The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Mother

You read right...this is my 100th blog post!  Are you impressed?  Well, maybe not, but it seems fitting that my 100th post marks the official end of summer for me (the kids still have next week off). It was a calm, beautiful summer filled with simple memories of time at home.  No vacation this year, no major camps, just easy activities that kept the kids engaged, entertained and best of all, they are well rested.  Sometimes on Friday I'll do a "This Moment" post from Soulemama...www.soulemama.com.   {this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.     But since this post marked my 100th blog post and the end of summer, I'm going to break the rules and share multiple pictures of how we closed out the Summer of

{this moment} from Soulemama...www.soulemama.com   {this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.    

I'm pretty sure every teacher cringes when the calendar changes to August 1st, maybe every mother too.  It marks the beginning of the end (oh yes, that sounds so dramatic! but true).  This year I did something different that any other year...I embraced August 1st and made it our new official back to school shopping day!  Last Friday, the kids and I headed out to tackle back-to-school shopping.  By far, the earliest I have ever gone. It really revved everyone up, and got their mind set on the fact school was starting soon.  Nothing like shiny new pencils, notebooks and backpacks!  We headed to Target, just me and the 4 kiddos.  Savannah, my little organizer, had everyone's lists organized and ready to check off.  It's kind of awesome how she took the lead on this.  She was clearly in charge of this project, so I stepped back and let her go!  She helped the little ones find all their things and neatly organize them in the cart, then she found hers.  She had a few stressful mo