it's the most wonderful time of the year

or, at least for most parents, it is. but i'm not "most parents," am i now?

today is the teen's first day of 8th grade. summer vacation is officially over, and i'm actually pretty damn bummed about it - almost as much as the teen is.

when i was stuck working full-time and had to figure out how to keep her occupied and/or supervised while on vacation, it bit ass. but then when i was able to switch to part-time status and somehow managed to finagle getting every other week off during summer (because of course, she was with her dad every other week as she continues to be now), i started really looking forward to summers. we always made plans to do all sorts of fun stuff, like amusement parks, the beach, movies, whatever caught our eye that week. and we had a blast together, along with BFF. and this year, it was even more fun as we included the bean in our summer madness.

and now it's over. i can't believe how quickly the summer flew by. all of a sudden, it was our last weekend of freedom, and we were shopping for new clothes and school supplies, savoring every minute of our dwindling quality time together. we got our toes did and then treated ourselves to some ice cream.

BFF and i splurged on oreo sundaes:

and then the teen, who'd ordered first, ate her sad little single scoop of bubble gum ice cream while eyeing the gooey goodness we dug into.

after a failed attempt at a GTG with my mom, we spent all day yesterday cleaning and organizing the teen's room - weeding through old clothes, laughing at pictures, going through her dresser drawers, and packing bags full of stuff to take to goodwill. she was all grouchy about spending her last full day of vacation cleaning, but when i asked her what else she'd rather be doing, she couldn't come up with a single idea. heh. i threw out suggestions - mall, afternoon tea (which she loves as much as i do), movie - but grumpy gus took hold and she refused to cheer up.

we ended up running out of hangers (holy shit, she's got more clothes than both me and the hub put together!) and decided to make a target run and drop off the bags at goodwill along the way. we'd also managed to go through a couple of boxes of old stuff in the garage that she hadn't touched since we moved into this house, and ended up either tossing or donating most of it. and i was astonished to find that goodwill no longer accepts toys of any kind. grrrrrrr. now i'll have to find someone else to take this bag full of perfectly good stuffed animals and crap. i'm sure it won't be difficult at all, but i was hoping to get rid of it all yesterday, dang it.

the hub was quite proud of our accomplishment (remember, i'm the slob, he's the anal clean freak) and even happier to hear that we'd even planned dinner. we go out an awful lot, and he gets tired of it. and so, okay, it wasn't the healthiest of dinners - meatballs in bbq sauce with veggies and tater tots - but it was tasty, and it's always nice to sit down as a family and enjoy a meal at home.

and this morning, we all got up early, got ready, and i made breakfast for the teen to get her started off right. after she'd devoured her eggs, bacon, and juice, i had her smile purty for her annual "first day of school" picture. hey, at least i don't make her do it at school.

then i decided to take pictures of the rest of us.

eighth grade. holy crap. this time next year, she'll be a freaking freshman. and it'll be here before we know it.