Just Give Me The Dirt: Day 166

I'm not sure if the day count is correct. I just took 180 and subtracted 14. I think that's how many days my kids have been in school. I think 180 is the number of days they are required to go. Really, I've lost count. What I care about is that we have 14, FOURTEEN DAYS LEFT!! 14 more 6:15 AM alarms, 14 x3 more water bottles, 14 x3 more lunches, 14x3 more signatures in home work folders, 14 more afternoon/evening routines that feel like 400 yard sprints. 14, FOURTEEN! And I know that secretly, or maybe not so secretly, the teachers are counting down also. I cannot blame them. That's a lot of days with my cherubs. A lot of days when I know my cherubs were not cherubs. A lot of days that my cherubs were more like Tasmanian Devils. Part of parenting is being able to realistically evaluate your child and their not so angelic capabilities.

Reality check complete in the LJ house.

I know what teaching my children for 180 days feels like.
I know that they get sluggish, unfocused, and Lucy gets spastic and hyper, and resembles Phoebe Buffay more than Lucy Littlejohn.
I know they get annoying, whinny, and caught in your apron tails.
I know Julia gets apathetic and frustrated quickly. She tried to convince me the other day she had to repeat second grade because of a 60 she received on some test. DRAMA.
And mercy, I know Katie begins to churn with anxiousness when she has to stare down state testing. While she sleeps, I am going to have tattooed to her head, "do your best and forget the rest!" I think that is biblical and  fulfills this commandment, "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead."

There is no delusion of grandeur in this house.

But wait.... maybe there is.
Because I cannot wait to have their rotten little souls back at home. :)
I cannot wait to wake up slowly with them with no heavy pressures of school weighing us down.
I cannot wait to stay up way past bedtime because we can.
I cannot wait to excuse them from showers for weeks on end, because the pool will suffice.
I cannot wait for them to play with their brother, as he has desperately missed their company.
I cannot wait for them to be well rested.
I cannot wait to go on road trips with them.
I cannot wait to tackle the library with them and see what they pick to read all summer.
I cannot wait for them to experience CRS, a WHOLE BUNCH!
I cannot wait to see their Caucasian skin deepen to indian-esk, because of the summer long companionship of the sun.
I cannot wait for the opportunity for more deliberate conversations with them besides, "what does homework look like for tonight?" And, "why didn't you eat your lunch?" :)
I cannot wait to take them all to have lunch dates with their dad.

I CANNOT WAIT for summer time.

And after two months of summer break, when I am totally over all the dreamy expectations:

And they are fighting with one another at 7am over who lost the TV remote, and who shattered mom's favorite mug.
And they never go to bed at night because the sun is up too darn long.
And they stink with MS sweat because they never shower because they think the pool is suffice.
And they pick on their brother because they've forgotten how to get along.
And they are so well rested they're radiating with energy.
And they trash my van on road trips.
And when we go to the library (where the librarian hushes us) they take forever finding just the right book so they can score a killing of AR points come August.
And they are sick of camp, and they boss the Chiefs around because they are way too comfortable with their mom's summer job.
And they are sick of the pool and burnt to crisp with skin cancer as an inevitable outcome.
And when we have mind numbing conversations that will just be endless circles, and at some point I will say, "this conversation is over!" MOTY (mother of the year!)
And they refuse to go have lunch with their father because Louisville is too long of a drive.

We will ALL be waiting with baited breath for August 7th to roll around and school to begin again.
We we will all be saying, "WE CANNOT WAIT FOR SCHOOL TO START!"

Until then, we are going to try and soak up our summer together. We are going to try and build memories without killing each other. Because the count down is on. We only get so many summers together before they start working full time summer jobs, studying abroad, going to summer school because they failed second grade (totally joking ;), and flying out of the nest we built for them.

Here's to the summer of 2014! Enjoy!
~Sara