The last night of summer...

We called Saturday night the last night of summer, because tonight we have to make sure we're in bed at a decent time.  And we have to make sure we're in our normal beds.  Last night we decided to camp out in the newly finished toy room in the barn.  It was one of the goals of the summer; to be able to all sleep together in one room, enjoying the hard work that dad and pa have put in the past two summers. 

So, five of us (Maria slept in her crib and was none the wiser) changed in to our p.j.'s, brought blankets, pillows, lambies, bunnies and other misc. lovies to the upstairs toy room.  We played "Ned's Head", a game from Uncle Ben that is totally geared to boys, but the girls played nonetheless.  Ahren won as usual.  Then we turned out all the lights and listened to "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" in the Chronicles of Narnia series.  We're slowly working our way through all the books. After that we said our prayers and the kids drifted off to sleep.  It was perfect - except for the very hard floor and Annie singing herself to sleep at the top of her lungs.

I snuck away to my bed about 11:30 and slept more comfortably until about 5:30 when I rejoined the crew.  I was excited to watch the kids wake up.  Annie was first.  She rolled over a couple of times and even looked at us but then quickly shut her eyes again.  When she finally realized where she was and what had happened, her first words were "That was pretty fun!".  Then she promptly got up and went to the craft table to color.  So sweet!  Then Ahren woke up and was all grins.  Next was Lydia after Annie stepped on her hair a few times.  Bummer of a way to wake up.  Maria was last (which is uncommon) and we all had breakfast together for the last morning of summer.

I'm nervous and excited about what tomorrow brings for our family.  Ahren starts Kindergarten and Tim starts teaching again.  I expect both of them to be very tired when they get home.  I think I'll try to do something special for dinner, like make Ahren's favorite.  Shouldn't be too hard - it's pizza!