The last first day........

Yesterday my 17-year-old son left for his last first day of school. He's a senior and his sisters have all graduated. That means my time as a mom with school-aged kids is creeping to a close and I don't know how to feel about it.

On the one hand, HALLELUJAH! I won't miss all the forms to sign, the major guilt trips to volunteer, difficult teachers, the morning rush, the fees that bleed my checkbook dry. There is a certain joy in having your children grow into independent adults - driving themselves to their own jobs and their college classes, picking up their own deodorant at the store, occasionally even asking what YOU might need at the store, or dropping by with an unexpected coffee treat they purchased on their own. It's wonderful to see them navigate adult situations with grace (or sobbing, depending), and there's nothing quite like having an unguarded conversation with a child who becomes more of a peer than a dependent.

However........

I WILL miss watching my kids perform on stage in drama productions. I will miss volunteering for fun events, having a busy schedule filled with "kid stuff", being part of a school community, and hosting a gaggle of teenagers for a party. I will miss the predictability of a school year schedule, nine months of school and summers off, with planned vacation breaks. I will miss field trips, parties, bus stops and projects. I will miss choir concerts, band concerts, early-morning cheerleading, baseball games, softball games, dance classes and recitals, art lessons, and, yes, even the driving to and from places for hours each day. A lot of these memories have already gone; slipped away with the early years of school, and been replaced by trips across the country and a kids who have been driving for years.

But I will mostly miss this:

Our little, cheap, poster board "Back to School" sign that has graced each and every one of my boy's first days of school. And almost every one of his sisters' first days. It was an afterthought, really, something I saw online most likely, that made me search for something to make a sign with. All I had was a piece of yellow poster board, likely already written on, that I ended up cutting a small piece of. I decided to leave the year off so I could just add a sign year after year. Somehow, in 15 years, I managed to find a piece of yellow paper somewhere around the house to attach to the bottom of the sign with the proper year written on it. 

Other parents thought it was clever and borrowed it for their children. It was used at the bus stop every year until my youngest was out of elementary school. 

See those kids? They're all so old now!

My kids rarely complained about the obligatory photos. I even took it so far as to have them take it into the classroom on occasion to be photographed with their teacher.  

This picture made it into Family Fun, a national parenting magazine! 

In later years, this idea became more popular, with crafty parents employing elaborately-decorated chalkboards listing the child's stats - their current teacher, what they wanted to be when they grew up, their year in school - and I thought about upgrading, but as things happen, I ran out of time or energy or maybe I was just sort of attached to our silly yellow sign. And so it stayed. 

This First Day of School sign captured my kids at every stage and looking back on them is a treat - and perhaps a laugh or two! The clothing choices, the braces, the hair color - all reflect the individuals who weathered the storm of K-12 school and lived to tell about it. 

Clearly, Hayley was the least reluctant to have the first day of school photo done. Or, I just can't find them. Either way, here she is, through the years! 

 Hannah....she was in an independent study program half of junior and all of senior year, so I improvised. 

Arlie came into our family in 2005 and thus joined the sign-holding club! 

Harrison had the most photos, since he started preschool with the advent of the sign. 

I'm going to miss having kids in school. I'm going to miss having young ones. And I'm going to miss this stupid sign. It's the little things, really. They're the ones we hold dear. 

Back to school..........

All the moms are, like "Yay! Back to school!" and I'm over here, like "NO! Summer is OVER!" because when the kids go back to school, so do I.

Working for the school district has it's perks. And they are called S-U-M-M-E-R. Because it's a lovely thing to be an adult and on a "school" schedule that allows you to enjoy a whole ten-ish weeks or so of....not working. I was going to say "freedom" but let's be serious - there's no freedom when you have kids at home. Oh, sure, mine are teenagers, but that just means the work is DIFFERENT - not harder, not easier - instead of hauling them to outdoor concerts where adults dressed like cowboys sing songs about brushing your teeth, I'm hauling them, two kayaks, a paddle board, a cooler full of food (teenagers), several large beach towels that require their own huge tote bag, a bag full of frisbees, trackball and footballs, and some large beach blankets to the beach or lake for an afternoon or evening of paddling and FUN! It's all about the FUN!

