Ahh!!  Just one more week and it's back to the old back-to-school routine in our house.  You know, the routine that starts with the whining in the morning:

 "I don't WANT to go to school", "I HATE that cereal", "These clothes DO match!",  "Sean put my erasers in the toilet!", "He hit me!" and,  "We ALWAYS have to do chores!"

And ends with more whining in the evening:

"I don't WANT to do my homework!", "We're having THAT for dinner?", "How come HE gets to stay up later?!!"  and "I was on the computer first!!" 

In the middle of the day, there are only 3.  I will cart them along to the grocery store where they will grab things off the shelves and the 4 year old will race around to the next aisle and try to hide behind the cereal boxes.  Little does she know that I have to buy ALL the cereal in the store and I'll find her eventually!!  This is the child that is showing the 2 yr old the ropes.  She is becoming a perfect clone of her big sister.  Next year, when Sophie is off in Kindergarten, Margaret will be the one hiding out and running off.   Once Sophie is found in the cereal, she will reluctantly mosey along behind me, stopping to have conversations with people along the way:

"How OLD are you?  I'm 4.  My name is Sophie.  What's yours?  How did you get so fat?"

"You have big boobs.  I don't.  I bet they're fun."

But Gabriel is mine.  He's the youngest.  He will be lucky if I ever let him leave the house.  School is completely out of the question!!  How could I possibly let the last one go?  And he will have to invent new ways to be naughty and make his mark, because it's all been done before.  

Have I mentioned how excited I will be when they're teenagers??!?

One more week till school starts.  Ahhhhh.   

For the past day, I have been getting "schooled" by my 10 yr. old at Guitar Hero.  Granted, I have just started, and he has been at it for 3 months.  We celebrate our success together (while entertaining the rest of the family) and laugh at our failures!  What fun.  Never underestimate the power of kids' toys to entertain yourself!!  I shied away at first, and now I'm pretty much hooked.  Can't wait till he goes back to school!  Ha ha! I'll have the thing all to myself at naptime!!

I'm a Mommy on the edge!!!

Yesterday was very nice.  They had a lovely tea menu to choose from.  I am not a tea drinker, so it was kind of a crap shoot for me, but I chose a Sencho from Japan and liked it very much.  My 8 yr. old chose a Peppermint, and I don't remember the other two.  We each had our own pot and a beautiful cup and saucer.  Our server brought out a three tiered plate.  On the bottom were plain, raisin, and cranberry-orange scones with cream and strawberry preserves.  The scones were fresh out of the oven!  On the next tier were little sandwiches.  Ham, egg-salad, and cucumber-cream cheese.  There were also little mushroom tarts and Shepherd's pie tarts.  On the top were chocolate-covered strawberries, tiny lemon bars, shortbread, and a few others I can't remember!!  It was fun for us older people, but my daughter made faces at the things she didn't like!  She did like the tea, however.  What a fun experience!!

My neice is visiting from Taiwan for three weeks.  Today, we are going to a high tea at a local tavern.  For us in the US, tea is not something we do every day, so this is quite a novelty.  Carolyn is going, too.  How fun!  We will be eating our first scones.