And so everyone is ending their summer schedule and heading back to the classroom, or in my case, the cubicle. Jeannie was back to work yesterday morning -- full of meetings and get-to-know-your-new-superintendent things. Today she was in her classroom for most of the day preparing for the sophomores who will be back tomorrow. Then the juniors and seniors come back on Thursday.

This evening we went to the ice cream social (which is really poorly named, I might add. I mean, if you're gonna call an event an "ice cream social", you would think you could expect actual bona fide ice cream, right? In my own experience, trying to pass off a cheap watered down popsicle with significant freezer burn as "ice cream" is enough to get you drawn and quartered in certain crowds. ...I'm just saying...) But anyway, we walked up to the school for the event and learned who were Jessica and Martin's new teachers this year. Martin was pleased to find he had the same teacher Jessica had in first grade: Ms. Stoll. Jessica, however, was not in a class with any of her close friends and not with the teacher she preferred. But being the family's social butterfly, I have no doubts she'll adapt and have a half dozen new friends within a week -- just needs a few days to settle in.

Andrew has one more day of freedom, starting his freshman year at West Junior High on Thursday. He is none too eager about starting the school year routine, but who is, right? He won't find out his exact schedule or teachers until the first day of school. But we at least know he is in Honors Biology, Honors English, Concert Band, and Civics. We'll find out about his requested electives and the rest of his schedule on Thursday.

Logann has a few more days until school starts in Lees Summit. He goes back on August 18th. Today he got his new laptop, about which he is very excited. He's still working for UAC, though his hours are limited, which is good given the fact that he'll be spending more of his time on school.

And tomorrow is my last day of sabbatical before I return to work on Thursday. I'm going to try to fill it the best I can. Getting up w/ the little ones on their first day of school, making them pancakes before taking them to school at 7:45am. Not sure what I'm going to do for the entire day, but I'm going to try to get some time on the water. It would be a nice way to close my sabbatical. It has been an incredible month, being on the water the majority of the days and being able to spend more time w/ Jeannie and the kids than I have ever been allowed. I'll miss that dearly.

And now I'll find something else to do for the next couple of hours while I wait for Kaysia to get home. She is full-on nineteen now. Too little sleep and always on the run. It's wonderful to watch that transformation.

-shannon

As we draw nearer to the end of the school year, our evenings fill with school activities. Sometimes our days fill with school activities like the field trip to the zoo, but that's a story for another day. This evening was Andrew's 6th grade band concert. And somewhat surprisingly, it was enjoyable. I know that sounds cruel -- he's my own kid after all -- but if you had heard the screech of cats being strangled as we did for weeks when he first picked up the clarinet, you would empathize.

At any rate, the concert was a huge success, and as an added bonus, it gave us an opportunity to see Andrew in a tie -- something typically reserved for weddings.

Instead of visiting one of our "regular" parks over Thanksgiving weekend when the weather was beautiful, we went instead to the playground and the kids' school. Much to my jealousy, Jeannie was the one who captured the image below -- her point-and-shoot out-gamed me and my Nikon that day.

As you may have guessed, there are a few more photos in the gallery.

After a summer of vacations, swimming and sleeping in, the inevitable school year finally arrived, and once more the kids (and Jeannie, too) tackle a new year in education.

Okay, so that was about as boring as my story intros get, right?  Truth be told, I tried to add some much-needed sarcasm, but I just couldn't find it.  My creativity is zapped at the moment.  Suffice it to say that:

• Jessica has been reuinted with Holly and Hailie (the trio known in certain circles as "Cookie, Cookie and Cookie").
• Andrew has not only found his high place from which to survey the entire playground, but has also made several new friends in 6th grade.
• And Jeannie... well, Jeannie is back in her game, and our floor hasn't been this covered with paperwork since that fiasco we had a tax time back in the late nineties.

All in all, everyone is doing fantastic.  Andrew's schedule is quite busy nowadays, with school, soccer and his volunteer job at Pet World.  But, we're making it work and in contrast to the Monday through Friday routines, the weekends are soon to be as they were intended... sacred and not to be trifled with.

Approaching the end of the school year, Jessica's elementary school hosted a carnival / fund-raiser at Sunset Hill last weekend, complete with moon walk, duck pond and a number of other games.  Busy weekend, though -- followed by the Elders concert with Andrew and Logann and the annual Merritt Easter Egg Hunt the next day.

More photos from the carnival are available in the Photo Gallery.

And so July has arrived and with it, the end of the school year for the kids.  We take the month of July off and on Saturday we celebrated the kids' journeys over the past 12 months.  Grandparents were in attendance as Andrew and Logann both gave presentations on their end-of-year projects.

Every Friday afternoon the "Cool Kids" homeschool group to which Andrew belongs gets together for some sort of enriching activity. One week it was hiking, another week they volunteered at a recycling center. This week they built a house. Science City and Home Depot co-sponsor an activity that allows a small group of kids to work together as a team and build a small house literally from the ground up.

Hard to believe it's that time again. Another school year (not that we really keep track) has come and gone and today we joined many other homeschooling families for the LEARN Recognition Ceremony. Since most homeschoolers don't receive report cards, talent shows, etc., our homeschool group hosts an annual recognition ceremony in which each student is honored for their achievements during the year. Below Logann, Andrew and Jessica are proudly holding their certificates which they received today. No certificate for Jeannie -- forever a thankless job.

Andrew spent a few days in the hospital last week after an ear infection gone awry.Due to an ear infection that had a mind of it's own, we all made a trip to the emergency room on Monday at 9pm last week. After checking Andrew over, they decided to run some tests and see what they could determine about his ear that had been swelling up for several hours.

After about a dozen doctors and nurses poking and prodding him and then 30 minutes strapped to a table during a CT-scan, they admitted Andrew around 2:30 a.m. and put him on I.V. antibiotics. We spent the next 48 hours hanging out at Children's Mercy downtown watching cartoons, playing Nintendo, and ordering room service (well, Andrew got room service -- Jeannie and I had to fend for ourselves in the cafeteria!)