Day 14

Well.....today is the much anticipated/much dreaded Last Day of Summer. I'm not quite sure where I stand on the subject. It changes from any given moment (when my kids are fighting non-stop I want nothing more than to ship them off to school in Switzerland) but mostly I'm just a little sad. I hate the end of summer. It brings with it a feeling of dread that, for me, is most likely related to the fact that I Despise (with a capital D) the coming of Winter. But that's another subject for another post. Today, I'm going to list some of the Good AND Bad about this, our last day of Summer Vacation. Boo hoo.

Good:

1. At the very tippity top of my good list is the fact that I don't have to drag FOUR kids here, there, and everywhere whenever I have few errands to run. It is NOT a treat.....for them, or me. I HATE having to take them everywhere I go.....whether it's to the grocery store to grab one item, or the Doctor's office, or even the evil of all evils with four children......the MALL. (I have avoided that place like the plague this Summer.) It's very nice to only have to take up to two kids in places.......even if they are my two worst ones. Oh well.

2. Also, in conjunction with the above......from now on whenever I go places people won't look at me as if I'm the "freak" lady with four kids. I mean, seriously people, FOUR kids is NOT that many kids, is it? Please keep your comments about how it "looks like I have my hands full" and "Wow....are those all yours?" to yourself. I don't need to hear them. Since when did having four kids put you in the same classification as the "bearded lady?" I am not a freak, people.....jeesh. I'm just extremely fertile. So Get over it. And keep your "captain obvious" comments to yourself. Thank you.

3. You know how when your kids play outside all day and when the come inside they, er, well, they stink.......Badly. The only thing that I can compare them to is a wet dog. (That's exactly what they smell like. It is disgusting.) I have taken to giving them showers instead of baths so that they don't have to wallow in a tub that smells like butt. It is not pretty, I tell ya. Well.....now that only 2 of my kids spend every waking moment of their dad gum lives outside and the other two are in school most of the day........my wet dog smell is cut in HALF. It's almost like a little piece of Heaven.....stinky heaven, but heaven nonetheless.

4. Maybe now all of the incessant fighting between the two oldest {may} stop. (Yeah.....and monkeys might fly out of my butt. )But still......a girl can dream can't she?

5. Finally! Nap times can resume. And I'm not just talking about for Braden. There is nothing better than taking the phone off the hook, locking the house down, and hunkering down for a good old fashioned afternoon nap. I'm not ashamed to admit it.....I love a good nap. Some days there's just nothing better.

6. It's no secret that my kids ate me out of house and home this summer. The little lunch mouths wanted to eat ALL DAY LONG. I couldn't tell if all the snacking was because they were bored, hungry, ornery, feisty, tired, happy or what have you. There was no rhyme or reason to their snacking, but I've got news for you......that gravy train has ended. Now I can get back to being the (semi-nazi ) snack mom who dictates when and where you can have a snack and therefore can finally keep a package of goldfish around her house for longer than 37 seconds.

Bad:

1. Well, I have finally lost my biggest helpers. Zachary and Kylie are invaluable to me when it comes to helping me with the younger two. They watch the kids while I exercise. When I'm in the shower. While I'm sitting on the porch chatting it up with my neighbors. They are always willing (when bribed with money) to help me when I ask. I don't know what I'm going to do without them. Now their chores will fall by the wayside and I will have to do all the crumby little jobs that I hate like emptying the garbage and unloading the dishwasher. Now I will have to have kids "all up in my grill" when I'm trying to exercise. Now I will have to put the house on lock-down when I have a shower for fear that one of the younger kids will escape and be out in the road playing with knives.... or something to that extent. It's no fun at all.

2. No more random, spur of the moment trips to St. George where we can go and live there for days on end. Dang that school. It really messes with a lady's plans.

3. I was very, very, spoiled this summer. For the first time in my life (since having kids) I was able to sleep in every day this summer. Sleeping in for me is any time after 8:00 a.m and it happened so frequently and was so dang lovely that I'm not sure I can give it up. I might have to go through a 12-step program just so I can resume my regular up-at-the-butt-crack-of-dawn routine. Plus, I hate, hate, hate setting my alarm. It gives me anxiety. It makes me watch the clock all night long and I find myself constantly counting how many hours, minutes, or seconds I have left of sleep. It find it SO not pleasant.

4. I felt like we didn't do enough this summer. (Of course, I go through this every summer. But still.....) We didn't go swimming enough.....see as many movies.....go camping. We didn't hike as much as I wanted, visit as many places.....you catch my drift. We had fun, but did we have enough fun? I guess there's always next summer.....

5. I am always worried about what sorts of things my kids will pick up from other kids on the playground. Will they learn the ever popular sayings: "Milk, milk, lemonade".......(you know the rest) or how about "Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees, look at these." (Oh yes, my friends, both of these sayings were learned on the playground when I was a wee lass. Lovely.) And I never shall forget how my 6 year old came home talking about the Vanessa Hudgens "nude picture" cell phone scandal. Aye aye aye. Can't I just keep them in a bubble forever where we never have to talk about sex, or bodily functions, or body parts, or any of that disgusting stuff that inevitably is going to be taught to my kids by some little punk on the playground!

6. I'm not gonna lie.....I really am going to miss them. I swear. Cross my heart and hope to die. For all their trouble.....I do LOVE THEM like crazy. Here's to a great school year......

08.18.09