Celebrating the Ordinary: Summer Permission Slip...

Summer is the annual permission slip to be lazy. To do nothing and have it count for something. To lie in the grass and count the stars. To sit on a branch and study the clouds.

Regina Brett

My own permission slip to be lazy...

I love it!!!!

And oh my goodness we are so stinking lazy it is ridiculous.

I even start out thinking I won't be lazy and I forget about my permission slip and I tell my kids we are going to have a little homework and we are going to read every day and we are going to do a couple of chores every day and I tell them that we are not going to have a summer brain slip and we are not going to be lazy.

( Holy wow... that sentence was even bad by my writing standards and I really don't have any... my English teachers would really hate my constant run ons but I love them because they are keeping with how my brain works. I rarely take a breath when I am speaking why should my writing be any different. Now where was I? Oh yea being lazy...)

I have been saying this plan to myself and the kiddos at the beginning of every summer for as long as I can remember.

Everyone believes me...even me.

They moan and complain when I tell them the summer plan because I am their mom and they always think it just might be for reals this time.

I even have this mentality for 2 whole days and for those 2 days I am a tiger mom. I sit them at the table with their new summer homework books and then we have reading time and then I have them help me clean the house and maybe do something seriously painful, like heaven forbid, weed a flower bed. I commend myself with a head nod and a pretend pat on my back on making sure that we are that family. The go get 'em family that tells the stories when they are older like how their mom knew the value of work and they are where they are today because their amazing mom had them do all the things. And now they know why she made them do all the things because they are like president of the United States.

But on the third day I just don't care about any of it. I don't care if they finish their library summer reading chart or if my house is a mess or to be quite honest if they forget everything they have ever learned in school and they start out their new year learning how to do basic arithmetic and learning how to read basic words like "cat" and "hat".

I just can't seem to care.

This probably says way too much about my psyche and why I will never have kids that aren't lazies themselves and will never say they had the best mom that taught them how to work but I simply can't do it any other way.

Do I get parent points for trying?

Is someone out there giving out parent points because I want some. I want 5 whole points each summer for trying.

But is what we get on the flip side is extra long cuddles in the morning.

Reading Harry Potter because we want to and it is one of the most magical books ever written.

Swimming and making up games all day long.

Riding our bikes to my kids favorite ice cream in Danville.

Picnics.

Tennis and

Ping Pong too.

Barbecues and ending our nights with fires and smores.

Day trips to the city and week ends in Carmel.

Cereal for dinner because I still have my fake permission slip to not do anything at all.

Plenty of time for them to be sooooo bored that they almost want school to start..almost but not quite. And then thank goodness, there is always time for them to fight, because fighting is their favorite.

Have I said how much I love summer???!!?

I mean seriously.

I want to be in one of these bug's...

Who are the joyous people that are traveling this way?

I bet they are all best friends. For sure they are best friends.

We grabbed cardboard boxes and headed into san fran for the slides.

This is what your "17" year old looks like when you have a day of forced family fun.

He might hate us just a little bit. I'm hoping he comes around.

We buy bi-rite each and every time hoping they will always like us.

The kids fell in love with bubbles all over again. Every day this was us.

Nicholas was home for two whole weeks..

Hallelujah!!!

Tennis is always a good idea for about 1/2 hour and then it turns into a huge fight between Ella and Benjamin. She is soooooooo much better but somehow he almost wins and it gets Ug. Ly

Ping pong is another one that starts out so innocent and can turn on a dime to a competition that could put Olympic athletes to shame. These two are dead serious and it really matters who wins...I mean really matters.

I'm always a touch scared or laughing my guts out.

We dog sat Magnus and Benjamin had a summer crush.
I realize Magnus looks like he is saying,
" someone please help me"
but he really did love Benjamin right back.