They call it a vacation?

Thanks to a wonderfully merciful winter, that was warmer than normal, and kept our snow shovel firmly hung on the wall, in it's place, and a giant bag of salt next to my front door, unopened, we are now poised for the end of the school year. It is coming. Sooner than most realized. And earlier than ever. I talk to wide eyed mothers daily who are half in denial about it, and half filled with dread. I am the latter.

I love my girls. I really do. I am amazed that they are even part of the universe. That I had something to do with their very presence is mind blowing some days. It truly is. I am amazed that they walk, and talk, and get sarcasm. Charlotte tells jokes. Actual jokes that she made up, and 3 out of 10 times, are actually funny. Olivia has a singing voice that blows me away. I hear her, when she doesn't think I am listening, and I can usually be found with tears in my eyes. To me, her voice is like an angels. Lovely.

Molly, the baby, is pretty groovy too. She is little, and cute, and still thinks that I am so cool when I slice strawberries, and put them on her peanut butter sandwich. She will get it soon enough, and slowly begin to think that I don't know what I am talking about, just like the rest of them, but while she thinks that I have something to do with the sky getting dark at night, I will eat up her adoration.

But, and it's a BIG but...3 months. 3 months of being together. CONSTANTLY. I am literally at a loss when I think about the enormous stretch of time before us. Together. Day and night. For 3 long months. It makes my heart beat speed up a little bit.

I try to convince myself that I am that Mom. The Mom who doesn't mind them coming in and out of the front door fifty times in ten minutes. That the mud prints are cute, and a beautiful ingredient of childhood. Hand written notes of love written in steam on the bathroom mirror are adorable. They really are, and I should...SHOULD....just sit back and love it all, and soak it in, because I already know all of this is fleeting.

But three months of it. It's a lot. I am more of a creature of habit than I ever thought I would be. Interruption of my daily grind is a bit....what's the word I am looking for...annoying? My girls fight. All day. Weekends are spent breaking them up, sending them to their opposite corners, and sometimes, well lots of times actually, plenty of yelling on my end.

I just went on a website that was titled "60 things to keep your kids busy all summer". The first project was making cork stamps. You can dip the corks in paint, and make all kinds of fruit and vegetable pictures. One big cork print was red, and a top was drawn on it to look like a beet.

3 months.

 I am going to need a lot of corks.