Fall's around the corner!

Most people do their big cleaning in the spring. We prefer fall. Makes sense to us. The house has been overrun with little, wet, dirty feet for months. Our lack of routine, along with our tendency to host more in the summer due to our pool and yard area lead to less domestic discipline. So with a new school year comes cleaning, organization, and lots of shopping.

Last week I performed step 1, a major house overhaul. It was an 8 hour cleaning frenzy that included cloroxing shower curtains and bath toys. We also focused on selling old school books and discarding stubby pencils and crayons. We went school supply shopping and I am a little embarrassed at how excited this

and this

made me feel. How come girls typically get more excited about school supplies than boys? Lydie and I squealed, the boys rolled their eyes. I guess shopping in itself is just a chore for them. They were really perturbed when we went leotard shopping, too. But next week they will get their turn to pick out new tennis rackets and some cool sports shirts and shorts for tennis lessons. With the old gone and the new shelved, we are almost ready for the first day of school on the 16th. I LOVE this time of year!

Today our focus was the car. This summer was rough on dear Betsy. Maybe it was all the road trips that called for one too many chicken nugget. I am genuinely surprised that ants hadn't made a home in the poor girl. And where did all the french fries under the seats come from? None of my kids care for french fries. And one of the boys had a cup holder with sticky goo from a leftover fruit punch. The 5 of us washed, windexed, and armor-alled every square inch of our beloved car. She's ready for a whole new batch of activities this year..

It's starting to feel like fall! Except for the actual weather. Happy first day of school!