Monday, June 4, 2012

It's Summer Time!

It's Summer Time!


This summer I want to turn the sprinklers on for my kids and run through them with them. 
This summer I want to let them have ice cream for morning snack.
This summer I want to stop more, play more, and listen more.
This summer I want to play dress up with my girl and let her glam me with glitter and pearls!
This summer I want to slow down and watch my kids have a blast in our home.
This summer I want to take morning walks with my kids.
This summer I want to take them to the park more often - even if it's hot, humid and buggy!
This summer I want to make berry shortcake  with whipped cream for dinner.
This summer I want to make a batch of homemade lemonade and sit on the deck it with my family.
This summer I want to create memories of laughter with my family!

This summer I want to make sure that those little times, those pedals and pushes, and late afternoon hours playing together before a muggy thunderstorm rolls in really matters - in fact, really happens.




After all, look at them. Growing up.

Right in front of me. First they crawl, and then the walk, then they run, then they ride their bikes, and scooter, and on and on growing. Every day. One step older, one more moment of letting go.

This summer I want to take a bike ride next to them.
This summer I want to play catch in the backyard.
This summer I want to surprise them with really cool trips - beach, sand, fishing, fun!
This summer I want to remember to slow down.
This summer I will push through and try to understand that video game he really likes!

But, if you are like me, we lose track of that thought. We get stuck in the short sight - all we need to accomplish (that ever growing TO DO list!) or finish, or what they're not doing right or what needs to change or what we're making for dinner - that stuff. And we lose the idea that this day, this moment, this scooter ride down the hill and back, this matters.


Yes, we absolutely have to do all the short every day to day stuff, there's no way around it - the dishes, the TO DO list, the cleaning, the working, the laundry folding, etc - it's just part of life. But, we could get stuck only doing the to-do list and missing those moments that we'll want to remember. Are we really wanting to look back and remember that we got all those dishes done or the laundry was perfectly caught up or we sent that perfect tweet for this summer of 2012?

This summer I want to pay attention to the mom watch my cool trick moments.
This summer I want to look with wonder at that bee in the flowers.
This summer I want to look at both my kids in the eyes and tell them how much I love them.
This summer I want to take my oldest to see a late midnight movie.
This summer I want to rest in the grass and look for cloud shapes with my seven year old.
This summer I want to take them camping, real camping - in a tent on a cool mountain top.
This summer I want to worry less about the dirt and more about the heart.

It's too easy to race through the day, being busy, and than get to the end of the day when our little people  need to go to bed and to realize that less then ten minutes of time was really spent with them. Summer, despite the lazy hazy days of summer line has the tendency to actually race by with it's own form of busy. And, if we're not intentional the summer could pass, this summer, without accomplishing many of the things in our hearts that we want to do.



Make a list, my friends, make a list. Sit down, take ten minutes, and ponder what you really want to do, what would matter to your family, to others this summer.

This summer I want to surprise my husband with fabulous date nights, where I listen!
This summer I want to value our days and cherish every moment of his love for me!
This summer I will speak his love language and value every day we have been given! 

This summer I will find creative ways to show how I appreciate all he gives to our home!

 

You've got your to-do lists. Now, add a this summer list. I've shared with you a bit of my list in progress throughout the post. Will you check everything off? Probably not. Will it make you more intentional? Definitely yes. Before you know it this summer will be gone - summer has a way of doing that - grab this time, this summer - and really intentionally live capturing those moments that matter and that you want to remember.