The School Bells, They Are A'Ringin'!

It's Back-To-School Time!

I hope the kids had a good summer: lazy, fun, friend-filled, full of new experiences and lots of swimming, with a little bit of fighting, whining, and grumping thrown in for good measure.

We had a fractured foot, scrapes and bruises from bike accidents and a fall in a pond, lots of time-outs, a bump on the head thanks to a mean ol' diving board, and we endured the deaths of two hermit crabs, a frog, and too many lightning bugs, ladybugs, and crickets to count.

We visited Hersheypark, Knoebel's Grove, the Quittie Park, Bullfrog Valley Park, the Philly Zoo, The Outer Banks, The Lego Store in King of Prussia, Lititz and the Sturgis and Wilbur factories, Lake Tobias Wildlife Preserve, multiple movie theaters, and more.

There was a lot on my To-Do List that didn't get done, but there's always next summer.

So we did our school shopping, loaded the backpacks, packed lunches, laid out the first-day-outfits, and started early bedtimes a week before school began.

This morning went smoothly, though Ben cried a little bit shortly before picture time. He's my homebody. He'd always rather stay home than venture out just about anywhere, and he cried every day before school for a few weeks in September last year. But he made it on the bus without running back to me, and after school he told me it was a great day. Maddie loves her teacher too and said the school day didn't feel like six hours!

And me?

Well, Jack is still at home with me, so I'm not all alone. But today I went to the gym for the first time since June, mowed the lawn, went to Walmart, and cleaned a little and facebooked a little, and played Legos a little...all with just Jack. Aaaah. Blessed peace and quiet. I've made it through another summer with my sanity intact, and in two weeks when Jack returns to preschool, I will have four afternoons per week all to my lonesome little self!

That adds up to ten blissful hours per week of Beth time.

And I'm not going to feel guilty about it. This is the time I dreamed about while my nipples were bleeding from ten 45 minute breastfeeding sessions per day; while I cleaned up vomit and diarrhea; while I took care of a child, toddler and baby for three days alone when I had flu and strep throat; while pushing that swing, or playing Uno, or cleaning up Moon Sand for the thousandth time; while waking up every half hour all night long to reinsert the pacifier into the baby's mouth; while changing poopy diapers where more poop was on the outside of the diaper than on the inside; while sitting in doctor's offices for an hour and a half with three children climbing the walls trying to keep my temper and a smile on my face; while walking all night with a baby who cried the minute I sat or leaned or stopped walking.

In the working world, employees get paid, or get "Job Well Done!" emails from bosses, or earn raises or commissions or bonuses. They have vacation days to look forward to... heck, they have weekends to look forward to! Employees get lunch hours and coffee breaks and meetings attended by well-behaved co-workers.

Many husbands would say that the stay-at-home mother is on permanent vacation. Ahem.

But I say School is my payday, bonus, and coffee break, vacation days, and weekends all saved up from 9 years of loyal and unswerving service to the company, doled out in 10 hour increments each week.