I love holiday's because its a chance to gather with family and friends and have fun.  I wouldn't say that Halloween is my favorite but it is fun.  Sunday evening I gathered my boys together and we carved pumpkins.  We had so much fun looking for designs.  The boys had a hard time deciding which one they were going to do, but they were able to narrow it down.  Then the work started, for me!  They get excited to carve but then realize halfway through that it is much more than they signed on for and I get stuck finishing the job.  And every year after Halloween I tell myself we are not carving pumpkins again.  The things we do for our kids. 
I think my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.  It is all the excitement without the stress of buying gifts and hoping everyone is happy with what they got.  And its half the work; you only have to prepare.  This year I am going to have to get my act together and make sure I have all my homework caught up, done, and everything ready for spring semester and graduation in order to really enjoy my favorite holiday.  This semester has been so hard for me.  I am so burnt out and at the same time so ready to graduate.   I have struggled to balance everything in my life and it has been especially hard this time around. There have been times that I have wished that I took this semester off, but graduation is so close that I can taste it and I am so ready to be done.  I just have to keep focused and keep the end in sight.  I am so grateful to my family for their support and patience in my journey.   It will be so worth it for all of us.  I can't wait for the next chapter in our life.  Now if it will just get here sooner...

I love the peace and quiet of a house full of sleeping boys.  Especially when just a few hours earlier I was getting after them for not getting ready for bed and for not finishing their chores.  I lost it at that point! Nothing like an irate mom, right?  I finally got them all go to their rooms, but felt guilty for losing it with them.  I hate when I let my self get angry and then not apologize to them for my actions.  Not that moms are not justified for feeling this way, right?  I sometimes wish that my boys would just knock my socks off and just do what they know is supposed to be done.  It's not like I haven't had them ever do the dishes, or vacuum, or mop, or clean their room, or, or, or.....And the house certainly does not clean itself, contrary to popular belief.  Boy are they in for a rude awaking when they get out on their own and they have not picked up on anything that I have taught them!  I think when they start seriously dating I will foreworn their dates that they are not to do anything domestic for them.  Make them do it themselves.  Prove to me and to the girls that they are capable.  (just some late night ranting's and ravings of an annoyed and tired mom, but don't, for one minute think that I won't do it).

I have been lax in my blog...Chalk it up to too stressed and busy to get everything done in a day!  I am really feeling the stress this semester.  I am not sure if it is because of all the requirements for graduation on top of all the regular stuff with classes and life, but I need to put my big girl panties on and deal with it!
Anyway, my family has been busy with hunting this last week.  My husband and two older boys went hunting last week and only harvested one deer.  My oldest was excited because he is the one who got it, but my other son and husband were not to happy.  So to quench his hunting fever, my husband and my third son left to go hunting again today.  They will be gone until Saturday.  I hope they are successful!  We certainly could use the meat and it would get that elk fever out of my husband.  I have got to admit though, it is fun to go hunting and I have not been able to go for the last several years!  Maybe sometime in the next couple of years I will be able to go!  The nice result of them being gone is that I have less people to boss around and argue with!  And less people to create a mess in the house!  As much as I love having my whole family home, there are benefits to having a few of them gone every now and then!
There is never enough time in the day to get everything done.  I am happy to get at least half of what I intended taken care of.  I think most of us are that way, now if I could only put all my energy into homework and not stress about anything else.  However, living in a house full of males and leaving it up to them would result in a pig sty!  Someday I will have them all trained, but not soon enough!