Back.to.School.

First day of school photo....

 

If pictures could speak....

 

 School is back in session.
This year we have a 5th grader, 4th grader, 2nd grader and soon to be pre-schooler.

Summer went by fast.
 And I'm having a whole mix of feelings towards everything this week...trying to figure out our new normal.

Tim spent a majority of this summer working out of town,
which left for very little break. So, we filled our summer with non-stop fun filled days at the pool, beach, playing with friends, chores, and crossing things off of our bucket list.

It was a really good summer.

I honestly don't think we were ever bored.
 Even my most prosaic kid will testify to this.

However, after a summer of non-stop "survival mode", I conjured up the idea that school would give me the slight respite and down time I so craved all summer long.  And the time to get the things done I'd put off for the last 2 months.

And it might, as we are only 4 days in.
But perhaps I have unrealistic expectations.

Riduculously, I thought my house would be cleaned and organized by now, my 2 year old fully potty trained, all the crafty items I've dreamed up in my head all summer long created and added to my etsy shop, my younger 2 playing barbies peacefully at my feet, while I read my Bible in my green chair, basking in the sunshine pouring through the window, enjoing the birds flitting back and forth, and the sweet smell of brownies baking in my oven nearby.

Reality check.

My younger 2 are at each other's throats,  tired from no napping, as it doesn't fit into their new school carpooling, soccer and piano lesson lifesyle, Tim is out of town, Ellery is begging to wear diapers, and I am short tempered trying to keep our schedule straight, run necessary errands like getting a certain 5th graders baritone fixed, trying to figure out what to do with these kids during yet another meeting, and filling out every form on the face of the planet.  All the while getting back into the swing of homework and remembering "math facts" with tired kids that just want to work on their fort because it's still summer, and trying to keep my floors clean.

No Pollyanna today, just being honest.
I do know we will get in a rhythm real soon.
And when we do, I'm hoping to sit down and tell you all about our summer :)

The kids have had a great start to their year.
They are all pleased with their teachers, and I've already escorted  a turtle in an ice cream bucket riding shot gun in my van to school  :)

 

 

\

Happy Thursday all~ 

Sunday

A cooler with a built in radio, belting out country music with a hint of static on a boat designed for 5... can fishing on a hot Sunday afternoon be any more delightful?
Good times :)

Happy Thursday all~

Little Sister

A true sign you are the youngest of many....

...when at 2 your potty training underwear of choice is Angry Birds, or "Angwy Buwds" as we call them.

Really bittersweet for me. 

Sadly, I think I've discouraged her from this milestone, in an effort to keep a baby around the house :)  After 10 solid years I  don't remember a world without diapers...nor did I ever see the end. I'm not sure I ever wanted to see the end.

But we're getting there.

And she's quite proud of herself.

Happy Wednesday all~

Reason #437 why I love this person...

...for his uncanny ability to create fun....even from the junk in his barn :)

Wilderness State Park

We ventured out a little further than our "usual" 4th of July destination, since we had a few extra days to camp this year.

We hopped in the truck and drove 5 hours north to Wilderness State Park...a delightful little haven tucked away on a calm, clear, Lake Michigan bay on the northern tip of the Lower peninsula, about 10 miles west of the Mackinaw bridge
.

Happy to be out of the truck!

The first afternoon after setting up, we hit the beach right away, because it was HOT and muggy!

I sat in my new little beach chair and enjoyed the view...

Stella, happy as clam after getting buried...

Ellery was easily coaxed to do naughty things to give us a few chuckles.

Naturally since I had already given this trip my stamp of approval, the power was out in the entire campground when we returned from the beach.  It came back eventually,  and we were all advised to turn down the ac :)

Early the next morning we awoke to a thunderstorm, loud shrieking from the people in the tent next door, and the sad sound of our fan slowing down to a sputter as the power once again went out.

