Well Hello...

Hi there! Did you think I had given it all up? No, I just need space to create for this place and my life has been so full of content and contentment that I just haven't had the chance to carve out some time for the old [yeah it's old now] blog. Am I making any sense here? Sometimes it's hard to tell.

A lot of the time the photos I take inspire a certain story and I have been short on them because like I mentioned a while back, my camera gave up on me back in June. Ok, I was using Emily's camera for a month or so...until that one broke too! I am surely not lucky with digital cameras. So I think I will send my camera off to the Canon people to fix, [thanks to my sister Alicia for the advice] for a small fortune and certainly enough to buy another inexpensive one, but this once my intuition is telling me to bite the bullet and send it on in.

Anyway, we made it back from Disneyland and survived Southern California happy and safe. Our trip was a pretty great success all around. We spent exactly five days in Disneyland. We ended our week with my sister Alicia and her awesome family. My kids had so much fun with their cousins Jake and Hannah, I wish we lived closer together.

Our trip was during the last week of July and we made it home on August 1st.

August 1st we pulled in our driveway late in the afternoon after being gone over a week. Late that night my visitors arrived! My Dad and my Uncle from Tennessee showed up around 9pm and stayed for a week! Emily and Wyatt gave up their rooms for them and although we didn't venture out really until the last day they were here, they seemed pretty content to just hang out with us. We did lots of swimming, chatting, eating, lounging and relaxing. My Dad was just pure awesome with my kids, he swam with them for hours every afternoon, he took Emily on 12-16 mile bike rides almost every day he was here, he told us all his stories [new ones and old favorites]. All my kiddos formed quite an attachment to him by the end of the week. My Dad is rough and tough around the edges but all smushy and sweet on the inside, altogether a highly unique and amazing man. Uncle Eddie was a terrific bonus! We had so many good conversations. How many of my cousins have spent an entire week with him? I'm guessing none, what a great 2 for 1 deal for me! Their visit was such a treat and such a fun and memorable way to end our summer break.

I did manage to take a few hundred vacation pictures and a few of my Dad and my Uncle's visit before Emily's camera quit on us. I haven't managed to sort out my favorites yet, but you can bet that I will...soon.

Big big crazy big news! I am the mother of four kids that go to school all day! Can you believe it? I have a 7th grader, a 4th grader, a 2nd grader and a kindergartner too! People keep asking me what am I going to do with myself. I keep saying I don't know yet! Actually, I do know, but it's more fun to play along.

Our first week was so busy that I didn't get to feel the full impact of having all my kids in school, I know that will come. I didn't get emotional when Eva started school this week, but by Wednesday I was consciously reassuring myself that I hadn't squandered her baby years by not doing enough, or not being a much better mother. Either way I guess there's no going back.

This cute video will convey, partly, how I feel this week. Watch it! It's very short and it reminds me how the simplest things are the most fun. Very cool. So who's going dancing with me? So hey, I'll work on my photos and see you back here soon. Have peace and love it all up.