The Unblogged Summer

Summer's almost over and I've barely written. School starts next week, and I don't know where summer went sometime between school getting out in May and now. It's been a strange summer. Different in many ways than what I've been use to. Different than what I might have thought it would be like, had I thought about it. This summer brought home the understanding of what other mothers meant when they said how different their summers were from their school years. Having small children at home at the time, I really didn't get what they meant Summers were relatively the same for me, only with less activity from the outside world. Now however, after having a stricter routine during the school year, I understand. But before I forget the point of this blog, I'll let you know what we've been up to.

School got out the end of May. I don't remember much about that time, since I got sick the last week of school. Thanks to many pharmaceuticals, I navigated my way through Brandon's end-of-the-year activities and successfully attended the ceremonies and parties that brought him out of kindergarten and into first grade. The weeks after that were a blur, since I spend the next two camped out on the couch, unable to get any pharmaceuticals to work on the horrible cold I had, and thus taking nothing to relieve the symptoms. To let you in on how sick I was, I took $300 out of the bank for grocery cash in mid-May. I forgot about it! Seriously - $300 that I forgot about. I don't forget about money. I only recently found it (2 months later), in an envelope in a drawer, along with the the bank receipt. Once I saw the date, bits and pieces of the month (the stuff I remember) came flooding back

We got new neighbors the last weekend of school. A little boy who is only one week older than Brandon moved in three houses down. They became instant friends. Mom works and Dad stays home with the boy/ Brandon and Caitlin love playing at his house, and the dad and I became acquaintances through our kids. It was nice to have someone to talk to on our street. Our town has excellent schools, and is known for having a lot of kids, but none of those kids seemed to live on our little isolated street. The whole neighbor thing has been a mixed blessing, though (with emphasis on "mixed"). The neighbor boy is a fairly unsupervised child and would come over to our house at the most random times - like, right after he'd eaten breakfast. I'd still be in my nightgown and the kids weren't even awake! His dad would call me, wondering if his son was at our house. Wondering??? If???? His parenting style was much much different than mine. I don't allow my kids to roam free. And there was always drama. Too much drama.

In late June and early July we took off for a couple of weeks back to California. We spent several wonderful days in south Lake Tahoe with our friends the S's, from our old 'hood back in S-town. Brandon and Emily played together like they'd never been apart, and Caitlin and Josh, only 6 weeks apart, started playing together, too. We swam in the pool, ate good food, and enjoyed being with friends we love and miss.

After Tahoe, we headed down to my parent's place in the central valley, and amazing did not melt in the hot temps. Both my brothers took time to come to my parents house while we were there. My sister had moved back home after her husband went to South Korea, so we saw her, too. I'm glad she was there, as she is moving to S. Korea in two days and I won't see her for a while!

The trip to my parent's house was followed by a trip to Brian's parent's house back in the bay area. At this point, we were expert packers! Brian's mom and sister organized a surprise open house, and we got to see many of our old friends. It was overwhelming. Wonderful, but overwhelming. I almost cried when it was all done! I wanted to let everyone know how much I appreciated their taking the time to come over, but didn't know how to approach that. If you're reading this........ now you know. And Donna and Jackie did it in their usual planning style - with panache! There were crafts, fun things, and even a little bounce house for the kiddos! Our friends were amazed! Thank you, Donna and Jackie! We had a great time!

Back at home, we continued our summer with visits to friends, the park, VBS, and all sorts of other fun stuff. Brandon and our neighbor boy played a lot. The boy's friend was always over. The novelty of having a friend close by took a while to wear off. The neighborhood drama escalated recently, and the dad was asked to move out of the house. I know very little about what's been going on. One neighbor told us about the events, and the mom told me the other night that he was gone. I'd been wondering when she'd say anything. My kids have had lots of questions about why the dad is gone. I'm trying to explain it all the best I can without making him out to be the bad guy. Our neighbor has been in some form of daycare for the last couple of weeks due to all of this. It's surprisingly calmer at our house without him here all the time, but we are glad to see him when he's home. School starts up on the 20th for Brandon, and the boys will be in the same class, which has made them both very happy.

The next big thing is coming up - school! Brandon is a bona-fide first grader and will be in school all day (7:50-2:30). We'll see how he likes it this year. Of course, this is the same kid who wondered why school was so short last year (he had half day kindergarten). Caitlin will be going to preschool in one week - next Tuesday. She is so excited! I can't buy school supplies for Brandon without her asking about her supplies. She even picked out her own lunchbox at the store. She didn't even ask. Just trotted over to the display. Guess she assumed that she got to pick one out since Brandon got to pick one out! I'm excited for her. She needs a little space to be on her own, learn on her own, and be a big girl without me around. I'm exited for me, too, since I'll get a few free hours to myself during the week. Only a few, though. I'm no longer in my Thursday MOPS group, and I've turned down other offers to help out with groups or events. I'm still protective of my few, precious hours. Maybe next year.

So there you have it. The Cliff Notes version of our summer. I'm hoping that my interest in blogging will come back. Right now I'm more interested in reading other blogs instead of writing in my own. I have a lot of drafts. A lot that may or may not be publish-worthy. But with a few free hours to myself, you might get a little peek back into our lives again soon!