When we were all up and huddled under the canopy of the trailer out of the rain, I convinced Tim to drive us into town for a coffee and donuts. When we arrived back, the sun was shining, power was restored, I had a coffee in hand...and we were ready to conquer the day.  Thankfully that was the extent of our troubles, not bad!

We once again enjoyed the beach, took a bike ride, played many rounds of Uno, played bean bag toss, enjoyed many magazines courtesy the camground library via Syd, an interactive demonstration on bats, and a very highly anticipated 7pm campgroundwide game of kickball.

Ha.  Tim and I were the only adults that played, and it became clear early on that this wasn't a competitive bunch.

The next day we got on the ferry and went over to Mackinaw Island for the day.

We enjoyed touring Fort Mackinac.

We hiked over to Arch Rock.

We got fudge, and I went in the shop and conquered my fears!

The last time Tim and I went to Mackinaw was about 15 years ago. 

We had biked and hiked all day, and by the time we visited the hot, crowded, overly sweet smelling fudge shop, I was spent.  I stepped outside to get some air while Tim paid, and fainted...knocking over a line of bikes, and landing inches from horse doo when I went down. 

We had ice cream, naturally :)

The next day we attempted a hike, but it just wasn't going to happen, so we did some more of the same! All in all it was a great trip!

Time.

Cleaning up my desktop, I came across a few old clips. 

I miss these days :)

Nilla Bread.

Before I discovered the charm of the big yellow school bus, magically appearing and whisking my children away at the end of the driveway, I carpooled.

In 2007, Austin began 3 day kindergarten, and Sydney morning pre-school.
Dylan was an energetic 2.5 year old, Stella was cooking nicely, and I had my first taste of being a school mom... getting us all ready and out the door by 7:40am.

That particular year, Austin began school @ 8:05am and Sydney @ 9:00am.  While we don't live too far from school, we don't live right down the road either.  So as the year began to play out, I would find myself trying to figure out what to do with that 55 minutes of time before I dropped Sydney off for pre-school.

I didn't like to use that time to grocery shop or run errands, because that's how I spent the 2 hours that Sydney was actually in pre-school, before I had to come pick her up again. I didn't like to go home during pre-school either, b/c ultimately, I had to leave to pick Austin up again @ 2:45, and I didn't like to make that many trips back and forth to school.

And so, we discovered the joy of Panera Bread in the morning.  "Nilla Bread" as Dylan endearingly referred to it in his 2 year old voice...and still does to this very day.
We became regulars as the year wore on. My order was always the same.  1 coffee, and 2 chocolate chip muffie tops.  We grabbed our tray from the same cashier week after week, and Sydney would take Dylan by the hand and lead him over to the pop machine to get a water for each of them, complete with a lid, straw and coffee cozy.

We sat perched on the bar stools and smiled and waved at every last person that walked through the glass doors.  Remeber Dylan's curls?  It was hard not to smile at him :)

Eventually Stella arrived, and we moved our business over to a booth.  We sat across from the same elderly couple nearly every week, and they clearly thought we were amusing.  It's easy now to paint a happy, quaint picture of Nilla Bread, but truly our time was hectic, loud and often harried...as Stella didn't enjoy being ripped out of bed and made to wait for her bottle, Sydney had a mind of her own, and Dylan never stopped talking or moving.

However, to this day, my middle kids still speak fondly of our Nilla Bread stage.
When a Panera Bread sign is spotted, I often hear "Mom, remember when we used to always go there? When can we go there again?

Good times, and fond memories...tho I didn't apprectiate them at the time.  Such is life, isn't it?

Fastforward to today.

I found these pictures tucked away on the camera roll of  my ipod.  I'm pretty sure that Krispy Kreme will have the same nostaligic effect on these 2 in the years to come, once they are in the school system, and not the carefree litte rascals they are today.

Perhaps we visit the fabric store in the adjacent parking lot a little too often, but these 2 will ALWAYS let me know when the light is on.  Can't say "amen" or "please" but a certain little 2 year old can most certainly say "donut" and "kwispy kweme".

Happy Wednesday all~