Summer Slump

So I don't really have any excuse for not posting, other than sheer laziness.  Why clean the house, when I could sleep?  (Or eat....)  Why fold clothes, when I could sit on the couch and stare at the wall?  (Or tv if the kids are asleep.)  Why play with the kids, when I could wander from room to room, wondering what task I had thought I needed to do there?
So you can guess where blogging ranks on the list.
Geez.  That makes me sound like I have a severe case of depression.
Nope.  Just epic pregnancy brain syndrome.  Combined with the beginnings of summer cabin fever.
The garden is kind of in between stages - my meager spring crops (lettuce, radishes, etc) are done, and my summer ones are not on yet.  We got a late start on the garden because of the wet spring (not complaining!), so everything is behind.
My plans for summer school aren't quite what I thought.  Kicking the kids outside to play trumps fighting Nathan to stay at the table and pay attention.  We are doing a lesson of reading (phonics?  He's not actually reading yet, so I'm not sure what you call it.) every day after lunch when the younger two go upstairs for naps.  He's okay with that, because it's too hot outside by then, and there's no distractions playing nearby, tempting him with toys.
Paul and I have joined/started a Bible study.  (Actually, separate, but related studies.)  Ever since we got married, we had a couples group that got together every other weekend (due to Paul working the other weekends), so we really didn't have time to do a Bible study also.  As we all had kids, it got harder and harder to get together, and since Zadie was born a year ago, it felt very forced to try to get together (8 or more kids,  ages 5 and under, may have had something to do with that....)  After the first of the year, I told Paul I was going to quit pushing to get together.  Apparently everyone else felt that it was time to move on as well, because no one's been trying to get us all together. :)
So I told Paul, if we weren't going to do that, I wanted to join a small group.  There are small groups at our church, but I don't really know if it's proper to invite yourself to an established small group.
But our group kind of materialized on it's own.  Paul and a group of guys from our church went to Encounter in February.  They had follow-up Bible studies for about two months afterwards, and then decided they wanted to keep meeting.  Their meetings were on Tuesday nights, our band practice nights, and one of my singers' husband was in the Bible study, and rather than drive separately from our hubbies (we both live out of town), we would just hang around and visit while we waited on our husbands.  We decided to do something constructive with the time, and start our own study, and two other wives wanted to join us.  So we start with the guys, and have a time of worship together, and then separate and do our studies and prayer time.  We ladies are doing a study of the book Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church to Grow by C. Peter Wagner.  We've really enjoyed the time and discussions, even if we are a bit distracted by children.  The guys are really getting a lot out of their time together.  And I am so excited about what God is doing in their lives.  The changes in all of them are obvious.  I am so glad they have their time together to grow spiritually and encourage each other.  Men need MEN to encourage them.
In completely unrelated news....
I hate cleaning the kitchen.  It is the most frustrating homemaker duty of all of them.  Most other jobs you do, you can at least tell you've cleaned recently, and they kind of stay semi-clean for a few days.  The kitchen can go from sparkling clean to toxic disaster area in an hour.  Having to endure this process 3 or more times a day is maddening.
As frustrated as I get at my boys for their whining and arguing, when I think about it, I am so proud of them. They are 5 and 3, and the amount they already help out around the house and yard is actually quite amazing. Nathan's daily jobs are unloading the silverware from the dishwasher (which he complains about as much as I complain about cleaning the kitchen) and taking the scraps to the scrap pile (compost heap).  Jacob's jobs are feeding the pets and taking the recycling to the back porch.  They both help Paul take out the trash and take their dishes to the kitchen.  Nathan vacuums, and helps weed the garden and flower beds.  After I pulled the beets, I showed the boys how to wash and take the leaves off them, and they did the rest by themselves and brought them to me in the house.  They water my flowers, and haul branches to the burn pile.  It makes it sound like we run a child labor farm, but it makes me very proud that they see that there is work to be done, and being part of our family means helping out.  (Lest they seem too perfect: sometimes it does take a lecture to remind them of this.)  It also makes me look forward to they day that they are old enough to clean the kitchen by themselves  Especially when there are four of them..... I'll never have to clean the kitchen again!!!  (Insert evil laugh here.)
Okay.  Paul is working nights, and I probably should head to bed soon.  The unfortunate truth of the matter is, that no matter how late I go to bed, the kids still get up at the same time.