Endless Summer

Posted: August 21, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: family, funny, kids, parenting | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s been a good summer. It’s been a busy summer. There was a good bit of traveling, a few camps, and lots of laughs. But you know, it’s time to return to our regularly scheduled programming. The school bus schedules arrived yesterday and every night this week there’s some event at each of their three separate schools to welcome back and introduce new teachers and friends. The long days of sleeping in, playing as many video games as Mom will allow and staying up late are drawing to a close.

I turned 49 this summer, and I don’t know if it’s this feeling like I’m on the downward slope of a roller coaster ride into 50, but I feel the need to make some changes, get a few things done. First thing is to get the house in order, just rearranging all the pieces that have just been sitting in places where they originally landed. Then I’m also getting myself in order, trying to exercise both body and mind more than I have in recent months…or years.

I started in the office, which looked like this:

 

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but now looks like this:

 

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Then, yesterday, I rearranged a junk drawer in the kitchen, though there are still two more of those left. Basically, I plan to be an organizational tsunami from one end of the house to the other, hopefully finishing the whole thing before the end of September.

But mostly, I am looking forward to the quiet that the school day brings to my life, a chance when I can gather my thoughts and actually follow through on them, or use the bathroom without hearing my name called on the other side of the door. I realize that some day, too soon, this will be the whole of my life, once the kids are grown and out of here. It’s not that I don’t cherish the moments of chaos, but I do love the quiet.

 

This is pretty much the story of every morning, when they are talking to me about who hit whom, who’s not being fair and what kind of breakfast they want, when all I can really think about is that first cup of coffee.

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Summer Break Week 2

Posted: June 16, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: family, kids, parenting | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Princess is in camp all week, and she seems to be enjoying it. Every day she comes home and says what a great time she had, but then the next morning it’s a fight to get her to go. She thinks she’s missing out on something here, I guess. (Little does she know.) So, I have been trying to placate her by saying that I will try to come pick her up after lunch, but I think she’s on to me. Today she said, “Don’t try. Do.” What is she, Yoda?

The other thing that’s nice is that she’s making friends there at the camp. Yesterday she came home and asked if her new friend could come for a sleepover. So, I said, “What’s your friend’s name?” But The Princess couldn’t say. I hope she doesn’t plan to do this kind of thing when she’s older — inviting a person she just met whose name she doesn’t know for a sleepover. That’s just a bad habit to get into. I met the kid today. She seems like a sweet girl, really cute with gorgeous ringlets of dark hair, but she’s not coming to sleep over. We just met her. Can’t we start slowly, with like, a playdate?

Meanwhile, Edison is not idle in this first full week off. No. He has devised a club, kind of like the Boy Scouts, with merit badges made of paper (and I think stolen from the Boy Scouts of America website, which he assures me is okay since he’s not making any money from this endeavor) called the Edison Scouts. He and Clooney were busy all afternoon, earning these badges. They ran around the house for the athletic badge. They created puppet shows for the entertainment badge. They biked to another part of the neighborhood for some other kind of badge. Oh, they were busy, busy. But more importantly, they were having fun together.

And when The Princess got home from camp, she joined the Edison Scouts, and they re-created all of the events for her so that she could earn her badges too. She was so happy; they all sat on the same side of the table at dinner, saying please and thank you and being closer than three middle toes in a pointed shoe. For the moment, there’s a lot of love in this house.

But in the words of Scarlet O’Hara: “Tomorrow is another day.”

Summer Vacation

Posted: July 2, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: family, movies | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

It’s July already.  We have been whirlwind busy, and for the most part things are good, though the bickering and tattling presents some challenges.

 

I had some trouble sleeping last night.  Not sure why.  Last night I watched Stardust, which has a great cast, including Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Claire Daines.  I really liked it.  Reminded me a bit of The Princess Bride, but more in a fantasy vein with a pinch of Harry Potter, and also a bit of the same flavor as the ABC show Pushing Daisies.  Overall, I found it entertaining.

 

 

Then I read for a bit, and couldn’t put Away down.  I have about 60 pages to go.  I turned out the light around 12:30, Manfrengensen already snoozing beside me, and then I tossed and turned for another hour.  I feel a bit grumpy today, and I need to be on my game.  The boys are both having friends over for playdates this afternoon.