Confessions about Summer List 2011

The 2011 Summer List is here!

Here is my post from last year, the first year we made a summer list. And while I feel like I've really grown as a person (wow! last year, I had a LOT of words and apparently anxiety about balancing plans with no plans. what a stress case.), this year, the Summer List brought forth another unlovely, fatal flaw about me as a mother:

I hate when my kids mess up my art, especially in Sharpie.

I decided that since the kids get to do so much art all the flippin' time while I get to do their dishes and laundry, that I got to be the one to make the poster itself. Fun colors. Puffy clouds. We all brainstormed the ideas, but I got full control of all Sharpies.

And here's what you must know. In Junior High, I was on the poster-making committee. For all of 7th and 8th grade, I made posters and painted giant banners for every single event or special day our school had. I rocked at posters. So yeah, I think I was reliving that special season in a teen's life known as junior high, where nothing goes well except perhaps poster-making.

Two-thirds of the way through my "art", they wore me down. I reluctantly let the kids write a couple of the bullet points and nearly bit their heads off when the words got too close or too far away from the previous line. One bullet circle got drawn with a color I WASN'T EVEN USING - (deep breaths) I have no idea how that marker slipped past me - and the circle was not uniform in size and shape, so from then on, I drew all the circles. I mean, after I traced over the erroneous one in the right color. Then, once the list was all finished and I was starting to breathe a sigh of relief, I nearly went into cardiac arrest when my son picked up the blue Sharpie and quickly started to draw a line connecting bullet points of activities he thought we could do on the same day. NO! We do NOT connect them with giant permanent lines! My husband gave me "big eyes." He thinks I'm sorta psycho. Minus the sorta.

Yeah. You thought I was oh-so-spiritual. I'm a total basket case in certain things. I'm not ashamed to admit it because, frankly, so are you.

Anyhoo. It was not a proud time for me. I'm sorry kids, I wish I was more mellow about certain things. I'll testify on your behalf when you're in counseling for the many ways I ruined you. Let's look at the bright side. The Summer List exists, and I'm going to work hard to make summer memorable and magical for you. That I promise.

Just...hands off the Sharpies. For both our sakes.

{aaaaand....the winner of the Sheri Rose Shepherd message is JAMI! Hooray for you, friend!!}

If you missed out on that one, check out the "i heart summer" giveaway happening on my other blog, cake & cotton, over here