We've been enjoying summer. I love getting up early and working out and coming home to a quiet house full of sleeping children. Often times I go back to bed but sometimes I just sit at my computer, checking my emails, facebook and blog friends. It's such a peaceful time of day.

Family Update:

Kambree has been working for the Corbetts as a nanny part time and working various odd jobs outside of nanny-ing. Anything from pulling weeds to washing walls. She's worked for a few families in our neighborhood and James is employing her for jobs around our house, so far she's helped him put up wall boards and done some mud work. I paid her to wash the windows inside and out. She's a good worker and trying so hard to stow away money for college. She's been dating all summer. Seems like just when the guys starts liking her, she's done liking him. I'm fine with that. Little worried about this newest guy - Cliff - but he's two hours away which may be why he is so enticing? That and he's sort of a country boy-cowboy-firefighter. Yikes. That could be a deadly combination.

Austin went on his first date - outside of school dances - yesterday. He was very nonchalant about it. First it was, "Can I go sledding up in the mountains?" (Yes, I guess there's still snow for sledding. In July??) I gave him the regular drill. With who? Who's driving? When will you be home? And it sounded like a bunch of buddies. Then later he asked me to help him pack food and would I make TWO sandwiches? I rummaged up a bunch of stuff and then asked if he was SURE he was going to need TWO sandwiches? "Well yes. There are two of us." He had a date! (I think her name was Aleeah.) I guess all the buddies decided to take dates? I tried not to act too pleased and excited but the buzz about our house was hard to ignore. (The joy of having sisters I guess? However even Alex asked if she was "hot"?)  I packed up the best lunch I could - now knowing the circumstance - and sent him on his way. The group came back around nine pm and watched Transformers in our living room. I fell asleep to the soothing voice of Optimus Prime roaring below my bedroom. 

Devree is going to summer seminary. Austin and Devree in fact. Austin is on seminary council and Devree is going to make up unexcused absences from last years seminary attendance. I think they're loving it. It's a chance to see their friends from school. I'm not being fooled that they're loving it for the spiritual aspect. Just the socializing aspect. But that's okay, the fact that they're going - willingly - is enough for me!  It's just through the month of July twice a week for an hour and a half. Dev is also VERY social this summer. She is constantly at friends houses or having friends here. Rarely do I serve dinner without adding a couple plates for her or Austin's friends. She's going to the midnight premier of Harry Potter but having friends over before to watch part one before. Because she's almost 15 and not driving - her active social life means I have a just as active carpooling life. Boo. When she approached me about the midnight show I decided it would be well worth the price of Austin's ticket to get him to drive both ways. He agreed and is taking a friend that just happens to be the same age as Devree so I told him he'd just have to be the lone, driving senior with the group of sophomores. I don't think he minds too much. Devree's birthday is quickly approaching (yes that lovely week where Alex, Devree and Kambree all have birthdays withing six days of each other) and her list is quite long, expensive and out of the question. The sad part is that besides the big ticket items, there is very little I can pick out without her. Teenage girls are the hardest to buy for! Especially picky fashion conscious ones!

Alex has been so positive and upbeat about having a tutor this summer. We still have mom school twice a week besides the three days of tutor - when he's not at scout camp that is. This morning we had a rough start. Rylee and I were making plans for shopping and he wanted to go so he could buy a video game for the dang blasted X-box. (I hate the X-box. Really. I do. I wish it would break and go away forever.) I guess he and Brach have pooled their money together for some dumb game. Never mind that his sisters are having birthdays and/or that he refuses to participate in anything that requires him coughing up a little of his hard earned cash - like going skating with friends. Buying this game will cost him every penny he has and I am not taking him to the mall to buy it. Not to day anyway when I need to be birthday shopping for him. (And I do NOT contribute to my misery by buying anything to do with video games.) So the root of this morning's difficulty with writing in his journal stemmed with my nixing the video game purchase this morning. After a bit of angry sighs, eye rolls, and then a time out in bed - the truth came out. He was mad about not getting to buy his video game. We talked about addictions and how he would feel if I spent all my money on something I like - like shoes - and didn't have money to buy him birthday presents? What if I spent all the grocery money on shoes? How would he like that? We talked about his birth parents and their addictions and that because of their addictions they lost him. That there needs to be a balance in life - life cannot be all about one thing or it becomes an addiction and rules our lives.  I would like to say this talk made a difference but I doubt it because just that afternoon he was caught being on the computer way past his allotted two hours. (Sigh) Oh, well. There are worse things. Right?  We did have a sweet moment earlier in the week when my sister called to see if anyone could keep an eye on their foster son so they could go out to celebrate - my brother in law just got accepted to nursing school. Their foster son is very difficult and not altogether in touch with reality and it makes it hard to take him places. We were talking about Lloyd at dinner time and how difficult he is and Alex looked at me and asked if he was hard like Lloyd when he first got here? When he didn't speak English? I confessed that there were hard times but he was never as hard s Lloyd. I have always wondered what he understood about Lloyd's situation. Lloyd wasn't with my sister during the hosting program but moved in with them before we adopted Alex. So he just sort of magically appeared in our family while Alex was in Ukraine. Given his limited English I couldn't really explain the situation to Alex.  Lloyd's situation is that my sisters family is paid well to provide for him and he is a job for them.  (He's in special needs foster care.) Alex confessed that he thought he was like Lloyd when he got here. That my sister had added Lloyd to her family like we had added him. Later when it was just him and I, I hugged him to me and told him he was nothing like Lloyd, that we adopted him to be our son, we weren't getting paid to take care of him. 

Rylee has been babysitting and making money hand over fist! She's excited to buy birthday presents with her own money for her siblings. She is growing like a weed and looks so much older than her 11 1/2 years. I took her and Devree in for eye exams this afteroon and both of them have worse sight than last year. Ry picked out new glasses and has grown her bangs out this summer. She is looking forward to being in 6th grade but I'm a little sad as this is my last one to be in elementary. I keep telling myself - no more Halloween parades, Valentines boxes and recess drama but I still sigh a little thinking she is getting so old. How did this happen? 

James and I loved our trip to Denver and he is now off to work and I am home solo parenting. We're getting use to this schedule and it's not as bad as people think it is. When he's home, he's home 100% and when he's gone, he's gone! I try to do fun things with my friends, watch all my chick flicks, and read lot's. My fabulous five keep me busy and usually the two weeks clips right along. Unfortunately the time he's home seems to move double faster than the time he's gone but that just must be because we love having him home more than having him gone? Right?

I think summer is half way over or we still have half left? That's sort of like is the glass half full or half empty isn't it. Some days I can't wait for school to be back in session and some days I just love summer and the laid back, sleeping in, hanging out parts. 

Hope all of your are having "half full" moments too!
~Wendy