So, we've had a pretty amazing summer. We kicked it off with a wonderful trip to Montana, followed by a stop on the way home, in Coeur d' Alene to see family. We were home a few days and then we headed to Boise for some more family fun (and a chalk-art festival where our entry, if not spectacular, was the result of a lot of hard work in 100 degree weather!) I got offered my new job (at another elementary school - it's a dynamic business, people, they need warm bodies everywhere), met friends for coffee, enjoyed free Slurpee day, hit up several local parks and beaches, went to a festival, and got to cuddle a newborn baby. I went to a blogging convention with my daughter, which was a blast, enjoyed a relatively peaceful week when most of the kids worked at camp, saw Styx live in concert (33 years after I first saw them!), saw the Blue Angels perform, went to Madison Park for the first time and discovered it was a wonderland for hot, gay men, saw Us the Duo in concert at The Vera Project with my daughter, saw Book of Mormon at the Paramount, spent four lovely days in San Francisco with my husband, watched my son perform in an outdoor concert with his band, AND in the musical "Legally Blonde" which was amazing, enjoyed a nice visit with my parents, and just generally wrung the hell out of summer. Which was my goal. Mission accomplished. I also still have a trip to San Diego coming up in a couple days before I dive head-first into the new school year with a new job, new colleagues, new kids, new experiences.

Oh, and we also moved two more teenagers into our home. Friends we've known for ages who were homeless. We scrambled and in a weekend managed to pull together a bedroom with two beds for them, and somehow managed to cram all of their belongings into my tiny (former, sniff!) office. So, instead of three teens at home, we now have five. And a huge grocery bill!

And yet.......I'm kind of bummed I have to go back. There are still a lot of things on my summer "to-do" list I haven't done. I barely had any time to myself, almost no time to write, and not much peace and quiet. What I wouldn't give for some quiet days of just me, alone in the house, writing, dog at my feet, sipping hot tea from an ironic mug. Wait, that's retirement. Ok, back to reality - I'd still love to have some quiet time to write and explore my true passion. There's always something to do, someone who needs something, and urgency around every corner. I know one day (soon) the house will fall quiet as the kids go off to their own corners of the world to live their own lives. And I'll huddle up in a ball on the couch and cry and sip tea out of an ironic mug that I won't find funny.

For now, chaos reigns. As it has year after year in our jumbled household. I guess I wouldn't have it any other way. But going back to work just adds one really long chore to my day. I'm excited about my new position and hope it's fulfilling, but honestly? It's always just been a job to me. I work for money, to help us get by, to buy cereal and granola bars. My days will fill up so quickly, my quiet writing time will be almost non-existent. What I wouldn't give to stay home and make a living writing. But, alas, not yet.

So, it's back to schedules and chore lists and making the kids pack their own lunches, and taking their electronics away every night. They hate that, but it encourages sleep. And they have to catch the bus at 6:37 a.m. Which is horrendous. But we'll all adapt and get used to it. Things will fall into place. It will all be o.k.

I'll just keep telling myself that.............

It's the end of the world as we know it............

It's happening. It was inevitable. Summer is over. It went so fast! We say that every year, and, really, summer is only ten weeks (if you count vacation from school) or about thirty days (if you count actual sunny, warm days in the Seattle area). This summer, as is true of most summers around here, it took it's sweet old time getting started, and when it finally started to warm up to a toasty 75 degrees, it was almost over. We had about two "really hot" days (in the 90's) which was just enough time to grumble about no air conditioning, and, just like that, it was 45 degrees this morning and I was shivering under the covers.

We took one road trip, did lots of fun day trips, watched a lot of sunsets, ate a lot of watermelon and never even took our camper out of the garage (this makes me sad!). And tomorrow is Labor Day (and, coincidentally, our 6th "familyversary" - our anniversary and the day we all officially became a family). After that, it's back to alarm clocks for me, and getting out the door at 7:30 for work, and then school for the kids the following day.

And if the start of school/work is not enough to make one long for summer days, add to that the fact that my husband is leaving early Tuesday morning to go elk hunting for five days. So, he - along with one of our vehicles - will be gone during one of the busiest weeks of the year. In addition, it's "hell week" for the kids which means rehearsals from immediately after school until 10 p.m. in preparation for their upcoming show. Also, our nearly 16 year old dog has become incontinent and requires constant care. It's enough to make me want to crawl back into summer in the worst way.

