10 Signs You're Looking {gasp} Forward to Fall

I love summer. I love the freedom, the lack of brimming to the rim schedule, and the break from the frenzy. That being said, I realized that there is a teeny part of me that is {gasp} looking forward to fall. I mean, sigh, I even had that nostalgic feeling when looking through those fall pictures of mine. Sigh. The colors..the cider..the crisp {and cool air}.

Here are ten signs that you might secretly be wishing for fall in the middle of July.

1. The annual put-away the winter clothes and bring out the summer clothes hasn't been completed and you are now content to just leave it the way it is.

2. You've stopped ordering iced drinks at Starbucks and have returned to your old stand by the vanilla latte - extra hot.

3. While shopping at Target {or Walmart} you sneak over to the Back to School Supplies and quietly add a pack of 25cent crayons to your cart and linger over the larger than life display of pens.

4. While looking at the weather you let out a cheer if the temperature actually drops below 90 degrees.

5. Summer cleaning, also known as lets remove the clutter, has taken over.

6. The cry of I'm bored in your home is now met with well I could pull out some math practice sheets for you to do and the kids actually agree that they want to do them.

7. Grilling has lost a bit of it's allure. A good hotdish {you all know I'm from minnesota} has now made it's way onto your weekly menu plan.

8. The catalogs that come pouring in, that when they started arriving in June were ignored, are now your go-to bedside reading material.

9. Your kids have asked when they can go to that really fun place with the pumpkins and corn and when you ask if it's the apple orchard they exclaim with glee that that is the place.

10. When mulling over highlight options for your hair the beachy blond highlight is being edged out by that cool shade of burgundy.

One thing that I could live without? Holiday decorations in the store. Could we at least wait until maybe, gasp, September? Are we in agreement?

But, for now, I will wander over with my cart in Target and stock up on those school supplies and come home and sit on my deck and drink my iced tea/lemonade and enjoy the freedom to read a book and watch the kids run in the sprinkler {Again} and sneak a glance at that curriculum catalog while enjoying the sun beating on my face.

Are you still content with summer? Or are you secretly like 10% looking forward to fall?

adjusting the urgent

I don't know what to do.

Well, I do know. Laundry is calling my name {after a vacation to the lake laundry for a family of nine is a beast of its own}. So it unpacking. Lawn mowing. Garden weeding. Garage cleaning. Grocery Shopping. Emails {another beast}. Vacuuming out all of the sand sitting everywhere. Putting the fishing rods away. Sigh.

I miss the lake.

I miss the freedom that was to be found at the lake. The freedom to wander down to my parent's cabin with my wind swept frizzy hair and sit at their table and drink coffee and talk to my dad without having to worry how many emails were sitting in my inbox. You see, on this vacation, the digital world was literally taken from us - no power equals no internet equals no smart phones charging. It was freeing.

As I drove home, with a vehicle stuffed with items that were no longer organized so nicely as they were a week prior I pondered how to keep the freedom feeling from the lake and to yet do life without the frenzy feeling. I want family first. Yet, I know that the world we live in {unless I choose to live cut off from the grid in Northern Minnesota} is fast paced, busy, and full of urgent things to do. I know that I can't reclaim that absolute freedom feeling that was earned on a week of vacation. But, I can learn to adjust my idea of urgent.

I can learn to grab moments of freedom with my family. Carve out game nights, and fun meals, find time to take those walks that were all too often told in a minute but didn't come -- maybe it's a further embracing of finding the good, the joy, in the midst of the everyday. Leaving for a bit made me realize just how frenzied and busy I live and how I allowed too many things to be defined as urgent. Vacations allow for margin, for space in an energy-filled life, that allows one to reexamine the real importants. Returning makes me realize how I want to be even more intentional with my time.

I can't recreate the freedom of a vacation but I can choose to live different. I can adjust the urgent and can create and cultivate space within life.

Live intentional.
Live awake.
Live grateful.
Live laughing.
Live.

Really truly live. That's what I learned.

Again.

thirty signs of summer

A simple post today with reasons - and pics from last summer - telling me that summer is here. Oh yes, and it goes beyond us wishing to have fresh corn on the cob bought from the farmer in the field almost every night. Which, by the way, at $4 for a dozen ears is absolutely amazing. Plus, I love pulling the car over by the corn field and stepping out and grabbing two bags with a dozen ears of corn.

