I can’t think of a title for this post

Was it seriously just ONE week ago that I wrote a blog post mourning the fact that summer is half over? How could my mood have changed so dramatically in just SEVEN days?
Before I go on, let’s get one thing straight. I love summer. I love spending time with my kids. I love the lack of schedule. I love long days and hot weather and running around!
But I’m having these moments when I’m really looking forward to the start of school. Wait! What? Wash my mouth out with vinegar!
It’s just getting harder and harder to keep everything in balance. We’ve finally reached this point in life in which the pre-teen doesn’t want to do little kid stuff anymore. The toddler loves to do little kid stuff.
The boys have developed very diverse interests. One is obsessed with sports. The other loves making movies, drawing and creating things with Lego.
The girls are five years apart. As hard as they try, a toddler and a 7-year-old, who is going on 14, are not always going to agree on what would be the best way to spend a day. The two middle children are always, always, always driving each other crazy. Of the three older kids, one is extremely relational and can make a new best friend anywhere we go. Another child is a homebody and wants to stay home every. single. day. The third is just easy going and can adapt to almost any situation.
As the mom, it still seems to fall on me to come up with ways for us to spend our days. I try to keep structure by giving them chores, worksheets and reading assignments in the morning. I try to balance a few outings each week with playdates and time at home just doing nothing. I try to work it all around a 2-year-old’s nap schedule.
But I can’t make everyone happy.
We’ve had a really low-key week this week. I had to get caught up on a lot of stuff for my job, so I haven’t had time to schedule and arrange and plan stuff to do. This morning, I suggested that we either drive an hour one way to a really cool state park or an hour the other way to a beach. I didn’t have time to find friends who might want to go with us, so everyone voted to go to the local pool where we have been 100 times before! (Get over your first world problem, right?!)
The hubs won’t be home until later than usual so I suggested we take our dinner and go to a nice forest preserve to eat. “Do we have to?” one moaned. (Again, tough problem. Boo hoo.)
I’m kind of glad that I’m starting to have this second half of summer mood shift. I’m sure that in four or five more weeks I’ll be ready for school to begin! After three years of home schooling, it’s going to be a dramatic change for us. In the past, I dreaded the start of school because of the added pressure that I was the teacher! As we get closer to the first day of school, I find myself feeling more and more relieved at the choice that we made.
I’m ready for everyone to go off in the mornings to their own classrooms with their own friends. I’m ready for them to do their thing during the day while the toddler and I do toddler stuff. People keep asking me what I’ll do with myself all day long. If this were my firstborn, I don’t think anyone would ask that!!
I’m really looking forward to signing her up for some classes at the park district and having time to maybe go to the grocery store (gasp!), schedule a play date for HER (what?!?), or go to a morning Bible study with other moms (really?!?). Whoa.
So, this is one of those blog posts where I’m just hoping someone can relate. I probably sound as whiny as my children right now. Is anyone else out there in radio land able to relate just a tiny bit?