First Day of School

On Wednesday, Isabel and David started back to school. Isabel is now in 5th grade and David is in 3rd grade. Where does the time go?

Anyway, I have a tradition of taking 1st day of school pictures of the kids.

Isabel on her first day...
David on his first day...Isabel, David and Benjamin...

Where has the Summer Gone?

Well, my summer is almost over. My kids start back to school/daycare on Wednesday and I start back to work next Monday. At the beginning of the summer, like every summer, I have big plans and ideas of what I am going to get accomplished while on my summer break. Each summer has varied in how successful I am at getting those big plans done. However, this summer, I have completely failed to do any of my plans.

I had really wanted to set up blogs for two of my children and have them blog about their summer. However, this plan got derailed when I ended up watching my friends daughter for the summer. My kids fight over using the computer enough as it is, I didn't need another one fighting over getting to use the computer. So, I will place this plan on hold. Maybe I will start them shortly after school starts.

Another big plan was to paint the kids' bathroom. Last summer we replaced the shower wall in their bathroom, but did not get time to paint. So, I thought that I would do that this summer. However, we have struggled to find a color that we can agree on. We also decided that we really need to replace the sink and vanity in their bathroom before painting. However, this cost money, which we have yet to set aside. So, now, this project has been moved back to possibly spring break. What a fun spring break that will be.

My third, and final, big plan was to repair the wall outside of the shower in the master bathroom and then place tile on it. This is something I know absolutely nothing about and called upon my father-in-law for help. He is very willing to help, however, with my (or I should say the kids') busy schedule and his busy schedule, this hasn't gotten done either. I am hoping that this will be done within the next month or so but time will tell.

I did get some things accomplished. I read a lot of books this summer, something that gets put on the back burner during the school year and I enjoyed spending the summer home with my kids. I also managed to survive the summer with a fourth child in the house.

A Week

This week, all three of my children are spending the week with their grandparents. That means that there are no children in the house. It is amazing how quite the house is without any children in the house.

The main reason for all three of our kids is the fact that I have PODD training this week. However, we plan on taking advantage of the fact that we don't have children in the house. Last night we went the Adam Sandler movie "Funny People". The movie had some funny parts, but overall, I did not like the movie.

We plan going out to eat this week and maybe taking in another movie. Either way, it is looking to be a nice, quiet, stress free week.