back to school=even more chaos

Saying goodbye to summer is really hard for us....and it's more than just because the pool is closing and the kids fading tans makes me sad, but the end of summer means fall is here and that is our busiest time of year. I'll give you an idea of what a typical week is like....

We'll start with Carter. Entering his first year of highschool. As the mother of a freshman, this is my best way to describe his schooling thus far.....

Carter:"Mom, I need $12 for team shorts. Mom, I need $10 for food after the soccer game. Mom I need $15 for a welcome back rally tshirt. Mom, fill up my lunch account...$100 should get me through October. Mom, I need $5 to help pay for rental of SFF." You get the idea.

His school starts at 8am. Scott has to be at work at 7:55, so they ride together and get there at 7:30. Makes things very easy for everyone. Scotts school doesn't start til 9, so he has 90 minutes to grade papers, read the newspaper, play bball with his fav. teachers in the gym...all fun things while I'm slaving away trying to get three kids up and out the door for school. No hard feelings :) Carter then has soccer practice everyday after school til 5ish. The coaches are very unorganized and no one ever knows what's going on. It's so frustrating. Away games bring him home around 7-7:30...which means he hasn't eaten and not even close to starting his homework. Oh and the homework.....at least three subjects a night. I hate highschool homework!!!!!

Now we'll move on to Bennett-big 4th grader :) Ben and Brady's school doesn't start until 8:30 so they roll out of bed around 8, get dressed, eat, brush their teeth and they're out the door. If Tyler is over (more on him later), they walk to school...if he's not, then I drive them the 500 yards to the parking lot. ugh. On Wednesday nights, Bennett has baseball practice from 6 til I call and tell Scott its too damn late and to get his ass home. Seriously, 9pm is NOT the time to start homework...what are we teaching him about priorities????

Next up, Brady. 1st grade. He loves his teacher but he has homework EVERYNIGHT of the week all year long. Its good for him, but I'm tired of hearing him read...I've done this already with two other kids and it's so boring. We're getting to 100 books quickly to meet his year reading goal and then we're backing off. Brady is so competitive that he wants to read 10 books a night so his certificate gets filled the fastest. *Sigh* I give it a few more weeks before we're done and can bring the pace down a bit!

And what kind of teacher gives out whistles as prizes for good behavior? Grrrrrr

Brady has soccer practice on Monday and Tuesday nights at SIUE. Then his games will start next week and they play Saturday or Sundays...throw in a few tournaments and we're good to go. Brady's team is really good and very fun to watch...Scott and I are very excited about this season. The above picture was taken during his two practice games last week...he scored four goals!!

And then there's MISS CATE. She has pre-k 2.5 hours everyday of the week! As of today, she has officially gone to school more than not! Woohoo! She doesn't whine about going, gets herself dressed, but gives me a sad/shy face when she walks into the room. I sneak out and when I come back 2.5 hours later, she's happy as can be. Uncle Mike did mention that he can't wait to hear what she has to say about finding out that the universe does not actually revolve around her! Well, today she came home and said "I had to wait in a line. Why would I have to wait? I should go first all the time" HAHAHA! Big wake up call for Catie Bug!

Her weekly activity is Thursday night dance class from 6:30-7:30. We had our 3rd session last night and she's doing great. She likes playing with all of the girls and the instructors are really awesome.

Scott's middle school girls basketball started this week which means he won't get home before 5:30 on practice days and then just whenever on game days. Fun for me...I'm left having to take all of the kids to Ben/Brady/Carter/Cate's activities by myself. blah.

And speaking of me....what am I doing with all of my free time now that my kids are in school? Babysitting Baby Hadley of course!

Miss Hadley comes to me at 7:30am and stays until about 3:45. Her big brother Tyler also comes over in the morning and walks to school with the boys and then after school too. I am so thankful Hadley is such a laid-back super baby :) We run errands all morning and play all afternoon. Cate loves reading books to her and teaching her to crawl :)

So there ya have it...our wild fall weekly schedule. No rest for the weary :)