We did it! By the skin of our teeth and the day before leaving-- as Gabriel plugged his headphones into the laptop for his very last math lesson and quiz, we headed out for our final literature group session (for the school year), and I finished the last chapter in our read aloud while kids folded laundry that needed to be packed-- we did it!
Since coming home, we have fully transitioned into Summer Mode.
It looks like a lot of baseball and softball! When we offered to all three of our oldest kids the opportunity to play this year, knowing they would all be on different teams and different schedules, we knew it would be a commitment.
Is it too much? Is this what we should be doing with so much of our time? I wondered.
Five weeks, Brietta. I feel like we can and should give them five weeks. I want them to know that in the midst of all sorts of commitments and sacrifice, we can give them these next five weeks.
And so we are in the midst of that, and I have to say that even when I'm frazzled from trying to get dinner on the table each night by 4:30pm in order to get out the door on time, and as the babies are crying through their 8:30 and 9pm baths because we didn't get home any sooner, and as I arrange rides and Daniel and I go our separate ways to get each player to the field s/he needs to be at, I really am loving it.
I love the game. I love the sparkle in my children's eyes, how their cheeks flush with each success, watching their hearts grapple with disappointment, hearing their words of thanks and appreciation flow.
And while they pitch and bat and throw (and, yes, Jackson also plays, but I don't have any pictures of him because with Daniel as his coach, I really don't get to his games very often since I am busy running one of the others to their game), I also get time with the younger ones. Time to work on sitting still, time to laugh and tell stories, time to teach them about the game and about support and about cheering, time to watch them play with the few toys they brought and hear how absolutely hilarious their imaginations are!
It's been special in many ways.
Summer Mode has also looked like flowers.
Last year I itched to enlarge my flower garden, which I began 8 years ago and have made bigger bit by bit since then, but refrained because I didn't know what this spring would look like. Oliver has proven to be the kind of baby who lets me play in the garden, so with Mother's Day money from Daniel in hand, I purchased a few more plants and, along with three hand-me-downs from others, enlarged this tiny bit of land that I am converting just a tad more.
Finally having enough plants to produce regular cuttings for indoors has only inspired me to keep going, and so I am already making plans for what I would like to add next year!
It's also looked like laundry on my [recently repaired] clothesline, which is one of my most favorite things. I love my whites to be white, so while I indulge every so often on some bleach during the winter months, I am so thankful when I can use the natural sunlight to eliminate stains and brighten our clothes again!
And, of course, with the increasing concerns in recent years and especially this year about ticks and Lyme disease, we do daily tick-checks (the kids all know who they're supposed to help!) and Daniel wakes me from a fitful sleep in which I am moaning about ticks and I fret to friends both online and in real life about suspicious rashes and bumps that always turn out to be irritated mosquito bites.
Summer Mode wouldn't be Summer Mode without a project-- big or small-- or two. I don't have big chunks of time due to a certain 5-month-old so I don't think I'll be painting the kitchen or anything like that this year, but I'm hoping to knock out some small things that I dream about but don't have time for during the school year.
Things like purchasing a new-to-us highchair and giving both our old one and the new one a fresh facelift so that my two little boys will both be well accommodated at our meal table. (Not that Oliver will be eating, but he already loves to be part of whatever it is we're doing!)
Speaking of Oliver, he will be six months old in twelve short days and I just don't know where the time has gone.
He is a delight.
And he often gets confused by strangers for a girl, regardless of what he's wearing. One woman recently said to me, "His hair is too thick and pretty to be a boy!" I just smile and reassure them that I now have two sons with beautiful red hair and the older one never gets mistaken for a girl, so I'm not too worried about him.
Yes, our Oliver Richard who completely fills out his 6-9 month sleepers and weighs roughly 20lbs (he hasn't seen a doctor since he was 12 days old, but I stood on the scale with him the other day) and rolls himself under the couch and contentedly lets most anyone hold him and smiles and smiles and smiles.
Summer Mode is also including a summer session of literature group, a fresh batch of books to read from the library, a special read aloud list, adjusted chores to deal with the influx of grass and dirt and mud that get tracked indoors, getting back into some semblance of a running routine for both Daniel and I, eating outdoors as often as possible, looking forward to and then enjoying our CSA fruits & veggies, and hopefully taking some time to just be together as a family.
Bring. it. on.
