Summer's End

I have one week of summer vacation.  Sam and Emily have a bit over two weeks.  I was looking at my list from the beginning of the summer and, miracle of all miracles, we got it all done.  We've also managed to get a few friends over, played some games, and seen a few summer blockbusters.  Our faves:  Mr. Poppers Penguins and Captain America.

We are now all feeling a little flu-ish. We're hanging around the house more lately anyway because it is so hot and it costs money to interact with the world.   I am  working my way through "The Kennedys," an 8 part series over the presidential years of JFK.  I am also getting last minute things done for school that will make things a little easier once classes get started.  Next Friday, I will meet with my new administration for the first time.  I am a bit nervous, but mostly anxious to understand the expectations and schedule.

Emily will be in middle school and she is crazy nervous about it.  I know she will be amazing in middle school, but I can't keep her from experiencing the required anxieties over each rite of passage moment. Sam is looking forward to 5th grade, but is not necessarily in a hurry to start school again.  He is enjoying this sleeping late thing. He is deeply struggling to get to sleep at night.  That makes his morning wake time later and later.  I hope we can all get back on track smoothly in a couple weeks.  

Mid-Way

Can you believe summer is more than half over?  On Monday, I stayed up all night finishing a project for a class. I might be too old to be doing that.  I finished my first two classes for my reading specialist work.   Now I have moved on to prep for the new job.

It has been a busy summer.  First, Emily and I went to girl scout day camp where she was a teen helper.  I stayed the night with the girls from our troop.  That was the first opportunity I have had to get to spend time with her new school friends since she started at Merriam Park this year.  Next, she and I went on a canoe trip with more new friends.  The junior high youth group at our "new" church situation takes the 7th graders on a canoe trip so they get that chance to gracefully transition in to junior high ministry.  I have join the junior high youth staff.  The kids are very different than those I teach, but they were pretty normal pre-teens and they warmed up to Emily and I nicely.   Once we returned, we went to Iowa for our family reunion.  There were some concerns, because this portion of my family can be sensitive and anger-driven sometimes.  However, nearly all of us have grown up in lots of ways.  We had a fabulous weekend of fishing, playing, cooking, etc.  I received a trophy for a sheet cake recipe I made for my mom's 60th birthday.  There is a lot of irony in  that, but I will not elaborate on why.

The whole family came home.  Ashley, Kreisa and Emily helped reface the cabinets. A few days later,  Emily left for church camp.  Sam and I ate out a lot and had one of his friends over a couple times.   We purchased school shoes, lost a couple teeth, and slept late.  Meanwhile,  while Em was at camp, we had a crazy brief storm that did some water damage to Emily's room (siding issue, I guess) and pushed down two LARGE pieces of trees.  One fell on the back fence.  The other fell into the neighbors yard and made it all the way to her house.  We, mostly Michael, have been cleaning it up since (for about 10 days).  This week we have visited the vet, dentist, orthodontist, and pediatrician.  Next week we visit the optometrist.   All that to say, we have made use of the time off.

I have 15 more days off and the kids have 25 more days off.  It goes by so fast.  All of us will be in different places each day once school starts.  I will be praying for what happens and what we bring back to each other at the end of each day.

GS Day Camp 2011