I love everything about springtime! Well, almost everything – maybe not tornadoes or allergies.
I love watching perennials awaken from underneath the soil. It’s thrilling to see things blooming adding color all around the farm. The garden is sown and vegetable plants are starting to poke through. The baby calves are adorable and playful in our fields. It’s a beautiful time of year in Arkansas but it comes with a hectic schedule for our family of six.
The longer days have begun. Our family is determined to enjoy every bit of extra sunlight provided this time of year. With four children, you can just imagine we are a little busy right now. Between standardized testing, piano recitals and soccer games – I am always trying to squeeze in extra time for playing outside in the garden and riding horses. Some days it seems impossible with projects due and fundraisers at my children’s schools.
A majority of the people my children attend school with live in town. I hear horror stories of families trying to get to five after school activities in one night and my questions are always the same. When do your kids get to play? Make mud pies? Build fairy gardens? What time do you eat dinner together? The fight for family time, backyard imagination and exercise is one I know all of us struggle with – in town or on the farm. My husband and I commit every year to keeping the extracurricular activities to a minimum. We are homebodies and we love being at home with our kids. If we had a windmill and a dairy cow, we might not ever leave.
This year I’m opting for some new spring survival strategies to accomplish necessary tasks – all while enjoying the lovely days after school. Yesterday, when the kids got off the school bus, I saddled up the horse and the kids took turns riding her. I don’t normally let them play outside until homework is finished, we made it work. With each lap my second grade-daughter made, she had to spell one of her word study words for the week. She didn’t even miss one! I decided the fresh air must make them smarter.
I quit dragging the boys to town for their six-week buzz cuts quite a while ago. My sister (a professional stylist) taught me how to give them a haircut at home. Since then, I’ve only had one minor catastrophe cutting hair. That disaster happened when I was between haircuts and our youngest daughter pulled the guard off the clippers without my knowledge. With the first swipe I had shaved my youngest son’s head bald. After a tearful confession and showing the evidence to my husband we all had a good laugh.
Last week I let the kids loose outside before I realized the boys really needed haircuts. You know once kids are outside and having fun, it’s nearly impossible to get them back in. I set up a makeshift “salon” with our patio furniture and a set of clippers outside on the porch. In 15 minutes, the boys were trimmed up and back to doing their job – soaking up sunshine. I think porch haircuts are a new trend. The girls won’t let me near their hair after they saw the incident with their baby brother, but the boys are still brave!
The Harris family and farm isn’t just surviving, it’s thriving this spring. I hope you have some strategies to get out and soak up some of this incredible sunshine, neighbor.
