End of Summer Vacation

For most of the day yesterday, I worked on getting things ready so we can start school on Monday.  We've been doing a little bit here and there, but haven't started our full schedule yet.  Anyway, that was on my mind yesterday evening when Lincoln climbed up in my lap for a little snuggle before he went to bed.  He wrapped his arms around me and snuggled his head between my shoulder and face.  As I breathed in his sweetness after his bath,  it hit me that this year, if we didn't home school, he would be going away all day to school.  It would just be Garrett and me left alone trying to fill up our days until the hustle and bustle of the rest of the kids returned with the school bus.

How did this sweet little guy grow up so fast?  Wasn't the doctor just trying to convince me that, no he wasn't teasing me, and, yes, this baby was indeed a boy!  Weren't we just sitting in the newborn ICU beside him for a week wondering if he was going to be OK?  Didn't we just bring him home to his own personal fan club where everything he did was amazing and everyone fought over who was going to get to hold him next?

For that matter, when did our toddling little girls grow up to be graceful (most of time, anyway ;) ) young ladies?  Where did their toothless grins and dimpled knees go?  Once in a while we still get a glimpse of "child" in them, but it's lovely to see them growing and learning.

I'm so glad that we have one who is still in the toddler years.  Although he reminds us often enough that he is almost 3 - or 4 - or 5 or whatever age he decides he wants to be that day.  Also that we have a few still in the little kid years.  And I am so thankful that some of our friends introduced us to home schooling so many years ago so we could spend so much more time with them.  There are days when everything is chaos around here - when the house is a disaster zone - when I haven't had a quiet minute that I, just for a minute, think, "What in the world am I thinking..."  but then my mind jumps ahead a few short years and I remember that it is all so, so worth it.  I won't be able to get these years back again, but we will all have so many wonderful memories of the time we all spent together.

I'm not sure how this post ended up being so sappy, but I guess thinking of summer being over and our birthday season starting next week must have brought it on.  So I guess I'd better so see how we're going to spend our last day of summer vacation!