Beautiful Children

Aren't they lovely?

I have to say that going to the Picture People is typically a horrible experience. But if you gather up the kids and decide you're going to schlep them around the mall for the better part of a day, it's not so bad. It's all about expectations. And you do have to train your children not to act like mongrels....Apprently, the people with whom I shared a Picture People experience yesterday forgot the part where you're supposed to train your children NOT to act like yard apes while they're at the mall. Now, I don't want to sit here and say that my chilren are tremendously behaved all the time. But for pete's sake, they have at least been trained to obey and show some respect.

What I mean to say is this: The experience at The Picture People is usually sub-standard, but the pictures that come from it are usually terrific. And since I'm only going to have pictures and memories once they grow up, I'm willing to pay the dues it takes to have the cutest pictures possible. Oh - speaking of paying dues- if you get a 20% off coupon for the Picture People and you aren't going to use it...give it to me!

Summer's Over

I realize it hasn't officially begun yet, but my entire summer is spoken for already. Very little rest for me until sometime in August.

Friday I have a wedding rehearsal to coordinate. Saturday is the wedding. Sunday is Father's Day. Monday begins two weeks of Camp Extreme, which is our church's answer to Vacation Bible School. Unlike VBS which runs for one week (or less), Camp Extreme runs for two weeks. Unlike VBS which runs for three hours in the morning, Camp Extreme runs from 9:30 (or earlier) until 3:30 (or 4:30, depending on when the last parent shows up--and I wish I were joking about this). Unlike VBS, where there is an adult teacher for every age group, there are about four adults to supervise about 75 kids. Our beloved youth group supplies the rest of the 'mature' volunteer base. It's going to be rather intensive to say the least. Our Children's Pastor usually takes a week off to recuperate when it's over. (He's in his mid-sixties, though! I'd say he's entitled!)

Then comes 4th of July. The next day I have to help decorate the church for a wedding. Then a wedding rehearsal the following day and a wedding on the 7th. I will have few days available to mow the lawn (1+ acre) and do a month's worth of laundry for a family of five, clean the house and replenish the pantry before my father comes to visit from Colorado for two weeks. He's actually staying with my brother, but there will be a lot of fishing, Busch Gardens, Lowry Park Zoo, more fishing, and some other memory-making activities to keep up busy. During the time he's in town, Eric will be off to camp with our church's Youth Group for five days. The day he returns, he gets to run sound for a wedding rehearsal I have to coordinate. Next day--you guessed it--a wedding...for a Haitian couple who is getting married at our church whom I've never met before. Another Friday and Saturday shot to heck!

My dad will go home the last weekend in July. I think I'll do some more laundry and mow the lawn again. Then we'll begin August. Two weeks of nothing planned except our usual busy life. I can deal with usual busy. This crazy busy has got to STOP! Then I have one last wedding for the summer the third weekend in August. Then the boys start school and I can perhaps gather my thoughts a little more often than the three minutes each day that I get to take a potty break (when I'm lucky).

I write all this to say: 1) I won't be posting much over the next two months; 2) If my kids are wearing dirty clothes, you'll at least know why; 3) If I seem a little distracted, I AM! 4) If you drive by my house and my lawn looks like I'm trying to go into the hay-baling business, I'm not. Although, that's not a bad idea! It would be a great excuse not to mow!

What strikes me most about this, though, is that very little of this has to do with the fact that I have three children. I thought it was the kids who were supposed to keep me busy, not the other way around!

That which does not kill me....... drives me insane!