When school supplies replace patio furniture, you know summer is almost over.

I made a quick stop in Target last night (all right, it wasn't quick, but I intended for it to be...) and as I meandered around the perimeter of the store, I quickly realized that my oldest son will be starting Kindergarten in a month. They've stripped the back corner of their lovely patio furnishings and replaced the shelves with notebooks, backpacks and pencil boxes. Summer is almost over.

My oldest actually started kindergarten last year while we were still living in Tennessee, but upon moving to Texas in December and realizing the birthdate cutoff is a month earlier, he got demoted to Pre-K mid-year. Come August 24th, he'll have a second first day of Kindergarten and we'll repeat the photo by the front door smiling with his new backpack. Same story, different town.

The point is - summer is flying by and, if I'm not mistaken, the break isn't as long as it used to be. When I was in elementary school, summer vacation lasted from Memorial Weekend to Labor Day, which translated to a full three months of sleeping in, watching game shows all morning, riding bikes all afternoon and staying up late catching lightning bugs in the backyard. There was time to breathe, time to rest, and even time to miss school. (Yes, I was one of those students.)

With just five weeks left to enjoy, I hope to make it fun for my boys - because life is hard as a kindergartener, you know. (Naps and recess, and all.) And once that season of life begins for him, he can't ever go back.
--Jennie