Summertime

June has it's own pace. I love it, but it takes some getting used to after the go-go-go of the sprint to the end of the school year May, followed by first week at the beach.

Today was the first day of reality. Monday. The first day of being at home with my kids, and it was good!

I taught my pilates and Zumba classes at the gym, and had my heart warmed by their "welcome backs". One friend even gave me a card and a package! Even though I had arranged for subs in my absence, it seemed to be a week of snafus with one sub running out of gas on the highway, one getting lost, and another having dental emergencies that prevented her from filing in for me. It felt good to be loved and missed, even in the event of some crazy happenings.

We began the crack-down on electronic overloads and had the kids log in their minutes on all media devices. When their allotted time was up, kids played board games and card games, practiced the piano, rode bicycles and ripsticks, planned events, read books, built forts, chopped vegetables for salads, wrote in their journals, did chores, found frogs,and monitored nutrition. It was almost unreal. The kind of moments when you want to jump up and down and yell "We're being a good family!" What surprised me the most was the general spirit of compliance to the new routine. As if even they recognized that some sort of discipline is a good thing in the vast expanse of a unscheduled day. When all you've got to work with is some cardboard and a roll of duct tape, creativity springs to life.

 

Afternoon squabbles broke out over a game of Candyland (seriously) as thunderous as a summer rainstorm, but blew over just as quickly. One sister whacked another sister and was assigned writing "I shall not" sentences for penance until a repentant spirit replaced the defiant one.

One boy made it to baseball camp, while another was running a fever and took the first voluntary nap I have ever seen him take since his entrance into our family. A dose of ibuprofen later and he was out whooping and hollering with the rest of them. That stuff is magic.

Dinner made it to the table. Laundry was done. And my older girls and I were able to attend a dessert for a friend teaching English to Chinese elementary students.

I loved having my girls sample gummy candy that looked and tasted like corn. They passed on the seaweed snacks, but liked the green tea Pocky. I loved hearing older members of our church pray for our friend, and having my girls consider where God might lead them to make a difference in the world one day.

I loved (and coveted) watching fireflies from the hostess's front porch. For some reason, we have never had a firefly visit our yards in the northeast, which is only 20 minutes away. I guess they don't like our bushes, or perhaps our area sprays for bugs?

I loved hearing my youngest snore softly when we arrived home, and that I could say "yes" if the older girls wanted to sleep on the couches for the sheer novelty of "It's not a school night, so ok."

Summer. Gotta love it.