school, encyclopedia salesmen and obligatory photos

So the kids are officially back in school!!!

YAHOO!! I mean, aww.

I saw the funniest picture somewhere of a mom standing in front of her garage door, first day of school.  The kids are all in their spanking new outfits with their overloaded backpacks weighing them down, and they're all frowning.  Looking cranky.

And the the mom is jumping up in the air with a huge smile on her face.  Even though it's a silly staged photo op, it's awesome.

So awesome in fact, that I think I might take a moment to try to find the picture to share with you.  Because really, we all know how giving and thoughtful I am.  

I'm back!  Internet/google magic made that task very quick and easy.  Quick little search and I found exactly what I was looking for.  How did I survive without google?

Heh, just like I remembered it.  I have a great memory.  Not really.

Speaking of The Google, how did we survive without it?  Remember encyclopedias?  Remember encyclopedia salesmen?

I totally remember them knocking on our door trying to guilt my mom, while looking deeply and meaningfully into her eyes for a full five seconds, into spending approximately 476 thousand bucks in easy installments of only 10 cents a day for ten years, on a massive set of hard covered encyclopedias that would "last a lifetime,""enable us to go to the college our choice," "live our lives to the fullest," etc.  You know, basically implying that without the encyclopedias, we would grow up to be nothing but homeless beggars, and it would be all her fault.  Hm.  Does 10 cents a day for ten years even add up to 476 thousand bucks?  *I'm guessing no... Probably I would have known if mom had bucked up and bought those freaking encyclopedias.

THANKS MOM.

Ah, good times...

Thank Cod for Google.  It's so free.  And let's face it, free is awesome.  And I would go so far as to suggest that I actually use Google every single day.  Because I have a lot of research and stuff to do on a lot of very important stuff.  You don't even know!

ANYwho, my kids are back to school!  They were looking forward to it, which is kind of typical.  They all came home happy enough - kind of blah and lame, but not crying.  So that's good.  They could have been a little more enthusiastic about it though!  Sheesh, I waited patiently all day to hear about their classes and new friends and stuff.  Stinking kids.

They looked cute though, (Except Alex who got the ugliest sneakers when he was out shopping with my mom.  THANKS MOM.  I never would have purchased such hideous kicks.  I've since offered him a hundred bucks to wear chucks to school for a week.  He's still debating, that little brat.  He says I don't know what's in style.  OH YES I DO, and it's definitely not UGLY sneakers.) so of course I'll share the obligatory back to school pictures of my kids because I know you're all dying to see those little punks of mine.  I've cropped out Alex's disgusting sneakers.  You can thank me later.

Alex & Meg, going into 10th and 6th grades

Alex & Meg & Brooke in her pj's

Brooke, going into 2nd grade

Brooke and Maizie the puppy

Hope all of your kids had a great first day back to school!


*FYI, 10 cents a day for ten years really only adds up to $3,640.  See?  I do know how to do math.  That is right, right?

i think i will just go cry now.

So.  There you have it.  My last baby, out the door into the big bad world of mean kids and naughty words.

I hate this day.

But I smiled and pretended I was happy.  And I went upstairs to put some medicine on my ugly fever blister.  I never get fever blisters -- it is a stress fever blister, I just know it.  I haven't slept well all week.  I can't believe I am all alone.

So I have the traditional kid at the front door with their back pack pictures coming up.  Feel free to click to a more interesting blog at any point . . .  

Forgive me the lame post today, I am drowning my sorrows in a cup of hazelnut coffee, wondering how my little peanut is doing in Kindergarten... 

Brooke (K), Brenna (4th), Megan (4th)

Meg, 9 years old

Brenna, 9 years old

Brooke, 5 years old

Brooke and Daddy

one last snuggle of the blankie... (sniffsniff)

well... there you have it.

I think I will go cry now.

bts shopping and styles and stuff

Something is wrong with me.  This back to school shopping is ridiculous.  Why is it that I feel the need to buy my kids a wardrobe that is large enough that they technically could have a fresh outfit every single school day for a month, even if I never did laundry?

