Count Down to Summer Vacation Continued . . .

Nine more days! Today's "gearing up for summer" task is one that always helps me get my head on straight and feel organized: make sure all the summer activities and vacations are on the calendar. It seems like an obvious thing to do, but if I don't sit down and pull out all my schedules and get all the vacations written down, my head feels like a jumble and we end up missing something or getting double booked. It also seems that if we don't plan ahead and set aside specific plans for our family time, we are easily derailed by other non-family things that come up and we end up feeling frustrated and bugged that we keep having to put off the things we have been wanting to do.

Summer Vacation Countdown:

Reasons I Can't Wait for Summer!

#2 The big kids help entertain the little kids. Even the four year olds need a change. They are bored of my company, and I am ready to have a break from trying to help them stay occupied, or trying to convince them that they are not constantly starving and do not have to eat every half hour.

The big kids do a great job of keeping the little kids busy. Even if they are not actively playing with the twins, the twins will often want to watch them and then get ideas from them of something they want to play on their own. It is so great to have them distracted and makes it easier for me to get the housework done so that I can spend more quality time with them instead of a few minutes here and there scattered in between laundry, dishes, budgeting, etc.

AND, with my twelve year old at home, I will be able to sneak out the the grocery store on my own. That can be truly heavenly.

On another note -

When called in for family prayer this morning my nine year old daughter, Charity, came in from the backyard swinging around her metal softball bat. She banged it on the tile floor and instantly froze. We could see a small hairline crack where the bat had hit. She looked horrified so I didn't scold her. Just when we had all gathered for prayer we heard a loud ''Pop!" from the kitchen. The crack had extended and become more noticeable. It was Charity's turn to pray; the prayer mostly consisted of, "Please bless that the crack won't get any bigger, that it won't be too noticeable and that the tile won't fall apart . . ." Lesson learned?