Summer days

Summer is speeding along.  As I pout about prolonged silence from my favourite bloggers, my own little space here is equally neglected.  Four children home in our little space, with these precious few months of good weather, means that we are constantly on the move, getting outside, being active, and loving it.

With advanced birthday money from us and my parents, we bought Caleb a kayak.  He had mentioned it a few times, since I have my own kayak in the garage.  I took him out for the first time last week and my heart could have burst open from the experience.  He hopped in the kayak and paddled away as though he'd been doing it longer than I.  He paused in the middle of the lake and sighed happily, noting how peaceful it was.  Then he paddled hard to cross the great width of the lake, because he had promised his brothers he would, and "a promise is a promise."  Now I really do have to get a roof rack so that we can bring the kayaks along with us on camping trips.

Yesterday I had my first paid workday (that wasn't for our family business) in a long time.  A couple of my friends have a video company and are moving from wedding videos into corporate work, and they have hired me as a freelance writer, and also to be assistant director on shooting days.  The job is so perfect in that most of the work can be done from home, but there are still a few days now and then to get me out a bit.  My priority has always been to stay home with my children, but this will allow me to earn a little extra money while we shift our business ventures.  I also applied for a proofreading job that is also done from home.  How wonderful to find work that can be done once the children are asleep, so that it doesn't cut into my time with them.

Speaking of which, we are about to launch a new business, James and I.  We are combining our film and writing training with our experience with seniors...to start making autobiographical videos for seniors who want to record their life story.

Finally, finally, finally, Juliette is sleeping through the night.  For the first time in over nine years, I am getting a solid seven hours of sleep a night.  Combined with the beautiful summer weather I'm about bursting with energy.

Lazy days by a friend's pond, soccer games, parks, bike rides, tennis, geocaching, ball hockey.  Reading, reading and more reading (Colin is going through 1-2 novels a day!)  Looking ahead to some camping trips, a soccer camp, and maybe getting Ben's training wheels off.  Life is good.