Dreading it.

I'm dreading tomorrow.  Only a tiny bit, but at this moment the dread is all consuming.  The alarm clock will be sounding off early, five days a week for the next 10 months. With work, I have had to be up and out, but now we all have to be up and out the door and going well beyond 5'oclock.

I seemed to appreciate this summer so much more than before.  The girls are getting older and all of them are playing sports and involved with extra curricular activities.  Not only are we out the door early to get to school (and myself to work), we get home and have homework, (throw in a load of laundry), head to practices, (put a meal together), read, (fold laundry), shower and bed. 

I considered putting a hold on all sports and extra activities this year.  The days are flying by, the weeks turning into months and I now have a 6th grader, 3rd grader, 1st grader and preschooler.  My babies are no longer babies and I feel like I don't see them enough, spend enough time with them and all this other "stuff" has taken over and intervened with our time together. School is consuming enough, then add all the extras.  I am not sure why I didn't pull them out of soccer (or basketball or swimming or what ever the seasonal sport is), why I want them in music lessons, why I feel guilty if they don't get their 30 minutes of reading in each day.

But until I stop all the extras...instead of feeling overwhelmed with it, I have decided to wake up and move through the day with joy and appreciation for it.  I take turns being at each of their practices, I sit and read with them (I enjoy 30 minutes of a good book too), and I have realized that dinner can be fresh fruit and toast (and everybody is still happy).

What I really dread is missing them....

Holding onto summer....

I can't believe I'm sitting here, typing.  I have been here several times this summer, in my head. Mentally writing rough drafts while I lay in bed or walk on the treadmill.  Sometimes they were very emotional, thought out, serious subjects and other times I was just going over the day and remembering the small things that made it so great.  My last post was in June, right after the Buddy Walk. That event has become the kick off to our summer. And now we are at the end and I have no posts in between. This summer I had two projects on the to do list: Clean out the garage and play room. Neither got accomplished. But we have had tons of fun! And the girls are all very tan! 

I have wanted to write about the days at the beach (watching all my girls in the water, unafraid of the huge ocean and screaming with joy as the waves crashed into them), Brynn's love of gymnastic camp (even before the Olympics came on. Then, we got to witness Gabby Douglas win GOLD and now she wants to be an Olympian :), the triathlon all three older girls completed (Brynn taking her time across the pool, waving and smiling as we cheered), our annual summer trip to Palm Springs (where we met up with awesome friends), the weekend in Seattle (to share in the joy of my BFF finding love!),  the four weeks of life guard camp Jaden and Naomi did, Kamryn's summer school experience-which included her riding the bus for the first time! This last one was an emotional, long, thought-out decision. None of my babies have EVER ridden a bus to school. When this first took place, it was something to write about. But tonight, those emotions and feelings are gone and I just love the picture of her walking (or strutting to the bus). If I had a "really good" camera, you would see her in the window smiling and waving to me. She loved the bus, it was her mom who was not fond of the idea! :)

The days have been without routine and structure.  Today, we did not get dressed and tonight we played basket ball in the driveway until 8:45. At 9:00 they were eating dinner. (I must confess, dinner was cereal and toast.) Who cooks at 9:00 at night?

Oh summer, I am going to miss you! But we know you will be back next year!