And the countdown is on.

I loved the summer. Really I did. In May I couldn't wait for the school year to be over. To have the kids home every day actually excited me. It was a welcome break from the busy schedule that a school year offers.

M-F we dropped off Catherine at 7:45 (walked no bus) and then picked her up again at 2:45. And an occasional run back to school for a forgotten lunch. After school was homework time at least 3 days a week.

MWF we took Stephen to pre-school from 9 to 11:30. And once a month had to remember it was our turn to bring in the snacks.

In the fall it was cross-country three times a week. Two nights of practice followed by meets on Sundays. In the Spring it was soccer following the same schedule.

When the weekends come it was always welcome, and always brief, and often busy.

I was ready back in May for the unscheduled life to settle in. I was ready to not be up by a certain time. Not to rush to get dressed and eat breakfast. To get out the door by a certain time. To accomplish certain tasks in a specific order and time.

June came and so did the freedom to sleep in. The freedom to run wild. I embraced the summer vacation and had fun with it. We moved in the first week of vacation and once we settled in our vacation settled in quite nicely.

I took the kids to the weekly movies offered at the rave. I took them to the parks scheduled out by my moms group. We did a few fun races sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Road Runners. The days passed fun filled. I let the kids get up when they were ready and we'd grab the keys and go where we could in the mornings. If they slept in late then that was okay by me. Nothing was set in stone. We didn't "have" to be anywhere.

My only regret for this summer vacation is not taking trips down to my parents house to swim in their pool. With the moving and the unpacking I really couldn't spare a day and half to do that. We did spend a weekend at the beach. And we made it to Ocean City for July 4th.

And now here we are at the end of August and I am ready to go back to the routine of school. In fact, I embrace it much like I embrace the start of summer vacation. At the beginning of August the unscheduled fun stops being fun again. The kids start to bicker more. They get "bored." They have run out of summer games to play, I have run out of tricks to keep them happy. It's time for a change.

Monday that change comes. Catherine and Stephen have already started cross-country practice two nights a week. And on Monday they both start school. We are all very excited about it. School supplies have been bought and packed into the school bags. Uniforms are all bought, cleaned, and ready to be worn. We are all ready to settle into the next routine.

David and Joshua will start pre-school September 10th. They two are excited, but disappointed that Catherine and Stephen get to start up first.

This year is a big year for the kids. It's the first time they will ever ride a school bus. Catherine is going to second grade which means she receives lots of new sacraments this year. Stephen starts Kindergarten, which will be an adventure in itself.

Yes, the countdown is one. 6 days from now I will be posting pictures of my kids getting on the bus for the first day of school.

For now I am thrilled. Talk to me in May and I'll be ready for summer again. Oh how I love for the seasons to change.

Saving the Environment and my Wallet.

When we were looking at houses one of our many stipulations was that we would not move into a house that put restrictions on how we can live. Many housing developments don't allow owners to have laundry lines or even fences because it would detract from the beauty of the neighborhood. I wasn't having it. I don't care that a laundry line is unattractive, I care that I can hang my clothes outside and spare my dryer for a day or two.

I can't be worried about how it looks, I will be worried about how it functions. I started hanging my clothes up a few weeks ago. It took us a while to get the new lines put up. We bought a clothing tree and installed it in our backyard (the previous owners had one but it was rusted and falling over). Now I am determined not to use my dryer for as long as humanly possible. I check the weather first thing in the am to determine if it is a laundry day.

If the skies are clear and sunny I am washing and hanging everything I can. My lines are big enough for 4 loads of laundry, so far I have done up to 3 in one day. Summer clothes are smaller and take up less space. My plan is to be hanging things out well into the fall. When the fall comes it might get trickier because fall usually brings more rainy days, but that only means I have to take greater advantage of sunny days.

I like hanging my clothes out. It's fun and a bit relaxing. I can be out in the sun and for the most part the kids want nothing to do with it so they run away. Sometimes I'll get a helper, they like to hand me the clothespins (or try to pin them to me).

I would love to say that my motivation for this is purely environmental. I do like to be environmentally conscious. The real motivation is the electric bill. We moved into a bigger house with central AC. The first two bills we got were shocking to me. So if I can save a few pennies hanging my clothes outside I will. Every month I study that bill. I look at our usage. I am constantly trying to find ways to bring our usage down, and this should be a big one.

Other things That I do to help...

In addition to hanging out my wash, I also wash everything in cold water. I started doing that several months ago and there was no change in the cleanliness of my clothes. The change came in the form of my electric bill. I was weird about trying this one since we always washed everything in warm water growing up. Conventional wisdom says that heat breaks up the dirt better. Then a few years back Tide came out with their cold water formula detergent. It made me think about what difference could warm versus cold water could make. I didn't go out and buy the special detergent. I already use a specially concentrated and environmentally friendly brand. So switched the setting on the washer and waited to see if there was a difference. There wasn't. So now all my clothes are washed in cold water.

