Rejoice! It's back to school!

There was much rejoicing this morning as the school bus entered the neighborhood like a yellow beacon of liberation. I was so giddy I took a picture of the boys as they returned to their institution of higher learning.

It's not that we mind having the boys around 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It's just that we're terrible at planning things to do with them. The usual routine is to wake without any semblance of a plan, wait until they fray our nerves, and then yell at them to find something to do. When those tactics fail, we employ various new tactics. You can guess their effectiveness:

• "Josh, go outside and run around the house five times."
• "Josh, get some paper, sit down and write a list of the things you want to do today ... No, lunch does not count."
• "Matthew, if you aren't dressed by lunchtime, you're not getting lunch!"
• "Josh, I'm giving you a new chore. You need to open the shades every morning."
• "Josh, go count how many trees we have outside."
• "Matthew, get dressed!!!!"
• "Josh, before you can turn on the TV, you have to put away the clothes I fold ... No, don't throw them! Neatly!!!!"
• "Josh, go to Nathan's house!"
• "Matthew, you're not even dressed yet? ... Oh, I give up."

Those were some of the highlights of our Christmas vacation. Yes, we had some presents and a few laughs, but in an ironic twist on Mother Nature, the Christmas vacation days seem like the longest days of the year. Thank you, yellow school bus! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!