Celebrating… The Start of Summer!

Today marks exactly 2 weeks now that Dave has been home ALL DAY, EVERY DAY for summer break!

And since the official start of Summer is this weekend, I thought that celebrating the start of Summer and the fact that our little family will be at home together for another 10-11 weeks would be the perfect way to wrap up our fun Celebration Week.

NOTE: If you haven’t entered to win the Celebration Week giveaways, you can scope them all out here! 

Although Fall is (and probably always will be) my most favorite season, the Summer months are always extra special for our family since Dave is home all summer long.

You all know how much I love being at home… I could literally go days and days without ever leaving except to walk to the park or grocery store. Well guess what, Dave is kind of the same way (but not quite as extreme!)

We both LOVE being home, so the summer months are such a treat for both of us. We can tag-team to allow more one-on-one time with our kids, we can all hang out as a family, or we can take turns entertaining both kiddos while the other person gets a break or works on a project.

While I don’t think either Dave nor I could handle this much “togetherness” all year long — I know we will both readily admit that the 12 weeks of summer sure are a welcome break for us to march to the beat of a different drum for a bit.

It’s glorious — and I am fully aware of how lucky we are to have this time!  

I know that in the future, there will probably be a time when Dave (or I) get a summer job. There will probably be a time when our kids no longer want to hang out with us and are too busy playing sports, hanging out with friends, and doing their own thing to spend as much time at home with mom and dad. And there will probably be summers when we decide to do more traveling than staying at home.

But for now (and hopefully for the next few years) our family will spend most of our summer days at home.

SIDE NOTE: When I say “at home” I don’t mean we literally sit at home all day every day.

We go to parks, swim in pools and play in local splash pads, visit neighbor friends, go out for lunch, go to the zoo, pick strawberries, attend local community events, etc. etc. I just mean that we are together, often very close to our home, and rarely rushed by outside pressures or lots of heavily planned activities and vacations.

This summer, I think I will personally reap the benefits of having a “stay at home spouse” more than ever as Dave will be around nearly 24/7 to help with the new baby, keep Nora and Simon busy, and maybe even let me take a few naps during those awful first few weeks with a newborn at home.

He’s such a good dad (although you already know that from reading my other posts). He plays so well with them — much better than I do, and he’s much more patient than I am too.

Just the other day, he sat out at the kiddie pool with them for well over an hour while they splashed and played — and while I worked on some house projects inside (completely uninterrupted… can I get an AMEN!)

And over the past 2 weeks, as I was finalizing all the details for the Celebration Week Giveaways, and as we’ve been (somewhat frantically) trying to wrap up a bunch of house and yard projects before this baby arrives, I cannot even tell you how helpful it has been to have another set of capable, helpful, adult hands around every day.

It’s truly something to celebrate… and like I mentioned above, I do not take it for granted as I know how lucky we are.

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I hope you enjoyed our celebration week — I know I did, if for nothing else than to realize (once again) everything I have to be thankful for and to celebrate… even if they are just little things!

We’ve got 10-11 weeks of glorious summer left, and I know they are just going to fly by so quickly. Hopefully those weeks will be filled with lots of relaxing and low-key family fun!

What are you celebrating right now?