Summer

Well, it's here. Each summer I say,"I want to enjoy summer and not feel too scheduled". But then there are always hundreds of fun things to do making "chilling out" tough to do. But as with everything in life, I search for balance. It takes countless hours to get that summer schedule the way you really want it. I mean there's always swimming. I always like to go on a summer quick trip. There's Theater Camp. Can't miss Vacation Bible School. What about the 4th of July? And we should definitely go camping. But finally I have the summer calender just perfect.
Today is kind of our first day of summer. The kids do go back tomorrow but only for an hour to pick up report cards. But today we had very little planned. Peter had summer preschool in the morning but after that - free as birds.
Some of us woke up disgruntled. I am confident, if you know me at all, you are well aware of who that was. As I tried to shake the attitude and multiple displays of disrespect, a panic set in. HOLY SHIT - it's only 8:00. Oh no.....this is a horrible start to summer. And if I am honest, I will admit it took me hours to get over the BAD behavior of one of my children b/c when you set yourself up to believe something (a fun breezy peaceful summer day) and you get something else (a tense annoying crumby summer day) - it sucks.
But finally I did get over it. Just in time to counsel Maeve about what she could POSSIBLY do with her free time today. She was having a hard time b/c 2 of her friends she wanted to have over were not home. She was so depressed, she couldn't even eat lunch. So I finally come up with an idea she is quite happy with- she can go bike to a friends and then they can bike back here. HOORAY.
All the while, Peter is requesting another play date. He went to school. Then he played w/ our neighbors. The kid had a pretty darn good morning. Alas, not enough for Mr. Nicoll. Cry cry, moan moan.....life's not fair.
But I will say that at about 2:00, everyone was happy. I shook off the aggravation from earlier, both girls had peaceful friends over and Peter was happily bouncing between the groups. I took that opportunity to sit on my deck swing and enjoy the sun.
Ahhhhhhh. Summer!