Ahhh...can it possibly have been a month since my last post?

Well, things are starting to busy up around here. The kids and I just returned from a fun trip down south to visit with several friends and family. Though the drives were long, they both did a GREAT job, especially for two kids who can rarely last 10 minutes in the van without an arguement. I packed a "goody box" for each of them that kept them busy with Play-doh and color wonder markers, we played "car bingo" and found everything on our list (though I felt REALLY bad when as we marked the helicopter off our list as it was a life flight helicopter taking off from the scene of a terrible accident), and they each got to watch a new movie on their portable DVD players. Add snacks and drinks, potty breaks, and lunch stops to the list and that pretty much got us there with rarely a squabble.

We spent Thursday in Nashville with friends, celebrating Kelsey's 7th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese that night. Then off Friday morning for Birmingham where we got to spend the day with more friends. Oh, how I wish these visits could have lasted so much longer. It was so heartbreaking to not leave the Mefford's apartment and just walk across the breezeway into ours. Of all the places we've lived, I have to say that I miss Birmingham the most.

Saturday morning we hit the road for Cookeville, TN where we got to spend some quality time with family. Pa was able to fly in for a few days, Sunday we got to hang out with quite a bit of family that we haven't seen in quite some time (Evie played shy, but we all know better!), and then Grammie took everyone to see Cars on Monday night. We headed out early Tuesday morning and made it home by the afternoon.

In other news, we are now the proud (?) owners of a kitten. His name is Pumpkin and he is actually a good fit for our family (meaning that he lets Evie torment him mercilessly without so much as a meow of resistence--and he still has claws!).

Only three weeks until school starts again. A first-grader...am I ready for a first-grader? This time next year, Evie will be in kindergarten. How is that possible? This time of year is making me feel like a kid again though because I always LOVED shopping for back-to-school supplies. I wish that I could say William shares my enthusiasm, but sadly that is not the case...he's quite indifferent about the whole process--except when it comes to the backpack and lunchbox which have just been ordered and should arive from Nick Jr. any day now. This year, we've forgone the superheroes for Diego. William does want to be an animal rescuer when he grows up, after all, so of course he MUST have a Diego backpack and lunchbox.

Along with school, so starts another season of soccer for William, dance classes for Evie, AWANA for Evie and myself, and most likely swim lessons for both the kids, or swim for Evie and karate for William. I thought these days of being overscheduled wouldn't start until they were in junior high...someone lied to me. Good thing we all love it.

I've rambled enough, so until next time...