Life with the Ball's: They're Gone!

The boys left for school and my sanity returned. Funny how that works. The house was so quiet when James {handyman/contractor/newest member of family} arrived he didn't think anyone was home. I think he was as happy to have the noisy, rambunctious boys and all their friends out of the house so he could work in peace as I was. He didn't say that of course but I could tell.
So life is good. Parker is my quiet little shadow who quietly plays, quietly asks for my attention, and quietly takes afternoon naps. I'm enjoying the quiet, catching up on a good book and only feeling a tiny bit guilty for enjoying it so much.
And so you don't read this post thinking everything is suddenly rainbows and butterflies around here, I should mention the boys nearly missed the bus on the second day of school. So pathetic. So typical of me. Picture Landon, the new little first grader who counts down the hours until he gets to go back to school, sprinting down the street, nearly in tears as he's yelling at the bus to wait, Parker and I running behind him while I yell over my shoulder at Ethan to hurry up as he's got one arm in his jacket, one shoe half on and the other shoe in his hand. Yep, that's how we arrived at the bus stop. Well, that's how they arrived. Once Ethan got his shoe on he sprinted past me and got on the bus and I didn't see the point in walking the rest of the way to the stop so I could chat with the other moms who all had their act together. Instead I turned around and walked home, waving sheepishly at the bus driver who now knows exactly which kids will be the ones to ruin his schedule. Yep, that's us! I'm not sure that whole experience qualifies as a win but since the bus driver was kind enough to wait for Ethan and Landon so I didn't have to drive our sorry selves to school, it's a win to me.