As we make the gradual transition from spring days into summer days, I'm finding the need to adjust the order of our days, just a bit. I find it amusing that our "school days" had a much more languid, lazy feel to them than these soon-to-be Summer days.
The sun wakes us earlier each morning, and it is all I can do to keep these kids indoors long enough to eat breakfast and change into real clothes (I am finding "real clothes" to be a somewhat flexible term these days...). In the evening, the darkening of the sky can no longer represent "time for dinner!" to my little crew, as the light is still delightfully present long after eight. And while we all just want to stay outdoors and play and work and play some more, we all need to remember (me included!) that our household responsibilities do not disappear just because it is suddenly warm enough to wear a bathing suit from dawn til dusk.
And so, the order of our days is changing, just a bit at a time. I am working on getting up a bit earlier each day to get a head start on my indoor activities, so that I am available to take the littlest out to play earlier in the day. Regular mealtimes (besides dinner) are becoming more lax, with "grab and go" foods becoming a more popular choice than "sit and linger" options. The goal of all seems to be to spend the most time possible out of doors.
It is really marvelous to me that, although we are spending less time on what would be considered formal education, we are learning so much through regular life: Daddy finds a toad while working the backyard and holds it out for everyone to observe before releasing it into the garden. Jonah helps me pull weeds and carries them to the yard waste bags. The girls can be found on their bellies, relentlessly trying to train pill bugs as personal pets. Ben makes a map of our backyard, complete with secret hiding places and spots for buried treasure. And I'm just drifting around in it all, for the first time trying to learn as much as I can about gardening, stooping here and there to pull weeds or trim back unruly bushes. This is the first time my pregnancy nesting/need for order has extended to outside my home, and I am truly enjoying it.
How do your days change as the weather warms up?
Loving these days where they can just run straight outside: no coat, Crocs on feet, and away they go. Adventure is waiting on their bikes, the sandbox, the swing, their little flower beds need watering...again. (not really, but it is their garden to tend, so I let them) It is so much easier to get 3 kids out of the house in warm weather than our frigid Canadian winters! And yep, they will linger till the last streetlight turns on....if I let them, as that is about 9 pm here! Meals, and I also use that term loosely, are eaten in the front yard on a blanket, in the backyard at their little picnic table - where no doubt half their meal is a mixture of sand and bubble residue - or on the back deck under the gazebo shade. With the sounds of buzzing bees and my water fountain mingling with their happy laughter. Life is definitely less scheduled now....and for this busy, oft tired mama...that is very Ok!
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