End of the Summer

In a few days, we will take our younger son up to Michigan State University for his freshman year of college.  Due to the distance,he won't be coming home as often as our daughters and older son. 

Katie was married a little over a week ago.  She and George returned from their honeymoon yesterday and dropped by to tell us about their trip.  It was lovely to see the so soon.  This week, she is planning on getting her former bedroom packed up.  We are forcing her to remove all her belongings from the house.  Not because we want every memory of her removed, but because other children want her bedroom and we are trying to have no storage in the basement. 

Well, almost no storage.  There will be one shelving unit for Christmas and camping items.  The house is so large that it would be easy for us to become hoarders without the house getting full of clutter.  We will only be here for another 3-5 years and we don't want to have ton of junk to sort through.

Madelyn is going to the public high school this upcoming school year.  She won't be graduating from the high school, because they won't accept homeschool classes without testing for every subject.  I'll issue her a diploma in the spring.  Our homeschool will be down to two students.  It should be an easier year because the younger two girls are only 20 months apart,  I'm planning on spending the first week or two taking the girls to various parks and getting our work done in the picnic pavilions, then having a picnic lunch and spending the afternoon hiking and playing on the various playgrounds. 

Mike is changing positions at work.  He will still be in sales, but will be a bedding specialist.  Due to changes within the company's pay structure, he should make more money with the change.  I hope it's a good move for him.  He dislikes many of the games that other sales associates play to steal commissions from other sale people.

My etsy shops are doing well.  I'm getting a steady income from them and enjoy the flexibility they provide. I'm planning ahead to create a couple of non-etsy shops after the holidays to increase my exposure on the internet and open other income avenues.  Mike has been really supportive throughout all this and is excited to see my hard work pay off.

Depression has been creeping back again.  It seems to be an on-going struggle for me.  Part of it may be hormones, but the "winter blahs" are now returning as early as August.  I'm working on eating highly nutritious foods and getting exercise each day.  I know that anti-depressants are available, but I really want them to be a last resort. 

I'll be adding a ton of photos and updates over the next few weeks and even have a few craft and cooking posts planned. 

Leaving the Nest and Returning Home Again

Katie was asked by a friend from work to house-sit with her for the friend's grandparents who go to Florida for much of the winter.  The girls decided to move in on December 27.  Overall, there time together went well.  The friend's grandparents will be returning home in the beginning of March.  Katie will be moving home on February 28. 

When Katie left, her bedroom was given to Paige and Allie to share.  Allie had been sharing a bedroom with Katie; Paige had been using our formal living room as her bedroom for a few months.  Paige and Allie tend to be good room mates.  They enjoy playing with each other and usually end up sleeping in the same bed.  When Allie moved in with Katie, she spent most of her nights sleeping in Paige's bed.  Occasionally, Paige and Allie would sleep in Allie's bed.

We plan to move into the project house in April, so it's difficult to decide where to put Kate for the month that we will still be in this house.  She may end up with a trundle bed in the room that Madelyn and Amy share.

The biggest change will be Katie adjusting to living in a family situation, instead of the freedom of living on her own.  When I mentioned the adjustments we would all have to make to her, Katie said that she now has a much greater appreciation of cleaning, cooking, etc.  She would like to keep the guinea pig that she and her friend purchased, but we are done getting ANY pets for now.  There is too much upheaval here to add a new pet to the mix.

Katie will only be here until August when she heads off for her junior year and Grand Valley State University.  She's excited to be going and I know that she will do well there.  Hopefully, we can teach her to cook a few more meals before she leaves.  It would be awful for her to live off of pizza rolls and frozen pizza until Christmas.

Steve is considering living on campus at his college next fall.  It isn't finalized yet, because he's searching for room mates.  Our home will be a lot quieter and less chaotic without these two characters around.   

College Testing

Yesterday, I took Katie and Steve to our local community college to take the placement tests for some classes they will be taking this fall. Steve did really well and will meet the requirements for the classes he wishes to take. Katie did so well that she received placement for the Honor's classes! Yipee! Katie has always thought that she wasn't particularly smart. She never believed me when I said that she was very intelligent. Maybe now she'll believe me.