School's Out for the Summer!

Woohoo! Summer is here, my friends! Do you remember the last freaking-awesome day of school when you where a kid? The cleaning out of the desk, and the packing up of the backpack with all sorts of newly found objects, signing yearbooks, and hugging EVERYBODY. In my memory, it was the most thrilling, most mind-blowingly magnificent day all year. I think I may have shed tears of joy, more than once.  

Will I ever have that feeling again? I hope so, but it wasn't to be this year. Part of me actually started to dread summer (is this what getting older does?). It's the whole "less schedules, more free time" thing. The things that I used to dream about as a kid. But every momma knows, more free time for the kiddos does not equate to more free time for mommas. 

Surprisingly, these first couple of weeks have been filled with some sweet, quiet moments (and a whole lot of streaking through the house, covered in mud, screaming the lyrics "Do you want to build a snowman?" at the top of little lungs). 

Ahhh, sweet summer. 

So, I haven't, as of yet, taken any shots of the streaking (your welcome). But here's some of our first glimpses of warm summer breezes, and long summer days. 

The mister hanging the tire swing. Absolutely worth the hours it took to get that rope over that branch thirty feet up. 

Magnolia chillin poolside, while contemplating the important issues of life, like, "Do these ruffles make my tummers look bigger?" (Yes, dear, and it is doing lovely things for your dimpled knees as well!) 

Addy is the queen of making outdoor roughage into some crafty thing or other. Not sure what purpose these little stick thingies hold, but they look super cool.

What do I do to celebrate summer living? You know, besides cheerily checking out weighty historical novels from the library, that then sit on my nightstand, promising me the sweet lie that summer brings all sorts of free time for reading quietly to one's self, only to weepily be returned to the library with just the first seven pages read? 

I do pancakes. I don't know why, I just do. They make me feel good. I feel like whipping up pancakes gives everything this happy glow. They are fast, require no oven, and make every single warm body at the table very smiley. They are basically a miracle food. 

Stunned silence after consuming her fair share of said miracle food. 

The mister intends to spend his free hours in the summer chopping down trees. Men. They completely stump me sometimes (see what I did there?).

Hot and sticky will be here soon enough. For now, we will revel in the happy morning light dancing in the windows, the distant smell of honeysuckle in the afternoon, and the soft evening sounds of whispering, non-sleeping girls with too much sunshine in their windows to sleep. Who knows? Maybe this week I will even read a few pages of that book, get to page 13, or something. 

There is nothing left to anticipate but a night sky filled with the twinkling light of fireflies, and I've heard tell they are spectacular around here!