This and That

I have not had a chance to sit down and write for so long! The end of summer was such a whirlwind of activity and then school starting this really has been the first time I felt like I could spend time here. While on vacation my camera broke:( but fortunately Toshia was able to get lots of pictures. While I have those now on a CD I have not downloaded to the computer so I won't have any photos for this post.

Needless to say, our vacation was wonderful and fun and very relaxing. We enjoyed lots of time with family and really enjoyed "Disneyland". It was such a journey getting there (with the free ticket thing falling through) but I have to say it was worth every penny just watching the children's faces and hearing their laughter. It was also fun to be with Toshia and her sweet little family. We stayed from opening until closing. It was a long day! I am glad that we saved that for the very end of the vacation. We swam at my mom's pool. We spent time on the California beaches - the water was actually warm! We played at the park, spent time with cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins, grandma and papa John, time at Aunt Kelly's house and her fabulous pool and backyard (a park in and of itself!), eating great food (thanks mom), going to the movies, surfing, and star gazing on the beach late at night. The kids were great and really got along well for such a long car ride. (David does not believe in stopping much - so we drove straight through in record time) I was glad to get home though because we had so much to do to get ready for school.

This school year will be a very different one for me. It will be 29 years since I have not had small children home during the day. Miss Autumn started first grade this year and that leaves me with as she tells me "six whole hours to myself". The first day I wanted to take everyone like I usually do but the little girls wanted to ride the bus. While I implored and pleaded with them to let me make sure they got to the right places on the first day Autumn informed me that "I am so over that mom". So with much apprehension I let them do it their way. I kind of worried all day until she came bouncing in the door at 2:38 all excited and happy about her first day of school. They all got where they were supposed to and things seem to be going pretty smoothly so far. As for my "six hours" of free time I have managed to fill up every minute until today. Without even trying there seemed to be some kind of project or activity I was needing to be involved with that the days have just flown by. I am hoping to get to some of the things on my "to do" list that I made during the summer next week. I kind of thought the quiet would drive me nuts but it has not taken me long to embrace the quiet. In between everything I have even managed to get a great book read!

Yeah for life right now! yeah for school! yeah for wonderful children! yeah for my hard working husband! and mostly yeah for all the joy this mother of eleven feels at this moment!