Summer's end

So, here we are, the last week of summer vacation.  Killian and Liam are headed to 5th and 2nd grade at Meadow Ridge, respectively.   Today, I baked some pumpkin muffins for them to take to school for snack.  Also on my list to make: chocolate syrup (you know, some without high fructose corn syrup and nasty chemicals), so they can take chocolate milk with them in their lunches.  I am hoping they will take lunches from home, but they're not too excited about that.  We begged our parents to let us take our lunch to school.  Killian and Liam are quite fond of the school lunches.  Why, you may ask?  Aren't school lunches notoriously gross?  This  

is the first month's menu.  Cheese pizza, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, corn dogs, walking tacos (that would be fritos with taco toppings poured on top), nachos, cheese breadsticks.  Yeah, that's why they want to eat school lunches.  

Seriously?  

I told Killian he could pick one day a week to eat school lunch.  He's not happy.  We still have to address this issue further....

I have convinced Molly that she needs to be homeschooled for pre-school.  It sounds downright silly, but I guess more kids are in preschool these days than are not.  I actually got a curriculum because I need a list telling me what to do.  If I could get a curriculum for my whole life, it might be good for me some days--just tell me step by step what to do. :0P 

What is it about 10 year old boys that they cannot play video games without yelling at the tops of their lungs...?

I ordered some new shoes last week for the kids.  We don't really do the new school clothes thing here.  I suppose that doesn't really become an issue until they're teens, particularly if they're boys (I hope).  But, both boys are ready for the next size in tennis shoes.  I may actually have to buy another pair for Killian for gym, but I think he has at least a few weeks if not a month or two in one pair.  We can sometimes pass shoes on to Liam, and we've had some really nice ones that have barely been worn by Killian, but his feet are much wider, so he often needs new ones.  Today, I also ordered long underwear for all of the kids and some good warm socks.  I wouldn't have ordered them right now, but I needed to get a new jacket for Killian, and they were a good deal.  I'm hoping we can keep the thermostat a little lower this winter.  It's not that we cannot afford heating, but why spend the money if you don't have to?  It's kind of like the whole A/C thing this summer.  It's supposed to be hot in the summer and cold in the winter.  You're not supposed to be able to wear shorts all year round. :)

In the meantime, I'm also delving into holiday planning.  Yes, I'm crazy.  These are my favorite sites for inspiration and that life-curriculum I mentioned ;)(sorry for the over-use of smileys):

Christmas: Simple and Beautiful | Magical Holiday Home

Organized Christmas

I spent some time looking at Christmas music on Amazon yesterday, and I found some cool CD's I think we need to add to our Christmas collection this year (we love the Christmas music).  One is a CD of antique music box music.  I also requested a couple of things from the library, so we can preview them and see if we actually want to purchase them.

I hope to start some fall decorating next week~Fall is my most favorite season.  I like the beginning of winter and the holidays, but I'm generally done with winter by mid-January.  Maybe new long johns will help.

Oh, and here's some lunch box inspiration.

Lunch in a Box: Building a Better Bento

Oh!  And I made corncob jelly.  Is that not hilarious?  We bought a bushel of the most awesome sweet corn we have ever tasted and put some of it up.  Since we had the cobs, and I had recently read something about such a thing, I decided to give it a try.  I am not sure that the corn cobs actually impart much flavor, or if the main taste is Sure-Jel and sugar, but it's actually pretty good.  It will work on a sandwich.  

OK, I think I've typed enough for a while!

Oh, but a garden update.  We still have tomatoes trickling in.  I don't know if we're ever going to have enough at once to actually make anything.  Four of the snap peas I planted and replanted have come up, as have the spinach, lettuce, carrots, and radishes, and some of the radishes look ready to pull.  I am thinking of making potato salad.  I love radishes in potato salad.  My broccoli starts still look pretty sad.  I haven't put them in the ground yet.  Same of the basil....