I woke up this morning feeling disgruntled, feeling pressed for time, and overwhelmed by all the household chores that I had to do. I hadn't felt like that in ages and couldn't really figure out why I had woken up so stressed out. And then Elizabeth said, completely out of the blue, "Wow, it's just the weekend, not summer break anymore. That makes the days feel different." And boom! That's exactly it.
Good-bye summer. :(
So, we'll roll with it and adapt but I am not ready for summer to end this year. I have really enjoyed my kids this summer and enjoyed their friends being here for a million sleepovers with endless bowls of popcorn and ice cream, sleeping in, going to the beach, swimming lessons, and the later bedtimes that mean they all get to play with Daddy for longer in the evenings.
However, there are a few things that make this time of the year fun. The one that makes me chuckle the most is that photo above. I glimpsed it as I walked past Libby's room on Thursday afternoon and immediately broke out in a huge grin and ran to the phone to call Tom. "Honey, Libby's laid out her clothes on the floor! And she's working on the legs!" He immediately said, "Quick, grab your camera!"
All last year, Libby laid out her school clothes on her bedroom floor the night before. She includes the shirt, the pants or skirt, the socks or tights, the shoes or boots and then she accessorizes her outfit. It might be a necklace or a headband or maybe just her belt or a barrette but there's always an accessory or two.
And then the real fun begins. She poses her clothes. Truly, she does. If the shirt has long sleeves, she'll move the sleeves into an action pose. If she has a fabric belt, she'll lay out the ends of it as if it's blowing in the wind.
She didn't do this all summer long. So, Thursday, when I walked past her room and saw this, I had to grin. How can you not when you see this photo below? This shirt didn't have sleeves and she didn't have a belt. But, she had long pants. And jeans are a treat reserved exclusively for Fridays at her school. And she worked those pant legs!
So, I'll sigh about summer ending but I'll do it with a huge grin as I look at these photos. :)
