September

Oh man. Zero to 60. We're now into the nutty part of the year.  School, soccer, sack lunches.

I really look forward to mid October when things begin to calm down. Soccer is over and we sort of get into a normal schedule.

School seems to be going well for all of us. I get to teach writing all day, which I'm absolutely thrilled about. S. is really liking Jr. High. Who knew? C. has a new boss (the 3rd one in three years!) and hasn't died of exhaustion yet. Pretty good, I'd say.

Days are busy. I have never met a group of people who love to have meetings quite like teachers, and, since I grew up Mormon (in the pre-moratorium on meetings era), that is really saying something. Sometimes I wonder if things would work themselves out almost as well if we didn't spend out afternoons beating dead horses and tweaking things to the unth-degree? I'm thinking that they would.

S. and I get home from school, grab a quick snack, and then head right to the homework. A small time for S. to relax while I unload the dishwasher from the night before and prep dinner. Then it is rush, rush, rush to soccer practice - nearly all the way across town. Soccer is much more fun when the kids are small and they have one or two practices per week. Not so much when there are four days committed to practice and games.

Bless C.'s heart. He cooks what dinner I've prepped, and he's done a fantastic job. I haven't lost any favorite kitchen items, and dinners have been yummy. Gotta love guy who helps with the cooking!

We get home from soccer and then eat dinner. I feel so strongly that we eat dinner as a family. So strongly in fact that I can't really think of a time when we've eaten meals separately. It gives us time to talk as a family.

After dinner it is shower time for everyone. With an almost teenager, this is taking longer and longer. While S. does her face cleaning routine, I pack lunches. And this is when I begin to feel like the entire day is an intricately choreographed dance. A dance where, if anyone forgets their part, that things will crumble and I will find myself a sobbing heap on the kitchen floor. But it has been working out ok.

After showers it is time for S. to read. C. and I take turns reading with her each night. C. and S. are reading, "The City of Bones" and S. and I are reading, "To Kill a Mockingbird." I don't know how we're going to deal with college. It might find us Skyping our child to do the nightly reading rotation. We all enjoy this time of our day so much.

It seems like fall goes on and on forever. The alarm always sounds too early. The skies are getting darker each morning. But, I know, it will go quickly, even if it only seems that way in hindsight.