Hello teaching retirement, Goodbye summers off

Okay, its not a real retirement since there will be no retirement pay, but it is the end of teaching none the less.
School teachers are awesome but so underpaid!
Experience taught us just how underpaid.
D. was hired as a designer for a great company that is close and actually pays the bills.
All of them.

Having him around this summer was really wonderful, such special memories.
We will all miss him in the daytime come summer next year!

So happy to experience seasons!

Especially autumn time. Fall is my favorite. Spring and summer are a tie for 2nd place. And winter is only good because of Christmas.

Another one bites the dust

Z. and her dad making a hamster size coffin.

DarthMaul had less luck in Z.'s room than Zipper did.
Sadly he died in the middle of the night one night.
We are hoping it was the type of cage that was killing them and not something toxic or dangerous downstairs.

"Michael Jackson", due to the white gloves.

"Dub, or Double Stuff", due to his obesity. Not even sure this IS a dwarf hamster, he is such a fatty!

Harley was on High Alert for a few days while the hamsters were upstairs. The new cage is big enough there was some room rearranging for Z. to do before they had a new spot to live.

Maul was replaced by some seriously cute and cuddly dwarf hamsters that came with the new cage.
So far so good, except for the part where she has 2 hamsters, when from the start we told her "No way! Not 2! One is enough".
I cant help it if they came with the cage. Should I have let one out in the yard to fend for itself?

16 years and counting!!!!

Happy Anniversary Faces. 

Some kids sleep with a blankie.....

........ some with a teddy bear.
Not N.

He sleeps with his controllers apparently.

What is so exhausting about Pre-School?

 I think it is the transition from flip-flops and bare feet to 3 hours a day wearing socks and sweaty shoes.

I find it interesting that she will wear a headband all day long but an elastic of any kind lasts about 15 minutes if I'm lucky. Hooray for headbands. Any ideas on how to store the awkward things though?

Wiped out completely. Ahhh, School.

S. and her cute smile for starting school should be causing some kind of sadness in me but its not. I like that all the kids are in school for at least half of the day, most days of the week. They act so much better with the structure and the social life. I am sad to see summer come to an end, mostly the sleeping-in part, but the routine of school days makes me happy.
 Also having S. attend the same school as the older kids works out really well. Its close and familiar and will be less of a change for her next year for Kindergarten. And to top it off we qualified for reduced payments so its not going to bankrupt us to send her there!

Has it really been a year since I had a Birthday?

Yes, it turns out.
I got the Oreos I asked for and the ceramic piece from D. that I "commissioned".
Is a request for handmade art considered "commissioned" when I didn't pay for it?
Not sure.
I am sure that I got more than I even asked for though. I got a phone finally! And it does really cool stuff besides lets me text.
Thanks for the gifts, well wishes and to my cute sisters and Mom who took me to an Indian lunch that was super delicious!

Although D. thinks broken ceramics are a failure I disagree. I love this thing with or without a handle!

Gorgeous flowers from a gorgeous sister.

Saag and RoseMilk, delicious!