The 5 Aces... One Day At A Time: "Life is what happens to you while...

...you're busy making other plans."

I am a planner. I love planning birthday parties, dinner parties, holiday events, you name it. However, I can't tell you how many times I have planned an event, only to reach the end, and realize that I had not stopped along the way to enjoy myself.

It will probably come as no surprise that I have been planning for Samuel's and Avery's first day of school for several weeks now. Okay, I'll be honest, I've really been planning this for several months now! I've bought them shoes, socks, clothes, lunch boxes, back packs and school supplies. I've let them pick out what they want to wear on the first day of school. I've had talks with them about school, what they can probably expect, what they will more than likely be doing during the day, and various other topics as they have come to mind. And even though I have known that August 25 was going to be their first day of school, I honestly can not believe that it is finally here!

I found myself this past Sunday evening unable to sleep. Our summer was almost over, and yet so many of my plans with the kids had fallen by the wayside. I wanted to try to squeeze in every single plan that we had not yet done this summer, into this final week before school starts. I stayed up late on Sunday night, planning the week away. We would ride our bikes every morning, go to the water park, go to the library, go to the zoo, and so on. So, you can imagine how upset I was when I woke up on Monday morning to a severe weather storm. It rained all day long. When I woke up on Tuesday morning, it was still raining, hard!

I was going over my plans for the week in my mind, trying to see which plans could be altered and somehow salvaged, when Avery came up to me and asked if I could read her a book. We sat down together on the couch and I started reading a tiny book called The Pet Store. I began reading "This is a cat. This is a dog. This is a bird." You get the idea... I read the entire book and when I got to the end, Avery asked if she could read it to me. She opened the book and started reading very fast "This is a cat. This is a dog. This is a bird." But when she turned the next page, she hesitated. She told me that the picture looked like a snake, but the word underneath it looked like it said something different. She started to sound out the word, and she finally came up with it... lizard. She read the remaining pages "This is a mouse. This is a hamster. This is a fish. This is a pet." And then it occurred to me that Avery had just read her first book. She had read the entire thing, and not just looked at the pictures and guessed what the words said. And I was able to be a part of it when she achieved this wonderful milestone!

For all of the plans that I have made for my children over the past several years, many have indeed fallen by the wayside, but many more have come true and unfolded right before my eyes. And unfortunately, I will admit, there have been many times when I have forgotten to take the time to enjoy myself along the way. It seems that in my attempt to plan out these last few days of summer, I almost managed to let life pass me right by. I almost managed to not enjoy myself. I almost missed out on baking cookies, making sidewalk chalk art on paper grocery bags, hearing Samuel finally learn how to say the days of the week in Spanish, hearing Isaac say "Hi, Avery!" for the first time, and listening to Avery read her first book.

We've had a great summer. And although I am sad to see it end, and I am sad to see Avery start Kindergarten and Samuel start 1st grade, I know in my heart they are ready, and so am I. Which brings me to my new favorite quote:

"Of all the wonderful things in the universe of God, nothing seems to me more surprising than the planting of a seed in the blank earth and the result thereof." - Julie Moir

It is good to make plans. It is good to plant seeds and watch them grow. Over the past several years, I have planted many seeds in the hearts and minds of my children; seeds of love, hope, faith, family, tradition, responsibility, values, respect, honesty, and knowledge. But if there is anything I have learned, it is that what matters most when it comes to planting those seeds is to not allow myself to get so consumed with the planning that I forget to enjoy the wonderful and surprising result thereof.

Here are just a few pictures of Samuel, Avery and Isaac enjoying their summer.