So here are only thirty signs of summer. Because, you know, I could expand this to one hundred. :)

1. The air conditioner is running full blast before the sun comes out.
2. My hair gets poufy inside with the airconditioner running.
3. We do math in July because it's too hot to go outside and we decide it's more fun to stay cool and catch up on math facts.
4. Watermelon is for lunch.
5. And strawberry shortcake {with a gluten free shortcake} is for dinner.

6. The schoolwork from April is still on the door to the garage.
7. You count down the days until you can go to the lake.
8. Fishing is fun. {this is for those of you who live in Minnesota - besides look at that view.}

9. The house stays clean because everyone decides to play outside.
10. Curriculum catalogs that come in July become reading material at the beach.
11. Looking at pictures of snow makes you a bit nostalgic until you see the shovels hanging in your garage behind the rakes.
12. Your kids love sitting in the front yard watching construction vehicles roll by.

13. The garden is in bloom and you can finish that lesson on botany when you harvest the peas that started as seeds.
14. You finally finish the annual clothing {big sigh} switch.
15. The what shoes shall I wear today choice becomes flip flops or sandals?
16. If it's sunny you're outside playing. Or picking weeds. Or looking for raspberries.
17. You take pictures of fireworks.

18. A pony tail is the only hair style of choice versus the every other day choice during school months.
19. You go down to the laundry room to get cool not to just catch up on laundry.
20. You marvel at the amount of towels that one must wash and dry thanks to the constant flow of children that run through the sprinkler.
21. Then again, sprinklers are a family's best go-to friend during those hot summer months.

22. Iced coffee is the only coffee that one considers ordering at the coffee shop.
23. You write blog posts on the deck with birds singing, iced coffee in hand, and the sounds of sprinklers around.
24. You can finally attempt the science experiment of trying to cook an egg on the sidewalk on those extremely hot days. If that doesn't work you can look for ants.
25. You water your annuals twice a day to keep them alive while wishing that you had instead purchased more hardy perennials back at Lowes in May.

26. Garage sale signs are the norm on every street corner.
27. The littles want to play outside at 8am and you tell them it's a great time to go outside and to do more chores later while it's cooler.
28. Sunscreen sits on your counter.
29. Pool Noodles are used as light sabers in the backyard.
30. Oh yes, and in case you forgot point four about watermelon being for dinner, it can actually be for any meal and create great joy in those little one's lives. Watermelon {and summer} hear me roar!

How about for you?
What are your signs that summer is now here?

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This post is part of the ihomeschool network's top ten tuesdays linkup {answers to the why we love homeschooling are in italics} and is also linking up with my friend Angie's Top Ten Tuesdays. I've got thirty - so I think it qualifies!
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this summer list

This summer.

This summer I want to turn the sprinklers on for my kids and run through them with them. 
This summer I want to let them have ice cream for morning snack.
This summer I want to laugh more, play more, and listen more.
This summer I want to slow down and watch my boys scooter around.
This summer I want to take morning walks with my older girls.
This summer I want to take them to the park more often even if it's work.
This summer I want to take the boys fishing in the mornings at the lake.
This summer I want to make berry shortcake  with whipped cream for dinner.
This summer I want to make homemade lemonade and sit on the deck it with my family.

This summer I want to make sure that those little times, those pedals and pushes, and late afternoon hours playing together before a muggy thunderstorm rolls in really matters - in fact, really happens.

After all, look at them. Growing up.

Right in front of me. First they crawl, and then the walk, then they run, then they ride their bikes, and scooter, and on and on growing. Every day. One step older, one more moment of letting go. One day, the stop sign will still be there, but the six year old racing off on that old big wheel will not.

This summer I want to scooter next to them.
This summer I want to take them with me to a garage sale and let them pick one thing out.
This summer I want them to see me reading. A book.
This summer I want to play catch in the backyard.
This summer I want to blow bubbles with my Samuel and let him chase them.
This summer I want to swim in the lake with them and not worry that it's too cold.
This summer I want to read a book to them in the morning and not be on twitter.
This summer I want to remember to slow down.

