Where did the summer go?

Well, tomorrow Katie starts school!!!! AHHH!! My big 3RD GRADER! I think the last time I really cried was when Katie started Kindergarten and I was pregnant with Alyssa. I think it was mostly the hormones though. : ) I wasn't sure what I was going to do all by myself at home but soon found out it was kind of nice to have a little bit of time to myself, to do some laundry and clean and not have the house all torn up when I finished. Then Alyssa came along two months later and life was crazy again! Now there have been times, I ADMIT, that I just couldn't WAIT for school to start. (I'm sure my kids would agree that I probably haven't been the most patient mother lately. Especially trying to get our house going, which by the way should be finalized this week!! YAY!!) It seemed like we always had 3 months of summer vacation but it now is only 2 months and that is just not enough time for us with so much going on. It seemed this year that we never had a spring...we just went from freezing cold winter to blazing hot summer. It even snowed in June!!! I'm not complaining of the heat because the minute you do, it seems that winter comes sooner and stays longer. So "I LOVE THE HEAT, I LOVE THE HEAT!! Yep, even if I am 30 weeks pregnant! : } Katie is so excited for school. We had gone school shopping a few weeks ago and when she found out she had Aunt Mary as her teacher, she wanted school to start the very next day. She definitely has been counting down. Alyssa thinks it's pretty cool that Aunt Mary is her teacher. She says, "I just can't believe it!" I just hope that I can pry her away from the classroom in the morning after I drop Katie off. Who knows, Mary may have to add Alyssa to her class list too! : )

Yesterday, Katie had her friend Haley over and they decided at the last minute to set up a lemonade stand. Just as they got things set up, Haley had to go home so Alyssa was Katie's helper. Our street isn't such a great street to do business on. It isn't busy at all and we hardly get any traffic. (Which I am not complaining about, but for the Lemonade business, it makes for a slow day!) Haley and Katie made signs and then would walk up and down the street yelling, "Lemonade for sale!" Grandma and Grandpa Hopkins, Brandon and Grandma and Grandpa Gambles stopped by along with some of the neighbors. They did pretty good. I don't think anyone just paid the 5 cents they were asking. They were getting tipped pretty good! Then when they would leave, Alyssa would say, "Thank you for coming to our lemonade stand!" It was cute! They sure had fun. Maybe we'll have to set one up on Grandma's street next time.

Yep, if you noticed, Katie convinced me into letting her cut her hair! It turned out really cute. It's an "A" line so the back is really pretty short. Everyone thinks it is so cute on her. I was going to do before and after pictures but forgot. I will get better pictures tomorrow when she starts school. : .. (