Summer

For most of the year, I am a scheduled person.  But when the days get longer, my organization skills and well-laid plans seem to melt away as the temperature rises.  I try really hard to stick to the schedule--every year I promise myself that THIS year during the summer, I will still have dinner on the table at 5:30.  THIS year, my kids will be dressed everyday by 8AM.  THIS year, bedtime will be consistently at 8PM, no matter how light it is outside.

And that "firm resolution" lasts all of...um...well....to be honest, I'm not sure that it lasted at all this year.  The first few weeks of summer the kiddos go to bed at 8, then 8:15, then 8:30...until we reach the point we are at now, when we are routinely putting them to bed after a full day of hot summer play at 9:30 or 10 and they are begging to go to sleep. 

This probably makes me some sort of bad parent; but a summer full of playing in the pool, running in the sprinkler, playing at the park, catching fireflies, and eating Popsicles sounds much more fun than being responsible and on time. 

We'll have to catch that "summer schedule" thing next year.