Thursday, June 15, 2017

The Most Magical Summer Yet

Since the girls were babes, I’ve dreamed of staying home with them over the summers and enjoying laid-back mornings, lounging at the pool, afternoon movies, seeking out adventures, trips to the library — ya know, a completely realistic idea of a summer home with multiple kids. Ha! 

But for the past seven years, that magical summer has eluded me. I’ve always worked, which, even though I was working from home, led to stressful days and very few adventures. The girls were also little and naps were still a thing, so our days were very routine-based. And then two years ago, I did take the summer off from my job, but I went and had a baby, so I was pretty much useless all summer. 

But guys, this summer, this summer is totally different. Thanks to Scott’s hard work, I’m able to drastically reduce my hours at work and focus on nurturing that magic. We wake when we’re ready. We eat breakfast at a leisurely pace. We set up a backyard water park with two baby pools, a sprinkler and a water table. We hit the splash parks and regular parks to spice things up. With so much less stress than previous summers, we are dominating swim lessons and theatre camp and spontaneous trips to the zoo. 

We have several swimsuits hanging in the shower, beach towels drying on racks. 

There are late nights back from the baseball fields, hands sticky from cotton candy and popcorn. 

We are nearing our second sleepover with the cousins. The first was full of adventures as we watched the sunset from the tallest point in town, played in our clothes at the splash park and ate ice cream. 


The other day I was at Target, pushing all three kids in one of those gigantic carts and out of no where, I just started smiling. My heart was so full of happiness, it felt like it was bursting open. I realized in that hot parking lot as they were each jockeying for the best seat in the cart, I had finally found my magical summer. Yes, the trips and adventures are downright delightful, but really what I’ve been missing all these years is the time. The time to truly enjoy my kids — all the smiles, all the laughs, all the tears, all the fights. There is no greater magic than that.