Too Much Fun

We leave for a week of family camp tomorrow.

I think I'm excited.

But honestly, I might be too exhausted right now to take my emotional pulse. Because this last week was The Busiest Week of Summer. (And if ever a week deserved caps, it's this one.)

To wit:

1. We had VBS every morning. That means I had to get all three kids up and out of the house by 8:30. (Which, unfortunately, isn't that difficult lately, since Teyla has taken to getting up at 6:00. It's part of the downward sleep spiral we're in right now. Right around the time summer vacation started, she stopped taking naps. Sigh. I think one of the most frustrating things about babies is that they are always changing. Just when you think you've got them figured out, that you've got a good schedule going, the child-in-question throws everything out the window and assumes a new personality. It keeps you on your toes. And that's all I'm going to say about that.)

So. Where was I? Oh yes. VBS.

We went to VBS at the church that is affiliated with the kids' school. The theme was Backstage with the Bible, which is the new VBS curriculum built around Go Fish music. (And if you don't know Go Fish, go check them out. Great Christian acapella group that makes fun, upbeat kids' music. Their motto is to make "great music for kids that won't drive their parents bonkers.") In keeping with the theme, Go Fish did a concert Thursday night, after a pre-concert picnic and carnival. It was really fun, but halfway through the second half, the kids hit The Wall, made evident by all the complaining which was making my ears bleeds. So we wisely bowed and and put everyone to bed and I fell asleep putting on my pajamas.

2. Besides VBS, we had our normal activities for this point in the summer. Connor had soccer Tuesday morning, when it was roughly the same temperature as hades in July (or Houston, take your pick). The coaches had wisely set up a sprinkler on one side of the field so the kids could take turns cooling off. I'm not ashamed to say I took a few passes at the thing myself. Later that day, the kids had t-ball at a nearby park, where I poured water on my head to keep cool. I acted like I was doing it to entertain Teyla. But that's not entirely true. We had swimming lessons Monday afternoon -- indoors, which meant the room was about 104 degrees with high humidity. And now that I think about it, we should have had karate on Thursday, but I totally forgot about it. Whoops!

3. Monday night, I went out with the girls on our MOPS steering committee to celebrate a successful year. It was a fun night, but it added to the crazy, so it must be mentioned. Corey also had a business dinner Tuesday night, which is why I had to brave t-ball by myself. One of the best parts of his business dinners is that he always brings me home a dessert. This time, it was some heavenly tiramisu.

4. Last night, some of our dearest friends in the world came over for dinner; they were in town from North Carolina for just a few days, and it was beyond fun to see them. I've known Carolyn since she was in junior high and I was her youth group leader. In the years since, we have become sisters. She actually lived with Corey and me for about a year when we were all in Northern California. (She shared a room with newborn Natalie for a while. That's deep friendship.) And it was while she was living with us that she met and eventually married her husband, Rick, whom we couldn't adore more. They were only here for about four hours last night, which was like giving a sample from Sam's Club to a starving person, but we'll take what we can get.

Oh! And since I love food, I feel obliged to tell you we had BBQ chicken for dinner, accompanied by twice-baked potatoes and a side dish of sugar snap peas and spinach. And then we topped the whole thing with rhubarb pie and ice cream. I bought the peas and rhubarb at the local farmer's market, which had its opening day yesterday. It was a perfect summer meal.

5. Which brings us to today. I desperately need to clean this house, finish our travel arrangements and pack for camp. Corey has mercifully agreed to take the kids away from the house for a few hours this morning to I can focus on the tasks at hand. The hope is that I can morph into the Tasmanian Devil and finish most of the work while he's gone. (The most frustrating aspect of being a SAHM mom to me lately is that it takes me two days to do work that should only taken three hours.)

I'm planning to put up a mini-post each day next week, so I can chronicle our vacation. I always enjoy reading those day-by-day accounts, and I've learned that I rarely go back and do it later.

I hope you're having a great weekend. I'm trying to shed my self-imposed guilt this summer when it comes to blogging and commenting. But that doesn't meant I'm not reading! Because I can read even when I'm exhausted.

Which is a blessing.