I guess my blog has turned into a sort of ... twice a year thing! I had no idea that I would be this busy now that I have two teenagers, a tween about to be a teen and two little ones in elementary school. I am actually busier now than when they were all at home with me. My fil always said "little children, little problems; big children, big problems". I thought "well, maybe it was that way for you because you weren't a good enough parent." Karma sucks! LOL.

Actually, things are mostly good. I'd argue that they are typical for a chaotic, big family living with a doc who works a lot of long hours and a mom who is spread a little too thin.

Thomas' work schedule really isn't working for me, but there isn't much that I can do to change it. In an effort to provide as much coverage each day as possible, his partner goes in at 5:30am and leaves in the early afternoon hours. Thomas goes in at about 10 but then is often at work until 9 or 10 at night. It suits him. He's a night owl and is happy to be able to stay up later and sleep in. Ummm. You know where I'm going with this, right? I don't get to sleep in. I have to be up at 6:45 at the latest, so his late night tv shows in our bedroom or reading on his kindle fire or ipad until late in the night (like 2am) bug me to no end. I also end up doing the lion's share of the evening driving and routines which means that I'm pretty beat by the end of the night. He does get a 1/2 day on Wednesdays which he uses to help out around the house, pick up Zoe from school and even do the Wed. evening dance carpool. So I know I'm luckier than a lot of you....I appreciate what I have!

The kids are all ok. There are issues, of course ... like with every family, but for the most part things are good. We have arranged for Amanda to get testing for a learning disability and have also hooked her up with a therapist in the cities to help her with her learning issues. Since we started down that path I am much more hopeful about her schooling. She had dropped the ball with the homeschooling and now is really back into work mode. Yay! She is taking a mixture of 9th and 10th grade classes. I