Make Memories

The last big weekend before school starts. What is it all about though? Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

During all your weekend fun make sure to find ways to talk with them about the future. You can discuss what types of careers are out there and what they might want to do when they grow up. This is a great opportunity to have meaningful conversations with your kids. Younger kids can have fun finding things around the house that will help them pretend and try out some careers. They can pretend to be firemen, police officers, postal workers, doctors, bakers, and teachers. They can pretend to do anything.

I am sorry for not being my normal happy go lucky self. We have been facing many changes with James’ work. We have tried to put it out of our minds and pretend it is fine but it all is catching up with us. We are unable to ever give out too much information about his work or his future with his company. This means that I am also unable to get it all out and get rid of stress.

It is becoming more and more apparent that we may have to move again. We really wanted to stay here and it seemed like we would finally be able to stay in one place for a long time. We hoped forever. Those of you that have been around on our other blog for a long time know that we have moved a lot because of James’ work. We really thought that this would be the final move. It is starting to seem like we might have to move again.

The girls have had to leave behind many friends every time we move and it kills me each time. They are pretty upset right now so I have spent most of my time with them. They need me more than anyone else at the moment. I am trying to make sure that I drop by everyone’s blogs like normal but I am sorry if I have missed yours.

We were up pretty late last night. I have tried to get the girls to start going to bed at a normal time since school starts on Tuesday. Last night it really did not work. We watched the season finale of Shear Genius. Noelle and I have been anxiously waiting for it so we had to watch it. By the way, the blond girl should have won! I loved her. She was just so sweet and cute. Anyway, after that we were going to go to bed. Then we realized that Project Runway came on so we stayed up for that one too. Then as we were just about to head off to bed something happened. The station messed up and played a new episode of Tabitha’s Salon Takeover. The new episode was not supposed to air until Thursday night but here it was Wednesday at 11pm and it was on. So of course we had to watch it! We were up until midnight. Oops

It was  such a nice night for us. Yes it was just sitting around watching television but the little things make some of the most powerful memories. It was just my almost 13 year old and me together enjoying shows and talking. As it got later and she got tired she laid her head on my shoulder and told me that she loved me. She said that most of her friends hate their mothers but that I was her best friend. It was a wonderful moment. One that almost erases all the times that she gets hormonal and acts…well like a teenager.

Noelle was very happy to see a few of her friends at orientation. There were a few that she had not seen lately. She was excited when people kept complimenting her new hairstyle. There were a few people who did not even recognize her.

Today we have friends coming to stay with us. They will be coming in the afternoon and then  leaving in the morning tomorrow. They are moving away to Colorado so we will not be seeing them for a pretty long while. It should be a nice time of relaxing before they make the long drive. It could get a little crazy though.

We will have three extra adults, one 2 year old, and one bull dog to add to our already full house. I have watched their dog for them before but I have never had all of them and the dog. It should be a very memorable time. I am just hoping that the memories are of the fun times and not of craziness.

I suppose I should go wake the kids up and get some last minute cleaning accomplished.

We have been having to take breaks from our summer fun to get ready for school. So far we have spent $200 in school supplies! I realize that we have three kids but wow! We still have to buy a couple more supplies but we have almost everything. We have already had registration day at both schools. They are just days that the schools have set up to get all the paperwork filled out and all the fees paid before school starts. Today we have Orientation for Noelle. Junior High does not start until 7th grade here so she is starting this year.

What a memorable year this will be. My little girl is growing up. I have already started to see the changes. She got her first real hair style a couple of weeks ago. She also just got contacts so she no longer needs glasses at school. It has transformed her like a butterfly. Now she is opening up her colorful wings and wants to fly.

She looks so much older now and it has made her act older too. We shall see what happens when school starts. I am sure that all of the kids will be trying to act grown up now that they are in junior high. It does worry me a little that the town is so small that junior high shares a building with high school. That is quite a change. Going from being in an elementary school to being in a school with high schoolers. I do not want her to grow up too fast.

She is very excited about going to orientation and seeing all of her friends that she has not seen in awhile. She wants to show off her new look. Ever since I took her to get her new hairstyle and contacts I keep hearing, “I love you Mom, you are so cool”. I have to say it is pretty nice. She is happier than she has been in ages and feels very confident. That makes me worry less about the change in schools.

I can not believe how fast summer has gone flying by. There are so many things that I wanted to do with the family that there was not enough time for. I want to try to fit as much summer into these last few days as possible. Perhaps we should set the tent back up in the backyard. The girls love camping in the backyard. We definitely have enough wood to do a nice bonfire to go along with a camping theme. Maybe add in some smores. We still have a bunch of leftover peanut butter from all of the Christmas stuff last year. We could use it up by making some pinecone bird feeders. They are a perfect camping craft.

All you need is some pinecones, peanut butter, and bird seed. This gets messy with kids so making it outside is perfect. First you need the pinecones. My girls love going on nature walks and looking for pinecones can add to the excitement. Once you have pinecones the kids can spread peanut butter into the openings in the pinecones. Then the pinecones get rolled in the bird seeds. You want to really get a lot of birdseed stuck in the peanut butter. Now you have a bird feeder and the kids can watch all the birds that come to eat.