Is School Starting Yet?

I don't remember feeling this way last year. Maybe I did, who knows. All I know is that I'm really looking forward to the kids all getting to go to their own separate classrooms and have someone else answer their questions for part of the day. I feel bad even saying that, but there has been so much sibling rivalry around here the last few weeks, and I feel like I'm constantly refereeing. So I'm excited to get a bit more of a break from that. And I think they'll be excited, too. We've done quite a few things this summer, and they've had a lot of fun. It's okay to get back to the school schedule. Did I mention this little angel is starting half-day kindergarten?

I'm not sure which of us is more excited. :) Hopefully she'll be good and love it. Reilly will be going into 3rd grade, and Jaina into 2nd. So for a few hours each morning, Shawn and I will be on our own! A little bit crazy...

We got a trial run of it this weekend. After all the traveling last week, Shawn kind of started hating to be in his car seat (though he still likes to -go- places and always gets in happily). After about 10-15 minutes he starts fussing, and then crying, and won't sleep more than 20 minutes in the car, and basically is super difficult and refuses to be distracted by snacks, movies, or toys. So our Colorado trip which we had planned was starting to sound a little more like torture and stress than fun and excitement to me. Jeremy pointed out that I could actually stay home with Shawn, and it would save us all some stress (and some money, since one hotel room would work, and since they could take the little hybrid instead of our van). And I fought the idea, because I wanted to go, but then it started sounding really good to not spend 16 hours (round trip) in the car so soon after all the other traveling.
So they left Thursday, and Shawn and I didn't. He missed his siblings a lot, and I had to entertain him a lot more than I usually did. We had to get out of the house a lot. There were moments I wondered if it was actually a break for me or not. But then we'd drive somewhere and he'd start his fussing thing, and I was so grateful I wasn't on that trip! I only had to listen to it for 5 and 10 minutes at a time instead of hours...
And we did have fun. We went to the mall at the same time everyone else left (because he was upset everyone was getting ready to leave and he wasn't - he was unimpressed when I put him in a different car than them, though!) and he had a blast at the play area, playing on the "rides," and then sharing Panda Express with me. He loves Panda Express. :)

Friday we mostly hung out at home in the morning, then in the late afternoon went to see our friends' new house. I helped a little tiny bit with the unpacking and Shawn explored all their toys and yard and new rooms. And their furniture.

That evening I had a couple friends over for a craft/project/movie night, which was fun, and which motivated me to do some cleaning and picking up after a couple days of Shawn and I roughing it. :)
Saturday morning we went to Walmart to play with the toys and pick up some pictures I wanted for my painting endeavor, then we went to IHOP to use my birthday coupon for free pancakes. We split a stack of Harvest Grain 'n Nut, 2 eggs and 2 sausages, and Shawn ate every bit of his half. He loves breakfast foods, and especially when we're at restaurants. It was like a 20 minute wait, which he was not impressed with that close to naptime. Thankfully my server took our order very quickly and brought out the eggs and sausage within just a few minutes when I asked, so we didn't have any meltdowns. Once we got seated, we were in and out in like 25 minutes I think. A far cry from our experience at another IHOP a couple weeks ago! Saturday evening after dinner we hit the Goodwill (it was half off day) and found a few new toys for Shawn (he had been obsessed with this popper at Wal-mart earlier that day), a few jeans and shirts for the girls, and a gymnastics leotard for Jaina. (She has decided to take a break from dance and see what she thinks of tumbling this year.)

Over all, it was really nice to have a break from my normal life. I got to work on a family scrapbook I'm trying to get done, and also a painting I want to get done in the next month or two, and I didn't have to cook for the better part of 4 days. There was still way more that needed to be done around the house than one would hope for on a "vacation," and I had to get pretty creative trying to entertain Shawn, but even the break from constantly having to play referee with our older 3, and be on top of them before they drive each other crazy was nice.

They had a great time too, both in Colorado (Cortez/Mancos area) and stopping in Joseph City at Jason and Emily's house both ways. It was a great little road trip for them to do with their dad, and I understand that they listened to the entirety of "The Phantom Tollbooth" during their trip, as well. :)

But today, when they were back, it took me some time to re-adjust to the constant arguing, and discussing, and tattling, and just noise that accompanies children of their age and temperament. Thankfully we were meeting up with some people at the Riverview Splashpad, which helped to break up the morning. But when we got back, after we managed to feed everyone lunch, I said we were going to have "Quiet Time" (which we often use more as a consequence for children who are continually difficult and seem like they "need more rest") while Shawn napped. But since it was more because I needed it than I did, I told them they could watch a movie while they did it, as long as they lay down and pretended they were asleep. It says a lot about my mental state that I searched "longest Disney movies" when I was trying to pick what they were going to watch. My search was inconclusive, but a quick comparison of the times helped me settle on "The Incredibles" as today's winner. Weighing in at 115 minutes, it did lead to some needed calm in our house this afternoon.