The Halfway Point- Part 1

Summer before having kids: sleeping in, watching an endless amount of Golden Girls in the morning, sipping coffee, lounging by the pool, and then spending 4:30-5:30 cramming in all the things I was supposed to do during the day to make it appear to Travis that I had actually been a productive member of society.

Summers with young kids: planning every moment of the day, living for nap time (for the kids and for myself!), endless snacks, and then gladly handing them off to someone better equipped than myself (we had the best sitter- Ms. Joan), to spend 8+ daytime hours with them, and hightailing it to school.

Summers with older elementary age kids: I cherish this time. Our days are mixed with learning, being productive, but also relaxing. Pool time, camps, swim team, time with friends, seeing movies, vacations, late bedtimes and more.

I’m not sure who “they” are (I guess other parents?!), but “they” say you only have 18 summers with your kids, so make the best of them. As this summer comes to a close, it will probably be best for all of us to get back in the routine of school, but I am clinging to this summer extra tight. It dawned on me recently that I’m to the halfway point. I’ve had nine summers with Hayden and Hadley, and I have nine left. I’m guessing as time goes on, they are going to want to be around me less as they gain independence and become the ones at the pool who steer clear of adults….but don’t get it twisted, they’ll still have to swing by my shady spot under the umbrella, interrupt my book reading to ask for money, so there’s always that. As we head into this school year, I thought I’d take a moment to put all of our summer memories in one place. It’s been a great summer; I know I’m blessed to have my summer days with them, but #mamaisstilltired

I’d say the highlight of our summer, for all of us, was adding our dog Homer to our family. We’d lost both of our Boxers, 10 year old Scout and 12 year old Shiloh, within eleven months of each other. My heart wasn’t really ready for a new dog, but my practical side tends to overtake my heart sometimes and summer seemed like the best time to add a dog to our family. After a few weeks of searching on Petfinder, we I found Homer. Travis wasn’t completely on board with a puppy (he definitely wanted another dog—just not necessarily a puppy ;), but I was around the same age as the kids, after losing a dog, then being surprised with a puppy. I knew they’d remember getting him and are also at the age to be of (some) help. When I found Homer, he was named Glorious (and had two brothers Notorious and Victorious). They were 10-12 weeks old and had been abandoned on the side of the road and nursed back to health by the wonderful people at Tails of Hope Rescue in Cincinnati, OH. There was a big name debate in the car, but just as we pulled in the parking lot to pick him up, Hayden suggested the name Homer. (I’m sure thinking about baseball…but I will take a Homer Odyssey reference any day 🙂 We all agreed on the name, and were excited to get him home. He’s supposedly a lab/retriever mix and has been a wonderful addition; we’ve had tons of fun with him this summer. Thankfully, I think we have him house broken, he loves his kennel (although, we realized he knows how to open it, so he’s triple locked in there now!), but of course, nibbles at our ankles and chews on flip flops. Thankfully, he’s cute.

We spend a lot of time at the pool during the summer. To be honest, once we joined this pool a few years ago, summer became a little easier…because activities take less planning…going to the pool is an easy way to burn some energy, see friends, and have a snack or two.

In June, Travis and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary with a nice dinner and then in July, we celebrated Trav’s bday in between baseball games!

Hadley went to sleep away camp for the first time this summer. She was gone from Sunday to Saturday. To say I was more nervous than she was would be an understatement….but as I assumed would be the case, she had the time of her life and barely missed us. She was lucky enough to have a couple of good friends going as well, so that eased my mind with this major milestone! He won’t admit it, while Hayden loved the 1:1 time with us, he missed her. When I picked her up, she said, “Sign me up for next year, and I haven’t brushed my teeth since Monday!” haha I loved ending my day seeing camp pics online! The pics eased my worried heart.

On the 4th of July, we had an awesome opportunity to go to a nearby lake with some friends. It was weird not having Hadley with us, but Hayden and his friends had fun tubing (the moms tubed, too!), swimming, and jumping from the cliffs. We got home just in time to see the fireworks from our favorite spot in town.

While Hadley had a new “first” with camp this summer, Hayden had a “first” with playing summer baseball for the Turkey Feet. He had so much fun with friends, old and new, and learned so much along the way. He loved pitching even if it made me a nervous wreck!

Hayden and Hadley also had a great time attending our church’s Vacation Bible School. The VBS for this summer was “camp” themed. They had an awesome time with their friends (& cousin Wyatt!) singing, playing games, making crafts, cooking s’mores and learning more about the Bible and Jesus.

Real talk: when I set out to write this summer post, I assumed I could fit it all in one post….but I guess we had a busier summer than I thought! Part 2 will be shared tomorrow. If you made it to the end, thanks! If not, this is still a good way to share with family and friends near and far what we’ve been up to…and a way for me to have everything all in one place.

If you need me, you can find me sitting through six hours of professional development today. Summer is officially over for me!

Take care,

Jen

Instagram: @showmeandsweettea