So now it's back to our regularly scheduled programming....

Summer always makes me feel like I can take off from the normal routine, well sort of....also makes me feel a tad scattered as well.  It is nice to be able to stay up a bit later for family fun.....movies in the park, game night, movie night, toenail painting parties whatever way the wind blows.  It is also nice to sleep in some....I LOVE sleep, must be from all those years of sleep deprivation.  Public school started back here on Monday, my middle girls were so excited.  New school supplies, new back packs, new shoes, and new school clothes tend to get them all geared up and excited before we ever meet the teacher.  Diva is off to the big ol' world of middle school as a seventh grader this year.  She is in four horizons classes: Reading, Science, English, and Social Studies.  She is also in Advanced Choir which she was really glad to be asked to join.   Her schedule is rounded out by P.E., Math, and Math Lab....which sounds really cool, a practical application kind of class.  They are taught by teams of teachers, there are four different teams I believe.  It struck us as funny how she ended up on the same team KK had with some of the same teachers.  Love Bug is at the elementary school just up the road that she went to for the TAKS readiness program this summer.  We were able to call and request either of the teachers that she had from that.  Of the two teachers, one is a special ed teacher so Love Bug ended up in the regular teacher's class.  The Thursday before school started DH, Love Bug, and I got to go to meet the teacher night.  Turns out there are two teachers in her class room, her teacher and the English as a second language teacher.  The ESL teacher when instructing the Spanish students tells the other kids' the lessons in Spanish as well.  So in third grade she is learning some Spanish too, which I am really excited about.  The irony for Love Bug is a couple of the kids' her age that live near us are in her class.  We found out at the end of this past school year she has ADD, which is hard to diagnosis in girls'....plus she has no behavioral issues just focus issues.  Now that she is taking her meds for it we can see such a HUGE difference.  Homework that took us two hours for two worksheets with crying is now taking 15 minutes.....YAY!!!!  She is loving school, her new teachers, new friends, and getting to walk home with Mom.  I started back up my water/exercise regimen now that school is back.  Since Diva is riding the bus I didn't see a need to keep the van everyday (plus whew the gas prices would kill us), so I drop Love Bug off at school and then I or sometimes Busy Body and I walk and pick her up.  It is 1.5 miles one way so I am back to 3 miles a day, 3x a week plus I am doing my Hip Hop Abs the other 2 days.  Hoping that this workout schedule will make me feel as good as my walk at the beautiful Elm Creek Park did last school year.  There have been a few things we started doing during the summer that we are gonna add into our normal routine.  I started a weekly bible study (right now I am working in a study guide that just covers the book of Proverbs), I get a full day off once a week (DH has been trying to get me to do something like this for several years now), we have weekly date time (if it isn't in the budget to go out we will just watch a movie piled up in bed with popcorn), resumed my workout, and the Hooked on Phonics I was doing with Love Bug we will still do on the weekends.  Since the middle girls are back at school I am starting to work on ABC recognition and counting from 1-20 this year with Busy Body.  KK is applying for regular work while studying for her GED which she is hoping to get on the waiting list and get in to take soon.  DH is doing some more bamboo cross work as well as helping with media shout at church each week, Wednesday night adult bible study, and working himself skinnier in this blasted heat (it got to 107 this past week on one of our afternoon walks).  I am gearing up for a new MOPS year as the resident craft gal.  Got a great sale this summer and bought my whole year's worth of crafts under budget and before our annual retreat.  Then I was also able to get in on a second sale and get everything for our volunteer appreciation gifts for less than what this years craft budget has been raised to....I was super excited about all this believe me.  Mine and DH's Sunday school class being the awesome bunch they are donated the funds to purchase our first MOPS breakfast as well as sponsored a mom for the year.  God led us to this wonderful group, they are such a loving and supportive class....missing a class on Sunday hurts my heart cause fellow-shipping with them is exactly what the Lord said friendship should be and more!!!!  This summer also included some really fun extended family time, with my younger sister, her fiance, and their yours and mine family (6 sweet and fun kiddos between them). They came down to be with her fiance here in town.  He works for the telephone company and was here on a job for several months so they stayed off and on through the summer.  We were able to get together with them for some hanging out and swimming time at their hotel pool.  Was a nice and fun way to beat the heat for sure.  Love getting to see my nieces and nephew as well as catch up with my ever crazy sister :)  We have been doing lots of fun things up at church like a crawfish boil, summer youth group, VBS (we visited Egypt this year and it was a blast), and we are ending this month with the MOPS Popsicle Pop-In and the Silly Summer Olympics (the Seniors are claiming they will be keeping their trophy for a second year).  So for the two people who read here on occasion how has your summer gone??

Mood: Relaxed
Weather: Overcast and 75 degrees with a supposed high of 85 today
Music: None
Dinner: Beef Tips in Gravy over Rice with Green Beans
Random Thought: Wow what a book I typed after not being caught up for a while
Exercise: 1-44oz. glass of water down, vitamins taken, and Hip Hop Abs workout done