The Trouble with Summer

I should be getting ready to go to the swim team banquet in 2 hours. I have to cook a huge amount of food because I have so many swimmers---I have to take a main dish, a side dish, a salad, and a dessert. For pete's sake, that's more than I feed my own family! But, as usually happens, my children are scattered to the 4 winds and I'm at loose ends, wasting my time, errr, blogging.

I HATE not having a schedule! Granted, I hate having too much to do, but summer is such a pain. I feel bad for saying that since some of my friends have harder summers than I do and she would probably love a little of mine! My kids swim all morning during swim team, and just generally hang out at the pool to watch the other practices. Then they eat lunch, if I'm lucky, and run off to play with friends, rarely coming home unless I force them. I actually like having my kids around and I look forward to spending time with them that doesn't involve forced labor or schoolwork. Shocker. As it is, I spend a lot of time planning for the next school year, putting off planning, cleaning up the messes the little darlings leave behind when they run out the door, doing laundry, cooking and shopping for food. Hmmm, sounds like a lot of the same stuff I do year round only with no kids underfoot. You'd think I'd be grateful. What I really want is to spend fun time with my kids and have a break from the usual tedium.

Well, swim team will be completely over for another year after tonight's party. Maybe I can drag the younger 3 out to the pool in the mornings before it gets too hot. Force them to have a little fun---like they're not already having it with their friends! We'll hit some of the free movies at the neighborhood theater. Maybe we'll even get to read some books---they had been looking forward to the idea of stories and a fun snack in the afternoons (Not too fun. Don't be impressed). We had planned to read all the books on the shelves that get overlooked.

Will we have a chance to do what we planned? Or will it all get frittered away doing goodness-knows-what at the neighbors' houses and procrastinating on the real work that needs to be done? Okay, I know Rachel is totally laughing at me now because we're complete opposites!