So, this week, I have to figure out how to get myself and my oldest daughter to and from work using one car (and we work completely different hours), get the kids to daily rehearsals and pick them up when I should be going to bed, buy dance shoes for Hannah and Arlie, sign Arlie up for dance, fill out a sports packet for volleyball (and ensure Arlie gets to and from try outs), volunteer at the kids' shows, take a group shot of the kids' choir for the show (and get it printed in a large size for the lobby display), make dinner every night, pack lunches every day, and deal with any emergencies that come up (and there WILL be emergencies). My husband will miss all but one of the kids' shows, which means I will be taking pictures AND videotaping by myself. I will have to get the kids back into the "routine", which means chores and homework, and, inevitably, a lot of stress and unhappy people.

I usually look sort of forward to the beginning of the school year but this year it is just too much stuff. Mostly just because I don't have Jeff to help me with the overload. I'm heading into a new year of teaching special-needs kids, so the first week of school will be a big challenge anyway. I questioned why he needed to go hunting THIS week of all weeks, and he said because it's bow-hunting season and he has to go now. Sigh. He's planned this trip for a year. A YEAR! The preparation has added up to hours and hours and hundreds of dollars. Chances are, he won't get an elk. So, it's really just a very expensive, extended camping trip. Argh! Hunting is so dumb.

I just want summer back. Carefree days, no alarm clocks, no agenda. I have a stack of magazines I didn't even get to read. Most of them are from spring. Sigh. Where does the time go? We had such big plans. Goodbye summer, 2012. You will be missed!

Steaming.........

I know I shouldn't blog when I'm mad. I really shouldn't. But I'm gonna. You know those cartoons where someone gets so mad that steam comes out of their ears? Well, I'm pretty sure that's happening to mine right now.

School starts tomorrow and no one is ready. That's to be expected, happens every year, but I'm feeling particularly overwhelmed today by the myriad of things I'm trying to get on top of, because tomorrow I also "start school" - that is, working at a school and I'll be gone all day. I'll leave in the morning just after the last bus has pulled away and I won't return until all the kids are home from school. For an hour at least. More for the high schooler. Not a big deal, they can take care of themselves, but Heaven forbid they miss the bus or need to be picked up after school for any reason. Because I won't be there to do it. All those things I worried about doing over the summer and figured I'd have time to accomplish "once the kids are back in school"? No such luck.

But that's not the real problem. The real problem is that I've essentially run out of time to do anything required during school hours and there are still loose ends to be tied up. I'm only one person and I can't do it all, so some things have had to give. And then, in the middle of it all, while I'm unpacking groceries that I didn't have money to spend on, but I had to because we have to start packing lunches tomorrow, my husband comes home, sticks his head around the corner and says, all cheery, "what's up?" Apparently, he's decided to take the afternoon off to "go fishing" (wouldn't have anything to do with the online post he read about the pinks running wild). He goes upstairs, changes into comfortable clothes, and proceeds to take a nap. But not before he asked if I wanted to go fishing with him. Whaaaa??? Does he not realize it's the DAY BEFORE SCHOOL? So, I let him know that there a million things to do and he says "well, make me a list....maybe I can help do some of that stuff". How nice. Make him a list. Which requires me to do ONE MORE THING. Make the damn list.

Well, here's a nice recap of all the things that still need to be done:
- pick up son's prescription
- take daughter to music store to deal with broken flute. Procure a new flute without spending any money, because the coffers are empty, and have it ready and in working order by......tomorrow.
- ride son's ass to finish honor's English homework that he procrastinated on all summer and now has less than  five hours to finish. Avoid desire to strangle son when I see him eating/Facebooking/texting instead of working on the homework.
- procure school supplies for high schooler, which we somehow missed doing all summer and now it's the eleventh hour and we probably don't even have an empty binder around the house to get her started.
- make lunches for tomorrow
- hound kids to fill up their backpacks and get everything ready for the morning
- wallow in guilt because we didn't have time and/or money to take all the kids to the fair, especially to see a concert they really wanted to see.
- finish getting daughter's supplies for college, go through her room, help her pack everything up (impossible, since from tomorrow till she goes to school I'll be gone all day)
- deal with financial aid at college (tuition is due Sept. 27 and I STILL have no idea what that will be or how I'll pay it)
- clean my bathroom. It hasn't been cleaned all summer. Seriously. I might have scrubbed the toilet...once...but the rest of it has barely been surface-cleaned.
- finish laundry (haha, that was a joke, the laundry is NEVER done)
- find the "First Day of School" sign and put the year "2011" on it for the requisite first day pictures
- figure out how to make my dog shut up so I don't go postal
- write notes to the schools saying my kids can get off the bus at their dad's house (seriously?)
- make dinner. Except everyone just ate various "lunches" and it's already 4 p.m. So, when should dinner be? 10 p.m.? That's bedtime.
- write press releases, organize a poster-hanging party, and distribute materials to all the schools, while navigating the confusing paperwork required to do such work, to promote a drama production.
- kick myself - again - for volunteering for things I have NO time for, and pretty much suck at.
- wish I was independently wealthy and did not have to work, so I could spend the last couple weeks with my daughter before she heads off to college. I was SO looking forward to this before I got a two-week sub job which eliminates any chances of us doing anything together before she leaves.
- deal with school anxiety coming from all sides.
- return the school clothes that didn't fit, including son's jeans, which means a trip to the store to get new (and likely overpriced) jeans for tomorrow.
- hope son washed backpack and new PE clothes. Just realized he doesn't have shoes for PE. Good thing we have to go get those jeans anyway. Which means even less time to do the honors homework.
- bite my nails over the huge credit card debt we've racked up getting the kids ready for another school year.

