August

As our kids are becoming school aged, I start having pretty mixed feelings about the month of August.  Part of me wants to enjoy the last days of summer with the kids, the beautiful weather outside and then there is part of me that cannot wait for the school to start.  Seriously, 3 months of school off is way too long for the kids.  They need structure and learning and "jobs" to do and seems to me that every year since Kade started going to school by the time August hits I can just tell he needs school in his life.  I'd be more than ok with having an extra week off of school sometime in the Spring and cut their summer break short.  I just think we all become lazy, including me.  My daily routine is messed up, the preschool age kids don't listen as well because of having two 8 year old boys at home during the day, and I think in some ways we are just tired of no daily plans.  I know it is mostly my fault and I should be ready to do structured activities with them and really, all June and July seems to go great and we have lots of fun but then that August hits and I run out of steam or something. :)  Kids drive me crazy, I can't think of anything productive to do with all of them at the same time and am pretty much waiting for September so they would go to school already and I can once again have my alone time with the preschool kids, return to the organized days and everything.  It is only about one more week now before the school starts and it is great to see the end of the tunnel but also to remind myself to enjoy the nothingness of these days because they will soon be gone and we are going to be running around way too much soon enough.  I do love our week nights at home now, very relaxed and no rushing to go places and I will miss that for sure.  But even if I will miss some quiet evenings, I am so ready for school to start.  And I am ready for church to start. :)  As if there was no church during the summer, but some of you know what I'm talking about.  It's nice when everyone starts showing up on Sundays again, when we can plan things and be proactive with new people that come.  I'm really looking forward to that this year and that's part of why I'm ready for the school year to start.  So here's to another week of laziness and hopefully enjoying the days I get to spend with all these precious kids at home.