Three Oldest Gone

This morning I got up early to drive Nathan, May and Elijah to the bus at Community Music School.  They have left for Ithaca, New York for a choir experience for the next entire week.  They will be staying with choir families in their homes (we are so grateful there are people providing this service).  Mornings will be dedicated to learning music.  Afternoons will be dedicated to pool time.  Evenings will be dedicated to getting to know the families they are staying with who will both feed them and show them around town.  Ithaca has gorges and waterfalls, Ithaca College (where the kids will sing), Cornell University and other attractions.

Once I got home, I decided it was time to delve into the pile of "stuff" the kids brought home on the last few days of school.  That turned into reorganizing the art closet, which turned into cleaning the kitchen.  You can't clean the kitchen without mopping the floor and then vacuuming the surrounding rooms.  You can't vacuum when the vacuum suddenly loses power.  I found that it did so because I had never once cleaned the filter which was so clogged with dust and hair that I can't believe my vacuum hadn't ceased to exist.  You can't vacuum the main floor without working your way up the stairs and trying to figure out why your oldest son has such bad allergies in his own room.  Then, you certainly wish you never even went to check out those two boy rooms.  Oh BOY!!  Once that mess was worked out, I found that I needed to clean the bathroom (slightly) and feed the birds the last of the seed they will get until fall arrives.  The result was 5-6 hours of work, but a good feeling.

Joseph and I decided to take Sariah and Brigham to Impressions 5.  They haven't gotten so many visits to zoos and museums as the older kids got when they were young and this is the week I have decided to make up for that.  It's a very different thing taking two kids to the museum than it is to take five.  It was a very fun visit.

I do miss the other kids though.  I hope they have wonderful experiences.  When they left, I gave them each a hug and told them to come back better people.  I told them that I would try to be a better person when they get back too.