I'm Supposed to be Smarter and Less Stressed

In the past couple of weeks, I have read two articles posted to Facebook. One was about a study that says women that have children are smarter than women without children. The second was that, "three" was the most stressful number of kids and that moms with more that three kids are less stressed. So I should be golden, I'm smarter than other women and less stressed. What's the problem, Kathleen? But this is how I feel right now.

This was the cloud over the Giant yesterday. Right now, I feel like I'm in the middle of the storm before the calm. There is always much anticipation for the end of the school year, the anticipation of summer, hanging out at the pool, vacations, sleeping-in. But to get to that, we still have studying, finals, end of year parties to plan, Ryan's graduation from 5th grade,  orthopedic appointments for two kids (one with a fractured ankle, the other with torn ligaments in his finger) check-up appointments that should have been done 6 months ago, and then there's the planning of our Disney Trip. Once we get to that last day of school, there will be rejoicing. Our June is jammed packed. The boys have basketball camp, Molly and I go to New York to see Matilda, our Disney trip, our drive home with a few stops along the way, one night at home, and then we are off to the Poconos for our Annual Nealon Family Vacation....Whew. But this year, our summer is a bit longer because our school calendar changed. We have 88 days of summer this year. When we get back from all our adventures in June, we will still have all of July and August. That's a lot of days with four kids to fill with summer fun. 

Last night, we started our "Nealon Family Summer Bucket List." We made a bucket list for the first time last year and I have to say, it was great! We didn't do everything on the list, but we referred to it throughout the summer and we did things that we might not have done if we didn't have the list.

But in the mean time, I have other lists that I have to get through in order to get to the good stuff. My entire upstairs has piles of clothes, and suitcases, and the girls decided to clean out their closets, which is a good thing, but now I have to get it out of the hallway. 

This weekend is Memorial Day Weekend and the Nealons having NOTHING on the schedule. But I have a "bucket list" for this weekend. We have to pack, and then clean and organize the upstairs. Then, we are going to plant flowers with Molly, ride our bikes, swim at the pool, attend the neighborhood summer kick-off, watch fireworks, have a neighborhood block party, and make smores in the fire pit...those are the things on my list...because I'm supposed to be smarter and less stressed than other women...yeah, still not feelin' it. But I'm trying.