The crazy days of summer

God's handmaiden Melissa entertaining Baby George with her sunglasses.

Busy, busy has been our household. I'm not sure why I always think summer is going to be relaxing and long lazy days. Ha! There are NO lazy days...just lots of activity and busy bees. It has been fun though.

Cam is half-way done with this last quarter. Yeah! The second half is going to be very stacked...and he'll only have 1 day off in 4 weeks. Ewwwwww! He will be driving lots and doing some crazy late night shifts at the ER for his clinical rotation. I am trying to get my game face on so I can make it through these last weeks. Eeeeeks! I am really missing my partner and drowning in chaos. Ugh!

I'm trying to be flexible....not so easy for me. I am adopting some new tactics to help me get through it all AND enjoy it too. For instance I have decided to only clean my kitchen once a day! Brilliant! After breakfast I just push aside the dishes...I don't even wipe the counter. :) Then for lunch I feed the kids outside on the deck. No clean-up there...I give them their lunch on a napkin and crumbs that fall on the deck...well, who cares?! At dinner time I unload and load the dishwasher while I cook and then after dinner I wipe it all up and leave the kitchen clean.

I'm trying to get out with the kids and have play dates. We've had some really fun days playing with our friends. Such a nice break from our own yard and routine. But, some days are just hard. Long and hard! I keep telling myself that having 3 toddlers (Tuba is basically a toddler in development) would be hard for anyone. Still some days I'm frustrated and short tempered and just plain tired.

On Thurs. I was having a VERY hard day. It started early in the day with toddler fights, whacking each other, high maintenance little girl fussing and clinging and yelling, just lots of crazy kid behavior. I was beyond tired, frustrated and lonely too. I tried to call my friend Melissa so we could chat about the latest book we both just finished. Of course (any mom knows this) the kids were awful while I was trying to talk. Shocker! Ha! I had to put the wee ones in their room so I could hear for two seconds. Eventually I just gave up and got off the phone.

I took the kids out front to ride bikes and play....and get some fresh air (for me). I saw a van pull into our drive-way and I thought "OH! Someones come to visit me!!!!" and out pops my friend! I was so surprised. She said she came as soon as her husband got home. She has three small boys of her own but she got in her car and came to my rescue! A true life saver! Not only that but she brought dinner for our family AND spent hours helping me with the kids until Cam came home.

I can't say how much I appreciated her help! I am thankful for her and I'm thankful to God because I know He sent her to me. God bless you Melissa!!