Here Comes the Sun!

Don't you love the satisfied feeling you get when you arrive at the close of a productive day (productive translating to one in which you were able to both get some work accomplished as well as soak up the beautiful weather by lounging in the backyard with a book by the author you've been away from for far too long)? Today was blissfully productive.

With the clean laundry waving in the breeze on the clothesline, the back porch finally tackled and cleared out (you can actually walk, like walk normally through it now- no more twisting sideways past the desks- don't ask, please- no more turning this way and then bending that way to avoid tipping the precariously stacked boxes that accumulated there through the winter). With the baby (and the two two year olds) at last taking a decent nap inside, with the supper cooking in the oven (yeah, so it was just a casserole pulled from the freezer), with the children playing happily under the sprinkler (okay so the term 'happily' is used lightly in this situation as there were plenty of squawks and squabbles with a couple of extra girls here for the day putting a severe crimp into my son's already outnumbered male status. He thought it would be hilarious to spray the girls with water when they were most unaware; personally I thought it was pretty funny myself- they, uh, didn't). So, with the promise of summer curling itself sweetly around the afternoon, I sat and got through an entire chapter of my book. And then I got way too warm and spent some time ducking under the sprinkler with the kids.

And then when my nieces were gone home for the day, when the older three were tucked in bed right up to their sunkissed noses, and the baby was contentedly laying on the couch cooing at her dad, I slipped right out the door and met two of my girlfriends for a rather large slice of grasshopper pie overflowing with hot fudge, some good chats, and an overdue catch-up session.

No, this wasn't exactly a typical day- especially with a sometimes-sort-of-a-bit-of-a-fussy baby calling the shots while she slips into, and then so quickly out of, her 45 minute catnaps. But today... ah, sweet summertime, how I've missed you! It was the perfect balance of relaxation and accomplishment. How easily I've slipped into the routine of not really having a routine.

I have a feeling we'll all sleep well tonight.