I'm sure there's more. Despite my attempt to make lists, I keep forgetting things that need to be done. Come tomorrow, I won't be at anyone's service except the school I'm working for, and if something comes up, then it's not my problem. Or it IS my problem, but I can't solve it. Or I WILL solve it, but at a later time.

In the meantime, my husband is off fishing. Chances are, he won't catch anything, except hell from me for leaving me in a lurch. When he left he said "If I'd known I was going to get a guilt trip, I'd have stayed at work!". That would be just fine by me. Someone's gotta make the money I'm about to spend on jeans and PE shoes.

Back to School

Today is  the last day of summer, and in true Seattle fashion, it's raining and 51 degrees outside. This summer has been weird in so many ways - the weather (lots of rain), the fact that we didn't do a lot, and our camping trips were a flop (except for the one to Potlatch with just me and Jeff which was pretty fun), and we did not go to a single park, beach, hike......pretty much anything outdoorsy and summery. What DID we do all summer?  Well, I can say without a doubt the kids watched WAY too much TV and had WAY too much computer time. We had two great trips to Boise and Coeur d' Alene to visit family. We spent another day with the Spokane Moore's so in all, we visited a lot of family this summer, which was nice. But it still feels like "the summer that wasn't" as Jeff put it. I had such big plans for the summer - each week I neatly penned activities into my calendar - music in the parks, outdoor movie nights in the parks,  festivals, fairs. And we did none of it. Such a bummer. And now it's back to school. Always a dreaded and anticipated time. Who wants to get up early and start a routine again? NO ONE! But who's excited for a new year, a new start, new friends, new clothes.....EVERYONE! As dreaded as that first day back is, it's also a pretty fun time for kids and moms. By the end of the summer, I crave a little routine, and the kids are just plain bored. So getting back into a schedule is a good thing, even though  it means homework, chores, and regularly scheduled meals (another casualty of summer - eating on a whim!). Tonight I'll pack up four lunches, attend sixth grade curriculum night, and try to get the kids to bed by 10 p.m. which, considering their summer "schedule" is super early. Tomorrow, they'll all wake up excited and ready to go....it's the next day, and the one after that, and the one after that, which will be difficult once the first day anticipation has worn off. And me? I'll be back to......what? Time to reinvent myself once again.......

Jeff who?

I have NO IDEA how two posts showed up saying "Jeff"! I'm sure it was something stupid I did, but I have no recollection of it at all. Weird. Anyway, I don't even know what I would have been talking about because nothing earthshattering has happened to, with or by Jeff lately. Sorry, Jeff!

Anyway, I have been remiss in blogging. I think Facebook is to blame. I spend all my computer time on that and my email and don't have time to upload my photos and such on the blog. Plus, I think everyone who reads my blog is also on Facebook so uploading the photos twice is kind of a drag. But I will do it, it just seems to take me more time!

Kids started school today. Damn free education cost me a fortune. Between supplies, clothes and the actual costs of just GOING to school.....$500 for supplies, $600 for clothes, $160 for Hayley to register, checks for $6 and $7.50 for both Arlie and Harrison, and today I got a field trip form already which needed another $11.50 check. Such a money suck!!!

Turns out Harrison had NOTHING to wear. The kid had three pairs of shorts that fit. No jeans, no other pants at all. So, off we went to Target tonight and procured three pairs of jeans, one pair of athletic pants, a new pack of underwear, pack of white t-shirts for sleeping, three pairs of sleep pants, and a couple of t-shirts. He also needs new shoes, but apparently a size 7 1/2 in mens' shoes is impossible to find! Perhaps online..........

