You Know it's Summer When...

Today is the first official day of summer and I really wish I could be like those mothers who love having their kids home all summer, but unfortunately I'm not. I'm trying really hard to enjoy them and not get too caught up in all the messes they create constantly. So in honor of my trying to turn over a new leaf and live in the moment, I have made a "You Know it's Summer When..." list so instead of bottling up my feelings of frustration, I am expressing them through writing. (Look at all I am learning through therapy!:)) Here it goes:
You Know it's Summer When...
*You get to enjoy the aromatics of sweaty, stinky boys in your basement.
*the scissors are constantly sticky from cutting open "Otter-Pops."
*The front door, back door, garage door and basement door are all open at the same time. Do we really need to cool the whole outside too?
*At any given moment there are 10 plus cups sitting on the kitchen counters from kids getting drinks and feeling the need to get a new cup every stinkin time. Where's my sharpie so I can label cups for each kid- for cryin out loud?!?
*Every TV is on, but no one is watching.
*Piles of stuff everywhere- shoes, wrappers, balls, towels, hair bows, stickers, books- whatever!
*You find a sundry of mysterious sticky spots on your floor no matter how many times you clean it.
* Bedtime is whenever your kids fall asleep while watching a movie.
*You clear the neighborhood pool because your 1 year old threw up in it. This may not be a benchmark for summer for all of you, but it was for me today. My sister and I have decided to get a membership to the neighborhood pool and take our kids a couple times a week. We tried to start the summer off right by going today. After much "herding of cats" (i.e.- getting a combined 13 kids to the pool with the appropriate paraphernalia-towels, bathing suits, swim diapers, snacks, money for snacks, sunscreen, goggles, swimsuit cover-ups, etc.) we finally get in the pool with the babies. I found out today Suzie is a pool kamikaze. She just went wadding into the water up to her eyebrows with no thought at all. Everytime I pulled her face out of the water- about 20 times in the first 5 minutes- she came up smiling and laughing. Unfortunately one time she was laughing at the same moment water went into her mouth and she started choking, then coughing, then hurling. ("If you're gonna spew, spew in here." Name that movie!) Despite my sister's suggestion to "just swirl it around", a lifeguard also caught this and the pool had to be closed for 30 minutes while they cleaned it up. Annie of course started announcing to everyone that it was Suzie who threw up. I told her to simmer down. We didn't want to start a lynching! But it all turned out fine and if this sounds like fun to anyone else- you are welcome to join us!
*Your kids can be entertained by the silliest things... for example today my kids and some neighbors took a bucket and filled it with water. Then they swung it around and around and released it. The other kids tried to catch it and thought it was hilarous to get wet.
Ok- so they're not all bad. I realize that kids need this time to unwind and relax. I think I just need to find a way to do the same. I am getting better though. But I did have a Shel Silverstein moment today. I love Shel Silverstein poems and think there is poem for every childhood moment. Here is the one I related with today:
There's too many kids in this tub.
There's too many elbows to rub.
I just washed a behind,
that I'm sure wasn't mine.
There's too many kids in this tub.
I was giving Katie a bath and noticed how red her back was. I could have sworn I put sunscreen on her. But I asked her if I had. She said, "No. I wasn't listening to you and just went in the pool."
There's too many kids to lotion up.
There's too many elbows to rub....