So Much to Learn, So Much Else To Do...

The end of summer is a crazy time of year around here, but we survived, and the kids are back in school. I have a theory that my children know that I will struggle with sending them back to school, so they save up all the naughtiness and absolutely worst behavior to use during the last couple of weeks. That way, I don't cry. Tanner has perfected the theory. I wasn't sure I could send him off to 1st grade without me all day up until a couple of weeks prior to school starting. At that point, it couldn't come fast enough.


Tanner's first grade teacher is new to his school, but not to teaching. She's taught every grade in elementary except first grade. One night the week before school started, we were just sitting down to dinner when to the door comes his teacher. She was going around to all of her student's homes to take them a note, and to meet them and their parents to ease the transition to 1st grade. Wow! I liked her immediately. Who does that? I've never seen a teacher do anything close, and I'm impressed.

McKayla knew all along who her teacher would be because of the program she's in. Her teacher is great! I'm excited to see how the year goes. Seems like less stress for me this year, although you never know.

It seems like every fall when school goes back in session, I feel this uncontrollable urge to learn something new. I don't know if it's the fact that I went to school for so long without ever taking a break, or if it's the change in weather, or what, but I just want to learn. I've been reading a lot of books lately, brushing up on some of the classics, but it's not enough. And my theory is that I've been reading a lot (8 novels, including Pride and Prejudice and A Tale of Two Cities, in the past 4 weeks) to escape reality, not so much to learn. (Any thoughts from my mental health friends?) I've been learning new music on the piano, and studying drills for my soccer team, but I haven't found anything to cure the craving. I've even thought about a doctorate program. It's that bad. Any ideas with little money and a two year old?

P.S. I got a new camera! Thanks Tyson and kids for the gift!

What Was the Question Again?

Recently, I have been asked a couple of questions that totally stumped me. One came from Tanner, no big shocker there. The other came from a Walmart checker. Go figure!

Question #1 - What is it called when you're naked under your clothes? (That was the one from Tanner in case you're concerned about perverted Walmart checkers.) Um, call me crazy, but isn't it called "dressed"? Apparently the word he was looking for was "commando." Thanks Jamie for teaching my son such a wonderful thing. He now prefers to be naked under his clothes.

Question #2 - How many fives do you want? This was the Walmart checker. Tyson asked her if we could get four $5's for our $20. She took a minute to open the register, took the $20 and then asked, slightly confused, "How many fives do you want?". Um, once again, call me crazy, but I was pretty sure I didn't have a choice how many $5's my $20 could be replaced with. I've always been under the impression that math is an exact science, but perhaps I've been mistaken all my life. I thought about saying six, just to test the waters, but I decided not to mess with her poor fragile mind. I kindly told her that four would be sufficient.

Summer for real now...

It's strange how a tradition can make a whole summer. For me, it's going to Bear Lake every year. Now that we've gone, summer is really here. Even though we had to change our usual accommodations this year in order to make sure McKayla could be there, it was great. Bear Lake just feels like home. Tayler must have felt at home too, because he kept making messes. Some of the highlights:

1. A hot tub on the deck. McKayla and Tanner thought it was their own personal swimming pool.

2. The view from our deck: incredible and worth the distance from the beach (it was all of a 1/2 mile or so).

3. Warm water - at Bear Lake. OK, so it wasn't really warm, but it wasn't cold either. That's a first.

4. Raspberry Shakes at La Beau's. Mmm.

5. Realizing that Tayler is bigger than his Pack 'n Play only after we had arrived. He managed.

6. Tanner believing that he was the Bear Lake monster.

7. Having McKayla there after 5 weeks of her absence. Yea!

8. Forgetting the world, sort of. Tyson just couldn't put down his iphone.

Don't You All Wish,...

...you could get emails that started like this:

"I will spend every penny I own or can borrow or beg to take kayla away from you.."


and ended like this:

"Also I will sue you in a civil suit for all the pain, suffering and expense you have caused me..Have a happy day."

Sorry, you're not as lucky as me.

Some real blogging to come, I promise.