Where Has This Summer Gone?

I seriously cannot believe my baby boy starts school next week. Can you hear the sound of my heart breaking into a million pieces? It just dawned on me today that "life as we know it" is about to change. Yes, it is hard to see him growing up so fast, but on the same token I am very excited for all that he will learn this year. He is a social little guy, and I know that being around a whole new crop of kids is going to be great for him. He'll be attending the morning kindergarten class, which works out quite nicely for all of us. Griffin naps in the afternoon, so while Camden is at school, that will give Griffin and I some one-on-one time together, which we have never had! Then, after Camden comes home and we've all had lunch, Griff will go down for his nap and then Camden and I will have time together. I think this will be really good for both boys, because at times it is hard to keep them both happy.

This past Saturday, we had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with Steve, so we hopped in the car and headed right to Boise. Griffin brought along his favorite book at the moment, SkippyJonJones, and kept saying, "Daddy read it!" all the way to Boise. Steve reads to the boys every night (when he's home!) so Griffin didn't really have to say much to get his Dad to sit right down on the floor and read to him.

Poor Steve...he's been training really hard while he's been away, and he looked so tired when we saw him. I think he is only sleeping 2 or 3 hours per night, and some nights, not at all. I am guessing he is going to need some time to decompress when he gets home on Friday. We had planned to go camping this coming weekend, but I'm wondering right now if that is such a good idea - - probably Steve ought to have a few days to readjust to home life before we go and cram ourselves into a tent together.

I really enjoyed delivering my first Angel Cake last Friday, and I'm already looking forward to the next one. I'm not signed up to do another until the end of the month, and this time it will be a Spiderman birthday cake for a little guy in foster care.

Business has been a little slow at Story Time the past month or so. I'd attributed it to summer vacation, swimming lessons, etc., but went ahead and made a new bulletin board for the children's area at the library last weekend, in hopes of drumming up some interest. I guess it worked, because I had a huge crowd this morning, and all new kids.

I have really been loving a couple of new blogs lately - - the first is on my blogroll and it is called The Motherload. It is jam-packed full of all kinds of helpful hints for moms. I am especially loving the menu-planning advice, as I am trying to get better at this. My other new favorite is called Simple Mom. Again, this is packed with great cooking, organizing, decluttering, mothering, and crafting ideas...I just love it. Right now, Simple Mom is doing a serious about how to be "Disorganized & Unproductive". It has really caused me to take a good look at how I've been running this household. Lots of improvements can be made...lots.

I'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but I love being a mom. More specifically, I love being an at-home mom. At times, it can be so very difficult, and I just want to throw my hands up in the air and run out the door. However, nothing has ever made me happier than being with my boys. We have great days, we have not-so-great days, and occasionally, we have days that I'd just like to forget ever happened. I wouldn't change a thing, though. Life is good.