The Summer of...

This summer could be described as many things: The summer of...bed head, spending too much money, attitude, realization, wasting my garden, not being home and me time.

The summer of bed head would refer to the fact that I could probably count on one hand the amount of times I have actually combed my girls' hair in the morning. They got cute summer cuts a few months ago and, well, it's summer so we haven't been combing their hair. I never thought I would be "one of those mothers" but it turns out I am, at least this summer.

The summer of spending too much money is self explanatory. I am not buying frivolously by any means but the spending is on experiences rather than anything else (and a horrible coffee habit I'm trying to break). I feel like we have been traveling a lot, staying in hotels, going to zoo's, birthday parties, swimming lessons, etc. It's all adding up to WAY TOO MUCH SPENDING of money we don't have. It's all coming to an end very soon though. I promised the girls one trip down to Seattle to the Science Center or the zoo so we'll do that in a couple of weeks but, other than that we're done. Oh, except for one more camping trip on Labor Day weekend but thankfully that is already paid for and not too far from home. I know what the cause of this spending spree we seem to be on is coming from. Last summer, when Eric wasn't working and we didn't know what to expect we were on a spending freeze and rightly so. We didn't spend any money on anything we didn't absolutely need. I don't know if it was stress, depression, fear or all of the above but last summer was absolutely miserable. Yes, we became grateful for everything we had and got through the early months of unemployment but it was probably the most depressing time of our lives. I am not saying things are better on the work front and life is all sunshine and roses (so far from it) but we've had some time to adjust and I vowed that we would not make the kids sit home and do nothing all summer. I'm not buying "things" but am hopefully creating memories. This is my last summer with my girls before they are both in school and we have been trying to have as much fun as possible.

The summer of attitude sums up what many of our days have included. The kids are at an age, especially Madison, where they take on the attitude of a teenager. I'm not sure when or how it happened but our day would not be complete without the eye rolling and a few choice comments from my oldest. I love her dearly but there are days I wonder where my sweet daughter has gone. I know a lot of the recent behavior is happening because of her anxiety about starting school. Parenting is a constant opportunity for growth and learning.

The summer of realization is an interesting notion. This could probably be a topic for another blog post on another day.

The summer of wasting my garden and being gone go hand in hand. I'm not actually wasting my garden but I haven't put near enough time into it. Well, that's not even completely true, I just haven't been home enough to cook with all the great things growing. I've also got some room where I should have planted some more stuff and never got around to it. The only thing I miss about last summer is being home a little more, not as much as last summer but just more than now. I miss tending to the garden and I miss hanging my clothes out to dry on the line. We are in our second week of swimming class and by the time I drive there and back half of our day is gone. Before that it was camping, before that it was Yakima, before that it was something else. It seems we are spending our week preparing for whatever big plans are happening on that weekend. This weekend it will be a yard sale. Eric has also been gone so much of the time that I just can't make the time to go out and pick things to bring in and cook for dinner. I'm usually throwing something together at the last minute. I like to have stuff to do but when Eric is gone and I don't have that time in the evening to cook dinner and have someone else entertain the kids it's draining.

Finally, the summer of me time has been my favorite. I haven't actually had much free time in a couple of weeks but I can't even begin to explain how much I have come to appreciate the stretches of time I have to either get caught up on things or read a book in peace. I covet these times. When Eric is gone it's hard not getting any down time. I don't have a regular sitter and I don't have any family that watches the girls so my "me time" is all I truly have to myself. I have found it to be incredibly important to fill my tank up so that I have something to give to my children. The life gets sucked out of me sometimes after a long week and I need to refuel and my time alone (usually at The Woods) has been an incredible gift to myself. Because I covet that time so much I decided it was time to plan a girls weekend. When I decided it was time I really didn't care if anyone else decided to come along. I don't have a large group of friends nor do I have friends that like to always do this kind of stuff (although I can't quite understand why) but that won't stop me. In all honesty, a weekend in the woods (I'm looking at places near Mt. Baker) all by myself with a fireplace and a stack of books sounds delightful. If nobody else goes I might have my family join me for the second night but then again...maybe not.

There are probably a lot more words that could describe this summer but that gives a glimpse into what the past couple of months have been like. More than anything it really has been a great summer doing fun things and making so many memories with the girls. I asked Madison this morning what her favorite thing so far is that we have done this summer. We spent the next five minutes listing all of the fun things we've done and she thought about her answer before saying, "EVERYTHING"! I couldn't agree more.