Gratituesday: Our Boys… and a Week (or Two) Without Them

 

I LOVE OUR BOYS! I love spending time with them.  I love listening to their imaginative play and just hearing them romp through the house. I love relaying their latest antics to their Grandma and Grandpa. 

 

But… our boys are high energy.  They are high activity.  They are high maintenance.  And they are home all the time!  With our decision to homeschool, we gained a great deal:  time as a family, control over what the boys are learning and how it is presented, and flexibility to travel to visit family or take in the sights.  With our decision to homeschool, we also gave up a great deal.  There are no mornings to sit with the girls and chat over a cup of coffee.  There are no evenings for Patrick and me to sit and review the day (babysitters go for $15 an hour in our neck of the woods!).   And there are no afternoons to organize and plan for our upcoming school year. 

While I wouldn’t trade homeschooling for anything, even though it has been suggested once or twice over concern for my own sanity, starting the year disorganized and without a plan is just asking for trouble, for chaos, for disappointment, for frustration… for failure. 

Enter my dear mother, who after witnessing one particularly harried week earlier in the summer, offered to take the boys for not one week, but TWO at the end of the summer!  And that’s just what she did.  As I write this post, the boys are in Vermont with Grandma and their very special Aunt Des, fishing, kayaking, and enjoying dessert EVERY EVENING!  

 

On Saturday, Patrick and I went to see a play in Washington, D.C.. On Sunday, we went to lunch… and sat and talked for an hour! Today (Monday), I am sitting at the car dealership waiting while a 4-hour warranty repair is completed (Can you imagine doing THAT with YOUR CHILDREN?  I can, and it’s not a pleasant thought!)  And in between all of this, I have been organizing and planning in order to have our school room and our lesson plans ready to go by the time we start school on September 13. 

Today, I am thankful for our boys… and for TWO weeks without them. TWO weeks to prepare to be the best Mom and the best teacher I can be to them:  to reenergize, to reorganize, and to reaffirm our decision to homeschool.

I am thankful for my Mom, who truly is the best Mom in the world!  Not just because she babysits my children, but because she is full of love, of understanding, or encouragement, and of support, and because she knew without me asking, that time, more than anything, was what I needed this summer.

And, I am thankful for my Dad, who just sits back and shakes his head when my Mom, whose schedule is busier than ever since retiring,  takes on yet another responsibility:  this time in the form of two high energy, high activity, high maintenance little boys!

For more reasons to be Grateful, visit Laura at Heavenly Homemakers!