But, if you are like me, we lose track of that thought. We get stuck in the short sight - all we need to accomplish or finish or what they're not doing right or what needs to change or what we're making for dinner - that stuff. And we lose the idea that this day, this moment, this big wheel ride to the stop sign and back, this matters.

Yes, we absolutely have to do all the short every day to day stuff, there's no way around it - the dishes, cleaning, baking, folding, driving, etc - it's just part of life. But, we could get stuck only doing the to-do list and missing those moments that we'll want to remember. Are we really wanting to look back and remember that we got all those dishes done or the laundry was perfectly caught up or we sent that perfect tweet for this summer of 2012?

This summer I want to pay attention to the mom watch my cool trick moments
This summer I want to look with wonder at that bee in the flowers and the butterflies in the echinacea.
This summer I want to look them each in the eyes and tell them how much I love them.
This summer I want to take my olders to see a late night movie.
This summer I want to buy a jiffy pop popcorn and let my little boys watch in wonder as it blows up.
This summer I want to make smores with my family. In our own backyard.
This summer I want to surprise everyone with a whole watermelon for lunch
This summer I want to rest in the grass and look for cloud shapes with my four year old.
This summer I want to take them to the used book store to find the perfect summer book.

It's too easy to race through the day, being busy, and than get to the end of the day when the littles need to go to bed and to realize that less then ten minutes of time was really spent with them. Summer, despite the lazy hazy days of summer line has the tendency to actually race by with it's own form of busy. And, if we're not intentional the summer could pass, this summer, without accomplishing many of the things in our hearts that we want to do.

Make a list, my friends, make a list. Sit down, take ten minutes, and ponder what you really want to do, what would matter to your family, to others this summer.

This summer I want to camp in our backyard with them sleeping in the tent.
This summer I want to read with them, not pushing it off with busy, but grabbing the book for now.
This summer I want to take them to Dairy Queen and let them order what they want. Just once.
This summer I want to play cards with my daughters late at night.
This summer I want to continue helping the boys make their fabulous hideout.
This summer I want to teach them more about the garden and let them help.
This summer I want to sit on the front porch reading books with them.
This summer I want to really share the truth about Memorial Day and remember.
This summer I want to worry less about the dirt and more about the heart.

You've got your to-do lists. Now, add a this summer list. I've shared with you a bit of my list in progress throughout the post. Will you check everything off? Probably not. Will it make you more intentional? Definitely yes. Before you know it this summer will be gone - summer has a way of doing that - grab this time, this summer - and really intentionally live capturing those moments that matter and that you want to remember.

What would you put on your list?
To read my series on Intentional Parenting simply click 10 Days of Intentional Parenting to start at Day One.
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Linking my miscellany this summer list thoughts with my very dear friend Carissa.

what's in the bucket?

That little Samuel of mine brings me such joy.

Of course, he can't seem to use items the way they're intended -- the empty (and probably all over the living room) Toy Story Bucket of Soldiers made a perfect hat, right?

linking with some wordless/full/partialword/tellastory wednesday posts. :)

dear summer

Dear Minnesotan summer,

I've loved you. The beautiful colors and the fresh produce and the thick thunderstorms rolling in at night. You've given me time to rest and think.

We've had our time at the lake -- a yearly thing -- that seems so long ago now. Such a glorious week of eating and playing cards and relaxing and fishing and doing nothing at all.

Summer, you're a celebration of friends and family. Laughter and holding hands. Icecream at nine. Dangling feet in the water off the dock.

But, dear summer, I'm starting to get ready for fall. I know, I know, how could that be? How could I want to give up the afternoons spent swinging and looking at the leaves swaying in the muggy breeze?

You see, summer what I love most about you is the lack of structure. The freedom. The days that blur together. The late soccer evenings and even {gasp} those pesky moquitoes to complain about.

But, now, I'm craving just a little bit more order in my house.

I'm  maybe a-little-bit-sort-of-ready for crisp breezes and eager kids wanting to learn.

I want to pull out those books and talk about the water cycle and how amazing it is that God created the world in just six days -- and then He rested. I'm ready to drill math facts.

And harvest apples. And go to the orchard. And hear the crunch of leaves underfoot.

