Happy Labor Day!

Is it me, or is a holiday right before the very first school day of the year not as exciting as a holiday during the school year?  I miss the year round school that we had in Arizona - loved it!!!!  Onward.... 

Of course, we began our 3-day weekend holiday with donuts.... we even attached a home school lesson on the Labor Unions' (and Socialists') favorite word - "fair".  Chris and I want our kids to learn early on that life is not about fairness....it is about working your hardest and doing your best with what you are given - we want them to be ready to face the real world that awaits them.  Soooo....

we presented them with Dunkin Donuts.....

We explained to them that in all fairness, no one should get a better donut than another person.  Each one of our 6 children received their donut....and then Chris and I broke out the other boxes, because that rule doesn't apply to parents.... :)

....and then we said "just kidding" and everyone got the donut of their choice - WOOHOO!!

So, today we celebrate Labor day.  Hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, soda....and lots of labor too.  My hard working husband is outside power-washing the house and cleaning out the gutters with Trevor and Joshua, Brandon is at Football practice, and the twins and Elli and I have vacuumed out the truck, vacuumed the house, cleaned the kitchen and bedrooms, and are currently climbing through the mountain of laundry hoping to conquer it before the BBQ. 

One of the things I always hate about the night before the first day of school is that we are never trained to go to bed early.  We love to pull "all-nighters" (which usually just means staying up to midnight ;)) during the Summer.  So, hooray for "labor" day as all this hard work today is sure to send us all to bed at a good time tonight! 

What do you think is the one thing I hate the most about starting school tomorrow?  No....not getting up early....I am actually looking forward to starting my day earlier and getting things accomplished earlier.  No...not homeschooling...I am really excited about getting Joshua started on his 6th grade curriculum and having a more structured day.  No....it is not even fighting the flash flood of buses that run through our neighborhoods getting students to school - although I do hate that:).  No....I have to say that I am going to really miss having Brandon and Trevor at home.  I hate that they leave for school at 7 am and don't return until dinner time.  I hate, even more, the hour or so of homework they come home with after spending 8 hours at school.  (I am going to give a shout out here to the greatest school we have experienced - EDUPRIZE - my kids went to school from 7 am to noon every day on a 8 weeks on 2 weeks off schedule - the teachers were hard working and no nonsense, and my kids learned something everyday - Oh I pray we had a school like that here!!)  One thing I learn as I get older is that life is too short to waste time...am I saying school is a waste of time - no - but they do waste a lot of it!!!  I think about how old Brandon and Trevor are, and how much time I have left with them before they are off to start lives of their own, and it makes me sad that 150 days of the year I only see them for a few hours.  That is one reason I love homeschooling!!!  Of course, the other reason would be that those few hours we do have with them are spent correcting liberal ideas that are planted in their brains throughout that long day at school.  Anyway, I digress...Happy Labor Day everyone!