August, Already.

Hello, August! I am always so happy to see you. You are a happy time of year, the height of summer, when the newness of being constantly outside has worn off and you can have lazy days of doing nothing if you want. You are the harbinger of fall, and back to school, and my favorite season ( Harvest Toile!!! Harvest Toile!!) coming up soon. You are all about planning and organizing for the school year, buying new backpacks and sneakers and jeans and composition notebooks. (Ohhhh, the composition notebooks... I have bought SO MANY composition notebooks in the last three years, and have many, many more to buy in the years ahead...)
You are also the month of my mom's birthday, which is always fun to celebrate.
When I was a babysitter for my neighbor's sons (who are now in their late twenties, at least), they had a wonderful book about the months of the year on a farm. It was beautifully illustrated and of course I loved it because it was all farm-y, and harkened back to my former life as a Pilgrim. I loved the description of the month for August, all about the dog days of summer and being lazy and the sense of time somehow standing still -or at least slowing down- in the heat,when everyone napped under shady trees and drank lemonade. I have looked for years for that book and have never found it.
Usually it is at the end of August that I see the first couple of leaves change color.

You are the month of vacations and get aways, of day trips and amusement parks, of sweet corn on the cob and home grown tomatoes. We are not going to the Cape this year, but will be going next summer, and I am already looking forward to it. (I recently read an article that said that a great deal of the fun of a vacation is the anticipation, and I can totally understand that. I am a master anticipator. I can look forward to anything. Heck, I even ordered CHRISTMAS WRAPPING PAPER this afternoon.)

The school vacation is officially more than half over, and the girls go back to school on September 8th. We have a whole lot of fun to pack in before then, including a visit from my brother and his family, but we can do it. Michaela is going to Vacation Bible School this week, drama camp next week, and Quilt camp the week after that. Jenna is enjoying playdates with her school friends and some neighbor girls and hanging around at home. We are swimming at my parents' pool, enjoying downtime in the afternoon while Alec naps, and playing outside after dinner.

Last night at dusk we flew a kite for the first time with Alec and he laughed right from his belly as he held the string. We were in a huge open field and the sun was setting behind some big, fluffy clouds and I felt so blessed to have clean air and open space and three healthy kids and a husband to share it all with. A wonderful memory of summer with little children.

Welcome, August. I've waited all year to see you.