Mom's are so important...they don't get to call in sick!

With the start of school, change in routine, and this annoying hacking cough and acheness, I have definitely neglected my blogging duties. I wish I could say that we have escaped the dreaded change of going back to school. Yep, we have had a pretty steady plague of attitude, crabbiness, less-than-patient kids and parents. And to top it off, everyone has already had a round of the "crud" that is going around. Elle loves school. Carter is glad to be back at daycare. Christian is just along for the ride! He goes with the flow, that is unless I am trying to grocery shop or put him in the car seat. He is revisiting his less than forgettable stage of screaming EVERY.TIME. I put him in the car seat. For only 18 months, that little bugger is remarkably strong! I honestly have to sit on him to get him buckled. LOVELY!
I have been feeling under the weather for about 2 1/2-3 weeks, but have been managing to be distracted enough by the pace of life to forget about it as much as possible. Friday I came right home from work, took a 45 minute nap then went to pick up the kids. I have been in bed at 8:30 the last two nights. Thankfully, I am feeling better today although my cough sounds just as terrible. All the responsibilities of motherhood should somehow exempt us from cold and flu season, right???

Ella is loving school. I am so glad. It is really very funny on the days she is there, the boys miss her so much. It has changed the dynamics of our family on Monday's and Wednesdays. I am constantly shocked at how instrumental she is to both the boys on a day to day basis. She is such a helper, in ways I had failed to notice. Carter consults her for so many things: my favorite lately is "Ella, do you think my "rock-star" flip flops go best with this outfit?" She can be so far off on her own fashion these days, but with Carter, she usually gets it right! I thought with the long days at school she would be snippy and tired upon our pick up from school. She usually only takes 3-5 minutes to snuggle Gus but then gets right to work playing with the boys. My heart is warmed. She has tended to be a little more touchy on her days off. Later this fall, I plan to sign her up for swimming lessons on these days, to break up the down time.

This week, Scott and Ella went to school for a Daddy/daughter pizza dinner. The school is trying to get the dad's to commit to coming to school for one day to help out. I think it is brilliant. A few of our friends from small group also attended the dinner. Scott chose a day in November. I am eager to see how it goes. My husband, the engineer, working with kindergartners all day. I love it! Maybe he will even have a deeper appreciation for my daily adventures. I will keep you posted.

Today they had a very cool event downtown Grand Rapids. The ArtPrize festival is going on so we loaded the kids up, took them down and watched the release of 100's of thousands of paper airplanes from the rooftops of downtown buildings. The kids loved it. The weather was perfect and then we walked around checking out some of the various art that is put on display. I will post pictures shortly.