Summer

We have about three weeks of summer left and I have to admit I am ready for it to be over.  I don't really wish for the kids to go back to school as much as I wish that we had some structure to the day and a break from each other.  It is currently raining outside (and not just a little rain, the quart mason jars on the back patio are half full) and the kids are parked in front of the tv, not dressed, and eating breakfast out of the bag on the couch and it is mid-morning.  All my parenting instincts tell me I should stop it but what are they to do right now?  How can I complain?  I still haven't gotten dressed.  They aren't fighting and it is some what quiet.

I feel like we have no structure to our day.  When the kids were little, I couldn't understand "those wives" who never fixed dinner when their husbands were gone.  How can you not?  The kids and you have to eat too.  How do you just not sit down and eat a proper meal?  It is part of the daily structure.  And for years, every night I fixed dinner and we have sat down and ate.  This summer has been a different story.  I have cooked way less than normal.  We have had a few proper meals but the majority has been either sandwiches or breakfast food.  When I do cook, I feel like the kids eat less when he is gone or maybe it is because he isn't here to make a dent in what I fix.  We are left then with lots of leftovers that none of us eat.  I LOVE that he eats my leftovers and without him, they just sit in the fridge till I can clean it out.  I try to plan meals around just what we can eat in one meal but that rarely works.  Instead, I find myself not cooking.  Which is sad because I love to cook especially for someone who appreciates a good meal instead of complaining that they don't like pork chops.