My first "forever" summer...

Teachers all around town returned to work today. I did not. Yet, I woke up this morning with a funny feeling. It was an urgency to do something. Did I feel the need to prepare a lesson plan? No. Were there meetings that I needed to attend? No. Was I late for some sort of annual mandatory training? Absolutely not. I felt this intense desire to DO BACK-FLIPS ACROSS THE LIVING ROOM FLOOR!!!!! I get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be "Momma" for my girls all. day. long. And the excitement that is flowing through my veins is going to cause them to explode. In honor of, as Lana appropriately coined, my "first official day off", the girls and I went for frozen yogurt after lunch.

After that, we went to the park. And played. And played. And played. While we were there, I remembered that I'd done a "then" and "now" of pictures from this particular park the last two summers. I snapped a pic today with my phone (hence the poor quality), and after putting together this year's "then" and "now", it hit home even harder why my need to stay home with the girls has continued to grow: they are changing and growing so quickly and I cannot stand to miss a single second of it. At the end of the each day, I love knowing exactly what "characters" they pretended to be all day (today, I was "Ellen", the housekeeper from Mary Poppins while Abby was "Mary Poppins" and Elise was "Mrs. Banks"). I love seeing the pile of clothes on the floor and knowing exactly why each outfit change was necessary (Elise changed zero times today - shocking, however she was wearing a new shirt and new socks from Grammy - but Abby went through 3 skirts and 3 shirts until she found the one that was the most "cozy"). And I love when the girls are asked "What do you want to do tomorrow?" and they answer with: "Play with you, Momma!", that I can absolutely make that happen. All. day. long.