Summer's Here! {PHFR}

It's morning and the sun is shining when I slide the toddler who ended up with us in the middle of the night closer to Daddy's side, sneaking out of bed and down the stairs. It's six o'clock but the sun is already streaming in the kitchen windows and I set to work, packing a lunch for us to take on today's adventure. My husband meets me a few minutes later, sleepily kissing me before starting the coffee. Oh, these sweet summer mornings. My favorite.

"Is it summer yet?" Jonah wants to know. Fiona is very factual about the actual date of the first day of real summer (in typical big sister style), but we've unofficially dispensed with the traditional school days and moved into full on unschooling summertime mode. "Yep." Daddy's grilling several times a week. I can hardly snap pictures of the older kids because they are a blur, flying out the door first thing in the morning and moving until day's end. The babies are in a near constant cycle of sandbox, water, swing all day long. We are spending much more time outside than in, and most of us even have a tiny bit of a tan. The kids are all signed up for summer reading and the only time they can be found sitting still is when they are nose-deep in a book. My oldest already at the halfway point, trying to see how quickly he can tackle 600 minutes of reading this year.

Yes, Summer is here for our family. As always, I look at the calendar and realize that it's going to fly right by. There are so many things - good things - to do and see. I love the natural shift right into this sort of living. How I choose quicker dinners to toss at the kids because spending hours in the kitchen just isn't where my head is these days - and all they want for dinner is watermelon and hamburgers anyway. How they make up elaborate outside games that keep them engrossed from dawn well passed dusk. How I occasionally sight all 6 of them working on something together - that really is my favorite part. It's in summer that I notice how my kids are growing  - taller and sweeter every day. It's in summer that I can latch more fully on to the hope that it's all really going to be alright.

It's in summer that I feel like, after 9 long months of holding my breath, I can finally breathe easy. Life just keeps chugging right along and it's good. It really is.

One by one, our brood joins us downstairs. "What are we doin' today, Mom?" the kids want to know. And the very best part of summer is in the answer: "Whatever we want to."

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