Parting is such sweet sorrow...

Today was the first day of school for my kiddos.  Usually I am excited for them to start school and ready for summer to high tail it outta here and bring on the cool, crisp days of fall.

This year, not so much.   Beside the obvious fact that I will miss them terribly, (at least for the first week or so, while I adjust to them not being here all day!),  I have really dreaded the end of summer this year.  It means farewell to the carefree mom of summer and hello again to the hustle and bustle school year mom.

Farewell To Summer,  Parting is Such sweet Sorrow...

Good bye to sleeping in 3 out of 5 weekday  mornings.  (I lose 3 day care children over the summer because their parents are teachers, so no more 7am arrivals all summer.)
-  Hello again, 5:30am alarm clock buzzer, Monday through Friday.


Good bye to my relaxing summer mornings, sipping my  Dunkin Donuts iced coffee, and watching the news and Friday morning Zip Trips on Fox 25.
-  Hello again, repetitive wake up calls for a grouchy 11 year old boy to get his butt out of bed,  who is NOT a morning person.  
-   Hello again endless morning arguments and screaming matches with children over what outfits to wear, hair styles to don, missing shoes, homework assignments, and backpacks.  


Goodbye to never being on a schedule.
-  Hello again to a life dictated by time or better yet, the lack there of. 


Goodbye to doing laundry whenever I was the one who was running low on clothes.
-  Hello again to Sunday afternoon and all freaking night laundry, that not only has to be washed, dried, and folded, BUT, also put away properly to avoid more problems with time management in the mornings.


Goodbye to playing outside and hanging out with friends until well past dark every night of the week.
-  Hello again, set bedtimes, bedtime routines, and of course the lovely bedtime fights that accompany the switch over to the school year routine.


Goodbye to a sport's free summer.  (Normally we don't allow either of our children to play competitive sports over the summer.  Come June we need a break  However with the athlete's baseball season ending on such a negative note, I allowed him to play summer baseball through mid-July.  A choice by the way, I am so glad I did this year.  He had a blast!)
-  Hello again Soccer!  And the 3-4 practices a week and games on Saturdays that come with it.  
-  Hello again to "Grab and Go" dinners and lots and lots of bottled water.
-  Hello again to doing all the housework and errands on Sundays, while the coach watches football all afternoon, because it's the only day of the week I have to play catch up.

Goodbye to a time of fun filled activities, going to the beach, and cookouts.
-  Hello again to nightly homework, and all the lovely arguments I have to deal with alone, before the coach gets home from work.
-  Hello again to monitoring both children's academic progress with their teachers, parent/teacher conferences, and PTA meetings.  
-  Hello again to consequences for poor school work or rewards for a job well done.
-  Hello again to keeping track of book reports and project assignments, stressing about the due dates, and nagging children to finish said projects.


Goodbye to a season that is generally free from sickness.
-  Hello again to runny noses, coughs, and colds.  Stomach bugs and strep throat.  


Ah yes, summer,  I will truly miss thee.  I treasure the memories we've made and will look back on them often,


Till we meet again next year...

"Gap A licious"...

That's what I've been calling her since last night when right before bed, the princess grabbed a hold of her big front tooth and finally yanked it out all by herself, after days of insisting it was ready and numerous attempts by the coach.

That's tooth number 4 for this little one, but whose counting!

My very own "Bindi, the Nature Girl"...

While mowing the lawn on Saturday the coach found this fascinating creature in the back yard.

(Praying Mantis)

I quickly scooped him up and saved him from his inevitable death by lawn mower and then I did what I always do when we find something alive.  I bring to our children for two reasons.  First,  to scare the bejeezus out of the athlete, who simply detests bugs with every fiber in his being and will "freak the freak out" like nobody's business.  ( I simply show them to him, but the coach always has to take it a step further and chase him around the house and yard torturing the poor child.  I know it's cruel, but it's just so damn funny to see him scream and run like a mass murder is after him!  He always laughs afterwards, so I don't feel that bad!)  

After we have had our fun with him, we bring it to our princess who is simply fascinated by all things living.  She adores them all.  She has no fear of them, with an exception to bees and spiders.  But if she is told it won't hurt her then she's all for it.  As you can see here:

(Such a brave little soul)

She has a mothering instinct about her and loves whatever little creature she finds from the minute she spies it.

Even when things get a little too close for comfort, she keeps her cool and waits for help.  In this case the little bugger, (pun intended), scooted right up on her face and into her hair while I was taking this picture.  His clingy long legs made it  hard to get him untangled.  I was afraid I was going to either squish his belly or pull off a leg!

(You can see in her eyes, she is starting to get nervous here, but she stayed perfectly still.)

I managed to untangle him and then we decided it was best to put him back where he belonged, in the great outdoors.  The princess came with me and picked out a suitable home for him, which happened to be a huge pine tree, and we let him free.  He stuck out like a sore thumb, and all I could would picture was a bird coming down and swooping him up for a snack!

I just love this about her.  Her love for creatures big and small and her brave and bold personality.