something that was not already scheduled on my calendar! I heard the baseball hit the bat today, the sounds of splashing children in the swimming pool, and I endured the heat through it all. Like I said... summer is certainly here.

The beginning of summer is always bittersweet for me. It's a little bit of a shock to have the full responsibility of entertaining 4 children who have strong opinions on what we should do next. I love to have them home all day - we can sleep late, have lunch together (at whatever time we want), and just take in the afternoon in whatever fashion hits us first. But as summer begins, we have to bid our teachers good-bye. This year Cole was a part of his Kindergarten teacher's very first classroom. Reed spent the year with a teacher who we knew well. Brooks was in her class 2 years ago. I knew what to expect, yet it was even better than I remembered. Brooks loved his first year of middle school. Caroline's year brought great success.

I am so thankful for our teachers and for their willingness to help my children through each stage of their education. I always wanted to be a teacher growing up. I played school for hours in my room with the door closed. I had my very own back-scratcher and I dreamed of the beautiful wedge heels that my 3rd grade teacher had. How the shoes relate to school teaching, I don't know, but I thought every teacher had a pair. I also couldn't wait to have my very own blackboard along with a chalk-holder. But somewhere along the way my sense of reason left me and I entered the world of business. Don't get me wrong, I loved my days in Human Resources. I helped plenty of people and learned all kinds of things. But I am just amazed at how a teacher shapes a child's day. When I volunteer in classes, I constantly re-evaluate how I could go back to school and become a teacher. Isn't that crazy?

I guess it has to do with the fact that my mind is beginning to wonder what one does when the kids are all gone. Yes, I know, I have 12 years till my nest will be empty - but it seems like it was 19 years not too long ago and now 7 of those years are gone. I am constantly evaluating what I want to do in my 3rd career. I think I might try something entirely new.

Didn't I tell you I was feeling free? I am actually free to daydream. Today I was free to water the flowers and move a few pots around. We hoisted some junk to the dump and hung the towel bars in the bathroom I painted back in April. I feel like I've been to the spa. Oh yeah, it was just the humidity in the air as I breathed in the heat from the first days of summer. Before our routine begins again.

Forgive Me

Here's a quick update on how my life is going. May is particularly busy around here. This past weekend we had 6 baseball games, 2 baseball practices, 1 soccer game, and 4 Sound Company performances.  My parents were here, so they were able to see first hand just how crazy life is.  We had a great time and everything went quite smoothly - which is great considering I had some type of mild stomach ailment on Friday and Saturday.

Monday morning the kids whooshed off to school despite the exhaustion and mess.  Amazingly, I was able to overlook the chaos and make 4 lunches in record time.  You see, I have a messy kitchen phobia.  I really need to have all dishes in the dishwasher before serving breakfast and before making lunches.  Why?  I really don't know.  Tim discovered my phobia long ago and adjusted our Sunday morning schedule.  We used to be late to church every week because I was insistent on having the dishwasher cleaned out and refilled before we left.  So, he simply took over kitchen duty.  He brings me my breakfast while I dry my hair and we are now on time for church again.

All that said, we loaded the dishwasher yesterday before we left for the day's activities.  Somehow between yesterday morning and this morning, I felt for sure that those dishes had been washed. I opened the dishwasher this morning to grab some cups for orange juice.  I filled those puppies up with very pure, delicious orange juice and placed them proudly in front of Reed and Cole.  Right after that, I proceeded to grab the silverware in order to put it back in the drawer.  Suddenly I discovered a horrible truth.  Just as I looked over to see both boys gulping down the last of their drinks, I realized that I had just served their juice in dirty cups.  Reed even commented on how quickly I had run the dishwasher today.  Evidently he had already discovered the dirty dishes and had pulled from the cabinet instead.  

I just didn't have the heart to admit my mistake.  I mean, what do you say?  "Oops!  I just gave you dirty cups?"  I was going to stop them before they started drinking, but upon looking up I realized it was just too late.  Oh, and remember that stomach ailment I had last weekend?  I had the horrible realization that one of those cups had been used for water to wash down my medicine.  There is just really nothing to say.  I just grimaced, gave them kisses, and put those cups right back where they had been.  In the dirty dishwasher.

Just imagine my relief when I went back up to brush my teeth and I found the glass I used on Saturday - still dirty - right beside the sink where I'd left it.

14 Hands

One of my friends, who also happens to be an up and coming wine connoisseur, gave me the low down on this great wine - 14 Hands.  Unfortunately, when recommending it to others, I got a little mixed up and referred them to 14 Husbands.  It really isn't surprising that I would make such an error.  I can hardly remember my own name these days - it's May and WE ARE BUSY.

I'm sure you have noticed that my daily blogs have taken a backseat to everything else in life.  Such is the difference in January and May.  January brings the type of weather that allows for sitting by the fire and conjuring up topics on which I can expound.  May, on the other hand, shoves our schedule into high gear and there is hardly time to sit on the toilet.  

I was thinking about it today and I think I could really use 14 hands.  No thank you on the 14 husbands - I already have enough mouths to feed.  But 14 hands?  or 7 of me.  I could do well with one brain on 7 bodies to coordinate all of the activities of these 4 kids.  We would need 7 cars and that would require enough shoes for 14 feet - and that would be expensive on my very narrow feet.  But 14 hands could get those 8 little feet where they need to go - and we wouldn't have to settle for missing anything.

But, since there is just 1 of me and 1 husband (who works a lot), I will settle for doing the best that I can until the lazy mornings of  June come around to take the craziness out of life.  Hang with me, I'll post when I can - probably late at night when the house is silent as I try to organize my thoughts of exactly how I will manage tomorrow.

Here's my countdown:

19 days of school left

21 baseball games

12 baseball practices

12 soccer games & practices

8 Sound Company practices

4 Sound Company shows

5 piano lessons

3 doctor appointments

2 trips out of town

3 field trips

6 scout meetings

525,600 white socks to match

at least 20 loads of laundry

80 lunches to pack

I don't even want to think of the dinners.

1 more hour till I'm going to bed.

Viral Interpretations

We had a rather sickly winter this year. All four kids missed school at least one day for some sort of virus. Cole has been the grand prize winner - 3 stomach viruses and one stubborn fever. I was beginning to think that I needed to have a deep cleaning of our house in order to clear the house of our germs. Thankfully, with the warmer weather, things are looking up. I haven't had a kid home sick in 2 entire weeks. But when they are sick and mention a sore throat, I will no doubt load them up in the car and take them to their daddy's office for a quick, gagging swab. They hate it. I feel sorry for them. But I want to catch it early if they have the dreaded Strep Throat!

Reed brought home a small journal entry today. He will kill me for this, but I can't resist. I think it is great - and it explains his impression of an illness he's never had...

Now I know why he fears Strep Throat! Evidently it leads to death in dogs.

Amber actually died due to a stroke, but Reed's little mind conjured up another diagnosis.