A new school year.

Well it's been a while since my last entry. Kelly returned home from Europe and had an awesome time, except she did have some bouts of homesickness, but she's thrilled that she got the opportunity to do this. Once she got back home we had about 3 1/2 weeks before school started back and we spent that on family vacations to the beach, to Washington DC to visit my mom, and just getting prepared for back-to-school. The girls have been in school for 3 weeks now and it's been an adjustment for everyone.

Kelly is in 7th grade and started attending middle school. Can I just say, you could NOT pay me all the money in the world to go back to being a pre/early teenager. This is an extremely tough age. They aren't considered teenagers yet or teenagers with privileges like driving, dating, etc. And they aren't little kids anymore. Puberty is hitting hard and there are changes that occur every single day. I am lucky that Kelly is still a bit immature for her age, at least relatively speaking. Most of her friends have older siblings and seem to be way more advanced than Kelly when it comes to maturity, etc., but I'm not complaining, at least not all the time. She's slowly getting into boys, she has a couple of "boy"friends that are calling, but in comparison to some of my friends with kids her age, she's not into the kissing, dating, etc....YET. I know it's coming and will probably happen overnight. I'm not sure I'm prepared.

Madison, well she's in 4th grade and has also started a new school this year. An upper elementary school. She's doing okay for now, but she's always been the child where most subjects have come very easy to her, and now she's having to put a little more effort into it. She's also having to deal with being more responsible for her work. Madison is a super smart child, but she's lazy, plus she's going through some tough times right now. Suffering that middle child syndrome majorly right now. I'm not really sure how to handle this, b/c she's never been the child to get into trouble and lately I feel like I've been on her case more than I ever have been.

Hannah started pre-K this year. Which I have to admit to being extremely hard for me. She's my baby. She's the last baby I will have since I had my tubes tied after she was born. Now don't get me wrong, I don't regret that decision, and I'm clearly past the "wanting a baby phase" of my life, but it doesn't make it any easier when they grow up. She only attends M-Th from 9am-12pm, and it's great for her in terms of teaching her to sit still for lessons, etc. But the teachers have informed me that she's very smart. She knew her ABC's, 123's, colors, shapes, etc at the age of 2, so she has been a tad bit vocal about how "boring it is", but it's what she'll have to go through in Kindergarten, so I just want her to get a head start with the basic skills they will teach her. She wakes up every morning saying she wants to stay home with me because she misses me, but by the time we get to school she's thrilled to be there.

I will admit to having a little bout of depression adjusting to coming home for 3 hours a day to an empty house. Granted, I get a ton done, but still, it's too quiet. I don't know what I'll do next year when all 3 are in school for the entire day. I guess I'll have to do some more volunteering or something. I'll go nuts if I stay in an empty house all day long. There are only so many times you can mop/sweep/dust/etc.

Well, that's my latest update. As you can see, the kids are mostly at the center of what's going on in my life at the moment. I was speaking with a friend today who has a 2yo son and she said that he was in the "terrible 2's" and heard that the 3's are worse. I told her that in my opinion, the 3's are very hard because at 2, the kids are still learning, they don't always know better. But at 3, they know better, but they are just testing boundaries, etc. But in my experience, it seems the "horrible 3's" occur every 3 years. So at age 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, or there about, there is always a tough year to go through. Unfortunately my older two are 3 years apart so that means they are normally going through it at the same time or else I manage to just barely get one out of it and then the other starts. It's never ending! So is there anyone with advice on the upcoming teenager years with daughters? What worked in ways of discipline? How old to let them start wearing makeup? Dating? I never had those set rules growing up, except I couldn't wear makeup until I was 16, and as an adult who wears makeup, I think that's a little harsh as long as the kids don't leave the house looking like they are heading to work a street corner. As for dating? Well I didn't do too much of that, at least in terms of one on one dating. My boyfriends and I just "hung out" with our group of friends. I was at least 16/17 before I went on a one on one date, so that didn't seem like an unusual age for my parents to consent to agreeing with. But times have changed and I'm just curious to know what others have experienced. What worked, what didn't?

Until next time.

Kelly is somewhere over the Atlantic!

So it was a very emotional day, seeing my 12yo daughter off on her first trip without a family member, to Europe no less. She was very nervous as were her parents, but we tried to hide that to the best of our abilities. Her younger sisters, however, have been a nervous wreck since last night. Her 9yo sister has been literally sobbing uncontrollably and I'm not really sure what to do about it. I thought I'd miss Kelly for the fact that it would be more quieter without her here, but with her sister making up for that by sobbing is trying my last nerve! LOL It's going to be a long 20 days at this rate!

summer plans

Sending Kelly off to Europe for 3 weeks in 5 days and the overwhelming amount of stuff I still have to do is not motivating me yet. Why do I keep procrastinating? I do manage to do one or two things a day, but for some reason I feel like I can wait until the day she leaves before I need to pack. Maybe it's because I'm not going with her and I'm internally jealous, who knows! LOL

Anyway, she leaves on Tuesday for Italy and then travels to Austria, Germany, Switzerland and finally France. She is getting excited and a lot nervous, but I'm sure she'll have a great time.

Madison says she can't wait to have Kelly gone, but I think that will last about 1 hour and then I'll hear "I'm bored" without her playmate. She is trying to plan a trip for just the two of us to go on, but with other summer vacations already planned it may have to wait until the fall. She keeps saying she wants to go to New York City and I have no desire to visit NYC in the heat of the summer. I love New York, or more importantly my friend in NYC, and I know Madison would love seeing the big apple, but she'll appreciate it later that we are not going in the middle of July.

Hannah, of course, is just being Hannah. And for those of you who know Hannah or know of Hannah, know that she is a handful, a spitfire, a joy, and keeps me laughing all the time. She could care less that Kelly is leaving, although every once in a while she'll say she's going to miss her big sister, but not too often. She just wants to spend the summer in the pool.

As for Steven or me, well Steven is working like crazy which isn't abnormal, and I will start to prepare for my trip to Seattle in the middle of July and then come home to prepare for our annual week at the beach. The summers always start off feeling like they are going to drag on forever, especially with 3 kids at home, but all in all it will fly by.

Until next time.