Making the best of the new school year...

 Well, this will be a wordless post. But I am choosing to do that over a picture-less one.  I am just too beat to write.  This first week of school was just exhausting...and I am only the mom, not a teacher or a student.  And it was only half a week!  I can only imagine how next week will go.  haha :)  But I am trying to go with it. Trying to be optimistic about things and trying to make the most of the kids being back in school. It is hard bc Logan is the most demanding kid we have and he does not even let me  clean something w/o immediately making a mess. I  cleaned the floor today and 5 minutes later he brushed all his mini wheat mess on it!  Grrr.  But my new goal is to clean something every day.  Even if it's small. Today I got Hailey's bathroom done.  I usually clean it before she comes home but why bother when we were going on vacation.  And she was gone today so it worked out good.  Mostly Lo and I spent the day at home while the kids were in school.  We did have to venture out this morning to take the kids to school, try to get our fair ribbons from the Purdue office, and try to make changes to Shelb's middle school sched.  All were failures.  Oh well. We came home and made nachos and vegged til school pick-up. Also tried to get in a nap routine, but that was a fail as well. It took him an hour to fall asleep and then he had to get up 10 mins later.  But those 10mins were peaceful! haha.  Hays had an awesome time with Nina Stegs in Greenwood shopping and getting a pedicure and eating good Cheesecake Factory food. They even brought us back dessert. Ash and Shelb had a bday party to go to and then it was off to our back to school pool night. We got home after 10.  We are whipped.  I am glad tomorrow is a slow day and a sleep in day. The best kind of day! 

                                                 

Clear the Roads...our Ballerina is officially allowed behind the wheel alone!

Well, it's official...she can now drive alone (and even take our kids places by herself).  I am not gonna lie...that puts a little bit of fear in me.  But I figure if she can live in NYC on her own and take the subway all the time, I should certainly not be anxious about her driving around Bloomy alone, right?

 Anyway...here's a few pics of the day...waiting at the BMV...not really a line at all...bc most normal 16 year olds in town are IN school now :)

 She had a grumpy friend by her side...he would not look at me to save the world...

 And after about 10 mins at the front desk, getting her pic taken and her eyes checked...she had her official paper.  And not too shabby of a pic this time either (at least better than her first copy of her permit...that pic was hilarious!).  The hard copy comes in the mail in 10 days.

 A pretty anticlimactic experience given she had really gotten her license last year when she passed her driving test at driver's ed. That's how they do it here in Indiana.  So she just handed in her passed driving test paper (and didn't have to drive at all) and she had to have her many logged hours of driving...and whalah!  A nice tall girl outside the BMV with her new paper license.  Really does seem anticlimactic, but it's a right of passage to "have" your license, even if you don't need it since you live in NYC and take a subway everywhere!

 Proud of this girl...even though I am not sure getting the license today was hard work.  But at least her eye wasn't swollen shut like yesterday :)

 Our attempt to get her fav. supporter to pose with her.  I think he was more interested in driving his own car (see his right hand :))

 Have I mentioned he has needed a nap a lot this week due to swimming....tired boy equals grumpy boy.

 And then a tantrum...he refused to walk and threw his toys on the ground.  Way to put a damper on Hailey's license day, bud!
                                          
 She couldn't actually drive home bc we had to insure her, but about 15 minutes after she got her license daddy had her insured and she was tooling around town...with me and Lo, of course.  Maybe tomorrow she can actually drive herself somewhere?

 We ran some errands and then hit Red Mango (froyo) to celebrate Lo and Hailey's big days!

 My oldest and youngest...so sweet

 Being funny together :)

 and goofy :)

 And sweet...looking at FL beach pics :)
                                                 
 And this morn someone passed his swim class and is onto Level 2!  This week has been awesome having a semi-private lesson for 3 days and then a private lesson yesterday.  He made huge progress...and I think a week in FL in the pool helped too!  Way to go, Loggy...on to Level 2 next summer!  We loved James, our teacher...he was awesome!
                                                 
 Someone took the bus to middle school this morning for the first time.  Yay for busses...love them!

 2nd day of school done!  I think it went well! 

And Hays got to meet Henry and see Sue Sue's new casa.  Fun!

More pics later...but sleep could not come sooner.

Back to School!

  Well, the day has come and gone...and we are back at it!  Seems like we never even had a summer really.  Oh well.  That is how it goes. They say as the kids get older time goes by faster. I agree.  We were up at the butt crack of dawn getting ready for the day.  But we made it.  This mama is worn beyond measure, so I am only posting a few pics...above is the school-going-gang.  YAY for 2nd, 5th and 7th grades!
                                                 
 We had to get a whole-gang shot too. Poor Hays...we made her get up.  I think she thought she had to get up to babysit, but I just wanted a pic.  And her poor eye was half swollen shut due to make-up so she looks a little puffy. But she abliged even though she doesn't start school for almost another month. As did Loggy. :)  He starts preschool a week from today!
                                               
 We will be in 4 different schools this year.  I will for sure be taxi service all year long!  I took my middle girl to middle school first.  Isn't this the sweetest pic? I love it.  She was a little nervous, but she had a great day!