Summer, I love you. You're a needed and craved after season in my life. I'll miss all the lovely colors of produce that you provide. Oh and the corn. I'll miss that fresh corn.  And of course, I'll miss those lazy hazy days of summer -- no wonder there's a song about you.

Don't worry. Come April and May I'll know I'll be counting the days until you come again.

Wait. I know I'll be counting those days in January. And summer, just so you know, your letter is much nicer than the letter I write to winter -- that letter is basically thanking it for finally leaving. I mean, because seriously -- look at the picture of winter. I am so not ready for that.

Ah, summer. Such a blessing. Seeing that picture of winter makes me want you to stay around some more. Lots more -- I'm sure I'll love winter when it comes. But, not yet. No. Not at all.

So summer, I'm going to live in joy these last couple weeks. Embracing the fabulous gifts you bring. The freedom and laughter and even the fun and excitement in planning for the fall. Summer you are joy.

And, between you and me, you just might be the best.

~me

{what would you write about summer?}

corn, corn, corn...nothing but corn.

Yesterday, I asked you if you've watched the Family Feud. Now today I'm wondering if you've seen one of our favorite movies -- Secondhand Lions. We love the movie. And for those of who who've seen it -- you'll get the title of my post.

We had a dozen ears.

Which doesn't last long in this house.

Especially when Samuel decides that his version of helping is perhaps testing that ear of corn that his brothers and sister Grace shucked.

He was quite content.

So for dinner we had 11 ears to share.

Corn, corn, corn...nothing but corn.

It's a favorite of summer for our family.
What's your summertime food favorite? And, yes,  you can pick corn. :)

doing nothing days

I''m writing this late on Saturday sitting in my yard. Actually, I'm resting in the grass. Almost four year old Elijah thinks it's funny that I'm on my back looking at the sky. That grass? It's lush and green and glorious. Totally summer.

Summer in Minnesota is this brief window of time -- maybe six weeks of wonderful heat at the most before the winds shift and the leaves turn their beautiful and brilliant shades of crimson and gold. We've learned, through the years, to embrace these days. And sometimes, just sometimes, you need to have a day where you do almost nothing. It's a swing on a swing and dream about life type of day.

Yeah, I started a load of laundry. And took the girls to volunteer at a local festival for church. But, really, there was nothing on the agenda. In fact, as dinner rolled around, my tweet was this -- is it okay to get ice cream for dinner? Which we didn't have, but instead enjoyed some gluten free pancakes. An easy, no work, and totally favorite meal. Freedom.

I know that the weeks to come will be full of schedules. Ballet. School. Soccer. The fall routine. And possibly surgery on my shoulder. Maybe that's why I just needed to do almost nothing. It really was a do nothing day.

I couldn't do this everyday. I like busy. But, sometimes I just let that crazy frantic part of me rest.

Off to get icecream for dessert.

I'm thinking a root beer float would be a perfect ending to that pancake dinner.

what's your favorite thing to do on a do nothing day?
and, no, I didn't get my root beer float -- but, i did have mint chip ice cream. Delicious.

this summer

~I want to play more games with my kids

and worry less about the lawn.

~~I want to sit and listen to their stories

and let them stay up till the stars shine.

~~I want to gaze up at those stars with my little ones

and teach them how to find the Little Dipper and Orion.

~~I want to watch the birds in my yard and learn the names

and remember to fill their feeders.

~~I want to read my Bible more

and let my heart begin to heal.

~~I want to start to memorize Philippians

and rest and meditate on those truths.

~~I want to go for morning walks

and listen to the world become awake.

~~I want to remember the sunscreen

and the aloe for after.

~~I want to watch my flowers bloom

and not care if they're accidentally picked for me.

 
~~I want to take them to get ice cream

and let them get two scoops each {to my kids who read these -- yes, I said two.}

~~I want to hold my little ones close

and not care about the unimportant.

~~I want to let them set up a "car wash" for all the toys in the garage

and be ready to wave by all the cars who slow down thinking we're having a garage sale.

~~I want to play the piano {my 100 year old piano} more

and pull out music that my grandmother made notes on.

~~I want to write a list like this with my kids

and let them choose things that they want to do.

~~I want to remember that it's not the big things that bring the most joy

but rather the little, unexpected every day moments

and I want to remember.

What do you want to do this summer?