Week 35: Trying to catch up

I've started to believe the last couple of years that seven to eight hours of sleep a night just isn't cutting it. I (and maybe Frank, as well) must be one of those people who needs a good 10 to feel really rested. But the thought of going to bed when the kids do, and never watching TV again, is just not realistic (or fun). I thought that exercising regularly would give me a leg up, energy-wise, but lately it seems to make no difference. So we are busy trying to catch up, on sleep, on cleaning house, on adding events and projects to the calendar for this fall. Life has just been really full.

Frank was in Las Vegas again last week. It was another conference, maybe not as fun overall as his last trip but with some exciting moments. For the rest of us it was a pretty typical week.

New school year, new routines. The boys bring their backpacks in, take their lunch/snack containers to the kitchen, and take out their folders to do homework or show me stuff.

Monday evening we went to the park to watch a friend play soccer and play with his siblings on the playground. It is still way too hot here.

It is always exciting here when the next book in the Captain Underpants series arrives.

Zach is learning to use a pocket knife at cub scouts. He whittled that bar of soap into a bear (it's pretty close).

I am in the middle of sorting 30+ years of printed photos and negatives (this is only a small portion of those!) It's been a bit of detective work, for sure, but I'm so thankful to have all of them.

The fun part of the conference: in addition to a concert, attendees were driven around the track at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway (only 90 mph).

And Frank won a GoPro :) We have no idea when/what we will use it for but it's still exciting!

Catching up on shopping over the weekend.

And a Labor Day family outing to Starbucks. Much calmer than when we tried this a year ago.