Forget about the fact that I have bins of hand-me-downs that look like they have never been worn.

I could be a professional shopper.  I am pretty good at it.  And laundry - I am definitely a laundry pro too.

ANYWAY.  I like shopping for Alex.  When he was little, the clothes that were out there for boys were kind of... uncool.  I got a lot of crap for dressing Alex all wrong when he was little.  As if my sister's were the judge and jury on what was cute for a boy.  That powder blue sweat suit was adorable Ali!!  It was from The Children's Place!

These days he lets me pick out all of his stuff.  In fact, he was trying to go through a skater phase (which I was thinking looked really undesirable) when he was going into fifth grade.  He wanted these big fat wide sneakers that were ugly, and trashy t-shirts and weirdly shaped skinny jeans.  I offered him $50 if he would let me dress him every school day for a month.  He hemmed and hawed, tried to get me to up my price, but eventually we agreed on the fifty bucks.  That kid loves money -- he is very easy to bribe.  He did it too.  He wore what I picked out every day, and he looked so darned cute.  I didn't make him look like a nerd at all.  Nice t-shirts or under armour shirts and normal jeans, and normal sneakers.  Sort of the Abercrombie-ish athlete look.  He actually ended up liking that style and still dresses that way going into 8th grade.  He won't let me style his hair, but I am still working on that.

Megan is going through kind of a cheesy clothes phase.  It drives me crazy, because she used to let me dress her so cute.  I know she just wants to fit in with what the other girls are wearing -- she likes to blend in with the crowd - it's just her.  Meg definitely wouldn't go for the $50 bribe, she doesn't care about money at all.  I'm lucky Brooke still pretty much lets me choose her clothes.  She will definitely refuse something she doesn't like though.  I have had to drop many brand new items off at the consignment shop because of her refusals.  She can't stand anything that is snug -- like socks.  Or skinny jeans.  Or tights.  She's a little pain in the neck sometimes, but it could be worse!

Back to school for my crew starts next week.  The kids already have their first day outfits all picked out and ready to go.  The night before the big day, they lay everything on the floor in the shape of a body.  Their big sister started that - it makes me smile thinking about it.

Oh well, I'm sure I am going to hear about this long-winded and boring post about clothes from my lame sisters.  Sometimes it is not good to have them on the email distribution list.

back to school

Well, my kids have all officially gotten back to school!

Kara started college classes a few weeks ago, followed by

Alex & Megan in 7th and 3rd grades, respectively.

Yesterday was Brooke's first day back to p r e s c h o o l !

So back to school really means back to routine in my house. The lazy days of summer typically lead to thrown together dinners, or more realistically, dinners at the baseball field. Of course the bedtime routine goes from a very efficient dinner, bath and bed in an hour to a very INEFFICIENT swimming pool shower, camp out in each others room, maybe lay down with the lights on fiasco. It literally takes me a week or two of strict routine to get everyone back on track once school is back in session.

As much as I enjoy the relaxed, slowed down pace of summer, I also love the school year routines. I like that my kids know that when dinner is over, we head right upstairs for showers or baths. I love that they know to brush their teeth while the shower warms up, and to lay their clothes out for the next day to save time in the morning. I love that they know that after baths and showers, we brush hair, put on PJ's and hop into bed. This has always been the way, so there are no tantrums, no messing around, and rarely any bumps in the road.

In our house, Mommy is off duty at 8:00 pm, so the kids know that unless we have one of the three B's (Blood, Barf or Boo Boo), I don't want to hear from them, and they pretty much respect that. I make sure everyone has what they need (water, potty break, tissues, book, etc) before I go back downstairs for some quiet time. Alex, who just turned 12, gets to stay up reading or quietly playing in his room til lights out at 9:00. Meg, who is newly 8, gets to read with her nightlight til 8:30, and Brooke, who just turned 4, gets to listen to a book on tape til its over. Everyone goes to bed happy, and I get to veg out and flip channels, surf the web or read.

Ahhhh... I love back to school.