Summer

"The house is quiet;

the kids must be back in school,"

I hear myself think.

So, yeah! The kids are in school. I'm back on the computer with time to spend (without a child standing at my shoulder asking how long until I'm done so he can get on to play Pokemon...) Not that I plan on spending a lot of time on the computer today, but I thought I should wrap up blogging about our summer before it is too far in the past to remember well.

It has been a busy summer, I'll start by saying that.

Mid June - Hannah, John and Joshua all got to attend our stake trek in Wyoming. They had a good time and I think it was a good experience for them.

The following week was Peter's birthday, John got his drivers permit, we had 11 year old scout camp (see first two paragraphs here), followed by our two week vacation (See here, here, here and here.) While driving in the car on that vacation, I crocheted a bunch of minions which I gave to my nieces and nephews on Steven's side. (Hannah took them out for a photo shoot the evening before I gave them away.)

We returned in time for the 4th of July. Then we had a couple weeks of "normal" summer, with the boys spending as much time as possible on their computers, and Hannah working at Sonic.

The week after that, John had his birthday and turned 16!

The day after John's birthday, we attended a Rockies game, compliments of Steven's work. I didn't take any pictures, but instead crocheted a couple pink pigs, which we gave to the granddaughters of one of Steven's colleagues. 

The week after that, Steven, Josh and Peter went to Peaceful Valley Scout Camp, leaving Hannah, John and me here at home. Hannah spent a lot of time at work, and John spent a lot of time on his computer (he's writing a computer game) so it was pretty quiet. 

The following week with Josh and Peter at home was not so quiet even though John was gone at high adventure camp for the entire week and Hannah had her wisdom teeth pulled. She was uncomfortable for a few days, but it seemed to heal well. 

And then last week was Josh's birthday.

 

And then we had our "last hurrah" fiasco of a campout (see here).

In spare moments over the summer, I continued to crochet small projects:

And now the boys are in school. Last night was back-to-school night at the high school where I got to go around and meet John and Josh's teachers for the coming semester or two. Some of the faces were familiar, others were new. Hannah came with us to say 'hello' to some of her previous teachers. It's interesting having three or four kids going through one school. One teacher saw Hannah and John together for the first time (He was Hannah's French teacher, and John just got into his French class) and just made the connection that they are siblings. Another teacher (who has had Hannah and John and now gets Joshua) referred to getting siblings as like collecting trading cards, and trying to collect the whole set.

Hannah is still here for a few more weeks before she will be off to school, too. 

When I say that I'm grateful that school is back in session, it isn't that I'm glad my kids are gone most of the day. I do miss them. I think it is a return to "normal life" that I enjoy. It's having a predictable schedule that I appreciate. I like having everyone home at night and not having this one or that one away at a camp for an entire week at a time. I like that my children are spending their time more productively - learning and growing in different ways than they did during the summer. 

That being said, I'm positive that by next summer, I'll be looking forward to summertime again.