Back in the Swing of Things

Well...no doubt about it! School is BACK in session and life is CRAZY! I am exhausted beyond belief. Totally wiped out! I was SO in bed and snoring by 8;30 last night! YIKES! It seems I am living in the car again. That always seems to happen this time of year. This morning I got up really early (mostly because I was asleep so darned early last night!) and so I was on my treadmill before 6 a.m. and got in a nice 5 mile run this morning. Then I had to shower, make lunches and get all of my little ones out the door. I dropped Ben and Clara off and then came home instead of going on to the gym like i usually do. My back was killing me for some reason and so I spent a fair amount of time trying to get that straightened out and stretched a bit. And after a little while I did feel better. Then there was laundry to tackle and work to do, a house to straighten up, dishes to be dealt with and just a ton of stuff laying around all out of place. I got all of that under control (though you would never know that it was neat now that the kids came home!) and I had to go and sign Maxwell out of school early because he had an appointment for a physical today. Well, a good report and two shots later he was all clear to leave and so we went to Keva Juice (that's the standard treat for shot days!) and then we had to pick up Clara from Jackie's since she had gotten Clara and Ben for me from their school. I dropped Max and Clara off at the house and was home a whole almost 30 minutes, and then I had to go and pick up Ben from his art class. I got him all picked up and was again, home almost a whole 30 minutes before Ben's friend called and asked him to come over and play. SOOOOOO, back in the car again and I dropped him off. I now get to be home for about an hour and then I am heading to our church tonight for a conversational spanish class. I am having some pretty serious doubts about being able to hang with that class with so much going on. I am so tired I don't know if I am coming or going sometimes. I nearly fell asleep last night in the middle of Ben's 5th grade orientation. Tomorrow promises to be equally as busy!

On other notes...the picture business has been quite good here lately. Lots of appointments and lots of good stuff being turned out. I am still trying to work through this baby lighting thing. I keep thinking I've got it...and then the smallest change seems to just totally screw me up. I did a family of 5 the other day with a two week old baby. And it just was OFF the whole time. Part of it was that mom wanted the pics done...however, the REST of the family was VERY ANTI pictures. Apparently, just before baby was born they had had a photographer come to the house and do maternity family pics before their family grew. And apparently it was a LONG session at about 3 hours! WHEW! And you thought I took a lot of pictures!!!! Anyway...her crew had not forgotten that whole episode and they were less than excited about working with me. I have to say that that did NOTHING for my nerves or my comfort zone. Well, their pissy uncooperative attitudes did manage to turn out my poorest set of pictures with these lights yet. NO website material in that batch for sure! And I was left feeling VERY frustrated over the whole experience. AND SO...I'm just not sweating it anymore. I am moving on. That's easy to do today because TODAY the rest of my Christmas props arrived! HOORAY! So now I have new fun things to start playing with and practicing with for Christmas to see just how I want to shoot it! I will be recruiting a couple of families in here to play with positioning these props, etc. I am very excited. I just need a few days to catch my breath...and then I can get on that!

The kids seem to be adjusting back into the school schedule well. Maxwell is employing every single homework avoidance technique he can think of. So far today I have heard "I'm thirsty" and "I need some ibuprofen for my arm I got my shots in." and "I just needed to come down and get some gum." Hmmmm. It's always something with that kid of mine. Ben is LOVING the 5th grade (which is TOTALLY new for us!) and Clara is in her happy place amidst the excitement and fun of first grade. For the most part, it all seems to be going well and smooth. Now...we haven't done our parent conferences yet...and they don't really know our kids too well yet. So there is still plenty of time for things to go south! But for now...it looks good!

What else? Well...I am thinking that's about all we have time for right about now. I need to jump off of here and go and attempt to restore some order to this house....again! You got to love the pace of the school year!