Back to Reality

I think summer is officially over. Steven's mom, Gloria, heads back to school for meetings today - so there is no longer the grandma factor - she loves having a few of the kids with her on her days off - when she can - we usually swap them in and out so that they all have a chance to be with grandma. So no more vacations from home for the boys...and everyone was in their own bed last night...(and yes, that's the best picture I could get of Huston, he just wasn't cooperating.) I was ready for them to be home, I missed the crew being together.

The end of the "vacations" means the beginning of routine again. We have been out of it for about a month now - on and off - and I am ready to get back into a bit of predictability. We will have to transition into it a bit though - both Huston and Avery are slightly under the weather. Avery was in bed for his nap by 10:00 which is quite unusual. I think they are fighting a cold - or it just might be allergies, who knows for sure?

Isaiah was with grandma the longest so he kind of has to get used to having siblings again. He reacquainted himself with his sister this morning. Lillie has be hopping around in her jumper this morning and she enjoys it quite a bit...she enjoys it even more if someone gets down there with her and swings the thing around!

Here she is jumping out of the camera's frame....

The final thing we will have to get back on track are the boys' rooms. We started off this mini vacation with me going out of town and the boys staying with a babysitter, and it seems all the house rules that involve the toys went right out the door with mom...here is what I came home too...

And while these pictures do may not show "terrible" messes - the room has now reached that point. Looks like a small army invaded and blew up a castle scattering little tiny pieces of toy rubble everywhere...still have not motivated myself into getting up there with the children to sort through the debris yet - but it will have to be done soon - tiny pieces are being lost forever the longer I wait...why must toy companies create such small toys with even smaller pieces that can be removed and lost the moment your child plays with it? I know, job security...but I'm not falling for it - I'm ready to just throw them all away and give the boys a stick to play with.

So we will see how well the routines return, probably will depend on how much of my sanity gets lost with the castle pieces...