YES more teachers, YES more books!

Good riddance hot summer!! I apologize to anyone who loves summer, but it's not my cup of cocoa. There are good qualities to summer, don't get me wrong. I enjoy family hikes, sleeping in, vacations, summer nights, and spontaneous trips. But by the end of the 3 months of all that luxury, it's time for routine and structure. I had a friend discuss the benefits of year round school that her kids do. They have 2 six week vacations in the year, with longer holidays. I thought that might just about be the perfect amount for my kids. Six weeks together is more manageable. At the start of summer we're all excited to be home and have a break from school life, but the novelty wears off. Fast. I'm accepting responsibility by saying I could do more on my part to entertain the kids and keep a more peaceful home. But having three boys quickly in succession inherently leads to competition and (often) contention. Anyway moving on.... School started on August 21 this year. A tad earlier than usual, it seemed. We got our school shopping done in the nick of time. Andrew is starting 4th grade this year with Ms. Grant and Nathan is starting 2nd with Miss Westover. And David couldn't bear to be left out of the pictures. He starts preschool in a couple weeks.

Yes Nathan is 2 years younger than Andrew but is noticeably taller than his big brother. It doesn't sit well with Andrew.

After the kids left, Elizabeth and I got down to some serious girl time. She sucked on my toes while I took a million pictures of her trying to walk. Later, Greg and I took the kids to the Cougar Kickoff on the soccer field. Just one big pep rally to get everyone fired up for upcoming sports. LONG, LONG lines to stand in if you wanted to meet the coach and players. We arrived a little late, just as Bronco was being driven past us out the gates in a golf cart. Hi, Coach. I was eager to get home and get kids to bed until I saw the Eric Dowdle booth. You might know that I am a huge Dowdle fan and own WAY too many puzzles of his artwork. I like puzzles and his are so fun to put together. He's a talented artist and it's like a huge where's Waldo picture. He adds fun, hidden things in his paintings and it's fun to look for them while doing a puzzle. Anyway, he just finished his newest one of BYU stadium so I guess that's why he was invited to the Cougar Kickoff. He signed my puzzle for me and we shot the breeze like old chums. His brother happens to be my parent's bishop up in Idaho. When I confessed my obsession with his work, he gave me his personal email address and told me to send him a picture of my family in funny poses that he'll include in his current painting of the city of Baltimore. He's almost done with it, but needs more random people to fill it in with. After all that, they raffled off a very large framed print of the stadium signed by himself and LaVell Edwards. My ticket number was off by ONE STINKING NUMBER. Oh well. Not sure where I would have hung a huge Dowdle portrait of the LaVell Edwards Stadium in my house.