The Price of a Bad Haircut

I'm overly confident in my hair cutting abilities.

I've taken matters into my hands several times throughout the years and have never once managed to come out with an even remotely acceptable outcome.  (Layers?  Piece of cake!?)  
I can manage a good bang trim, but even they look rough from time to time.

Fortunately, I wised up in my late teen years and no longer attempt it on my own hair.  The boys hair, however, is still fair game.

Henry's was in desperate need of a trim the day before school started.  Ben was golfing.  I was feeling anxious about my unpreparedness for the school year.

It did not turn out well.  At all.

I offered him a Dirty Dr. Pepper if he'd just sit there long enough for me to try to fix it.  He agreed if it was at least a large, and, even then, he was on the fence.

In the end, Ben made fun of me, Henry's hair had to be cut super short, and I learned, once again, that cutting hair is far harder than it seems in my head.  

Pulling Myself Together

Today was the first day of school.

Usually, it's a bit bittersweet for me.  Sad to not have them with me all day.  Excited to get back to an actual schedule.

This year, though, I am so very sad at the thought of sending them on their way.

We have had the very best summer--a wonderful mix of the very laziest days and incredible day trips.  

It's been exactly what I want everyday to be like.

This down-in-the-dumps outlook has led to me doing some serious feet dragging on getting things ready for the school year.  

Thank goodness for Ben!

He and the boys spent last night finishing up shopping for the rest of the essentials.  He also took the reigns this morning and made sure everyone was up nice and early and greeted us all with a delicious breakfast.  (No repeats from last year!)

I think it's just what I needed to get over the hump.

Now that we've sent them off, I'm starting to remember how nice it is for just the two of us to be at home.  

Hello, lunch dates!!

Off to See the Wizard......!

We met up with Amy and the kids last week in Wamego to visit the Oz Museum--and trade off Henry!

It's been on our list of places to meet up for awhile, but, to be honest, I didn't have high hopes for it.  It seemed a bit cheesy.

We're always up for a good road trip, so off we went, and....it was really neat!

It was all set up really beautifully and there was SO MUCH information and artifacts.  Unfortunately we had six kids who were not interested in staying close by while we read all the little blips of information.  We made them stick it out for quite a while, but in the end I think we only got to read about 1/3 of it.

The kids did have a good time roaming around the museum, though.  The big highlights were the haunted forest hallway and the, oddly enough, French subtitled movie that was playing in the theater!

I'm glad Amy talked us in to trying it out.  It was a real treat!

Lowering the Bar on Summer

Wilson Lake

I've always headed into summer with big plans. 

We were going to have a fun-filled summer full of activities and swimming, a bit of downtime--which would include games and crafts--and a sprinkle of school work to keep them on track. We'd sleep in a bit, but not too much so we could still take advantage of the morning weather.

I'd work on behavior quirks that seemed to fall through the cracks during the school year when I didn't see them as much. I also planned on working on keeping myself level headed when the fights broke out.

It was a loose, no pressure plan, but it was still the plan.

Linda and I always did a good job of keeping the kids entertained. We did the activities and swimming; although, there were days that we probably should have swapped some of them out for more downtime--for ourselves mostly! 

My downtime plans always ended up seeming like activites disguised as downtime, so we had less games and crafts and more naps and TV. The school work always felt like an uphill battle which, among other things, would take me off track on my level headedness.

Despite dropping the ball a bit, those summers were amazing! We had so much fun! I was the only one who missed the stuff the fell by the wayside.

This summer, I gave myself a break and dropped all the expectations. The goal was to have fun, take daytrips throughout the break, swim when we could and veg out when we need it. Anything else that got accomplished was a bonus!

It was the best decision I could have made! I didn't feel the end of summer guilt that I usually do and we still had the most amazing summer--our best one yet as far as I'm concerned!!

I really hate that summer is coming to an end. I really, really love having them home.

Carrying Their Own Chairs

This is a big school year the kids at St. Catherine's.

They get a permanent building!

Up until now the classrooms have been in the same building as the church--which will also be moved into an equally, if not more, impressive permanent building down the road.

The new Parish Education Center is INCREDIBLE!!!  

(I would expect nothing less considering how much thought Father Dan puts into every little detail--literally.)

We all got our first glimpse at it a few weeks ago when everyone pitched in to get things moved into the new building.

All the kids were asked to grab a chair and ceremoniously walk it over to the new building.  Henry and Josh Oliver got to be 2nd and 3rd in line!  (Luke carried one, too, but, when you hesitate to join in, no one saves you a place.  Remember that Luke!)

After all the kids made it in, the rest of the furniture and boxes just poured in through the doors.  Within an hour and a half everything was moved in and the furniture was well on it's way to being fully assembled.

It was impressive!