Balance?

 This week, I must say the balance is skewing kid-ward, which is only a bummer because next week is TOTALLY kid-centered because it's DANCE NATIONALS (you gotta read that with jazz hands in your heart). Maybe the following week, I can treat myself to a work retreat. (But I won't because kid activities will be in full swing, and my house will be a wreck from the previous week of neglect. Bah humbug).

(Also, I have gone for a run every single day since 9/1, and I am not going to let a pesky weeklong dance comp derail that-- wish me luck)

Dorothy wanted to shop with a friend, but I did not want to just drop her off at the mall, so Minnie and I also hung out there (FAR AWAY from Dorothy and her friend).

(Also even though she literally needs new Lulu Align shorts (Annabel ate them), Dorothy spent her $70 on SKINCARE instead-- which she does not need-- oh to have 13-year-old skin again).

 

No rain, but a rainbow! 

Ugh-- I really wanted to get dressed before I had to start running kids this summer, but it does not always happen...

Make it Monday!

Look at me balancing my s'more cookies with fully prepped salad ingredients!

Minnie has the PERFECT swim lesson time. Right after dive practive and the final 30 mins before the pool opens for open swim. It is going to be hectic keeping this slot with dance drops, but with 2 big bros either at the pool or home, I think we can swing it...

Other things:

Dorothy and I joined a mother-daughter philanthropy league and are excited to meet new friends and volunteer in our community.

Harry turned TWENTY and also got glasses

I am not white dress material.

Balance, a day late to Tuesday Topics, which is soooooo apropos

 Jenny wrote a terrific Tuesday Topics post answering this question: How do you find balance during summer chaos?

And I? Am still thinking about the answer. I have been mainlining Lazy Genius podcast episodes as I always do when the season changes, and I have been struggling to name what matters, which is her brilliant first step. Enter Jenny's post and a total lightening bolt moment. BALANCE. 

Balance matters.

 In fact, if I were picking a word for my season (which, actually? According to my blog, I am), then that word would be BALANCE. Season 1, second semester, was FUN (because on paper, it did not look like a very fun season. So season 2, which, on paper, looks totally kid and house-heavy even though I have work to do and fitness goals to hit, is going to be BALANCE because that is the thing I would most like to have.

I cannot even tell you how relieved I am to have that first -- most important--planning step out of the way. I mean, of course I have done the summer calendar, so I know what our time commitments and activities are, but I have not let myself think about our daily rhythms and how to make sure my non-negotiables are smoothly incorporated. But now! I can! Because I know that BALANCE is the thing.

So many balls in the air this summer, and I want our days to include:

time to exercise (I exercise between 90 and 130 minutes a day, if you count my 60 minutes of walking)

time to get dressed and put on my makeup

time to work and think deeply

time for kid activities (dance and dive drop offs ad pick ups, plus swim lessons, plus Minnie's theme of the day)

time for kids to have fun (boring, 90's-style, unstructured fun)

time to tidy

time to feed everyone (thoughtfully and intentionally, even if that intent is pizza and vodka lemonades at the pool)

time to read

time to loaf on the couch

time for friends (mine and theirs)

BALANCE, you guys, is the key to making sure most of these thing happen in the course of most days, even when (especially when?) I am the only parent home (but not the only adult! we have FOUR ADULTS in our house this summer!)

Above please see a stand-in adult attending Minnie's school picnic since Ben and I were at Cooper's 8th grad graduation. (SOMETIMES THE BALANCE IS TENUOUS, and that's OK).

Also, side note: running in the summer SUCKS. Gvie me a 5-degree morning ANYTIME.