I have achieved

school supply Nirvana.

I have everything. Everything. Bwahahahaha. Three gargantuan lists, from K4 to eighth grade. Including band supplies.

Read it and weep, kids.

Too quiet

I'm ready to have the older two back now. I'm tired of playing Mario Party 8.

I'm ready to go back to work. Someone hire me, please! My house can't get much cleaner, and my dh refuses to fund any more home improvement projects. Plus, I think he's scared I'll saw my arm off if I try to build a deck.

Camp Grandma

The next two weeks around here are going to be fairly quiet. Blissfully so.

My family has a tradition of Camp Grandma. It started when I was a child. My cousins and I would take turns staying together at Grandma's house; we were divided fairly evenly by ages. My older cousins and I (stairsteps, J's the oldest, then me, then L, then J2) would show up first, then rotate to each others' houses. Our sisters, all 4-5 years younger, would start at my aunt's house, then go to Camp Grandma.

The result: Our parents all managed a week of kid-free quiet; we had no siblings bothering us; we were able to hang out with girls our own age; and best of all, Grandma got her girls to herself.

We all have fond memories of those weeks in the summer. So when my oldest was old enough, I started lobbying for Camp Grandma to start anew. No cousins, alas, but bonding time with grandparents is always good. So is blissful quiet.

My older two are living the life of Riley now. They are on the lake house this week with my husband's parents, then they move to the farm with my parents. I'm enjoying some bonding time with our youngest. She's so used to being bossed around by the older two . . . now she calls the shots.

She's been playing Wii without interference. She's had me play Hungry, Hungry Hippos and Trouble. The cats are all hers.

Now, that's not to say she's not a tad annoyed that she can't do Camp Grandma this year. She's almost 5, but two weeks is a long time away from home. We moved further away, so unlike years past, it isn't a simple car drive to fetch someone who has gotten homesick.

Next year, we'll probably let her go. I'm going to miss my game-playing buddy, but everyone should have the memories made at Camp Grandma.

Stupid genes

I have, in the past month, figured out that I've managed to send some lovely genes down the line to my kids.

My eldest seems to have inherited the anxiety issues that run through my family in spades. So I'm teaching her meditation and yoga and aromatherapy. That's what works without adding meds to the mix, so we start there.

At the peds this morning, it came out that the middle guy has my nearsightedness. He's apparently had trouble reading the board "but only when I'm in the last two rows, Mom. It's ALWAYS fuzzy in the last two rows."

So when I make my eye appointment later this week, I'll make his as well. Poor tyke. Although I may have to do a video of him when he learns that tree leaves have definition and are not meant to be gobs of green. I still recall the moment I figured that out on the drive home from the optometrist when I was newly glassed.

Off to get a library card

This might not seem like a monumental thing, but it is Mommy-Tracked's sanity. Books. DVDs. Storytime. A place to take the kids where they won't whine.

I've moved multiple times in my life. I'm about to get my 10th. Every time I move, I keep the library card. It's my record of the places that kept me sane. Sorry, Plainfield. I'm not giving it back.

A shout out to all the libraries who have given me books, music and videos that have transported me out of the humdrum and into other worlds:

Scenic Regional Library

Daniel Boone Regional Library

River Bluffs Regional Library

North Castle Public Library

Pleasant Hill Public Library

Altoona Public Library

West Des Moines Public Library

Plainfield Public Library District

Springfield-Greene County Regional Library