Also, back in November we made a switch from paper napkins to cloth ones. I went out to Bed, Bath and Beyond and found an inexpensive set of napkins (12 for $10). I bought two sets so that we would have enough. Since November we bought one package of paper napkins (to accommodate parties and moving). Before we switched we were buying napkins regularly. My kids are messy, and so they need napkins for all three meals. The cloth ones stay out and get used over and over again. I usually change them out once a day or every other day depending on how gross they get. What's fun is that BBB has these 12 packs in seasonal colors. We started in the fall with the browns and golds and this summer we picked up the spring pack which is all bright colors. They are not the formal dining linens so the clean easily and I throw them in with my daily wash.

So there you have it two more things that I do that are not only environmentally friendly and friendly on the wallet.

A Birthday Celebrationhttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tvFxn-4zOqU/TGwJjoEmJ2I/AAAAAAAAACY/wDEKx8oIaFs/s1600/P1080797.JPG

On Monday, my boy Stephen turned 5. And he was a happy camper. It was the event he has waited all summer for and now that it's past he cannot be more excited. The first year that he understood what was up was the year he turned 3. Catherine had her 5th birthday in May, followed by David, Joshua and me in June, and Paul's in July.

We are not big spenders here and we almost never buy things just to have them. So when birthdays come around it's sort of a big deal. You get stuff that's fun. We spoil our kids on their birthdays, because that is the one time that we will buy things they don't need but want.

So there was Stephen 2 1/2 years old watching one by one the people in his family getting spoiled. New toys in shiny paper to unwrap. After each birthday he would ask "Where's my happy birthday?" Now he knows we have to celebrate everyone else's birthday first, before we can get to his. So each spring he starts the countdown. First, Catherine...

The best part is that Stephen is genuinely excited for everyone's birthday. Part of it is because it gets him closer to his own day. The other part is that he loves all the new things that come into the house (and because they are all so close in age they all share in the same likes). So this summer was as much fun as it could be with the celebration of each birthday all leading up to Monday.

This time we started on Sunday with the family party. My sister made an impressive pirate cake.

And it rained making our grilling menu all the more challenging. But Paul prevailed and pitched the tent and grilled in the rain. The kids ran around and Stephen shouted with excitement over each and every gift. Not one gift was disappointing to him. He shouts and shows off every little thing he gets.

We bought Stephen his first two-wheeler this year a week before, and in the breaks of rain he took it out to show his grandparents. On Monday we had some pizza and leftover cake. Stephen got a few more small gifts from his siblings. All in all it was a great celebration.

On Tuesday Stephen came downstairs and right away pointed out that his birthday is over. It's time to take down the banner. Indeed it's time to take it down and pack it away until May.

A materialistic pondering

I have decided to create a house warming registry. I set a fictitious date in September of 2011, because I am not sure if I will have an official party.

Well... let me try that again.

I wanted to have a huge party. Paul didn't. I didn't want to plan it all by myself so we compromised. We are having a small scale friends only party this September. And an open house/1st communion party in the spring with the whole family.

So a friend asked if I was going to register so I did. I am not really announcing it to people but if someone asks if we want anything for the house I can point them in the right direction. Every few days I add to my list of things I would like to have. There are things I would like replacing (certain appliances), and things I just don't have. All of it is going on the list.

Right now I am debating the wisdom of the single serve coffee makers. Paul and I don't drink coffee, and neither of us can make coffee. Throughout the year we host people in our house but never serve coffee. A few years ago my mom bought me a junky machine that now collects dust. We had coffee for it once, made a pot served it up and then were grossed out when cleaning it. We also never think to bring it out and coffee doesn't keep forever so we don't actually have any coffee to put in it. It doesn't make sense for me to buy a can for a party then let it go bad before the next gathering.

So this single serve thing. It's expensive which is the biggest reason to not want it. I would only be using it for parties and guests. I drink tea so I suppose I could get the tea for it, but they work out to be about $1/cup. I'm 99% sure that my tea-pot and tea bags are a lot cheaper than that. I guess I just want to be a better host, and serve coffee, but I am having a hard time adding something so big to the list when it is not a high priority for me to have it. Honestly, I want a new toaster oven more.

So, what do I do? Do I add it? or do I just let it go and continue to be the house that doesn't serve coffee.

It's all about me.

. for a moment.

I use twitter. I use facebook. I update fairly regularly. Recently I have slowed down. Maybe because I am busy. But more so because I am sick of reading other peoples constant complaints and the extreme highs and lows.

Right now I want to complain. I'm not going to do it on FB I'm gonna do it here.

I'm 98% sure that I have poison ivy. I am 99.9% sure that this is the first time I have ever had it. It hurts, it stings, it itches like nothing I could have ever imagined. It is making me paranoid. Like a fool I read all about it and now am worried that the toxic oils are everywhere. I'm worried because every day I wake up with more red spots. I have already changed the sheets once since the breakout and am going to change them a second time today. The first spots appeared about a week and half ago.

My entire left arm is an angry, puffy red.

I'm contemplating a visit to the dr, but to what end? What can he do for me? Mainly I want to confirm what I already know... Paul doesn't think it's necessary and a large part of me agrees with him. But in the early morning hours when I wake up with more breakouts I want to jump in the car and ask for an immediate cure. Because my research says I could suffer like this for weeks.

So I am miserably itchy. There. i said it.