Poor Arlie picked out her whole outfit - pink and white shirt with hearts, skinny jeans, pink and white shoes to match, even matching nails (Hayley did them) and she wanted to show off her new hair so she tried to curl it a little. Ended up burning her chin pretty bad and now has an obvious mark! She was so bummed about it and embarrassed that people asked her about it! What a way to start 6th grade!

Hannah had a bunch of homework tonight. Hopefully she has better study habits this year! One of her teachers told the class "I don't care about your grade. Whatever you get doesn't affect me. Not my pay, not my effort, nothing. So, don't ask me to help you raise your grade." Wow. Ok.

Hayley starts tomorrow. I will be posting pics soon of the first day and also our great camping trip to River Meadows park!

The Good Things........

Just time for a quick update. Nothing much in the past few days except I'm SO TIRED! I swear I'm getting old. And menopausal. Wow. Hayley has been super busy with ASB stuff and registration today for jr. year. That cost me over $200 for ASB sticker, planner, yearbook, spirit gear, and pictures. Yikes. I checked the bank statement. Taking out the mortgage we'd have about $300 left over but, oops, we have $322 worth of bills to pay, plus we need a few groceries for camping (and never mind we have to EAT till the next paychecks come), and we have to pay the dogsitter for this weekend while we're camping! UGH! I am so sick of being broke. Oh well, story of our lives, right? Us and a zillion other people. Time to appreciate what we have. And go for experiences rather than things! I'm already thinking about "homemade" Christmas ideas.

Arlie came back tonight after two weeks away. She is so missed when she's gone and so happily received back into the fold of the family. The kids are glued to her side (well, Hannah and Harrison are, Hayley is glued to the TV!). It's so cute to see how sweet they are for at least a while after she comes back. Everyone is happy and no one is fighting. I love that immensely!! That's a good thing.

Kids gave me a fashion show tonight trying on clothes. That was a good thing, too. I ordered everything online from Old Navy, spent about $100 per kid (which was amazing for all we got) and most everything fit and was cute. They were happy and I didn't have to spend one minute at the mall with bored kids! Yay for online shopping. What a good thing! And love Old Navy.

We're going camping tomorrow! I'm really looking forward to it because we're going with our great neighbors, Amy, Jason and Abbie and Carla and Mike. They are our best friends in the neighborhood and we've been planning this trip for a while. We're staying in some new yurts so it should be a fun experience! Plus, we are on the Stillaguamish river (my favorite!) and we're going to try our hands at fishing in the river. So, that's a good thing too!

Harrison and I baked snickerdoodles and cocoa-oatmeal fudge together tonight. He really loves to cook and bake and it was nice to pull him away from the TV for some cooking instruction, with delicious results!

Ok, I feel better now that I've layed out some "good things" on my blog. Today had some major stresses and I got pretty bogged down but I'm feeling a lot better now! Gonna go have a snickerdoodle and some milk!

What's Happening?

Nothing much. After a whirlwind of vacation activity it's been pretty low-key the past few days and no pictures have been taken. Arlie is back in Spokane for ten days to wrap up her summer visits over there. Back at work today, and Hannah came with me. Harrison came over a while later and the two of them helped me out. They are both great at helping take care of the girls and playing with them. After we got home, it was such a beautiful day and even though I was overheated and tired and would have liked nothing more than to take a nap, I felt like the kids and I should do SOMETHING so I went downstairs and yelled "road trip!" and told them we were going to check out the new donut shop. That was met with a lukewarm response, but it did get them out of the house for a half hour or so. Geesh, you'd think playing outside was akin to hard labor camp. These kids are driving me nuts with their lack of motivation to do anything remotely smacking of summer vacation! No swimming pool visits, no local beach visits, no mall, no movies. Hayley, at least, has been out to the mall and movies with her friends a few times, but Hannah has spent the entire summer mostly indoors with her face in front of You Tube! Not, in my opinion, a healthy way to spend summer. When I insist she do something else, she lies on the couch reading a book, or watches TV. Harrison has watched way too much TV, although he occasionally goes out and rides his bike up and down the street twice. And if Hayley is not out with friends, which is rare, she's also on the computer or watching movies on a portable TV in her room. Let's just say there has been very little calorie burning or any actual MOVEMENT from those three all summer. Arlie is a different story - she will play outside until dark and be happy to do it. She is always game for a trip to the beach or park or pool or wherever else. I wish some of her enthisiasm would rub off on the other three. Because school is going to be SUCH a rude awakening when they have to actually get up before noon, and exert themselves by doing such tasks as WALKING. Not to mention using their brains and THINKING! Oh, my. Rue the day, my children..........it's coming! School in 15 days!!!!

