July in Iowa

Now here is a common sight this time of year in our wonderful state....A teenager forced into exhausting, physical, horrible labor commonly known to us midwesterners as detassling. My poor daughter! She entered into this experience for the first time last year and swore/promised she would NEVER do it again. Somehow, either out of force or reason, she was convinced (threatened) that she should try it again. The hook...a guy she had a crush on was going to be joining her crew!! That did it. She started, albeit quite reluctantly, on Tuesday.
Bless her heart, she rises at 5 am, catches the bus at 6 am and didn't return home today until 5:30 pm. She is a true sweetheart, with the unbelievable wit she inherited from my mom and never, ever complains. I love her!!
I'm certain she will thank me when she receives that big, fat, juicy check in the mail in a few weeks. OOHHHH I'm a good mom!?!

Time flies by....

Guess what this little guy did today??

He got his first round of senior pictures taken!!
I simply cannot believe this. I'm speechless. Its unreal to think he will be starting his senior year next month. I've already told my boss I will take the next year off for mental health reasons. Yes, I will be one of those moms who will cry for the next 12-18 months and it will have nothing to do with hormones. It will be because my baby will be growing up and leaving my watch. Am I overreacting? Maybe, but this is new territory for me and I am not looking forward to it.

Summertime

Does it seem to anyone else that this summer is whizzing by? I took 3 solid weeks off work this year. I did it last year and it was wonderful. I thought it would be the same this year. Actually, since the middle of May, I have only been to the office about 5 times due to some scheduled vacation, my dad's death and to flooding that forced my office to close. I return to work on Monday and I can't say I feel well rested. The vacation we took was fabulous but not extremely relaxing.
On Saturday we took our 3 youngest children to my in-laws where they will stay until tomorrow evening. We drove to MPS after dropping them off and stayed at my brother's place where we were finally able to slow down and unwind. It was a wonderful visit.
Tomorrow my kids return and on Saturday daughter #1 leaves for camp until the 13th. On July 12th, my husband's birthday, both my sons leave for different camps, one to work and the other to play. It won't be until August 3rd that all my ducks are back in the nest. I just love it when we can all be together. Its kind of unsettling for me to go to bed without everyone being close by. I guess its a mom thing.
For those of you who have never seen or met my ducks or husband, here you go.