Summer Belongs to…

If you’re a Phineas and Ferb family like we are, you might have the “Summer Belongs to You” song in your repertoire.

For our family, summer belongs to Otter Pops. I’ve only bought 500 so far this summer, so we’re a little behind, but our oldest has left to do an internship, so there’s one less Otter Popper in the house. Usually we hit about 1200 by the time we have to start buying pencils and hand sanitizer bottles again. I told the missionaries (poor, unacclimatized Idaho and Utah kids) they could stop and get an Otter Pop anytime, but they had to obey the family rule: no more than ten a day. They’re keeping up.

It’s just really hot here.

So. Hot.

And the kids need a lot of my time and attention. Which is good. I like it. Being a mom is my first job. Then wife. Then some other responsibilities. Then writer. So even though I have THREE completed novels that need a little editing and cover designs, I probably won’t be putting out anything new again for a few weeks. And maybe not until August when the kids go back to school. It’s just a matter of priorities.

And I’ll tell ya–with my oldest going off to his internship this summer, it’s the emotional equivalent of an ice bucket challenge, a wakeup call proving just how fast these years go with my kids. BLINK! They’re gone. And even though my youngest just finished first grade, it still feels like so did my oldest.

So, I’m trying to balance the fun of writing with cramming in every possible interaction with my kids (without being the super helicopter mom I am at heart. I’m not sure how that’s working.) Chores, conversations, games, drives–long and short. It’s my time with them. And then, in a few years when they’re gone >sniffle! gasp! gurgle!< I will be writing a lot more books.

Until then, summer belongs to being a mom.

“Now, if I find any more Otter Pop wrappers on the floor, I’m not buying any more.” (The lies we tell.)