The $500 Dollar Shopping Excursion.......

I cannot believe how much it cost to get the kids ready for school this year! They each needed a new backpack ($30-40 a pop for one big enough for their ridiculously large binders), plus the regular supplies, plus Hannah needed a $90 calculator, and Harrison and Arlie needed $10 calculators. Then, there were the notebooks, pens, pencils, scissors, pencil sharpeners, rulers, etc. Last year I didn't buy much and we "shopped" from our inventory around the house. It worked out fine, but this year things were just falling apart and/or depleted, so we had to go all new. And I cannot believe how much it cost. I just don't understand how things could cost that much to get ready for school. I need to start a checking account just for school related expenses because they really are exhorbitant. This was JUST for backpacks and supplies, not clothes or shoes or anything. I spent $200 on clothes for Harrison and Arlie online, and spent another $40 or so on supplies at Costco, plus I still need to buy clothes for the older girls, probably shoes for everyone, and planners, yearbooks, ASB stickers, etc. for Hayley and Hannah that come to $50-$100 each. I'm about to pull them all out of school, make them wear thrift store clothes exclusively and move to a farm where we can grow our own food! We've already been SO tight on money for the past several months, and that's not looking up as my kids' dad is paying $600 less per month in child support now. I'm trying to work extra hours to get a little more money coming in. It's really stressful and I feel like I'm smothering under the weight of all the financial stress. I know it's not just us - millions of other people are in this or worse situations due to the economy, job cuts, etc. We've dealt with job loss, increased mortgage, decreased child support, and all the downfall of a poor economy and sometimes it's just too much. It could really bring a person down. But we've had so much fun, camping, going places (free!), making the most of our summer. Life is still good and it will get better! I just wish these "necessary" expenditures weren't so necessary! :(

Delayed start......but they're going back!

Well, the kids are going back today (much to their chagrin!). I just woke Hannah up and said "time to get up" to which she replied "why?" to which I replied "because it's a school day" to which she replied (rather wearily) "oh, I thought school was canceled!" No such luck today. The older kids start an hour late and the younger kids an hour and a half. Which means that by 10 p.m. I'll finally be able to get some things done! Like clean up the house and watch it stay clean for approximately four hours until kids start arriving home to destroy it once again. Sigh.

Jeff took off for work early this morning with Hayley in tow. He's making her drive to school in the snow! Scary. She has one more driver's ed class to take to (hopefully) pass and get her certificate and then it's a lot of practice driving until she's 16 next July and can get her license. She needs it! She's a panicky, argumentative driver (although I'm sure not with her driver's ed instructors, just with us!). I've decided it's best to have Jeff and Doug teach her to drive. I'll practice on a smaller scale, but she makes me nervous to drive on the open road. Hopefully with a LOT of practice she will become a confident driver. I just sometimes wonder if she realizes the gravity of making a mistake while driving. Despite the accident she was involved in, she doesn't seem to realize how much worse it could have been. I guess that's why so many teenage drivers have serious accidents. I don't think they fully realize the consequences of being in charge of a vehicle weighing over a ton and the damage it could do to both other cars and people!

I CAN NOT WAIT FOR SCHOOL TO START AGAIN!!!

I feel really guilty saying this, especially considering we were without kids for almost a whole week, but they are driving me CRAZY! Our quiet reverie was rudely interrupted with the arrival of the three H's on Weds. afternoon (within 20 minutes I was called "stupid" and later that day told "you can't control what we do"), and then A arrived the day after that so now all four are home and bickering non-stop! They have been off school since Dec. 17 so that makes 17 days and counting. They will go back to school at day 20 and that is just WAY too long for a vacation, especially one where they have done nothing more than sit around, watch TV, play on the computer, stay up late and eat junk food. I cannot wait for some structure and routine. Whenever our kids are at their other parents' houses, and they come home, there is always an adjustment period (longer for longer periods of time away) and this adjustment period is especially ugly for some reason. Too much of everything, I guess. All I know is Monday can't come soon enough..............