(Jean 1 here)

It is 10:30 am Tuesday morning and the house is completely quiet. Why? Because everyone else is still asleep! Yep...snoozing away in slumber land. But I'm fine with that since next week we begin getting up by 6:30 every school day to get Bria to Jr. High, Niki to Middle school and Ryan to 1st grade, DH to work, and me......back to bed in record time (hee hee).
I have been a little sad the last couple of days with things changing...I always do....when summer ends. I grow sad at the shorter days...it's already starting to get dusky by 8pm, I see jackets and sweaters in the mall stores...means colder weather is around the corner, I take my kids for their once a year haircuts...exaggeration, but you get the picture. Everything changes once summer comes to a close. Yesterday, on the way out of the mall, I was floored to see a sign in a window that said "19 shopping weeks to Christmas"! WHAT!!!!!!!!!! I'M STILL IN SUMMER. Don't bring Christmas up yet. When it's time, I will get excited about Christmas, but when I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt and flip flops because it's hot..don't bring up Christmas shopping.
Don't get me wrong, I love Fall. It's one of my three favorite seasons. It's just that I really love summer. The time with my kids, the time with my friends, not having to worry about what time the kids go to bed nor when they get up. Not having to make sure that homework is done, backpacks are reloaded, there's enough money on their lunch account, taking..picking up..dropping off kids, forgotten stuff, lunches. Not having to write down school programs (ugh!) classroom volunteer days, line up sitter for meeting days, yada yada yada. You get the picture...and this year I have three different schools for three out of four children to get to do all this for. YIPPEE.
But the thing I think is the saddest for me, is the day time when they are away from me. I love having them here (most days) and I have even asked them a couple of times if they minded if i home schooled them for just a couple of months (LOL) to which they have in turn replied...."No way! That would be awful...we wouldn't learn anything...."and "uh, no...I'd rather go to school and be with my friends". OK, OK, OK. I know, I loved school too. I was one of those teacher's pets, suck up, truly happy to be there, kind of students and i know my kids are like that too. And once i got to middle school, I really loved being there with my friends, having diff. lunches and free time (what used to be called recess until we got to old). So, I get it, but I can still allow myself a little bit of sadness. That and focus on Christi, my personal captive for a couple more years yet and teacher her how to scrapbook along with her goal for this year "I gonna read dat book, k?" So, I guess we'd better start learning some letters. :)