Grateful

I am so thankful for lazy summer days. The kind of days where we start the morning off lying on the couch laughing and playing in each other's hair. A hurried breakfast of cereal is gulped down and teeth brushed (and yes, blue toothpaste is smeared all over the counter, mirror and sink) and then we breeze out of the house and over to the pool.

I love the calm feeling of an empty day. Where there is no school, no dance classes or meetings to go to. I relish the knowledge that ponytails on all three of us girls will be sufficient for a whole week and that it doesn't matter if Porter-Pot wears his striped shirt with his plaid shorts and cowboy boots. I'm loving our spur-of-the-moment trips to the park.

Jumping on the tramp under the stars, long, sticky bike rides, late lunches of leftovers and afternoons of reading Little House on the Prairie together (We're on the second to last book!). Balloon fights, Otter Pops, all the H2O and Jake and the Neverland Pirates one could ever want to watch. And, of course, lots of Kool Aide.

I'm even adjusting to the slippery tracks of water and grass that seem to always be running from the back door to the kids' rooms. And I don't even get upset when I see that two little girls have gotten into my craft supplies and messed them up and spilled a whole container of beads on the floor. Or when a certain little rascal steals all of my elastic to use as whips/ropes/ziplines.

I believe that these are the days that will shape my children into the people they will be. Not the endless music, sports, dance classes, nor the homework that seems to take over more and more of my kitchen table. They'll learn patience in trying to sneak up on the ever-elusive lizard that makes daily laps in our backyard. They learn arithmetic while trying to figure out just how many times they can get away with jumping back into the pool before mom threatens to take away swimming privileges for a week.

They're learning tenderness by comforting their baby brother while mom rushes to make him another bottle. Responsibility from seeing how quickly their brand-new crayons melt when left in the burning hot garage. They are even learning how to manage money while saving up for different activities on their job charts. Compassion from seeing just how bad it hurts someone else when they are left out from a game.

They are thinking, creating, bargaining, sharing, and yes, they are fighting too. But the fights are becoming fewer and farther between. And sometimes these squabbles make me laugh out loud (especially when they fight over who is going to put the utensils away from the dishwasher).

So, thank you, Heavenly Father, for summer days. For these times we have to just be together. To meet with friends and family that normally we only see on holidays because the days are just too full when school is smooshed in there. Thank you for sun burns, for honey bees, splinters and sticky floors. Thank you for kites, bikes, band aids and the little attachments that fit on the end of the hose to help blow-up those tiny water balloons.

I am not looking forward to the end of these days. Not at all. But I'm trying to focus on the here. The now.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a bunch of nearly-black bananas calling me to turn them into some yummy bread for breakfast tomorrow.

Oh, and I am very, very thankful for aerosol sunblock. I would like to kiss the person who came up with that.