Yes, that’s right. The end IS near. Our summer break is almost complete. Only 22 days until the alarms start ringing again. Twenty-two days until the homework starts to pile up. Three short weeks to soak in the last bits of less-structured freedom.
Our summer has been full. Baseball, softball and T-ball completely took over the month of June and spilled into July. We’ve had trips to the splash pad, the Planetarium, and the Fun Park. We enjoyed two family reunions. We’ve spent time at several parks and played baseball at the school. We’ve repaired and attempted repair on several bikes. We’ve had recovery from surgery and a sprained ankle. We watched fireworks and a Christmas tree burning. Still to come are swimming lessons, perhaps a trip to the zoo, hopefully another trip to the Planetarium, and some time at the pool. We’ve been well “summered”.
(That’s the remnants of one of those giant marshmallows all over Daniel’s face.)
But I’m still not sure how I feel about our upcoming return to scheduled life.
Emily will start a new year at a new school.
Josh will also start a new year at a new school.
Rachel will start at new year at her same school, but she’ll be going all day.
And Caleb will start his “official” school career as a Kindergartener.
Help? Someone??
I’m practicing my deep breathing in the hopes of getting through the next 9 months. Nine long months of homework, fieldtrips, coordinating schedules, making lunches, searching for lost library books, and last-minute scurrying for shoes, gloves, coats and backpacks.
Nine months of structured chaos.
Bring it on.
(Just a fun tidbit in parting. We went shoe shopping yesterday. [Yes, I took 5 children to the shoe store. Bonus points for me, right??!] I’ve come to the conclusion that our life savings is going to be spent on the feeding and maintenance of one growing, nearly-11-year-old boy. Josh now wears a size 8.5 shoes. That’s men’s shoes. On my 10-year-old kid. What???? We’re now taking bets on how tall he’ll end up.)
