My boy

With the summer fast approaching, I'm beginning to realize that I will have to do some adjusting once all six of the kids are home on vacation. Next Friday is their last day of school. Mentally, I'm preparing myself for the changes that summer will bring to our schedule. On the plus side, we will get to sleep in! No more school lunches to pack. No homework worries, no lost library books to find and no permission slips to sign and return to school. However, summer inevitably brings the one unwelcome guest with it. The big, bad, boredom bogey monster. He sits under the table, panting and drooling on my kitchen floor, looking for a willing victim to sink his hoarey teeth into. He's quiet and stealthy and my children never know that they've been bitten until they start to droop and complain of boredom, listlessness and mental intertia.

Which brings me, in a very roundabout way, to my topic of the moment. My adorable son. I am completely dotty about him. He's easy to please, plays well by himself and with others, and can enjoy being alone without feeling at a complete and utter loss. In short, he has (so far) outfoxed the boredrom bogey man. He's a joy to take shopping and is not prone to "wanna have" tantrums. Life with him is an easygoing game of give and take. He's always open to compromise and can see the sense of most rules. If I say "no", he can usually accept it. That's not to say he hasn't thrown a few wicked tantrums. But generally they are few and far between.

So I'm am genuinely enjoying these last few days of calm before the summer vacation storm. Parenting Malia and Jacob is a fun, rewarding job. I dearly love all my children, and when they're all home and playing in harmony, I can hardly contain my joy and triumph at the satisfaction of it all. But those well-oiled moments are hard to come by and make me appreciate the ease with which Jacob and Malia fit into my life. They adore each other and better yet, they appear to adore me too.

In the photo, Jacob is feeding Austin a bottle.