Well there is a light at the end of this scorching, sticky, crazy fun summer – band camp is already over and football is about to start! My oldest is in the marching band now and made it through his first band camp. Of all the blasted weeks, Mother Nature gave those kids 100-degree heat indexes almost every single day of band camp. Despite the heat he really loved it. He kept catching himself accidentally marching through the house all week. Watch for some Scooby Doo music at our half time shows!

   It doesn’t seem possible it was a year ago I was writing about my little Junior Spartan starting his football season. It’s almost here again and I am purposely pushing my shopping cart past the back to school aisles because I will get too excited. In only six weeks I will have all five of my kids in school. That makes a kindergartener, third grader, fourth grader, seventh grader, and a freshman in high school! This is terrifying and exciting both at the same time. Once again I am sad that they are growing.  No I would never get choked up at the Subaru commercial-where the little girl is sitting in the drivers seat and the dad is giving her pointers and then he’s just standing there waving to her!

   We have had some great fun this summer. I finally took my first trip to Hawk Island in Lansing. The younger kids thought it was heaven on earth. I did too for $3 a vehicle! The feeling of safety I had with the kids in the water made it so relaxing. Rumor has it there will be a snow tubing hill in the winter with a lift and everything. The kids seemed to have just as much fun when we stopped at a car wash on the way. They laughed so hard and screamed and yelled “noodles” as the van moved through. By the time we got to the drying part Joe and I were laughing because they were laughing so hard. We must have looked pretty awesome as the Fuller Express inched out of the building and we were all cracking up.

   At times like this – the middle of summer- my house starts looking a little like a war zone. A little like a Cops episode when a home gets busted into. Ok not that bad but I have had to dry off after the shower with some kitchen towels a time or two lately. This place has gotten pretty messy and I am too worn out to even get the kids to pitch in. I remembered a website I stumbled upon years ago. Flylady.net is the name of the site that helps you with problems like these. It’s kind of cheesy but motivating and easy to do. I do have to admit I would rather read the testimonies and think –oh that’s touching. How nice- then continue on with my messiness. Even though I am a hot mess I usually find what I am looking for or I figure something out. Just a few days ago I had to sign my checks with a black eyeliner pen. Whateves. One lady wrote a testimony about how when she wakes up her house gives her a big hug. My house sticks its tongue out at me and does a mocking dance. At least most mornings it does.

   I’ll leave you with this vision – the boys took Monopoly money and a bunch of toys and set up shops and houses and played American Pickers and Pawn Stars.