Number Thirty Five: The Summer

Well let’s hope we can call it a summer! (I have my doubts) You never can tell with British weather but my hopes are high! The summer holidays are looming- a ridiculous amount of facebook statuses were about the 5 day countdown to 6 weeks freedom when I logged on this morning.

For me this summer means a few important things… firstly we are looking forward to regaining a little consistency for our boys- having been pushed from pillar to post for the last few months (loving pillars and warm, caring posts I must add!) they will finally get some family time… bike riding, swimming, kite flying and parks! This will do wonders for the boys and could not have come at a better time- once confident and carefree; my 3 year old is, at the moment, a little wary. A year ago he’d jump at the chance to stay with Nana or Nana and Grandpa Chickens but now he’s taken to sobbing and saying he wants to stay with us- it’s just not like him and is clearly a downside to the beast breast fiasco. The one yr old looks at me in terror if I hand him to be held by anyone else. I hear him thinking ‘Don’t take me away!’ it breaks my heart. So summer starts this weekend with a trip to the bike shop to buy a big boy’s bike with tyres and peddles and everything- HUGE excitement in the Morley household! The second most exciting event will be Cars 2; we love Disney’s Cars in our house even if the James Taylor song does make me cry! So the cinema will be our first rainy day choice!

The house- summer project number two. We hope to regain some control over the shabby, broken mess that is our pitiful dwelling! Walls will be painted, cupboards sorted and if we’re really lucky we’ll get round to phoning SKY and letting them know that our house phone is yet again NOT WORKING! The sofa war rages on- I want to buy a new one- Rob wants to wait until the boys stop spilling and dribbling over the current dribbly stained one! I’ll keep you posted about the sofa saga! (I don’t really think I stand a chance though.)

The ‘catch up’- summer project number three- A little trip down memory lane now… do indulge me! When I was four years old we moved back to Milton Keynes- my fourth house in four years! On my first day in my new school I was paired up with Claire to be shown around the school. She went home and told her mum, ‘I like Erin, She’s naughty.’ Twenty Seven years later she is still my best friend and this Friday she returns from Bangkok where she has been teaching for the past year- so this summer will also be about catching up with all her adventures! Can not wait! Sadly, she’ll then return to Bangkok for another year!

Of course this summer will also largely be about hospital appointments- I have 5 in the next 5 days! The introduction of Herceptin this week increases the amount of time I’ll spend to-ing and fro-ing between Milton Keynes and Northampton. Two more chemos and then radiotherapy to round off the summer- what fun! But by mid September the bulk of the nasty treatments will be behind me- Hurrah!

Then there’s the ‘usband- he’s moving to year two! We’ve both always taught upper key stage two- our lives revolving around SATs, residentials and transition to secondary school but this summer sees the leap to key stage one for Rob. He’s really excited- I’d be more nervous but nothing fazes him. So, we’ll spend a good bit of our summer thinking about Newt Class- I’m happy to design classroom displays while Rob sorts out his actual newts- he just loves a bit of wildlife in the classroom that boy!

So we’ll be a busy little family for the next six weeks. We’ll also be trying to avoid divorce proceedings as I’m sure you can imagine- 6 weeks together non-stop is enough to test any marriage- especially when your husband so infuriatingly says ‘Oh really? But you never get on my nerves.’ UGH!!!

So even though I’m not at work I’m still counting down to the summer- let’s hope it’s a sunny one!