School Supplies

Hello, dear friends. It has been a couple of weeks. My kids were at their grandparents' house, and I felt no blog posts were necessary. They are back now and I shall resume. It has been a busy first week of August. Our oldest daughter turned eight yesterday. Sometimes they grow so fast, you wish you had a remote that could rewind back to the baby days. Sometimes you think, ten more years until college.

School starts next Wednesday. Which means that school supplies must be purchased. How is it that I am always buying a new backpack every year? The only thing wrong with the old one is a little dirt. They need a new backpack or the elementary school gods will smite them. Although, I remember the fun of getting school supplies. I remember the new smell of crayons and notebooks, and how they could somehow dull the sting of the knowledge that summer was over.

The list wasn't as long as I remember them being. The items on it threw me for a bit of a loop. Why am I buying copier paper for the school? Has the funding for the educational system sunk so low? As Whitney Houston said, "I believe that children are our future. Teach them well, and let them lead the way." Not to get into a political rant, but our children will someday be running this country. We have to stop stealing from our children to fund our frivolity.

Their backpacks, loaded to the seams with supplies, are waiting by the door for the start of the new school year. I can't help but feel a little melancholy. Another summer is gone. Did they have fun? Did I spend enough time doing the things they wanted to do? Or did I use the words, "Not right now, I'm busy" too much?

Yet, as I sit here and watch them fly up and down the sidewalk on their scooters, I know they won't remember the times I had refused to leave the house due to high temperatures. This summer will be the summer of scooters and days at the pool. The summer they got a trampoline they rarely jump on. The summer they spent almost three weeks with their cousins. I will remember it as the summer when we got back on track. The summer we found an even keel again as a family. The summer Adelyn informed me she was entirely too old for Hello Kitty and wants her clothes to come from Justice.

It was the summer they started to really grow up. It makes me proud and sad at the same time.

Spring Break (Batten Down the Hatches!)

This week is one of those idyllic times for school-aged children. And hell on earth for their parents. That's right it is spring break. School had unleashed our children for a week of non-stop fun... and fighting... and whining... and tearing up the house... and fighting (Trust me, 'fighting' needs to be listed twice.). Luckily for me, spring break coincided with some really amazing weather for March. It is currently 80 degrees outside, and I am sitting in shorts and a tank top. The windows are open to catch the breeze. It is beautiful. It would be more beautiful if my table wasn't covered in Cocoa Pebbles and there weren't toys strewn about my home. But I digress.

I have said the words, "Go outside and play", "Stop fighting", "Don't slam the door", and also "Shut the door, you weren't born in a barn" about a billion times in the last few days. (I have also said, "I need a drink" more times than I can count.) It has been a very long week. It is only Tuesday. (Oh God.) I never realized how much my kids eat throughout the day. It is like having Hoovers instead of children (or maybe Dysons because I haven't noticed any loss of suction). They can really put food away.

Isn't it funny how we dread the day that our children start school? We see it as independence from us and it breaks our hearts a little bit. Once we get used to them being gone for the afternoon, however, it is not easy to adjust to them being home. I had gotten used to the silence during the afternoon when the older two are in school. It is blissful, and I can get so much done. But today (after only one whole day of the kids being home) it looks as though a bomb has gone off. One with toys for its shrapnel.  Just when I have finished with the bomb squad and cleaned up the carnage, the little terrorists have detonated another bomb. It's a never ending cycle.

I think I understand that method behind the madness of spring break. The school administration realizes that classes will be let out for the summer in a little over two months. They do this to prepare the parents of their students for summer vacation. It is a little like the rumble of a volcano before a major eruption. We need time to prepare ourselves for our kids to be home full time. We have to build up our stockpiles of food. There a contingency plans to instigate. Activities to plan. Reservations with grandparents to make (for when you either get them out of the house completely or turn into a raving lunatic).

Prepare yourselves for the onslaught of summer. Your kids are going to want to be entertained. You will be their entertainment. Unless you are going to sit them in front of the television, of course. Use spring break to train yourself. I have trouble with letting myself roll with the punches. I'm getting better. Having kids has helped me realize that I can't always control everything. Oh, I can try. I only end up stressing myself out and annoying my husband. (Oh yes, my darling husband. I know I annoy you. I can see you when you roll your eyes at me.) The house will get messy. The kids will FIGHT. Accept it. It's inevitable. It's life. Don't sweat the small stuff. Spring break and summer vacation can be fun if you let it be. I intend to.