bewitched
by late summer. the water. the sound of the waves. their treasures. innocence. watching them laugh. and walk. good food. eating outside. new recipes. stacks of books. un-opened markers and paintbrushes. new notebooks and learn-to-letter paper for my kindergartener. new shoes.
but don’t envy me too much. this surreal dream world i have been living in has its’ drawbacks: i was waaayyyy behind here at home. it took me a bit to get caught up on my laundry. those piles have a way of growing. we have a mouse in the house. and an impromptu meeting with my facilitator thursday morning made me realize i have to “hit the books”. and come up with lesson “plans”. quick.
or do i? can’t we just sit under the great big, shady elm. read hamlet together. and color pictures of dinosaurs…….yes, that is what we are going to do. start slow. and steady. because i don’t want to be like that angry lady i saw in target yesterday, yelling at her kids as she checked off items on the school supplies list from her kids’ school. though at the end of our trip i sort of was. but what do they expect when they “hide” packages of cookies and kit kats in my basket. later, after a glass of red wine with a popsicle i somehow felt better. like i could conquer the world. the world of homeschooling my 4 children all at once, that is. i swore a new schedule is in order. it is time to rally the troops. they have been slacking too much. and i can’t do everything by myself.
so while we will be spending the next week adjusting. prioritizing. and going to bed earlier. i am not ready to stop having fun simply because it’s back-to-school time.
i am just ready to adjust to a fall-ish rhythm. slow things down a bit. shut out the call of summer to go and do. the idea of order and schoolwork has me sort of bewitched too. balance friends. isn’t that what life is about? figuring out just what it is- and for every family it is different-is half the battle. so what are you doing to achieve it? and why does it seem so elusive….part of being thrown out of the garden you think?
andeverythinginitsplace.wordpress.com 
Well, dear, I could very well be that angry mum at Target. I get spun up ‘cos the lists are never complete and you end up having to take several trips over several days . . . and it is all so petty. For goodness sakes they’ll be asking us to supply the toilet paper next year! Geesh! 🙂 Anyway, I think I might suck back a bottle of ‘red’ to balance out my busy life and very sore back . . . but I know I won’t. I’m too uptight to drink that much. Maybe one glass . . . I will go stitch some more on the bookmark I’m making my son (his request) tonight and I will lug out my sewing machine soon and finish up some projects, BUT . . . I have a few more boxes to unpack and find places to put stuff. You know as well as I do how difficult it can be . . . face to face with my gluttonous shopping, darling memories and so on . . . all very distracting!
BIG HUGS,
Sarah
All school and no wine makes Regan a very dull girl! Slow is good. Keep it happy, calm…I hope you bought the Kit Kats. The only thing better than red wine is chocolate and red wine. Come on over and I’ll make some Sangria and fresh-baked brownies. Just for you.
I bet you could make a red wine popsicle.
Wouldn’t life be so much more interesting if we didn’t have the piles of laundry and dirty dishes calling us back to reality? I could be so much more exciting if those things weren’t a nagging reminder of my responsibilities. You are right, balance is what it’s all about.
what flavor was the popsicle?
we started school just last week and i am already off track, ugh
r
OK…wanna hear about my trip to the grocery store with my 4 kiddos. For some ODD reason my 13yr son is totally annoyed by my 8yr old daughter as she puts her hand on the cart. She knows this drives him nutz-o so she leaves her hand on the cart and he pushes her into the wall (he loves the job of pushing the cart)…she is crying and I am looking down the isle at my other two boys as the older one takes kicks the younger one in the stomach (for fun….karate style kind of moves) didn’t hurt the younger one but it looked awful.
I have really good kids. I just hate shopping with them. sigh.
slurp slurp…I will share that wine and popsicle with you!
I believe I become ‘that lady’ every now and then, especially when shopping with my whole crew. One of my friends says that if you want children to behave in church, you should go to daily Mass … I wonder if that would work on improving their shopping behavior as well??? If only I liked shopping that much, or needed to shop that much. As I’ve said before, internet shopping is soooo attractive right now! Too bad I’m not closer to Fargo where I could actually order groceries online, too.
I like your transition of summer things to fall things, and how it can be a slow transition. That is clearly one of the perks of home schooling … Next week will be our transitional week, trying to get into better routines, so we’re ready to go on the first day of the bigger girls’ school. I won’t start with my preschooler until the next week … Finding the balance. That is key. And it is different for everyone, which is the beauty of it! Yesterday in my meditation, I think the Lord was trying to remind me to keep HIM at the center of the balancing act. That the most important things I do for my family need to bring us all closer to HIM. It was a good reminder for me, as I can get easily caught up in the nitty gritty, which is fine, as long as it’s in its proper place on the list of priorities (#5, not #1). I’m trying to enjoy these last couple weeks of summer AND get ready for fall. I like the new rhythm that it brings to family life, but it’s nice that we’ve had a break from it, too … Take care, Regan, and God bless you and your entire family!
hey, i have seen these pictures a gazillion times and just realized that my daughter has that same dress.
r