Roll back the cameras!

We got back from the beach last Wednesday night. From that point on it's been a mad dash to the first day of school and the first day back to the office yesterday. I am sorry I'm not so good at blogging in the midst of a crazy busy schedule. For the next few days I thought I'd roll back the cameras and catch up on life here at the Swopes.

Last Thursday was Open House at the middle school for Joshua where we got to meet his teachers and find out what friends are in his classes. Then we ran to Target for our final school shopping spree. While we were there some pretty girls started following my 13yr old son around, saying his name and then hiding behind shelves and clothes. They were 10! I am not ready for this! I thought I was going to lose it when they showed up in the underwear and socks area where we he was selecting his first pair of "boxers." I'm not ready for that either. I thought men wore boxers. My first born son is now a man-cub.

Friday was Andrew''s Open House at the elementary school where we got to meet his teacher- who I love. Guess what? One of the girls from Target is in Andrew's class! That pretty girl who was stalking my 13 yr old totally blew off my 5th grader, rolled her eyes at him and flipped her hair as she spun around to walk away, right as I was introducing myself to her mom. I was oh so tempted to say something but I kept my mouth shut. Good thing I'm reading "Taming the Tongue." It surely came in handy that day.

Friday afternoon the boys invited four friends over to our house for an end-of-summer sleepover. It was so much fun! We had a house full with 2 parents and 6 boys! They ate pizza, ice cream, chips and brownies until they could eat no more. We played capture the flag, hide-n-go seek, a family game called ghost and then we did the unthinkable!

The boys wanted to do something crazy and fun before going to bed. So we gave them each a roll of toilet paper and loaded them into our van. This was not pre-meditated, I promise! JJ drove them over to a friends house and let them "roll" Clint's car at 10pm. He's actually the dad of two of the boys that were here, and he's a youth pastor, so we knew he'd be cool with it.

JJ took our camera and video taped the whole thing. Oh, and he wore his VT Hokie wig for added flare. When they got back we watched the video. The boys loved seeing themselves in the pitch of night with a camera spotlight and white rolls of paper sneaking around.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling bad about the mess Clint would have to clean up so I drove over at 7am to help him. His car was already gone and their trash can was full of toilet paper. There were a few straggling strips laying on the ground so I picked them up and my prankster's remorse was relieved. Later that morning when he came to get his boys the kids showed him the DVD. They loved seeing his reaction and smile. He had no idea it was them.

The rest of our weekend was filled with a birthday party, a date night, school paperwork, menu planning, more time with friends, church, youth group, and two very pooped parents!