Summer

I have just come to the close of what, in my world, was the first day of summer.  Sure, the calendar says we have several more weeks until summer begins.  But, as every parent knows, summer starts when school stops. 

Today was a little bit of joy. Because, at 9:30 my kids were all still in their jammies with crazy hair.  This morning we made muffins.  Morning muffins from scratch...because we had time to do it.  And the kids asked if we could have muffins all summer long for breakfast because we have no reason to hurry.

At eleven my friend stopped by to ask us to go swimming.  So, we changed out of our PJ's and put on our swim gear.  Hours later we were sunburned but happy and headed back to the house.  The kids lounged and the littlest ones took naps.  When they woke up we realized that I need to brush up on my sunscreen application skills...look at this sweet baby with the stripe on her head.

My oldest asked me for a glass of lemonade and a few minutes later I found her like this:

Blissful.  Sunning and reading and sipping her lemonade in the yard.  I could almost feel her tranquility from where I stood.  We had leftovers for dinner and spent the evening playing with friends.  Lots of little bare feet and sunned faces ran around and made so much noise the adults had to speak a little louder to hear each other.

It was past bedtime when we got home but there was still time for popsicles and stories.  Because tomorrow I will not worry about homework or if the school clothes are clean or if we are on time. Tomorrow I will play with my kids.  And if they sleep in that's OK.  And if we want to make muffins or pancakes or cinnamon rolls for breakfast that's OK too.  We might hunt for bugs or read a whole chapter book in one sitting. They're all mine.  My own three beautiful curious little kiddos and it's up to us what we will do with the next few months.  I needed today.  I need summer. 

Call me crazy.  But I don't think structure is my thing.

Tell me, what do you love about summer?