 Then I came home and took a few more pics of my elem. kids!  I love Ash's dress...one of my fav. colors...and she looked so pretty :) She had a great day too. I am just a little sad for her. She is in class with no one she knows.  How does that happen? I know she is social and outgoing, but come on...a 2nd grader should be in class with someone she knows and likes!?  I am still so confused about this and disappointed she didn't get paired up with someone she knew.  But this happened to Hailey when she was at Summit too and it prepared her for making big changes with school and life...and every year it did happen she made a new friend.  I am choosing to think the same will happen for Ashley.  I am trying to be more positive about things that I cannot change.  She does love her teacher though so I am glad about that!  She had a great day...and she only mentioned once how she wished she had a friend in her class.

 And my boy is famous!  He was front page of the newspaper today giving our principal (who is also our neighbor) a fist bump.  Actually we are all in the pic (minus Shelb and daddy who were at cross country practice)...I feel so famous being on the red carpet AND in the paper. Haha :)  D was pretty excited though...his name was actually right there on the front page!  He had a great day and has friends in his class and also likes his teacher (who is also our neighbor!)

More pics tomorrow...this mama needs some zzzzzz's!

The Last Day of Summer :(

 Wow, where did summer go? That is all I can say. June seemed so peaceful and relaxing...July just sped by...and August is just non-existent as far a summer goes.  I had high hopes for having fun today, but there were just too many other things going on that we had to do instead....but we did start off the morning with a breakfast of champs...some meat, some sweet, some fruit...yumm...and fun with food as usual :)  Shelb was at a sleepover so she missed out!  Hays ate early since she was having lunch early with friends.

 Swim lesson day 2...swimming in the deep diving pool. Look at him go! No fear!

 Ugh...to Kroger twice today...this is the 5th time since I have been home from FL...ugh, ugh, ugh.  And also the dollar store and a couple other places today.

 Meet the teacher at elementary school...it was a red carpet event.  I think Dylan got his pic taken by the newspaper.  But I will never know...we don't read it.

 The awesome 2nd grader and 5th grader. I think they were both a little bummed to be split from friends...tis the case often with our kids bc they are good, smart kids...they tend to split them from their friends.  Oh well. They are friendly enough and make new friends.  I hope it's a good year. I'm a little nervous for certain reasons.

 XC practice in 92 degree heat...poor kid.  First meet is next Monday so she has to get that training in

 Early dinner at our fav. celebratory place...Mother Bear's Pizza. Yumm!

 crazy shananigans between sisters

 Our driver for the day...she spent a good portion of the day with her old school friends eating lunch and walking Kirkwood

 Snip Snip...haircuts for the two girls...they were not too excited, but had to be done and I do not pay for their hair to get cut by someone else. 

 Last summer hurrah...ice cream cones and sundaes.  Daddy missed out...he worked late.

 We got new water guns bc they were on clearance...we had a little water fun before showers and bed.

 Even Hailey joined in.

 All packed and ready to go...sigh.  What happened to school starting in Sept?

Last thing of the night...nails...
And they are off to dreamland...and ready to get up early for the first day. 
Not ready for this, but doesn't matter...it's almost here...

Not ready

 Very much resisting school starting in a day.  So not ready mentally.  Here's a few pics of our 2nd to last day of summer....I think my goal for the next month is to only post a few pics a day.  I just have to focus on other things this month.  Today Hailey could have gotten her official license...but she did not want to do so at our Ellettsville branch (Bloomy is closed on Mondays), so we are now waiting to do it til school starts here.  Fine by me. But she is still driving us all around town.  It's nice having a chauffeur!

 Someone was absolutely thrilled that he got invited to a back to school party with all his best friends!  Very last minute, but it worked out great!  They had water fun, pizza and a scavenger hunt around town!

 Someone was very excited to find this in our mounds of mail...yay for preschool starting next week!  Not sure he will be this happy that day bc he loves his mama, but hopefully he sheds no tears!

 Someone had Middle School orientation today!  YAY for 7th grade!

 Someone started swim lessons today. It has been our first summer not doing any for the other kids, but they all know how to swim and we needed to save money. But this guy is doing 4 days of lessons this week. He seemed to love it and a fruit snack as bribery may or may not have been motivation for doing his best.  He is in class with one other little boy.  Nice!

 It's nice having our NYC girl home for a few weeks...this is her only vacation of the summer.  She slept in a little bit and drove us to swim lessons and then hung out at home all day til her get together with ballet friends for dinner. 

 Giddy over swim lessons (or rather over the thought of getting a fruit snack)

 I didn't take any other pics of Ash today, so this one shows she was around :) 

She's a pro at her locker and was happy with her locker decorations (most were Hailey's old ones and were black so you can't even seen them on the right), but she did get a new pink locker shelf at Target today!   And now she is at a sleepover with her bestie :)

A busy day of swimming, driving, going to the library, cross country, violin, chores, seeing friends, shopping, school orientation and tomorrow is more of the same.  Digging in my heels that school is really this close to starting, but ready or not, here it comes....