first day of school

Summer's over ... and I hardly got a chance to enjoy it. The past month has been a whirlwind of work, more work (I unexpectedly but fortuitously got a big extra work gig that has taken a ton of time but been very lucrative), painting, more painting (only one room left to go!), furniture buying, tennis, and basically just nonstop running around. Yesterday was the first day of school (oh the quiet! I've missed it so much), so here are some highlights from our summer:

Liam had a great summer tennis experience, and he ended up winning his age group (15U) in the city tournament in late July. Right after that, practice started for the varsity/JV tennis team. He had two-a-days for a while and was just wiped out (I can't even imagine!). He's really looking forward to his freshman season; his first match is this Saturday.

We spent a lot of time outdoors, especially Mike and Henry, who have been doing big projects that involve string trimmers, loppers, and burning things. I don't ask too many questions about that. Liam finally launched his model rocket (a bday gift from like two years ago), which was a huge success. We all went outside to spectate, and there was much cheering.

Max and Liam had friends over for an end-of-summer slumber party, which also was basically the ultimate test of my ability to block out all activity around me when I need to work. (I managed, but barely. Seven teenagers make a LOT of noise!)

Henry claimed to be bored most of the time, but still managed to find plenty of time to play video games, read books, work outside, build lego weapons, and make things out of clay.

Pluto mostly just lounged around. He's still waiting on his fenced-in dog area, which is also in the works.

As for the adults? We've spent the summer working basically every day (Mike's had mandatory overtime every Saturday for the past month and a half, which really stinks) and doing projects to get settled into the house in all our vast swaths of spare time. It's coming along, it really is. There's just so much to do, and it's hard to be patient. But we'll keep you posted!