Oh how I love the sounds of back to school. Not the pitter patter of little feet or the hustle and bustle of a house full of energy. No, in my house it is waking up to the sound of Shannon's shrill voice screaming at Kelsey. Kelsey is president of her class this year and has to be at school early several days. Shannon is less than thrilled about getting to school at 6:30 on her first day of Senior year.

When Kelsey told her about all the days that required getting to school early this year for student council, Shannon's head almost exploded. I think the conversation kind of went like; "Are you kidding me, I have to be at school at 6:00 AM for St. Nicks day? I don't even like freaking candy canes. I am not driving you." We are in for a long school year.

Our refrigerator broke a few weeks ago. It has been broken for a while actually. For the past few months everything in the fridge would freeze no matter how low we had the temperature control. Our milk and lemonade would be a block of ice. Making a fried egg was tough when the egg was an ice cube. Then suddenly our ice maker motor decided to go out as well. We decided it wasn't worth the investment to fix both problems. We have already paid $300 to repair this fridge once. I would get home from work to a house full of dehydrated kids. They would look at me as if I left them on a deserted island. They would have to thaw out the pitcher of lemonade for a half hour in order to get two drops of liquid. Their survival skills are less than stellar.

Dave and I bought a new fridge this week. It was being delivered yesterday. I left work a little earlier than usual so I could rush home to see my new fridge. I thought to myself, "What does that say about my parenting, when I rush home to see my new fridge but not my children?" Then I remembered my children are all crazy and I deserve a little excitement in life, even if it is just a new refrigerator. I will soon clutter it up with all the wonderful school papers that my perfect kids will bring home. We put the old fridge in the garage. We have lots of room for frozen foods, the refrigerator side as well as the freezer. Heck I may even put Shannon in there to help cool her off in the morning. (is that against the law?)

We survived our Staycation. I think it cost me more than an actual Vacation would have but it was still fun...I think???

We went to the zoo on our first day and then to the Boat House at Forest Park to rent two paddle boats and a Kayak. Dave and I started in the Kayak and then traded with the kids after awhile. It was worth all the money in the world to watch Kelsey and Shannon working together paddeling a Kayak. I was waiting for Shannon to lose it and throw Kelsey overboard but it never happened. I'm guessing because she is on good behavior due to her little leopard dress incident.

The next day we went to the horse races. Day two was not quite as easy to get the kids out of bed, they are used to sleeping until noon. We had some crabby attitudes. Erin sat with a scowl on her face for most of the day, her excuse was that she couldn't breathe. It was really hot and the air quality was really bad....but, Kelsey who HAS asthma could breathe just fine. The only time Erin was happy was when I was feeding her. I bet on one horse named "Soup Man" it reminded me of Dave, with the exception of oatmeal, soup is the only meal that Dave can cook. Soup Man started in last place and then pulled ahead to win the race. I was so excited, I was looking to win about $12 for my $5 bet. Unfortunately Soup Man was disqualified for nudging two other horses and sent two jockeys flying and one to the hospital. Shannon was the big winner of the day, she won $27. She can buy herself another leopard dress or maybe some furry stilettos to match.

We went by Jilly's cupcakes on the way home...what an awesome place. Ryan could not get over how amazing his cupcake was. He got a pink velvet with caramel filling. The boy acted as if he never had quality baked goods before? The owner stopped and started a conversation with him and ended up giving us a gift card for a future visit. She was awesome, Ryan is already asking to go back. The horse races was a bust but Jilly's cupcakes was a high point and Erin was able to breathe and eat!!

Wednesday we went to The Chase to see Captain America. Lauren gave us free movie passes. The movie was dumb and Ryan was freezing, so he hung on me through the whole movie. We went to Crown Candy for lunch after the movie. The place is small and always has a line to get in the building. I had never been there before. We had to cram the six of us in a booth and we were elbow to elbow. This may have worked better on the first day of our Staycation. We had a little problem in the car after the movie. Shannon was singing a Miley Cyrus song and her siblings all told her to shut up. She pouted like a 2 year old, Shannon loves to sing, and does not recognize the fact that she is tone deaf. We did have fun at lunch even though we were crammed in like sardines and we had a line of people giving us the stink eye to hurry up so they could be seated.

Thursday we went back to school shoe shopping and then a trip to the pool. Ryan picked some shoes that look like clown shoes, it's a shame that Dave ran over his unicycle because they would match perfectly. Maggie was trying to decide which shoes she liked better. She had 2 pair that she liked. She ended up going with the darker ones and I quote, "They made my ankles look thinner." I called Lauren and thanked her for ruining my 10 year old. Her response of course was, "Oh I love her, she is perfect."

All in all we had a successful week, a few tense moments with Erin being hungry, Erin not being able to breathe, Ryan being cold in the movies, Shannon not being allowed to sing, Ryan picking clown shoes, Erin still being hungry and not having room to sneeze at lunch.

We left early Friday morning to drop Erin back off in Alabama. It was much easier this time. She has a great group of friends and is looking forward to the coming year. Her campus is beautiful and makes me wish that I was 19 all over again.

I filled up my new car for the first time this week. If anyone saw a crazy lady doing the happy dance at QT that would have been me. It was less than $50 to fill up....Life is good!!