Summer's Settling In

Well, here we are...mid-June. I thought we would really be having a hard time this summer. Landon did great the first week but the second week started in with the, "I'm bored...I don't know what to do."...to which I would reply, "you'd better find something or I will find something for you". He was constantly looking out the window for someone to play with and I really panicked for a little bit. Afterall, I am not the entertainment committee and he can't rely on finding someone to play with outside all the time. He has never had a hard time finding things to do...so I really was worried and was thinking this would be such a LONG summer. But now I think we have found our routine. It's been so nice. Here is an example of a day like today. I wait for the baby to wake me up, usually about 7:30-8am. I make some breakfast for the kids, let them enjoy their morning, and at some point I get in my workout. I have been giving Landon the phone and taking a short walk with the younger boys in the double stroller. On 2 other days I head to the gym at 5:30 am before Eric leaves for work.

As the morning progresses, I have the boys do some chores which always seem to be the same ones (the ones that help me), like emptying the dishwasher, tidying their rooms, making beds, and cleaning the playroom. Landon is expected to practice the piano, but is "forgetting" that responsibility, it seems. Now that I am over my sickness, (just barely), ...I think summer is going to be fun after all. The boys have all kinds of indoor games they play. They were in the "broken room" (I didn't know what Cam was talking about at first but then he explained that they were in the closet underneath the stairs where we have some wires sticking out to someday have a surround sound system. I guess the wires sticking out of the wall make him feel that the room is broken...) the other morning making a hideout. They play video games, read books, watch cartoons, and then it's lunchtime. We have some lunch, I put the baby down for a nap, (Ethan too, usually), ...I put sunblock on the older boys and send them outside where they play for hours with the neighborhood kids. They have all kinds of outdoor adventures that they make up. Today during that time I read after I cleaned up the kitchen and showered. I just sat on my bed and read. I was interrupted, of course, by a crying boy who needed a band aid, but other than that, ...what a relaxing day. I am on top of my laundry, the house is in order, the kids are sleeping and playing and I am reading. Is this some kind of a dream??? This NEVER happens. I had no plans to go anywhere today and it was most enjoyable.

Dinner was made cleaned up by 7:30, Eric took Camden to his t-ball game, I put Ethan down to bed, sent Landon in to read his book in bed, and then off to rock Baby Bronson for 2 seconds before putting him in his crib. There I was, house clean, dinner put away, dishes in dishwasher,...just in time for my Relief Society meeting at my house. Most days I don't feel anywhere close to in control. Today though, I was in control. It feels good now and then.


Here is Camden at his t-ball game. That 6 year old is looking really old to me. I can almost picture him in his teens. Stop growing, kids. Just stop.