Vida. Risa. Amor.

Time seems to be flying on by, and it is already that first weekend after the first "week" of school, (though it was actually only a 3 day week since they started on Wednesday).  This year we have a freshman in high-school, a 6th grader, a 2nd grader, and a soon-to-be-in-preschooler.  On the first day of school I thought I'd do the usual "first day of school routine" with the rest of the parents and stay to watch the kids go off to class...but I was ever so politely, yet firmly, asked to leave since the principal decided she'd like to keep the playground a "safety zone" from day one.  Odd.  I really didn't quite know what that meant at first, (my brain was still adjusting to being up at 6:30 a.m.),  but I eventually figured out I needed to go.  First day's back to school are over-rated anyway.  And so I took my last side-kick back home with me to figure out what to do with ourselves.  I wasn't ready to come home to my too-quiet house...but then I remembered how much easier it is to clean a house without a bunch of kids actually in it.

Filling in gaps of time seems to still be this season's theme.  It is still 107 degrees, there's no real homework, and I'm noticing my kids are still doing the same things they did day in and day out before school started.  Wii.  Club Penguin.  Facebook.  TV.  And my sink forever still has dishes in it.

Ugh.  And so I digress....(I really don't have a clue what that word means, but my sister in law mentions it once in a while in her blog and I like how it sounds professional and sassy)....and so I'll digress a bit more...

So once again I am challenged with how else to spend our time on long hot days, and taking bored boys to the gym and pool is usually the only other real option.  By now I've got the drill memorized:  pack snacks, drinks, workout gear, suits, load up all 3 bags, purse, one diet cherry coke, one milk sippy cup and we all go on our merry way.  But after I pulled into the gym parking lot after the 20 minute drive it took us to get there, I looked in my rear-view mirror to see my 4 year old was totally zonked.  Out.  Asleep.  Not waking up.  I had a lot of stuff to carry and adding a heavy, hot 4 year old didn't sound so appealing....and I also didn't want to be one of those Moms that drops off their sleeping toddler in a noisy child care center just to get a lame workout in, so I turned the van around and took us back home.  Turns out that wasn't so great a decision.

A 4 year old boy who falls asleep clutching his goggles and wakes up finding out he's not going to get to swim will cry for 45 minutes on how mad he is at you for not taking him to the gym until his lips start quivering.  It was so sad it was funny....and it was so funny it was sad.  And my lips started quivering too....I really had nothing else I really wanted to do anyway so I caved and so I drove us all back.  Who knew I'd be spending more than an hour of my day driving in triple digit temperatures.  The truth is you simply cannot survive an Arizona summer with kids without access to a pool...and you really won't care how far you have to drive to get to it.

I love my kids.  Time management is just one of my "job descriptions", and so I plan most of my days around what my kids need and where they want or need to be.  Saturdays will soon be filled up with soccer, softball, and football games...and for now, we have a lot of free time.  Sometimes that feels like an open invitation for boredom, but I keep reminding myself that time with them now is a gift.

I think Gandalf was talking to Mom's as well as Frodo in the Fellowship of the Ring:  "All we need to decide, is what to do with the time that is given to us."

I hope to always remember to make the most of my time with them...they're growing up so fast.  Too fast.