Well, here it is at last!

All the kids have been looking forward to the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL for about three months, and I've been dreading it.

When school's out and summer starts, it's mom who has to come up with all those exciting things to do, even when it's too hot. I'm their first line of defense against everything that's boring, and, to them, nearly everything is boring after 15 seconds.

But I'm not the only one who has to keep them entertained during the long, hot days of summer.

That's where their Mamaw Donna comes in. She gets to be the creative one to think of new games and ideas to keep them busy outside, more or less, out of her hair.

Yes, she's the lucky one who gets to care for our children in the summer, although sometimes I'm sure she feels more punished than fortunate.

Kids don't seem to play like we did when we were kids. I'm afraid climbing trees, playing in the dirt, and hide and seek are things of the past. Kids just have way to many toys these days, so they don't have to0 make their own or use their imagination to keep them busy.

I started driving around the age of five. Actually, I was riding my bike but in my mind, I was driving a car. I asked the kids one day if they wanted to play Freeze Tag, and they looked at me like I had lost my mind. “What's that?” they yelled.

When I showed them how, they loved it. Where have the days gone when you stay outside all day, come in and eat and head back until the sun sets?

I don't have a problem getting my kids to go outside. The problem is keeping them occupied while they're out there and not breaking or tearing something or each other up. Their favorite pasttime seems to be dirt wrestling or light fixture baseball (a game to see how many light fixtures you can bust out in the barn). Sounds fun, until someone finds the broken glass shattered on the ground.