This morning I was reading my friend Janssen's blog, and she posed the question, what do you want to remember from this summer? Originally I wanted this summer to be the year where we got out and did all the things all day everyday. That changed when I signed the kids up for swim lessons for six weeks straight, and instead of hitting up all the parks, and doing all the hikes, it meant we were going to the pool most days in the morning, and then coming home for lunch and relaxing in the afternoon.
Doing the same thing day in and day out can certainly get monotonous sometimes, but I hope my kids remember the time I took to have picnics with them during lunchtime in the backyard, or when we filled up the kiddie pool with water and all our toys and had a blast splashing for hours on end.
I hope they know that I'm not perfect and that managing this blog, my running training, building a home, and getting myself ready for my last year of college all takes time, but that I really tried hard to give them the individual attention they still needed as well.
I hope Jay remembers playing board games together on my bed in the afternoons while we hide from Em who is happily playing downstairs. I hope Em remembers us playing in her room together and reading books and practicing her letters.
I hope my kids remember the times throughout the day where I would look up from my work (whether it being on the computer or cleaning the house), and I just take in the moments to look at them and see them playing on their own, or with each other.
I hope I'll always remember this being the summer where Em really learned imaginative play, and how she would put diapers on all her dolls and animals and be a little mama to them. I hope I'll remember Jay doing his 20 minutes of reading in his room, and plowing through 100 books before the third week of summer even got here.
I hope we all remember the times when we would be together, the four of us, outside after my runs on a weeknight, and I would be swinging with Em on the swing, while Derek watered the grass, and Jay learned to pump his legs on his swing for the very first time. Or when the kids got tired of swinging and decided it was more fun to have Derek spray them down with the hose instead.
I hope our kids remember the simple moments, and that it's not about spending loads of money and taking them on grand adventures. That it's the little moments each day, that add up overtime to create the foundation and lasting memories from their childhood.
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