Summer days

Hot summer days! Ray put an easy set pool up for the kids and grandkids. I don't like water but I do like watching the grandchildren play and splash. Maddie and Isaac are little water dogs. Noah is finally learning to like the water. Until this past week he acted terrified. I think it was the cold water after being in the heat and the shock of it upset him. He's a sensitive little guy. But now he's really enjoying it and splashing around having a blast. The water has finally warmed up enough for him. Sophia loves the water and jumps and splashes right along with the others. But when she's tired, she wants out right now.

That's where mama comes in. I get baby duty. Change diapers, rock tired little ones to sleep, give them a snack or drink and just generally be there when they want me. Do I enjoy this when every one else is swimming and soaking up the rays? You had better believe it!

I'm terrified of being in the water myself so I stay away from it as much as I can. I don't even like to be splashed if I get close to the pool. As for soaking up the rays and tanning, I blister in a matter of minutes and I really don't like that. I'm really fair skinned and have sunburnt all my life. Not pleasant! I also don't like the really hot days, the heat makes me feel yucky and sometimes kind of sick. I do enjoy the small amounts of time I have in the house by myself before one of the grandchildren need me. Or even my kids, as grown up as they are, they still yell "Mom, I need you."

Ray loves the water, probably more than all the kids and grandkids. Sometimes I get a little lonely in the summer when everyone is in the pool but that doesn't last long. Like I said, they yell at me pretty often and I always have a good book at hand to entertain me or even get on the computer. And of course, everyone eventually gets hungry so theres lunch or dinner to fix or sometimes both. The girls and their guys are good to help provide and fix the food, even clean up afterwards! Not usually a lot of work for just one person there either. So yes, I do enjoy the lazy days of summer even though I don't like the water or heat.

With summer here, I get to spend a little more alone time with Sophia. Since Cindy isn't working, I don't get to babysit just her. I usually have Isaac and sometimes Maddie and Noah with them. So one morning a week, Cindy takes Isaac to see a movie and I have Sophia all to myself for a couple hours. Sometimes we play and then she takes a nap. Sometimes she likes to sit quitely while I rock her and talk to her or even sing. She isn't old enough yet to know that mama really can't sing.

Taling about singing, I sit in the back of the church and try to sing low so no one tells me I have a horrible voice. (I really do!). But I do like to try to sing sometimes and the babies enjoy it. Now Maddie is a different story. At eight years of age, she knows good singing when she hears it. We were in the car the other day and she was singing Old McDonoald has a Farm. Well I made a dreadful mistake. I started singing with her. She got real quiet and said "Mama I don't think I want to sing anymore." Guess she put me in my place right proper!! You know you're bad when a child tells you they don't want to sing with you. Oh well, no one's perfect, right?