Well, it’s May

I’m so out of the habit of writing that I’m struggling with how to start.

It’s nearing the end of the school year:  3 weeks to go.  My students are in the middle of SBAC testing, which is a giant process and has been stressful for me.  So things at work are busy, like they usually are, I suppose.

The girls turned 4 in April. I haven’t updated their baby books since they turned about a year old. This makes me sad because it’s something that I really wanted to do (and still want to do) but I never seem to have time to do it.

Instead of getting into a tangent on parenting failures, though, I wanted to take a minute to write about some of the good things.  On Memorial Day this past Monday, we all stayed home and spent time together as a family, and it was a really nice day.

I had stayed up late grading the night before, so Will got up with the girls and got them breakfast.  I think I got up around 9 after Siren came into my room for the second time.  Imogen bought me sunflower seeds for my birthday in March, and I had told the girls we could plant them on Memorial Day, so they were really excited.

We all went out to the yard, which was so not garden-ready.  The girls helped Will and I pull weeds, pick out rocks, and dig holes for the seeds.  We spent two hours outside working before we were finally ready to put the seeds in.  The girls were awesome. They didn’t fight or complain, and they were excited to help out however they could.  Hopefully at least some of our flowers will grow, so they will have evidence of their hard work.

Days like that make me feel so grateful for my family.  I’m excited that the girls are getting to an age when we can all enjoy experiences together.  I worry a lot about being so consumed with work and the busyness of daily life that I’ll look back on these times and wish I would have appreciated them more.  It’s nice to be able to have a day when I can take that time to just enjoy being a family.