Summer!!

I'm thrilled that school is over and all the kids are home for the summer! Call me crazy, but I find that it's so much easier on me to have all six boys all home and on the same schedule. The big kids run around to a million activities during the school year, and they attend two different schools, with different school calendars. When they are home for the summer, we can play, rest, play, swim, and rest. I know you don't believe me, but the big kids entertain the little kids, and I have more time to just relax and read a book! Unless we have a houseful of company, which we often do during the summer. For instance, on Father's Day, Leo and Sam received the sacrament of baptism. We hosted our big extended family for a cook-out, and I ran around like a madwoman cooking, cleaning, and getting the children in their best finery. I purchased a small (14') pool from Walmart a few weeks ago, and the kids are also spending many hours splashing in the pool. Don't get me wrong; we're plenty busy in the summer too. I like to be busy, and I believe idle hands are the devil's tool. So, another session of swimming lessons begins next week, and the first week of July the kids begin their summer reading program (9-10:30 daily). We still take taekwondo classes 10 times a week, and we will catch up on our yard work. With 12 acres of land, we spend a ton of time just mowing the yard! We also have a cottage that we rent out to weekly tenants all summer, and we have to go there and clean it and mow the lawn weekly. So we'll be busy, but on my terms, not the school's. We can skip lessons when we need a break, or add more if we are bored. Hooray for summer!