Sorry I missed recent posts and this week won't be too terribly much better. We (the McD Household) are in the final stretch of back-to-school preparations (school starts in THREE DAYS!!!). I am oh, so very happy/excited, and crazy busy. My 16yo got his driver's license last week (we had a major drive everywhere push since my car was out of commission for most of the summer). He passed with a decent score. That is a good thing and bad thing. I am happy he passed and it's a major milestone in his life. At the same time, it freaks me out every time he goes *out*. His older brother doesn't have the same proclivity to drive all over God's creation so this is an altogether new experience. (Don't get me started on the argument of him not getting to go out in a downpour—tough patooty kid!)

Despite missing my post(s), I will say, I am a creature of habit and routine (in a major way!) Over the summer, I try to relax and don't run the kids ragged with my time schedule. It relaxes them and keeps arguments down. BUT as school winds closer I have to get them (and myself) back into the routine that keeps us moving through the days. This will sound crazy... but... I have a three week step-down that gets us back into the normal swing. My kids all have bed times... even the 16 & 17 yo. Since they are used the whatever during the summer, 3 weeks out from school starting, I make it 1 hour before the usual bedtime. Two weeks=1/2 hour. And the week before is the regular schedule, so when next week rolls around they won't balk. They may hate it but it works for me, though I must admit, I am way more lax with the 2 high schoolers—I figure they need to know they have *rules* but they have to learn to regulate themselves—it's a teaching moment they're not even aware of

It seems like most of the summer we weren't that busy and EVERYthing has fallen to this week and last to get taken care of—some *is* my fault and some is schedules I can't control, like the school(s) and whatnot. On an irrelevant and totally up-note, it has been raining off and on for about a week now so the temps have been in the low nineties (sometimes high eighties), a vast improvement from the 107° that we had a couple of times towards the end of July/early August. So (knockwood) it seems to have improved moods in my house as well as out-and-about.

Anyhoo... it's a welcomed, back to the family routine and (yay) school in three days and counting (every danged second).