July 28, 2014

A Summer Balancing Act



That's what it feels like as I try to prepare for the upcoming school year, take care of home improvement and maintenance all the while incorporating fun family time with the boys.  It's always like this at the end of the July and early August.  All of a sudden the clock starts ticking and there's so much still to do!  Currently, I have four repair contractors scheduled and a fifth to call (for the furnace cleaning I always forget to do).  Some of the work is on the exterior of the house and I hope I can sneak away on those days.  For the indoor work, I have to be home and that limits our activities quite a bit. It will be too noisy to do much inside, so I hope the weather holds out and we can have some fun in the front and back yards.  I've been told that each job will take 1 full (possibly two) day(s).  I really hate being tied down like that.  What's the alternative though?  There isn't one.  Houses get old, things need to be replaced and repaired and yes, I save all this up for the end of summer.  Every year.

It has been unseasonably cool, so we've only visited the community pool once.  I did want to be sure that we got a trip to the beach in though.  Along with a day at the state fair, that is a top priority.  We had a fun day last week although Liam was a bit cranky.  I'm fairly certain he hadn't had enough sleep the night before.  When he's sleep-deprived, he is very negative.  He complained all day--at each and every lakeside activity.   For the next few nights, I made sure he got lots of sleep (11 hours is always my goal for him).  He hasn't had cranky day since.  Well, not overly cranky, anyway.


We have a few things left on our bucket list but for the most part, I can say we've done everything we wanted--and more!  Henry is finishing his two week session of enrichment classes.  They are held on the beautiful campus of the school I dreamed he'd attend.  "Dream" is the right word because that is all it is--the tuition is 3x as much as what I pay for parochial school.  Henry's (and soon to be Liam's) current school serves its purpose.  For the most part, I like it well enough.  There are always some bumps and hurdles because we are not Catholic and I'm not a stay-at-home mom but I think those things bother me much more than Henry.  He likes it there, he has lots of friends and all of the adults are good to him.  Sometimes you have to know when to stop dreaming and just be thankful for what you have.

Beach food a la Liam


5 comments:

  1. Love all three pictures!!!! It's even harder to be tied down when the weather is way too perfect to be anywhere but at home.

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  2. Sounds like a great summer as you kick in to holy-cow-where-did-it-all-go mode. We're doing the same thing here... although the kids are oblivious. :)

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  3. "Sometimes you have to know when to stop dreaming and just be thankful for what you have." Words to live by!

    Your boys look like they're enjoying the summer! I hope you get everything done that needs to be done in the next few weeks.

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  4. How is summer almost over? Glad you've been able to do most of your bucket list. Hope the home repair stuff goes smoothly!

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  5. I feel like I'm in the same boat as you - Tiara, in the states their summer holidays are different than ours. I'm balancing wrapping up my mat leave, making my summer memorable for the kids, trying to do back to school prep at nights, and still settling into the house. Good luck getting everything done.

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