Back to school resolutions

You all know that I love Gretchen Rubin (because I have mentioned it eleventy billion times).  In her book Happier at Home, she talks about September as the other January, and this certainly rings true for me.  So!  I am using the new school year to resolve to form some better work (and life!) habits.

Here's what I want to do with the rest of 2019:

• September Whole30 (starting on the 3rd because I am weak and love Labor Day food celebrations and also pizza and vodka lemonades at the pool)
• Yoga everyday in September (this one I will actually start on 9/1)
• Use my planner again!  Bonus: I can buy a new one when I run out of pages!
• Write 3 days a week for the whole damn semester.
• Drink more water (this is something I neglect every time my eating habit turn to shit again)
• Have Spring 2020 prepped before Halloween
• Spend the first 10 minutes of my morning meditating instead of staring at my IG feed.
• Blog more often but also say more interesting things (THIS IS A TOUGH ONE)

But seriously.  This has been a great summer, but at the same time, I AM READY FOR IT TO BE OVER.  Today was my last SAHM summer day, and I am so glad we all made it.  I just got a notification from the app I use to track my family that Ben has left his office, and I assume that means he's coming home, and I cried happy tears.  I mean not really, but almost.  I spent all morning doing id things and then was ready to settle down and plow through some work (classes start next week, but the contract year started the 22nd, and there are so many emails), and I haven't been able to, which is just so frustrating.  It\s the kind of frustrating that has been happening since June, but I am just especially over it in August.  I thought this last week would be easy peasy because I would be able to appreciate that  the kids are going back to school and all of this will just be a filtered summer memory BUT OH MY GOD I AM SO OVER IT!

So over it I am not even going to caption these pictures.

Nevertheless, summer persisted

I have been working.  And working some more.

But!  The work!  Is done! And we still have MOAR SUMMER.

Our friends had their awesome and ridiculous slip n slide party that everyone loves:

 We have been spending quality time at the pool

 I have been using my free work time to tape things to my office wall

 We have me all of the teachers

 There have been some happy hours.

 I did not have time to cook.

 We spent an entire Saturday shoe shopping, with a quick screen break

 My aunt stopped by for a visit!!

 We made smores in the back yard

 Beatrix has slept aggressively.

 THERE WERE BANANA MUFFINS!

 And a trip to the library because, of course

 OMG!! A rainbow!

Why can't it be summer forever?

I have to work today. 

It's amazing, though, how not stressed I am about it.  I remember when I started this job TEN YEARS AGO, Welcome Week was THE major stressor in my life.  I think I am in that sweet spot where the kids are big enough to make most things easier.  But it's not THAT sweet.  There's still childcare, etc.

Also, everyone has been fighting like WILD DOGS since we got home from Hilton Head, so it will be a nice reprieve for a few days.  Also also, the academic calendar has changed, and I am meeting two days this week and 2 days next week instead of the whole week in a row, giving me three days before Labor Day weekend to make sure all the kids' stuff is ready.  Then we all start classes the week of 9/3.  TOTALLY DOABLE.

The pool closes on 9/2, and any time between now and then that I am not doing precisely this is a WASTE OF TIME.

 Cooper, Dorothy, Jack, and I went to the Children's Museum, and we RAN INTO COOPER'S SECOND GRADE TEACHER just hours after the class list emails went out.  OMG!  He was thrilled, obvs.

 The museum was a zoo, but these 3 had fun anyway.

I should turn Dorothy's bedroom windows into this exhibit.

OMG I loved his clay face

adorable!

So happy!

Cooper for sure needs one of these

Tiny Frank Lloyd Wright

She was very serious about her dirty cloth pies

Garden!  On the roof!

Always with that pose.

I bought a pack of those wubble balloon things, and they kids were entertained for like 45 minutes.   And then they all popped.

  Bliss.

 Harry and Jack got to go to school and get their lockers and schedules.,  Remember how hard those stupid Master locks are to master for the first time?  The hall was full of 6th graders having quiet freak outs while their parents lingered.  But!  He figured it out and deposited all of his things in his locker.

 Bros!

 With their helpers.

 After school, we headed straight to Costco to buy snacks for the little kids' classrooms.

 And then the kids asked if they could go to the zoo, and I was like um, why the heck not?  because we haven't been there in MONTHS. 

In zoo news, Harry is almost a gibbon.

For the first time ever, Dorothy is brave enough to ride an animal, not just the zoo bench.  But she still won't go on an up and down animal.  Baby steps.

How can summer be almost gone? I feel like we are just getting started.