On summer and dinner and school...

So it would seem that we decided to pack the end weeks of summer as full as humanly possible. However, the last of the company has gone home. The kids are sleeping in their own beds. And we are days away from our full-on school schedule. I'm, of course, completely unprepared. Ready but not quite prepared. I need to pick up supplies. And print some things off, add some things to Nicholas ipad, and order a book or two. I am so ready to slip into our daily routine though.

It always feels like when we get back to school, get in a routine and plan our days, that everything seems to work better. Meals are planned. Schedules are kept. Budgets are watched. Then summer comes and it's just a free for all of travel, spending, sleeping, staying up, bug spray, camp fires, thrown together meals, fast food, and ice cream. So. Much. Ice Cream. It's wonderful and exhausting and by this time of the year, I'm ready to reign everyone in and breathe.

So today I am catching up on the laundry. I am making grocery lists and meal plans and filling in school paperwork. I need to pick up a planner as I'm about to run out of days on mine. I need to load some binders for some kiddos. I have much to print and laminate (PRESCHOOL! FUN!) I have recipes for goop and salt dough to gather (got to hook them with fun projects early in the year, yo!)

I simply can't wait to catch up in the grocery department either. Can't wait to plan meals that consist of more thought than, Hey, there's a pack of hot dogs in the bottom of the freezer. Only one or two have freezer burn. Score! It's time to sit down to meals where there are veggies. And lunches that have some nutritional value. Meals that have a plan. That are eaten on real plates.

And we'll wander into September with a full schedule. And hearts that are still full of a summer of love and family and fun. We'll ease into days of books and football. The golden evening sunlight and the cool breezes will start to find us. We'll get a little more sleep. Drink a little more coffee. Eat a few more vegetables. Before we know it we'll be waking up to sweatshirts and socks. We'll enjoy the ebbs and flows in the seasons of our life here. And take a moment to pause. To breathe. And then to jump into our days and pray we can hold on to our enthusiasm until we can get to Fall Break!