Summer Start

We're barely into summer break and I'm wondering what happened that it's been a week since I've been here. There was all the end of school activities that needed to be chaperoned, an ordination celebration, and a graduation with accompanying cake (and wait ‘til you see the cake) that filled the week and flowed over into the weekend. 

Monday we took pause, played games and just spent time together. It was wonderful.

This week we struggled a bit with the adjustment to summer. What this means is that about every thirty minutes or so someone asked, "What can we do now Mama?" I responded by suggesting four or five things that got shot down immediately. It took me about three times through this routine to remember, "I'm not the cruise director for this summer break. You have a house and yard full of things to do. Figure it out." 

Today it was better. There was a Monopoly game upstairs, Play Dough on the kitchen table and Mackenzie out helping a young mother with several small kids. We ended the day by hitting the library and that was followed by an hour of blissful silence in the house. We're settling in.

All of that was coupled by the fact that Nelson got out of the car in the garage one day last week and pointed out that he borrowed a steam cleaner for our carpets. Three days of back-breaking 4 to 5 hour sessions later, I have managed to steam clean the carpet (note this is not plural) in one (yes, also not plural) room. What I have is a very clean carpet and a strong resolve to never do that myself again. Whatever it costs to higher someone to clean them for me is worth every single penny.

So there you have it: a busy week, a time of adjustment and a lesson learned. Pretty good start to summer.