My house has been crazy since school let out for the summer. Every year, I am as bad as the kids and get all excited about summer vacation. About one week into summer, after I have slept in for a few days and done a little extra cleaning, I look around and panic. There are six children in my house who are starting to get bored. My oldest is self occupying with a job and classes (I can check him off the list). Then next child in line is Brynna. She has graduated from cosmetology school and is looking for a job. She is going to have lots of down time (I can see the battles ahead already!). Shelly is next and all of her friends are in Monroe, which is 30 minutes away from my house and not an easy drop off place. She is also looking for a job. Jason has a friend on every corner in our small town and frequently brings home a friend or two (that just adds to the number of kids in my house on any given day). Nathan and Dylan are still young enough to need planned play dates and entertaining on a regular basis. Summer is shaping up to be busier than the school year, I think. The second week of summer begins with me cursing the dishwasher because the kids are using enough dishes to run it twice a day. They are eating food at a rapid rate and the swimming pool towels are every where! The Grandmother's (my mother, my step-mother, and my mother-in-law) all recommend putting those children to work. This is a fine idea but all of them have forgotten the amount of organization and motivational tactics required to engage six children in summer chores. However, I am feeling strong at the beginning of the summer so the charts go up and the nagging begins. Bartering, treats and bribes are all high on my list of motivational tactics. Pretty soon things are shaping up nicely around here. I hope I can remain strong and consistent the whole summer. My husband knows me better than that and reminds me that my pretty charts are usually under the refrigerator by August. I just ignore him for now.
The middle of June seems to bring in the buddies and neighborhood friends. Imagine this for a minute. Each child in the family brings home a friend for dinner or to spend the night. That would amount to twelve children in my house for the evening. It looks something like this. Michael has two buddies over to work on a car in the garage. It looks like they are doing more socializing than mechanical work. Brynna is coloring her best friend's hair in the bathroom. I hope her mother doesn't mind but I don't have time to call and check. Shelly is watching a movie in the family room with her friend and it looks like it is not a family film as usual. Shelly likes the scary movies, which are far to scary for the little boys to watch. Speaking of the boys, they are in the pool with two friends from down the street. Jason has two friends playing xbox in his room. The tally count at 4:00 pm on a Friday afternoon is......fourteen kids hanging at my house! I quickly do a mental count of weeks left until school starts. Since that is too far off, the next best thing is a vacation.
Vacation is the best way I know of to get rid of all the extra kids hanging out at my house. Except it does not work out as well as it used to. My older kids do not want to go on vacation with Mom and Dad anymore, They have decided we are boring. I am not bothered by this at all and continue planning a vacation. At this point I have decided that what I really need is a vacation from the children (and the dishes) and I will be glad to leave a large number of them behind. My husband packs up the car, I load the two little boys in the back and leave a detailed list of instructions on the refrigerator, that could be shortened up to "Don't forget to feed the dogs!" and we head up north for a vacation as a family of four. Traveling with just four people seems almost a luxury of relaxation. Sitting on the beach reminds me that Summer really is the best time of year after all, until I get home and it starts all over again. I think I am going to need another vacation around the first of August. Large families are not for the faint of heart.
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