I had so dreaded the summer. We weren’t going to go anywhere, and my husband was going to be out of town a lot, so I was facing cabin fever with not much help with the little kids. But oh my, was it different than I anticipated! I set a flexible schedule for our days, with some planned time out of the house. I structured my mornings around coffee and bible study and threw in a little exercise for good measure, and darn if it wasn’t about the best summer I have had yet.
And now it is over. Back to school for most, first time to school for Lily, and days at home with just two babies for me.
Our transition into school was a bit tough this year. It was dragged out for three weeks. The first week one school started. The second week the other two schools started, but one had half days all week. The third week all three schools were on normal schedules, but there were school meetings almost every night. Now we should be on normal school time and we are adjusting as unsmoothly as we normally do. The house is a mess, the toddlers are crabby, and the calendar changes faster than I can let everyone know.
Anyway, here is a brief update on the crew:
-Paisley: Working for Lancome and loving it! She visits at least once a week just to spend some time with us.
-James: Working at Cousins Subs, running sound for masses at church, and playing music around town. He’s a busy guy these days and he seems to be thriving.
– Posy: A senior this year! She scaled back her work hours at Cousins Subs to the weekends so she can focus on her studies and college applications. She’s driving a long distance to school each day and still finding time to spend with the little girls for combing hair and doing nails.
– Ben: A Freshman in the same school as Posy. He is thriving in his 3rd year of Latin, interested in his studies and facebook.
– Tessa: 5th grade sweetheart. She can’t really be called one of the “Littles” any more in our household. She is shouldering more responsibility around here and made the volleyball team at school.
– Max: 2nd grade! Max would play piano 24 hours a day if we let him, stopping only for a break to watch America’s Funniest Home Videos.
– Lily: Kindergarten girl! Lily is loving school and seems to be doing very well there. Since she turns 5 this month, she will attend kindergarten at her preschool this year and then kindergarten at the older kids’ school next year. I think it will work very well.
– Molly: Every bit a 2 year old. Molly is still the family firecracker. Most prone to scream in both happiness and distress, she lets you know how she feels. She misses Lily and loves to “help” me around the house.
– Gus: 10 months, still not sleeping. Gus is walking well and starting to pick up a word or two and some baby signs. He doesn’t use them frequently though, so you always find yourself asking, “Did he just say…. ?” He’s also huge (for a Groft baby), weighing in at 22 lbs. We joke that God made him big to protect him from Molly, who only outweighs him by about 3 pounds and loves to sit on him.
– Jay: is working hard at both jobs, and praying for cooler weather.
And I am just trying to stay one step ahead of this crew and their needs, their meals, and their mess.
So Happy New (School) Year! I hope it will be just as blessed as the summer was!