{p,h,f,r}: Back to School Edition

Whoa.  Okay, so the end of August is kind of taking me behind the woodshed and working me over pretty good.

I have tried to come here and post about six different times this week and each time it didn't work out. I even missed posting for Fiver's birthday, which I hate.  I love writing a little something special for each child's birthday and I like to have it ready on their actual day.  But Fiver always gets the short end of the party stick with that late August birthday.  His big day always falls on the first or second day of school, in that frenzy of activity when we're all barely sure of whether we are coming or going.
Of course, he was two full weeks late, so it's kind of his fault, right?

I know what you're thinking.  How can writing a blog post "not work out"?  I mean, it's just a dumb blog anyway.  It's just my stream of consciousness blabbed out there into the ether.

But you know what happens when you have five kids in school?  The pile of forms to fill out takes a time investment worthy of a part time job and the pile of books you have to cover is large enough to crush you.  And the teachers want those books covered the. very. next. day. No excuses.

Look, I understand the teachers' position, I really do.  Especially at our school where we cling to every copy of every book until the pages are crumbling because there are no replacements to be had.  And I have a book murderer among my brood, so I know those books need to be protected.

But sheesh.  I am one mom. I'm working on it as fast as I can.  Some of my friends are all like, "Hey, don't be a martyr. Have your prodigious brood cover their own darn books."  And yes, I am teaching them to do that, but have you ever seen a book covered by an 11 year old boy with motor planning delays?   Yeeeeah . . . lots of tape, not much actual book coverage.  So I end up having to fix it up anyway.

And don't even get me started on the high school, where Francie HAD to get her specific supplies the very night of her first day of classes or she would be penalized by certain teachers.  If they want that short of a turnaround time, then put those darn supply lists on the website.  Isn't that what it's there for? She seriously saw half of her class at Staples, so I know she wasn't alone, but still.

But enough about all that.  I'm not here to complain (no, stop laughing, I'm really not).  The kids seem to be enjoying all four days of school so far, and the littles at home are enjoying having more time with me.

And I am enjoying . . . that August is almost over.  And the fact that I have some brand new pens for all those forms.  This time of year is like an office supply addict's Christmas morning.  Having an excellent pen really does go a long way in making all those forms seem like hardly any work at all.

Now let's switch gears and have {some pretty, happy, funny, real}, courtesy of the mothers and daughters over at Like Mother, Like Daughter.  It will help keep my mind off of Rob's insane August schedule and how we've had to practically make appointments to see him in September.

We kept our family tradition of visiting our favorite
amusement park on the last weekend before school.
I can't even tell you how much I love this place.  It's just the best ever.

Looking through the pictures, I realized I only have photos of Sally and the
little girls, plus a few of the baby.  Everyone else was off riding their
favorite rides on their own time table, and Sally and I stayed with the little ones in the
kiddie ride area.  

Mopsy is our fearless wonder.  She is content with kiddie rides, but she watches
the roller coasters with rapt fascination.  As she watched the cars whiz by,
she told my dad, "I gonna ride THAT!"  Then she cried when we told
her she was too small.

Don't tell Mopsy, but I did get to ride that.  This is the top of the Phoenix, which
is my all time favorite roller coaster.  In the past several years, I've usually been
pregnant during our trip and I couldn't ride.
This year I rode it twice for good measure.

Septimus just hung out in the stroller all day.
There are worse fates.

The night before school and all the backpacks
were laid out with care.

My secret stash.  Extra glue sticks and pencils for homework,
but mostly all my favorite pens hidden away from the
"borrowers" I birthed.

This is where my secret stash is hidden.  The kids have broken this door off
the desk twice, so I finally channeled my inner Kevin Bacon a la Apollo 13 and
put up a "NO!" sign.  It actually works like a charm.

Francie, 9th grade

Fiver, 5th grade

Sally, 2nd grade

Bun, kindergarten

The School House Gang

Home: Where the Wild Things Are

Fiver's favorite birthday treat: ice cream cake!

Baby wanted to make sure all 11 candles on the cake were extinguished.

I've been worried that Septimus was almost 8 months old and showed no interest
in sitting up.  Then I found him like this, and I figured he had to have some core strength
to pull himself up and play with the hanging toys like that.

Then I found him like this a few days later.
My kids enjoy messing with my head.