Summer...Where did you go?

I had to face reality this week. It was back to work for me, after an incredible summer home with the kids. School starting brought a week of full time work for me...back to school breakfasts, all day meetings, setting up my classroom in a new building that was still under construction most of the week, and the best part, one nice long weekend ahead with my family.



This summer brought many changes around here...

• Eva mastered potty training


• Melia learned to swim completely on her own, with no help from a life jacket or arm swimmies


• Parker and Eva gave up the passy


• Parker stopped nursing


• Parker learned to walk

to name a few of the major ones. We had a wonderful summer filled with vacation, family, friends, many trips to the park, a fair, bike rides, and so much more. I am so thankful I get to to be home in the summer.

This was also the first summer with our garden. It was a huge success. Our final garden tally count is...

Zucchini...13 Pea pods...14 (we only ended up with one plant) Green beans...32 (after replanting and almost not making it, they finally did give us some beans) Cucumber...15 Green peppers...9 big and 6 small mixed peppers and finally our 5 tomato plants gave us 95 large tomatoes so far with about 20-30 still waiting to be picked. I can't wait to can sauce and stewed tomatoes. Already looking forward to next year :)

The fall brings changes too. I am in a new building this year and the kids are going to day care/preschool. We went and visited all the classrooms that the kids will be going to last night. They were nervous and excited all at the same time. Surprisingly, Eva was the first to run and play. P and M tentatively watched and hid their faces, when their teachers talked to them. I can't believe that the girls will both be starting preschool. E is so excited to go to school like she watched her big sister do last year. I am really excited to be able to peek in on them and see them throughout the day. P is at another location, but grandma works near by, and is looking forward to visits with him.

Another big change this fall, I will add college student to the list. Every five years as a teacher I am required to take 6 credit hours to keep my certification current. Well, I am in my fifth year and the six credits need to be done by June. Next time I don't plan on waiting so long, but growing our family has filled the last five years and time just got away from me. While I am excited about being a student again, (I love taking classes and learning), my ability to juggle wife, mom, teacher, friend etc. is a little daunting. I am confident that I can do it, it will just take a little re-prioritizing and good time management. Both classes are 8 weeks and online, so it will go quick. I ordered my books and am going to pick them up today. I have a few more weeks before classes start, so I can focus on my family and starting the school year for a little longer.

Have a great weekend!!!!