maybe I can't see, maybe its just me

Its almost September! I can't seem to find August -- don't know where it went or why. September means too many things that I don't want to face: guess I have to finally start school, my baby is soon going to be a year old, and I once again didn't follow through on my plan to start Christmas shopping in the summer and so now really have to start thinking about it. ugh. BUT!!! September also means "Posse 07" weekend, the annual gathering with my 3 best friends from college! We're meeting out here this year since Janelle and I both live in the DC area and Amy will be in SC, meaning only Jackie has to fly. Three weeks til the party starts!

CJ came to visit a couple weeks ago...and had the nerve to leave again. I can't figure out why she doesn't like us enough to just stay forever, but I'll do some self-improvement and see if that makes a difference next time. I also had a birthday and tried to ignore it, but did get some SAH-WEET! presents from my splendiferous sisters and Mom -- great gift cards to go shopping and buy new clothes! I haven't done this outside the maternity section in a loooooong time, realizing that most of my wardrobe is from either the first few years of marriage or even college (still wearing some of your hand-me-downs, Jackie). My sisters had evidently had enough of the embarrassment and convinced Mom to go in with them to force me to shop. I got some cute stuff (according to Annie, who I consider the family authority on all things trendy), and still have some shopping to go. Woo-hoo! One very happy August happening was that Carrie potty-trained herself in just a couple days. I have NO idea how this happened, just that God must have figured I deserved one easy go-round after some of my doozies. I'm still scratching my head, but very grateful. Carrie says to me, "Mom, tell me I'm the best trainy-potter in the whole-wide world you ever seen!". So I did.

I am almost ready to start school. Most of our books are here, and I just need to do a bit more planning out the first couple weeks. As usual, most of my energy goes into what to do with the non-schoolers, not the lesson plans themselves. Putting Henry in charge of Carrie and Liam just doesn't sound like a wise thing (if I want to keep them) so I'm trying to be creative. We'll start soccer again next week, with the older 3 playing, and in 2 weeks we start our first co-op. I'm hoping this will be a good thing without making us too busy. Despite the fact that I'm an "out-of-the-house" type person, I don't want to be in the car all the time, and am striving for a good balance of time at home with structured school days with social/academic outings for the Super Social Slaughters.

I'll try to have some new pics up in Sept -- haven't taken many lately. Sooooo, that's it from the Slaughterhouse for now!