The school year is rapidly coming to an end. I think I'm more excited than the kids. Helping five kids with homework every night is wearing on me. I'm tired of following rules. Even though I expect it from my children, I'm not good at it. I tend to blow off things that aren't important to me. Every summer I invest a great deal of time in educating my kids. We aren't doing that this year. The kids will be expected to read, and we will do some math, but mostly we are going to swim and hang out and be lazy!! I can't wait.

The kids are growing like crazy. In the fall, Angie will go to jr high, and Emi to Kindergarten. I may actually get my laundry done for the first time in 11 years. Well, not likely, since I'm taking classes.

I will post end of the year stuff next month.

Happy 2013

If I would have managed to get Christmas cards out this year, this would have been the picture I used. Photographing Five kids can be challenging and the kids were totally uncooperative that day. Brian didn't feel that it was good enough quality, and we just never got around to taking another one. I have great intentions. Maybe in 2013 I will work on my follow through. Hey maybe this year I will remember that Christmas is on the same day every single year. Haha.

School is back in full swing. It's hard to believe that the school year is half over. We say it all the time, but time sure does fly. I have always read to my kids at night, and last semester we just didn't seem to get around to it. We got back into it over the Christmas break, probably because we didn't have any activities to go to, but I am trying to keep it up. I can read Aiden and Emi the same books, but they are in separate rooms. So far Aiden has been content to come in Emi's room for a story, but its only a matter of time before I hear that it's not fair. Their current favorite is a book called Press Here. It is an adorably fun book for their ages. 

Zac has been reading age appropriate graphic novels. I know, some would argue that this is not real literature and a waste of time, but he's enjoying reading and that is all  I really care about. The Lunch Lady series was actually very cute. Tony and I have been trying to get through The Mysterious Benedict Society. It's been a slow process. This book is actually on the Duke Tip Reading Club, and Tony seems to be enjoying it. I'm not saying that it's not good, just that it wasn't the best choice for Reading aloud. Somehow, I got conned into reading Angie The Host. Ok, I was reading it because I really want to see the movie, and I think that there should be more girl sic-fi. So far so good, but this puppy is 1000 pages long, and I find myself wanting read ahead after I send her to bed. Generally I like read aloud books to be a bit shorter. Ok A LOT shorter.