The last bit of summer.

I tell you...I am scrambling to get all those things done before the snow flies and we're cooped up like hamsters inside for months! I've been painting fences and sheds and pruning and mopping decks and still have a very long list I'd like to do yet. I kind of thought I'd have more time. Now that I'm back to working 4 days a week, it seems like I'm not really getting on top of things (again). But hey, busy is good, and the house will never be perfect. I'm trying to take it one day at a time. Right now the kids seem to be in our faces WAY too much, and it can be so exhausting. But one day soon, I won't own so much of their day and they will be hard to pin down. I'm really trying to soak it all in. But breaks are good. In fact, we've started "date nights", and hope that it'll help keep our sanity. There is more to life than work and kids. Right?! Sometimes we get completely trapped in it and forget who we even are anymore. Or who we are as just the two of us. I have so many things I'd like to accomplish this year and look forward to sharing all my projects, pictures, fun times, and challenges with you. Don't worry, I won't sugar coat it and make like our life is picture perfect, because it isn't. I almost feel like we have too high of a standard for our boys and every time they fail we feel like crap. It beats us down and makes us all miserable, so we're trying to work through that. I'll let you know what I learn on that topic. In the meantime...please say hi. I miss hearing from you all.

Back to school, back to school!

I can't believe we're back to school, but here we are. The house is DEAD QUIET! I am starting work at the hospital again next week, so I am enjoying these few quiet days before life goes back to CRAZY! Riley is back to middle school. They are organized so that in grades 6 and 7, they stay with the same teacher. So Riley is back with his previous teacher, who we really liked. The kid that caused him major trouble for the last three years has moved away for which we are super grateful! I am so happy that he is finally one of the older kids in his class and am hoping that he does well this year. He starts band this year, and I put him in a guitar class starting today, so he will be getting his groove on. Liam started his first day in his grade four class. He got a teacher we don't know at all, but have heard great things about. He knows everyone in his class and has been with most of them since kindergarten. He will have no troubles in there, and I'm happy he wasn't stuck into the 4/5, as I'm not ready for him to grow up too fast! I got him into a Hip Hop class for the school year, and hope it'll bring him out of his performance jitters a little. Shea started his first day in a grade one/two split. We hardly know any of the kids other than three from his last year, but we know his teacher and LOVE her. She was Liam's grade two teacher who did all the amazing artwork and sings/plays guitar. Shea is so advanced in his reading and math, that I know he will run with the challenge of being with grade two's. He has no fear on entering a new class and didn't stop to say goodbye to me. I am excited for him. I am hoping to register him into a gymnastics class that does tumbling and trampoline. Ahh...and me, well I am going to learn something new this year, I'm sure. I did last year! In fact, this week, I may just learn to make pickles! I got my old job back at the hospital, though this time I'm only working 4 days a week, and 8-2pm, so won't need to get childcare! I am so happy about it! The job is casual, and will be posted as a full time position (which I don't want), but for now I will enjoy the way it has worked out! Feeling very blessed to have had August off, and now to jump right back in. Cheers to the new school year!