I hope I didn’t sound too negative, because I agree – overall, not too shabby! We could have done more/better/differently in some areas, but I’m just going to call Summer 2015 a success.

And surely they don’t forget all of their basic reading, writing, arithmetic skills. RIGHT?! We could be in some trouble there. I know my brain is not working on all cylinders, so I have a feeling my kids are suffering from a similar case of mind mush. Good luck, teachers, and thank you – a million thank yous.

We are all well, thank goodness. It was a long two weeks! Mark managed to escape it, but he did have to suffer through me panicking every time he headed toward the bathroom or had even a slightly funny look on his face. I must have asked, “Do you feel sick? Are you going to throw up?” about 783 times.

That’s a Thanksgiving for the record books, although you probably do not want to remember it!

You know you’re a parent of active kids when you measure success in numbers of trips to the ER, right? It’s too soon to call it, since school doesn’t start for 6 more days, but fingers crossed that our one ER visit in July was it for this year.

She wasn’t yet two, and nobody thought a second thought about it.

Then, at Thanksgiving dinner, she was “just a little off,” but, again, kids are like that sometimes.

Then that night, it started to strike. First, the three other members of my family (none of us were lucky enough to avoid it — it affected me for 4 days, I believe, CJ & Duffy were over it in about 24 hours), then we started getting word from friends & family members who were at this pre-Thanksgiving Day party. Then from those who were at Thanksgiving.

That holiday blew.

But I’m glad it looks like, porcelain deity praying notwithstanding, the summer appears to be going ok. Yes, minimal number of people treated for a head injury is ABSOLUTELY a win.