How I Spent My Summer, by A Busy Mom

I've had "blog" on my list of things to do for ages. I've composed many mental blog posts, but life has been too crazy to even read my favorite blogs or keep up with my email.

Where have I been?

August
week one Trip to Neah Bay with Clint's family. It was fun. Was so proud to have kept up my running schedule even while vacationing. Have an unfinished draft blog post about the trip.

week two A frantic week helping Gillian and Rhiannon finish their Fashion Revue dresses for the Saturday judging. Barely finished in time.

week three An equally hectic week preparing for fair; taking/mounting photos, purchasing supplies, framing art, baking clay, experimenting with baked goods recipes, designing posters, washing birds, and creating a theme, decorations and posters for our poultry display. Oh, and planning and setting up a fairground campsite.

week four Fair. Driving back and forth to the fairgrounds twice a day for animal care and participation in events. Late evenings and very early mornings. Sleep deprived, busy, but enjoying the music, the kids activities, and the family time. At this point, my running schedule failed, my one regret. I just couldn't figure out how to fit it into such long days.

week five Clean up all the fallout from fair. Clean the trashed house. Take kids on a two day family vacation to Silverwood and Boulder Beach...without Clint, who had to work at the last minute. No time to run.

September
week one Start our homeschool schedule. Discover Gillian and Tamzin will not rest until they can go to public school. Enroll them. Buy supplies. Figure out a new routine. Send them to school for two days. Help them over the hard parts. Start dance classes. Then Tamzin and Gillian want to quit school. Help Rhiannon make a few improvements on her FR dress. Pack. Take Shelby and Rhiannon to Puyallup so Rhiannon can participate in Fashion Revue at the State Level, for which she qualified. Munchkin disappeared from our house while we were gone. Clint feels terrible. Gillian is positive she put Muchkin in the house before they left to go to dinner, but when they returned two hours later, she was gone. She has been left outside accidentally one or twice before, and has never wandered off before. Still no time to run.

week two Create and hang posters all over Benton City and the surrounding area offering a reward for Munckin's return. Clean house because the physical clutter, coupled with the mental clutter, is stressing me out. If one goes away, maybe the other will be more manageable. Call the paper to post an ad for Munchkin. Disenroll G & T from school. First full week of dance classes, so I get to see if offering two classes a week to each child is manageable. Shelby starts driving lessons, in Richland. Gillian has decided to continue Art class at the public school, so I drive her back and forth 4 days. Take Rhiannon and Gillian to sleepovers. Spend a glorious Friday afternoon hanging out with Tamzin while I do errands. Buy her a scooter(she's wanted one since April...we're going to split the cost). Look forward to having the weekend off, then discover Tamzin performs at Sausagefest Saturday. Take Tamzin to practice 8:30 am Saturday. Go to Animal Shelter to look for Munchkin. Sausagefest Saturday night. Shelby and Gillian stayed home because they were worn out from such a busy week and didn't want to go. I'm worn out too, but I went anyway. Never found time to run.