Hi

There has not been much news coming from our family lately (that's a good thing) but it makes for some boring blogging.

The kids start school on August 18th. They both got accepted into the Oasis Charter School system. Ben into 8th grade and Lauren into 3rd. This will be Lauren's first day of school ever! She is very excited. The school requires uniforms and boy does that add up quickly! The good thing is that you don't need too many because variety isn't something uniform school kids get.

I still have to get supplies as well as backpacks and shoes for both.

Lauren has spent her summer playing with her good friend Tristan. He is 10 and loves to skateboard. They get along very well. Tristan's Mom is a kindergarten teacher, so she has had the summer off and has included Lauren in most of their fun outings.

Ben has pretty much sat around and played video games the whole summer. He bought an XBox 360 where he can play with his friends even if they are not together...they can still talk on a headset and vs. each other. It is very cool, but he is getting very lazy, very quickly.

We have decided not to do the travel baseball for the fall season. Ben will be doing school activities like basketball and track as well as playing for the Jr. Little League baseball team.

Rob's work is going well. There is a threat of more layoffs coming soon, but we take each day as it comes. We cannot worry every time this stuff happens. We have made plans if it should reach him and we will just wait and hope for the best.

I have been back to work now for a couple weeks and it is going well. I have been with LiveOps for 1 years now.

Regarding my mom, I am doing better. I still have times where the grief is too much. The biggest hurdle for me now is to figure out where I am needed. After taking care of her for the time I did, I began to feel as though she "needed" me and I got used to that.

Now I know that Ben, Lauren and Rob need me, but in a totally different way. If I wasn't there for my mom, she wouldn't be able to take care of herself. If I wasn't there for the kids or Rob, they would still get things done. So I guess during the time she was here, I am finding that I needed her too. Now I am feeling lost, without a purpose. I guess it will take time to find my place again.

The weather here has been way too hot to go out. The pools are too hot to swim in. Rob has started biking for exercise and sometime in the evenings, I will join him for a short trip. Lately it has rained every night and we haven't gone out. Rob will do 20 miles in the heat of the day, but not me...I feel like I will die in that heat and humidity. I like biking as the sun sets.

No storms for us yet. I guess they are all hanging out in Maine this year. I hope things get better soon. I know your summer is already limited...I hate to see so much terrible weather shorten it even more. I hope the apples are doing well. I cannot wait to get some crunchy MacIntosh apples from Maine in the fall.

Stay safe and be happy.
Smiles, Lynne