Mixed Emotions

I still have a little more to post about the Princess's birthday & our Fourth of July celebrations. But, as I sit here tonight, at the end of a great, long weekend, I am reminded that school ended just three weeks ago and that the Buddy starts summer school tomorrow. In previous years, I have been counting down the days until summer school started, grateful for the years it started just a few days after the regular school year ended. I found it extremely challenging to keep the Buddy entertained for the week or so he had off.

This year, I have mixed emotions though. For the first two weeks of summer, we had a blast and I loved having my kids with me during the day. We went to movies, the park, Costco, bowling - nothing big - and actually quite "normal". With having a child with special needs, there isn't often a lot in my life that feels "normal". But during those first two weeks, I had a few days where I felt the most "normal" as a mom EVER. The Buddy did great and was a trooper on our outings.

Last week was a little more challenging for me with the kids, but we still had fun and we've had a great long weekend. I'm a little sad for summer school to start tomorrow because the Buddy will be gone most of the day and we'll just have the afternoons together. Our district actually cut summer school short by two weeks and we're missing half of summer school with our family vacation. Again, in previous years, I would have been very stressed about all of this, but this year, I know we'll do just fine. And I look forward to August when my kids will be off again and we can hang out some more.

The only reason I'm glad summer school starts tomorrow is the Dad and I are going on a Pioneer Trek with the youth in our stake and the week after that, we leave for our 10-day vacation - I need to run some errands and pack without feeling like my kids are just bored in the house. Otherwise, I will miss my Buddy for the time he's in summer school.