Like whoa.
Where did the summer go? It went incredibly fast and it seems like just yesterday we were doing a little happy dance celebrating it's arrival.
When I was a kid, summer seemed to last forever and now that I am like way older, it seems like summer (and the rest of life for that matter) is on the 4 arrow fast forward.
On Monday of this week, I sent the kidlets back to school. By some miracle, the morning wakeup has not been too bad on them. (However, it has been BRUTAL on me. I didn't sleep for 3 days and so by day 3 I was super uber miss cranky pants) I still can't sleep. Oh well.
Madison is a SENIOR! Holy crap! She is a SENIOR! I confess it is really kind of freaking me out. How did my baby girl grow up so fast? Madison is taking 4 AP courses and doing the Culinary Program again this year. She is really digging the new block schedule as on her odd days, she can come home and chill right after seminary for awhile (she has no 1st period) and on even days she is home by around 11:30. She was way ecstatic to get Sister Taylor for seminary this year (she is a lot of fun but yet manages to teach the kids a great deal). She is not doing cross country this year but plans to do clubs and run track in the spring. Madison is the Laurel President in our ward and she also is busy busy working as a Hot Dogger selling lemonade.
Sydney is in 8th grade this year. She is doing the usual round of classes with Art as her elective. She loves to draw and is thinking perhaps that she would love to work at Pixar one day. Sydney is playing soccer with an indoor women's league for the fall (while the rest of their team is in high school season) and is doing really well. She is also excited to finally finally be taking piano lessons with Sister Jex next week. She has been wanting to take lessons forever and either we didn't have the money for her to do so or we have been so stinking busy we couldn't fit it in her schedule.
Obviously, Chase is also in 8th grade this year and frankly wanting to get it all over with so she can get to high school! She is also doing the usual round of courses with Advanced Orchestra as her elective. She is still playing violin and takes lessons once a week. I am hoping she sticks with it for high school but we'll see. She has a million other things she wants to do. Chase is also playing indoor with Syd on a women's team and has been kicking butt on the field. Note Chase cut her hair because while being a twin is cool and all, it is not cool to be mistaken for her sister sometimes. Plus she wanted to do her own thing.
Zack is in his final year of elementary school. 5th Grade. Seriously! My baby is in 5th grade. That also has been freaking me out. Zack may be in 5th grade but he acts like he is 25 sometimes. He talks to adults and carries on intelligent conversations with them. Everyone always remarks on that to me. He also can be quite the normal 10yr old boy. Especially when he is with his friends. Zack is busy with Scouts - we need to wrap up his Webelos and earn that Arrow of Light! He is also quite busy with soccer - formal practices twice a week, informal everyday, and soon games. We will be traveling to Flagstaff in a couple of weeks for a tournament.
I confess with school back in session and all, I still haven't got a routine quite down - I am still in summer mode. Hoping to get caught up and in the groove by next week. And hopefully, I will find time to post to the blog. I noticed I blogged once at the summer and then nothing. Now that is going to make for a really big hole in the blog book for this year. I promise we did stuff this summer. Really we did. I swear!
The other thing of note with school back in session is that all my kids have grown a few inches. Especially the twins. It is so weird to talk to my kids and have them looking right at me instead of me having to look down at them.
School is off to a good start. I confess I envy my kids. I miss school and the excitement of learning new things and hanging out with friends everyday. Another crazy thing - my kids are all in their last year before they move onto the next big thing - college, high school, and jr. high. Just yesterday I was lugging the twins in a stroller and sending Madison off to kindergarten. See I told you. Life is on the 4 arrow fast forward. I can only hope with everything happening at such a frenzied pace, that my kids gain some good experiences along the way.