How I spent my summer vacation

I don't think I've ever had to write a paragraph or composition on the topic, nor have I seen my kids bring home that assignment. But now that it's September, I'm left wondering just what I did with my summer. My last summer at home with my kids, on my last maternity leave. Where did the time go?
I know it was a hot and humid summer. When the temperature hit over 40, any thought of spending time outside withered away, like my front lawn. The plants liked the hot weather, and for the first time in my adult life, I was able to enjoy tomatoes, some cucumbers and peppers from the few plants I had growing. There were many afternoons spent playing with Quinn and trying to encourage Aisling to forgo her daily naps. I know I'm guilty letting the Xbox entertain Devlin and Ceilidh on the days when I was exhausted from nursing Quinn throughout the night. There were many moments when I contemplated returning to work early when the Devlin, Ceilidh and Aisling would start arguing and fighting over some toy or some trivial point. We also watched a lot of Olympics, cheering for Canada and witnessing some exciting moments in sports.
But there were weeks and weeks of swimming lessons for Devlin, Ceilidh and Aisling. I think I spent more time chaufeurring them the various pools than I did driving them to various activities during the school year. Soccer took up much of our evenings during the week. There was a trip to Blue Mountain with good friends, and long weekends at the family cottage, the annual visit to the CNE and a night at the drive-in. There was still hockey for Devlin, and Ceilidh learned to ride the bicycle without training wheels so that the entire family could enjoy evening bike rides to the ice cream store. Quinn progressed from the army-belly crawl to motoring around on his hands and knees while his four upper teeth came in to join his two bottom pearls.
And on many days, I found there another kid in the mix with mine. I'm not sure if the neighbourhood thought I was running a free daycare, but often, Devlin would have a playmate over for the entire day (and evening!).  Funnily enough, one of the kids that came over had a mother who was running a home daycare.
And now it's September. With three kids in school, I've been able to enjoy a cup of coffee without reheating it a dozen times. While I look back over the summer of 2012 with fondness, it's time to move forward and turn my over-exhausted mind to thoughts of returning to work.