Is it over already?

How can the summer be over already? This is the question I keep asking myself. Just a few short weeks ago, I felt like the whole summer was stretching endlessly before us and I had all the time in the world to accomplish a long list of fun and chores. I was going to can jam and salsa (made some jam, but not the salsa). I was going to organize the office and de-clutter the house (hmmm.... still looking at boxes of camping stuff and I'm not sitting at my desk to write this, soo...) We planned to refinish and weather proof the kids play structure - Done! And of course the highlight of our summer, going camping with dear friends and taking a few little day trips as a family - Success! I didn't read any of the books I thought I would read, but did read a few others. I didn't end up tutoring or learning more about the Lindamood-Bell reading intervention program I brought home from work. I exercised a little more, but not everyday like I hoped. I thought there would be "no excuses" in the summer and I could, but its amazing how easy excuses are to find :) And of course, I can't forget that nearly the entire month of June we spent with one of the kids having the chicken pox!

Now I'm looking ahead to the school year and wondering how am I going to go back to work?! How do we do it? I'm trying to decide which activities to commit the family to and how to keep our life as simple as possible at the same time. How do you tell if you are over committed anyway? And how does one decide what to cut out when necessary? I'm also convinced that we need to have less stuff to take care of in order to make more time for relationships. But, as I look around my cluttered house and think of all the organizing I want to do before school starts, I feel stumped and unsure where to begin. School clothes for the kids (oh, how I miss uniforms)? Organize the office? Paperwork? Clean the kitchen? Exercise? Or maybe I should just play for the next two days before I go back to work and remember that the clutter will always be there ?

How do you say good bye to the summer and get ready for the fall?