Oh, summer. I will miss you.

There has been more than a little arguing in this family over the past week or two. Tempers have been short at times, mine included. In fact, some moments I have sworn the littlest two in the family were just messing with me in some sort of experiment to test my patience.  I am convinced they schemed together to see just how far they could push me. There have been brief moments when I have had the thought, "Man! These kids need school to start up! because Man! This mom needs school to start up!" I wish away the summer and hate myself for it… but then the very next moment, they get sweet and good to one another and I think, "I don't ever want the school year to start!" So, even with all of the challenges around here lately (two time outs this morning already, in case you were wondering), I am still pretty bummed about school starting on Wednesday.

I've been working in the art room for the past hour or so filling out a mountain of forms for the new school year and starting an etsy order that just came in. I am working to the wonderful sounds of four kids playing and laughing together upstairs. They have instruments and costumes and there is so much giggling going on that I can't help but giggle too. The truth about sibling relationships in our family this summer is when it's bad, it's bad, but when it's good, it's so very good.

School is great and I think we're going to have a good school year, but I will really miss these chunks of time when the kids just play together. There is just not as much time for it once the school year starts back up.

last week's Lego Competition-
To my surprise and happiness, these kids played Legos together at the dining room table for two hours straight!
These are the moments that make unstructured summers so wonderful.