summer

 

dang! i don't know how the time goes by so fast. doesn't it seem like spring break just happened and now here we are starting the summer break from school.

as you may remember, i don't enjoy summer anymore now that i have to be nanny to the kids while also working a full-time job from home. i have to change my work schedule to be at home (and not in the office) more days because the kids are still too immature to be left by themselves.

summer break has just started and already they are fighting, using voices with each other that are better suited to demons from hell. 

and it's only the first week...pray for me.

since spring break i've been busy visiting my sister, having my car break down (it's still out of commission because i can't afford to fix it,) having my mother break down (broke her hip, had surgery at almost 102, back in the nursing home but refusing to do physical therapy and being generally hateful to everybody) and getting the kids through the last weeks of school. c made straight a's for 3 out of 4 quarters and was asked to join the national honor society, j was on honor roll every quarter and started doing 4th grade math halfway through the last quarter when he was only in 3rd grade.

and then there's the kitten population explosion going on. one of the feral cats who lives in our yard (and has warmed up to us a bit but still doesn't want to live inside) decided that we would make great adoptive parents to her kittens so she snuck them inside one day while the door was open and deposited them on our bed and then left.

while we appreciate her trust in us, we didn't really want to be cat parents but here we are, killing it. she comes back each day to nurse them a little but then leaves before we get any bright ideas of giving them back to her.

so far in may we've gone to daytona for our grandson's birthday (held on a weekend we didn't have our kids), taken the kids to busch gardens (on such a hot day i thought i would pass out) and visited weeki wachee state park with the kids where they have real live mermaids who perform a show twice a day AND they have a fun waterpark with 2 great slides, a lazy river right out in the springs (with the snakes, no thank you) and a protected swimming hole that is 72 degrees year round. it was, by far, my favorite waterpark ever and i can't wait to go again.

we searched and searched for an affordable above ground pool and finally found one which was delivered yesterday. chris asked the kids to help him move some dirt to provide a level surface for it and they offered very little help but when i tried to speak (calmly) to them about that, i was the bad guy. i keep my mouth (mostly) shut when they don't do the very few chores we've asked of them, i smile (ok, it's more like gritting my teeth) when i pick up all the crap they leave in the living and dining rooms and kitchen, not to mention the hallway to their bedrooms that i try to avoid at all costs. i don't yell (ever) and i don't cry when they don't like what i'm fixing for dinner even though i spent a lot of time planning, shopping and cooking for it but i'm the bad guy because i feel like they should help their dad when they're asked especially when it's a project that's going to benefit them and not try to get out of it.

i'm going to enjoy the hell out of the pool both when they're in it and when they're far, far away but i think i'm taking a break for the rest of the summer and not planning any more fun activities for the weekends we have the kids. they won't care once they have the pool anyway and it'll cost us a hell of a lot less money.

yay summer, only 11 more weeks to go until school starts up again!