editor's note: i started this post last monday 8/15... and its taken me this long to get it finished and pictures loaded. sheesh. i don't know how you daily bloggers manage!

Well folks, a week from today is Christmas.
OK, not really, but it is that time of year ... school has started (or depending on where you live, will start very soon..), and in a couple of weeks, it will be Labor Day.

I swear, that early September three-day weekend has some mystical power. From the Tuesday after Labor Day to January 2 of the next year... time moves at Mach Speed. There is football (wooHOO), and corn mazes and pumpkin patches and Halloween. And then there's baking and planning and turkeys and lots of Tums.  And BAM. Sparkles and parties and fizzy drinks and Elfs on the Shelf (oh, I know you guys can't wait for the tales of Chuckie...). And then it's Christmas.  All of that happens in what feels like roughly three weeks.

And this year, added to the insanity.. we'll have a fifth birthday party for Eileen, complete with pierced ears and a Big Girl room with new paint and bunk beds.. we'll have the five year check-up complete with vaccinations for the 2012 school year. And then we'll have Little Baby Edith coming to join us just before Christmas.

All of this has been on my mind, this past week especially, as I watch so many of my friends sending their kiddos to their first day of Kindergarten. No doubt holding Eileen back is a good choice, and in all honesty, I am relishing this last year of her being still in PreK.  I can't quite fathom her being in Kindergarten yet. All the same, today I realized my tummy was all kinds of nerves. I have one more year of her being little, just one year. And on the one hand, it is a whole extra year.. but OMG.  So all that being said.. I will very much be trying to make the most of this last year of Little Eileen (even tho most days I am pretty sure she's already 12).

In this coming year, I expect no shortage of constant entertainment. Take for example, the last couple of weeks...

last night
me: hey ya know what? Grandpa & Beanie are going to come for your birthday!
e:    well, i know that mom.
me: how? I didn't even tell you til just now, I just found out!
e:    well MOM! i mean, they come EVERY year. so of COURSE they're coming.

me + bill = shocked faces.. to laugh or to call out the sass? (we went with laughing)

beach trip
well, actually,... there are far too many stories for me to even remember all of them.

• one morning, she woke early. we weren't ready to get up, so she happily agreed to entertain herself on the top bunk. she played quietly for about an hour (quietly should have been our first warning sign...) and then popped back to my side of the bed to see if we coudl get up now.  it took all of my will power to not shriek in terror. her idea of playing = applying what should be illegal amounts of BLACK eyeshadow (note: she did apply it to correct areas of her face) and a shade of red lipstick so bright she would have glowed at night.

• one morning, josh/sarah/bill/me were upstairs eating breakfast and such.  josh was looking for eileen, and we assumed she was playing downstairs. he went off in search of her and to pack some clothes, while bill/sarah/me stayed upstairs chatting.  a good ten minutes passed.  i went to head downstairs, walked past the couch, froze, and walked backwards. there was eileen. hiding between the couch and wall .. just listening.. for all of that time.. waiting to be found!?  oh that girl laughed until i am not sure she could breathe. she had highly amused herself to have tricked all four of her parents.

Alas, in my over-stuffed brain I can't recall more of the Eileen-isms.  If and when they come to me, I'll be sure and fill ya in.

In other news, I am officially an 'artiste' and Eileen's social calendar is overflowing.

Earlier this week, my department had an afternoon off site retreat. We went to one of those places where everyone paints, per the instructor's direction. We painted lemons, and it was riduculously fun. (in most cases, the idea is to have a glass of wine or two while painting, but when Uncle Scripps is picking up the tab.. well, not so much)...

That same afternoon, Eileen and I went to have a play date with Ethan/Lucas/Preston.  Possibly the most fun boys on the planet, and Eileen has blast with them.  She and L&P will be in the same class in one more week, and Heaven Help their teacher!  Then on Thursday Eileen and I went to meet Syd & Lani, bc OMG.. it was Syd's fifth birthday. AND her first day of Kindergarten. I'm not entirely sure how that happened, how we got to that point.. but here we are, and well, we're gonna have fun dang it! Speaking of fun, Eileen and Syd completely butted in on some guys' game of beanbag toss (aka cornhole, oh how I get the shivers when I say/type that word!).

They're such stinkers and so cute that they get away with murder!

Here's to a good week all...