We listen to books in the car. We listen to books at night (sometimes). Each child has been reading his/her own book after book, even Cailin. Can you tell I what my former profession was? They have had writing assignments and math problems. They love to draw and create. And most recently we have inherited old school chair/desks from the Post Office. Weird, I know. But who could resist?
We swim in our pool. We swim in Gammy's neighborhood pool. We swim at the beach. Yes, I take my kiddos to the beach myself. (We love company, but going solo doesn't stop me). All three big kids have conquered swimming this summer. Not to perfection, but to the point where we all thoroughly enjoy our time. And thankfully now Ella will wear swimmies, so this is a load off my mind. We have rested in reading and rested in swimming.
We have been soaking in all that summer offers. It has offered opportunities to rest and enjoy. The kids even sleep in a bit. So as I sit and look around my house...dishes, laundry, toys and more all piled up...I need to take a deep breathe. Responsibility. Up until my busted nose incident (which still deserves its own blog entry), I have had time to leisurely keep up with all aspects of house upkeep. I have rested in having time to be responsible. Seriously, its scary how "in order" the whole thing has been.
Tonight, Eric is at football- a sure sign the schedule will be changing shortly. My nose and entire head are aching badly and I am awaiting taking my next dosage of allowed pain meds. I need to feed my girls some dessert, look at pictures from the summer (by their request), read to them and snuggle up (not too close-my nose has a huge fear of being smacked again.) The mess that surrounds me will have to wait. Resting in the mess- this is new. But a lesson for responsible Mommy. Pretty soon it will be learning to rest in the midst of raising a newborn and four other children.
