Welcome to my life..my family..my world..unedited.

The neighbors had a end of summer party yesterday, complete with big bouncer thing, a pool, a pinata, and lots of food and drinks.  We ended the night with ice cream sandwiches and sparklers!  It was a nice day – hot! – but nice.  Some of the adults, including me, even got in the bouncer and had fun jumping around.  It was a good time.  The boys finally fell asleep around 10:30; I made until about 11.  Not sure what time Mike passed out fell asleep, but he awoke around 3am on the chair, tv and lights still on and everything still wide open.
By far, my favorite picture of the day is this one.  Matt & Madison being complete dorks with their swim goggles on:

Tomorrow we celebrate Preston’s birthday with a big breakfast, a trip to Ridemakerz and his favorite dinner.  And Wednesday? Matt has his first day of school.  Yep. Summer is over.

The doctor that works for me has been out for the past week due to a “family emergency”.  My dad has been kind enough to fill in for a couple of those days, the remainder of our patients were rescheduled – most of whom were fine with it.
He called last night and said he’s not sure if he will back on Tuesday.  It was suggested to him that he take another week (or 2!!) off.
That can’t happen.  Seriously. Cannot. Happen.
There’s a fine line between understanding what is going on and saying “take all the time you need” and actually meaning it.
These are the times when I don’t like being the owner.  These are the days that I wish I worked for someone else and didn’t have to worry about losing patients and freaking out my staff and panicking about cash flow.
He’s going to call me Sunday night and we’ll go from there.  In the meantime, I think I have my dad on standby for Tuesday at least (thank God – or whoever deemed Monday a holiday) that it’s Labor Day on Monday.
The neighbors are having a end of summer party today, so I’m going to do my best to shove …

Ok, seriously, I am too lazy to write a long post about the boys’ birthday party, so here it is in (very few) pictures with commentary:
This is one of my new favorite pictures – on the left is Ryan – my brave, strong, awesome cousin who, within the space of a few weeks, was diagnosed and operated on to remove a brain tumor after a freak seizure. His recovery has not been easy – on him or our family (especially his parents), but on Saturday it was almost like we had our old Ryan back. He’s smiling easier, he laughs again, and his sense of sarcasm and the absurd is firmly in place.  It was nice to be able to catch his eye and see him grin again. He’s back to work as a firefighter, and while he’s not the big, muscular guy he was once, I have no doubt he’ll get there again. Next to him is Delaney (you may know her from here) who absolutely adores her Uncle Ryan (pretty sure the feeling is mutual), and her daddy, Todd.  I am so proud of both of them – they’ve become amazing men.

This is one …

Finally, an end to a very long week of party prep, cleaning and organizing.  (Coincidentally, the closing ceremonies for the Olympics is on right now).
Let’s see, in order of things last week forward:

Matt’s first soccer practice was successful
My carpets were all cleaned, and actually stayed clean for 2 full days!
Matt’s birthday and first trip to Chuck E. Cheese was good.
Major issue with the dr. that works for me – big, hopefully quickly fixable, but problem nonetheless.
3 yards of mulch, moved!
Read first two Twilight series books – now must run out and get 3rd and 4th.
Birthday party quite successful

Now, very tired, very much behind in blogging, blog reading, twittering and twitter reading. 
So I’m going to bed.
Tomorrow, I’ll start re-joining the real world (well, real and virtual).
G’Nite!

Matt is currently, seriously, right this moment reading, reading! Hop On Pop.
Reading.  He’ll be five on Thursday.  Two weeks after that he starts kindergarten.
(honestly, if we weren’t sucky lazy busy parents, he probably would have started reading a few months ago…)
We went school clothes shopping last week. School clothes.
We met his soccer coach on Saturday and bought him soccer cleats on Sunday.  He’s on a soccer team.
In as many ways as he is still little, he is getting ridiculously big.  These days are filled with moments of him being our baby followed immediately by him getting himself dressed or playing a video game. This is such an amazing time for all of us – watching him struggle for his independence and still need us nearby; hearing his speak so well and still make up silly sounds and words. Dealing with his fierce need to do things for himself and still being close by when he changes his mind.  It is an exhausting and amazing age, this turning five.  I can only imagine how much he will grow and change as the school year progresses; I can only hope we all handle it smoothly and happily, without too many bumps in …