I’m done. Summer has officially kicked my butt. I CRAVE the routine of school! I’m DYING to have more than a 10-minute window in which to get my work done! I NEED some time to myself!

We’ve had an amazing summer: Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Ouray, my 165-mile bike ride in the mountains with girlfriends, I turned 40!… So, I’ve had an incredible summer, but now, I need my routine back. Dammit.

The last couple of days have felt like those first few months when I decided to stay home and freelance, when Delaney was 4 months old. The days when she was in daycare, I had structure and focus. The days “off,” however, were completely formless and shapeless blobs. By 2pm, I’d be sitting on the back deck with her sorting through the rocks under our water faucet, wondering what the hell I was doing with my life.

Welp, now she’s 6 and Allie is 5 and I’ve come to realize that summer can take on a blob-ish form of its own. I do not want to pack it full of camps; they only had two half-day camps this summer. I LOVE having them around. I like taking off on spontaneous hikes and turning on the sprinkler on hot afternoons.

But then August rolls around and it’s like 2pm when Delaney was a baby. Now what? What? WHAT? WHAT!? What can I do with them NOW!? I’m simply not creative enough to come up with a freaking art project whenever they feel like it. I don’t read those mom magazines and stock up on art supplies. (Aren’t crayons and construction paper enough?)

So, I’m back to the questions I asked myself way back on those lonely afternoons when Delaney was a baby… When’s Dave getting home? When is it respectable to have a glass of wine? Where’s my chocolate? When’s Dave getting home?

So, I’m ready for school. I think the girls are, too. We’ve had a BLAST (we took off for lunch in Morrison today and then went hiking) but now it is time for life to revolve around school again.

(For a good laugh, check out my blog post from February 19 when I missed my kids when they were at school. Motherhood = constant transition.)