August is the cruelest month

Some say it's April. But no.

August means temperatures in the 90s every day; insufferable humidity; a tighter budget (I get paid on a 10 month schedule); the start of the fall semester; astronomical electric bills; swarms of mosquitoes in our yard; and no vacations or holidays.

The older kids are 3 weeks into school and just starting to complain about homework and waking up early. Mitch is stir crazy, particularly with his partner in crime away at school all day, and is getting into all kinds of mischief. He's totally sick of me and asks every single day when school starts (not til September for him, helpmeJesus).

It's too hot to play outside, too boring to stay inside, and we're running out of ideas. And patience. Especially me...my patience is all but depleted, and I've become a sweaty, frizzy-haired, ponytail wearing, tank top sporting superbitch of a mother.

I can stand nothing but silence. If the children are doing anything but sitting quietly, my nerves get jangled. The noise, noise, noise is more than I can take on top of the cabin fever and the suffocating heat. And Owen and Mitch are the kings of silly lately, with all of these inside jokes that make sense to no one else but send them into convulsions of laughter, laughter which escalates into hilarity, which leads to Mitch leaping gleefully onto Owen and knocking him to the ground, which turns into someone getting hurt, which becomes a fight, which ends in tattling and tears and yelling, and people getting sent to their rooms. And when they come out of their rooms, it starts all over again.

And it's only August 2nd.

But oh, those su-hum-mer niiiii-hites

One of my favorite things about summer is playing outside with the kids after dinner. The hours between dinner and bedtime are my favorite of the day anyway because our chores are done, daddy is finished working, and everyone is well fed and happy. We often play a game with the kids or do some drawing and coloring until bedtime.

But in the summer, we go outside. Sometimes we take a walk, sometimes we just play in the yard. I love the light of summer evenings and the feel of the air. I still get excited when the fireflies come out. I love being barefoot on the driveway, feeling the heat of the day radiate under my toes.

Tonight was one of our first nights outside after dinner. John lit some firework snakes we had left over from last 4th of July, and even though it started to rain, and the snakes made it look like the driveway was pooping, it was a gorgeous evening, a harbinger of a summer full of warm nights. The first one of the season.