Taxi Mom?

Could it be? Did we arrive? Have we unceremoniously transitioned to the season of shuttling kids around nonstop?

These days we follow an unrelenting schedule of loading and unloading the minivan, buckling and unbuckling carseats. Grabbing the keys, matching the shoes, and locating sunglasses. (I simply CANNOT drive without them.)

Between PE & computers classes, piano & flute lessons, basketball practice & games, and weekly Awanas, we seem to always be on the go. Throw in the occaisional birthday party (like today), or trip to the library, Target, or the hot springs, and I might just need to graduate from my sticky-note calendar system.

It’s a good thing we homeschool, or I fear our kiddos would scarcely see the inside of our home– save for when they turn in to bed each night.

We find it helpful to observe a No-Drive Day, weekly– currently on Fridays. To help us stick with it, I generally send Husband to work in the Sexy Minivan –positively marooning myself- as there is no way I would attempt to pilot his burly, manual transmission man-rig.

No-Drive Days aren’t new to us… when the girls were tiny I did the same on Mondays. A Sabbath of sorts, we approach our No-Drive days with palpable relief. We wear whatever we want (the school down the road has a very strict dress code), showers and hairbrushes are optional, and we take our time with schoolwork. This deliberate practice helps us to stay ahead of our otherwise frenetic pace of life.

I recently read this great article from a mom declaring hers to be a homework-free household. Though admittedly unpopular, she convincingly argues that what kids truly need after school is running around, decompression, and dirt– not more academics. She details treehouses, family dinners, reading for leisure, and an early bedtime. That’s a prescription I can get behind!

I especially love her mention of catching of bullfrogs, having spent much of my childhood similarly romping after slippery, hopping amphibians along the reedy banks of the huge pond directly behind my mother’s house. I’m stoked for our kiddos that our new house also backs up to a pond. We intend to put an extra gate on the back of our fence that opens to the park/pond area, and I confess I am seriously considering seeding it with frogs and/or fish, and baby ducklings. shhh… don’t tell the HOA.

This morning we drove by the house again, which has become our weekend custom, to inventory the progress on the construction. I was OVER THE MOON to find that the frozen pond had been groomed for ice skating!

Eeeeek! Too much fun.

That’s our house under construction, smack-dab in the middle, and I know what you’re thinking: That’s not a farm! And you’re right, we’re only getting a half of an acre. Still, we back up to this pond and then hundreds of acres of farmland before they erupt into towering mountains, so it will FEEL like a farm. Especially once Husband plants trees, builds my garden boxes, puts up a hammock, constructs and fills a bunny hutch, and builds a treehouse, a hobbit hill, a rope swing, a teepee and a fort made of a grain silo. See my Pinterest board and insert the praying hands and sheepish teeth face emoji here.

Though we will surely miss our current house and amazing neighbors, we are definitely looking forward to our new home!