Countdown....

I can't believe there are only....

• 7 more days in all


• 6 more non-school nights


• 5 more days to practice our new morning routine


• 4 more with-the-kids-all-day days


• 3 more long work days


• 2 more "Kloe and Jacob" days


• 1 more challenging trip to the grocery store

....until school starts!

Summer always goes by so fast. There are lots of things that are great about summer, but for a working mom there are also some really hard things about summer. Like my kids asking why we can't go to the park or swimming or even just stay home and play every day, like their friends do. And why I have to go to work when none of their friends' moms have to. It's hard for them and for me. But this is part of our path for now, and so we make the best of it and have all the fun we can squeeze in!

I always want to do so much more during the summers than we ever have time to do, but this summer I have only worked 3 days per week so we actually have been able to do more fun things than we have in the past.

We have gone swimming, traveled to a small water park in a nearby town, taken two trips to the mountains, made the annual trek to my brother's house for the 4th of July, participated in a few fun programs at the library, went to an early morning (well, 9:00 is early for us!) dollar movie, had popcicles and ice cream and shaved ice and homemade orange juliuses, and had several different versions of "Jacob Day" and "Kloe Day", where the kids each got to choose one fun thing they wanted to do.

So it has been fun....I just always wish there was more time. Even so, both kids are ready for school to start and for mom to go back to working short days, so that when they're not at school, they're with me. It looks like this year's work schedule will be a bit easier than last year's, so hopefully "back to school" won't equal "end of fun".

And we do have one more fabulously fun thing yet to do before school starts....Kloe's Birthday! My baby girl will turn 9 on Friday, and she will finally get to have that swimming party she's been wanting for so long!

Now that's the real thing we're counting down to! :)


[By the way, "Kloe" is also a pseudonym....this time chosen by me. Kloe is actually the girl-name we had picked out for our 2nd child....who turned out to be a boy! :D ]