where did the summer go?

I just absolutely cannot believe it. Where did the summer go? It seems like just yesterday that i was blogging about my trip to the store where the kids were fighting about who got to sit in the front seat, etc., and here it is 1 week until school starts. Of course, settling back into a routine will be wonderful, but then we are back to getting up at 6:00 a.m., making school lunches, car pools, and all the things that go with it. I am, I will admit, looking forward a little bit to being able to clean my kitchen before 8:00 a.m. and having it still be clean until 2:30 when they all come piling home, and being able to finish a thought or being able to get out the brownies in the middle of the day without having to share, but then it is back to just me at home, no more late night movies and junk food parties, smiling through gritted teeth trying to drag my 9-year-old out of bed, not to mention dragging myself out of bed. But if the school year goes as fast as the summer has, which is usually does, then it will be summer again before we know it, and I will thorougly enjoy it.