I'm surviving summer

Today is July 1 and not quite at the halfway point of the summer but I think I'm going to survive it, maybe I shouldn't say that yet. Riley does not begin 1st grade until August 20 and Mallory's preschool does not begin until after Labor Day, yes Labor Day. The idea of having the children all to myself all summer in the past, well, it scared me tremendously. Now, it just gives me pause, and the stamina to begin planning camps, activities, and summer Mother's Day Out (God Bless summer MDO). Yes, I'm a stay at home mom and that's my job, but have you ever stayed with young children around the clock, day in and day out with a husband (God Bless him) who works all the time. (You know people die if he doesn't show up when the beeper goes off) My charges just whine and cry and think they are going to die, if the goldfish aren't in the bowl fast enough.

I really don't want to say that I'm surviving, out loud, because it may curse it. I think I'm just excited because the family vacation is right around the corner. I will not be alone with my charges for an entire week and by the end, my husband is ALWAYS ready to go back to work and there is a certain sense of validation for me. See this is hard. Cutting people open and keeping them alive, piece of cake!

Vacations are exciting, and exhausting. This one will not be different especially as we are going to pick up and move three times. At least at Disney, we stayed parked in one hotel room the entire time. We all wish for a beach trip, I think the girls are now prime ages to really enjoy that but we are headed to Chicago and then Wisconsin for a family wedding. Chicago is going to be fabulous as there is an American Doll Store, a fantasy land for my eldest daughter, and the reason why she has done chores and behaved reasonably so far this summer. She has seen THE website and seen what she can save her money for while Mom and Dad are buying the doll and paying for lunch.

Now the little one, not so much. She is three, and exerting her independance and also her crankiness when I least expect it especially in the middle of the Bluebonnet library, at least three times now. We didn't do camps when my older daughter was this age, so with each new activity, swim lessons, yoga week, and now cheerleader camp, Mallory announces the week before she does not want to do said activity at all . Do I pay for the said lesson? Will this pass? I will not drag her to swim lessons and create fear as I did Riley at 3 and a half. But so far, she ends up loving whatever it is I'm dragging her to.

I digress. It's July. I'm still standing! I might make it through.