No more lazy days

The kids do have an entire week left to go before they start school, unlike their public school friends, but our lazy days are still over. It seems that all the random stuff I need to do every 6 or 7 years, I need to do again right now. Anything that involves lines, paperwork, federal employees, it's on my list. And oh boy, I see jury duty for September, possibly two weeks worth! There is no way I would be picked for that case, except by the prosecution, and I told them as much.

We are also taking care of many dentist appointments and doctor appointments and eye appointments. I've also managed to unload a lot of baby gear and random toys at the church garage sale. What I haven't done though is buy school supplies which is always a drill. Uniforms are washed, additional ones ordered, now we need belts, over the ankle socks and undershirts because the school crest is rather scratchy. I put Megan's school sports schedules on my calendar and that alone was exhausting, not sure how we're going to manage to go to all those games. I suspect we will skip the away games, out of respect for the three other children in the family. Plus, those other children have their own sports going on in town. Megan will become more independent this way, traveling with her teammates and coaches, not her mom. Or so the older moms have told me so I won't feel bad!

We are also working on fall travel plans and I think a lot of trips just aren't going to happen. The cost was starting to get ridiculous, not to mention the hassle of taking the kids out of school. We will go to only one of the weddings and combine that with seeing our good friends who are back stateside after three years in Belgium. I think only Sean will go to the ND games, including the one in Dallas. The logistics in deciding all this was driving me to drink, it was time to be realistic about what we can accomplish, i.e. not very much.

 Went and had lunch with Sean in the hospital cafeteria after school physicals.  Somehow Patrick is growing enough even though he eats a lot of cheeseburgers, french fries and ketchup. He always insists on ordering the ketchup, like it's a side dish, specifically he would prefer that we consider it a vegetable.

 Emily shot up the growth chart for height recently and it really could be due to chocolate milk since that is her most popular beverage of choice...

 I had to take them to this retired train by the park across from the hospital because they begged all morning to go there.

 Emily was Patrick's assistant for driving the train, lots of dials to turn.

The kids are constantly on the hunt for treasures and Patrick found this in the woods here. It was very valuable to him but you will notice that it's a rusty poking hazard so I paid him a dollar to turn it over to me. I think he knew he wasn't going to win so may as well take the cash.