Changes...

As I work through the housework I have somehow managed to avoid most of the week, I can't help thinking about the changes coming. Soon summer will be upon me and all three kids will be home, it will be a challenge. Gwenn, our independent one will do what she pleases and know she can slip under the radar if I'm busy with Teale. She'll make concoctions out of soap and flowers, calling it perfume. She'll get herself ice cream for breakfast and sneak to a TV somewhere, hoping to not get caught. She'll dump toys, then move onto something different and dump some more. Beau will be out and about with friends much. When home he will be hiding in his room, hoping I don't remember he is there so he doesn't get asked to help with anything. He'll be hanging with his girlfriend and I will be trying to make sure my presence in the house is felt by them both. He'll get his permit in August and my fears will increase as he takes another step toward independence. Teale will be controlling as usual toward me, Beau and Gwenn. She will want whatever one of us is doing. Whether that is watching the family room TV, that she thinks is hers or playing on the computer or using a basketball. Teale always thinks the family's stuff is hers. I will tiptoe around her moods, hoping to keep her even as the weeks of summer are tough on her. This year I will have a new challenge, my MIL. She is much like Beau and Gwenn in that she hopes to slip under my radar. She will try to stay in bed way too much, not shower and sit in front of the TV all day without so much as a glass of water poured for herself. I will be running ragged keeping an eye on these four and in between that, trying to do the housework and yard work that needs doing. After about two weeks of all four of them, Teale will go to summer school a good portion of the day. Then my summer usually begins, Gwenn, Beau and I will try to do things together some of the days. We will hike a water fall or maybe hit a theme park, they will have friends here, without the glitches of Teale being home, it is more peaceful. But the changes are many, Gwenn is more independent, Beau has a lot of freedom and a girlfriend who will have a car this summer, Teale will finally be at our DREAM school, School of the Holy Childhood. Then there is me, I feel a little more settled into my life again lately, I feel more content and less stressed. I'm not sure it has gotten easier, I just feel like the cloud has lifted a bit. Mark's Mom won't be easy to care for during summer months and this is my first summer with her here. I'll be running with the kids and most likely she will get away with doing less and not taking good care of herself.  She literally won't pour herself a drink if I am not home, I don't mean alcohol, I mean something hydrating. She will stay in bed forever without someone standing over her to wake her. She argues with me over much, but I was given the job of her care and well being and I don't take it lightly. So the changes may have some positives and there may be times I want to rip my hair out, but really, isn't that what life is???