Boy! Blogging? Who has the time?

Coming here and sharing thoughts, ideas, funny moments, sad moments...I sure needed a break. As much as I love to write and to share I have found it rather difficult to find the time to do so. Ideas run through my head all the time but finding the time to sit down and put them on paper or in a blog has been near impossible. However, with that being said I am so glad I have this avenue to do all of the above as I feel this is the best therapy I could find for myself!

Three years ago I remember talking with Dan and talking about our "three year plan". Nick was going to start kindergarten (no more daycare costs) and Dan would begin looking for a job that isn't so tough on the bod (you know we are getting older and the aches and pains come more often). It's funny I remember feeling that relief for a fleeting moment and then...I found out I was pregnant with Danny, about two months pregnant with Danny... that was a shocker!

So here we are now, three years later (NO! I am not pregnant again!) and Nick is starting kindergarten and we are looking at a new three year plan when Danny will be finishing daycare, Tori will begin college, Morgan will begin high school and we will be moving right along?! Right?!?! Somehow I think planning is a mistake! Why, do you ask? Well the track record hasn't been so great!

Speaking of Nick and Kindergarten I am praying to GOD that he is ready. I keep thinking he should be and we've prepared him well and then he pees all over the toilet and the floor and/or he doesn't wipe very well (how do I know? I WASH THE UNDERWEAR), he runs around screaming like a wild man and he can't seem to sit still. I feel so for his teacher. We are feeling positive that he got the teacher we hoped for. She is young, she has high energy and she goes to our church...she's a Christian so she'll forgive us right? LOL I  sure hope so or Danny is in trouble when he gets to school.
I know there are many parents who hold their children back but honestly I am a firm believer in children being sponges and the earlier they begin to learn more they CAN take it in and retain it...just as soon as they stop climbing on tables and chairs and putting various small toys and food items in their noses!

This year we will be venturing into the new world of junior high, kindergarten, a toddler going to daycare for the first time without big brother and FOUR days a week of dance...hahaha! I would like to share with you that babies, diapers, formula, waking up at night sometimes more than once is a breeze compared to raising teens and tweens. If you thought it was expensive and time consuming in the beginning...watch out! School starts on Tuesday and I am quite certain I have already spent every dime to my name and written out about a dozen different checks, stuffed cash into half a dozen envelopes and filled out every form known to man. We have exactly one week to get our groove with school and homework before the dance craze begins...whew! I am tired just writing about it.

Did I mention I am getting older?! It's amazing the aches and pains, loss of great eye sight, etc that come with age. I totally thought my sister and brother were making that shit up to scare me! NOT!
It's okay, I am still the baby of the family and I enjoy reminding them of this because in doing so it makes me feel, for just  a fleeting moment that I am not so old after all! (Sorry Greg and Joanne that you are both so old).

Today is September 1st and it is the beginning of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month (the color is gold). I am remembering my baby girl and how she would have started college this year. Last spring when CDH presented us with her diploma at graduation I thought I would simply disappear I was so sad. I have since renewed my strength and drive to fight this beast and to continue helping Children's Lighthouse to open the first Children's Hospice and Respite Center in the Midwest. It will happen, it must. Our children and their families deserve this space and this care.

So, summer is coming to an end and I know I won't be back to write for awhile but I wanted to share some of the happenings of Perez Party of Eight and wish you all a wonderful school year!  I hope to find some humor in the chaos to share here again! Enjoy some of our pictures from our summer vacation with my sissy and family!