Tuesday, July 13

Summer lovin'!

I can't believe it's technically mid-summer already! I feel it slipping through my fingers all too fast!

Three reasons I am loving this summer:

1. My own wheels!!! To head to the pool, to enjoy spur of the moment play dates, to make grocery runs, to run a bunch of laundry loads on post while playing soccer and basketball in the gym with the kids . . . the possibilities are endless! It's hard to remember the last time I had free reign of a car in the summer with the kids and I LOVE IT!

2. Sleeping in! The fact that I don't have to get us out the door dressed, fed and ready for the day by 7:20 or even 8:20 is just so wonderful I'm reveling in it! All the kids are now sleeping in until 8 with regularity, even Morgan! I also love that Easton can now get Morgan out of her bed and the boys are great at getting their own breakfast. Morgan wants her own bowl to be like them but I get such a kick out of her eating their leftovers. At first, she'd act all clandestine and the boys would yelp but now it's just the new norm.

3. School is optional. For the past three weeks, McKay has been to German kindergarten once - they don't have their summer break until the month of August. Each day I plan to get McKay to school, he sleeps in and I let him. Easton is on summer break and I love seeing the two of them just play together all the day long. I'm seeing a lot of negotiating (and fighting) over which bike to ride, which park or pool to visit, which movie to watch, what's for lunch, what fruit and veggie for snack before I let'em at the goldfish and so on. My effort each day is to try something new with them. Nothing big, just a conscious choice to enjoy something simple like teaching them to blow bubbles with chewing gum or teaching them to make mac'n'cheese or nachos.

On the other hand, life goes on with challenges to keep it real, such as . . . Melting in 90 degree weather without air conditioning. Factoring bigger ticket items into the budget: a commuter car, plus roof and water heater replacements for the VA townhome. An unreliable washing machine when Morgan has a stomach bug. Job hunting, negotiating offers, stress. Missing family in the States. Mustering the umph to cook in this heat and failing miserably due to one overdone or underdone ingredient per recipe tried. (Go ahead Bares, we all know it cooks differently here!)

I am reminded that I am where I want to be and that Ryan works very hard to make this possible. Home with my kids and I wouldn't want to miss it. To have Morgan climb up into my lap every time she sees me sit. For McKay to ask, "Mom, do you want me to snuggle you?" To hear Easton ask to try some new thing and be able to drop everything and give it a shot. My house and errands can sometimes wait because enjoying the summer of 2010 with them at these ages continuously feels like the best use of my time.