There just simply aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done that I need/want. While watching Men In Black the other day, I thought how much more productive I could be on Galactic Time or whatever they call it, a 36 hour day! :)
The summer flew by, and now here we are 2 weeks into the new school year and I am still finding my new footing with the scheduling. I haven't gotten into routine with my crafting and that is frustrating. However I know that when the weather is cold is when that tends to crank up.
Ash came home last Thursday saying 2 kids threw up in class that day, and by evening he was throwing up and was up half the night with fever and vomiting and the next day with diarrhea. It is too early in the school year to be fighting viruses! Many children were out sick the same time, in one class alone 10 kids were absent on that Friday!! Ash made a pretty quick recovery considering, and by Saturday was completely himself. Sunday everyone seemed alright, then yesterday morning Allie was covered in vomit in her crib. Ahhhhhh. Now I am dreading that John or I get it and the fact that it took so many days past exposure. Yikes. Today Allie seems completely recovered as well, thankfully! After our dehydration/hospital experience back in March I get really nervous when the children are sick. I washed my hands a million times and Purelled a billion and used over half a can of Lysol. I am such a clean freak anyway that I just don't understand why it seems we are so susceptible to germs. We don't wear shoes in the house, we wash hands frequently as well as have Asher change clothes as soon as he walks in the door from school. I watched a segment on the Today Show yesterday that demonstrated how easily germs transfer throughout the house, and thought I CAN'T STOP IT! I do my best but there is no way short of living in individual air capsule bubbles or wearing masks and gloves! I am constantly telling the kids not to touch their face, and we are trying to get it through Asher's head WHY WHY WHY we wash and stay clean etc. He seems to be in the conveniently forgetting mode.
Anyway!!!
I have been neglecting this blog! I just haven't felt like getting on here with everything else we have going on. I am not feeling the OLWs I've had. I will stick it out, but wish I could devote more (mental) energy to it. I just feel like we are so busy, busy, busy. I know a big part of that is my going to the Y 3 mornings a week. Instead of putting Ash on the bus at 7:15 and having an hour to myself to get computer stuff done, then most often staying home, I am out of the house with both kids by 7:45 and don't get back until often lunchtime. Then eat and Allie to nap. Naptime is my time to get things done, but my list is long of things I want/need to do while Allie naps and since I have been out of the house in the morning, laundry/cleanup/etc has not gotten done. We also have Storytime on Wednesdays or Thursdays depending on the week, plus if Playgroup starts back up that is usually Tuesdays. I have to have a down day though, so something is going to give. I won't give up the Y as I know I need it physically and mentally, I might try to make a weekly/daily schedule of naptime - I kind of did that last winter and it helped. Like Mondays are computer, Tuesdays crafts, Wednesdays TV/Wii (early dismissal for Ash), etc, etc. Hey that sounds like Asher's activities at school! But scheduling DOES work.
We have had such pretty weather these past couple of weeks. Unseasonably low the last several days, as in the mid-70s.....in AUGUST! Yesterday the record here was 101 degrees - set in 2007! That was our first summer on the farm and it was brutal. Yesterday it was only like 75! Definitely feels like Fall but I have a feeling Summer won't let go so fast...
We are getting a new computer, thankfully. Our current PC is over 3 years old and very slow and just not conducive to what we do. Factor in all of the internal hard drive crashes it has had recently and it is time!! I built one off the HP website and got a great deal. We also got a new monitor that has already arrived (our current monitor was 6 or so years old). It is several inches larger and is taking some getting used to, love it though! I have been spending time here and there backing up things and burning discs and printing off important emails, basically getting ready to not have the current hard drive anymore and ready to start from scratch! The computer is scheduled to arrive this Thursday via FedEx. Since our gate stays locked and the FedEx guy doesn't have a key, I will have to leave the gate open all day. Since we also need a signature I will be staying home. Once it arrives it will be a whirlwind getting it hooked up and things switched over. It has Windows Vista which I am not sure about, have heard such horrible things about it, but at least the new Windows 7 is coming out in October and I have a free upgrade to that.
Also Thursday is a Lowe's delivery of our new fridge. We ordered it at the end of July and it has been delayed in getting here from overseas. It is a Samsung and apparently they were having production vs demand issues. We are super excited to get it, it is the French Door with the bottom freezer. Our current fridge works, but has issues of its own, and for once we are replacing an appliance in a non-critical way! haha. Our usual MO is for something to break completely and then it is a mad dash to find something in stock that we can take home THAT DAY! It will be a crazy busy time getting the fridge and new computer all set up!
Let's see, what else? How about some pictures?
Here is Ash on his first day of 1st Grade. Not sure why his one eye looks all crazy in this pic. We were late due to construction traffic. The classroom was empty when we got there, and Ash started to get concerned. I told him to find his chair, then we would go look for his class, that they were probably in the cafeteria (they were). I just realized I haven't blogged since the day before he started school. Yikes!
And outside the classroom in the hallway.
Asher is doing great at school. The homework has not been as difficult as I feared, although Math hasn't started yet. Asher did have a slight meltdown on like day 2 of homework, but we worked through it and he has done fine since. We are doing homework immediately upon getting off the bus, well after changing clothes and washing hands. ;) Last year we waited until I was prepping dinner and that was stressful. I hate to make him do it right away, but it has to be done regardless and so far it seems getting it over and done with right away is best for us, especially since Allie is usually still napping. Miss Lambert has said that she is keeping homework lighter at the beginning of the year.
Ash is figuring out the changes from Kindergarten to 1st Grade, from the workload to behavior expectations to just basic differences in teachers. Mrs Hughes did a fantastic job preparing him for 1st Grade, and the transition has been really smooth! Speaking of Mrs Hughes, Ash says he tries to go by and see her in the mornings before the bell rings, but it depends on what time he gets there. If he rides the bus, he is at the school by 8a without fail, and the first bell doesn't ring until 8:15 and the tardy bell at 8:20. However, if I drive him, he tends to get there closer to 8:15 and usually has to go straight to his class. I am working on that, though! My goal is to leave the house by 7:40 if not 7:30 to have plenty of time to get him to school and then go on to the Y before my exercise classes start. I hate feeling so rushed yet seem doomed to it.
We have signed Ash up for Flag Football again, and I am waiting to hear the schedule for that. It will be at least one evening a week, maybe two depending on how they do practice. The good part is he will be on a team and compete against other teams of 1st and 2nd graders only. Yay! Last year it was preschool and K classes which as some of you may remember did not go over well. So much so that I didn't want to sign him up again, but John and Ash both wanted to! So we'll see. I am trying to keep an open mind! I also have tried to inquire about the Swim Team through the YMCA, but the aquatics director is on maternity leave.
Before I go, here is a picture of Allie with her friend Brie, cooking together at Brie's house a couple of weekends ago when we went for dinner. Denetra (Brie's mom and a good friend!) was so great about the girls "helping" and didn't care a lick about the mess. :) The girls were getting the flour mixture ready for the fried green tomatoes.
Alright, outta here!
And outside the classroom in the hallway.
Asher is doing great at school. The homework has not been as difficult as I feared, although Math hasn't started yet. Asher did have a slight meltdown on like day 2 of homework, but we worked through it and he has done fine since. We are doing homework immediately upon getting off the bus, well after changing clothes and washing hands. ;) Last year we waited until I was prepping dinner and that was stressful. I hate to make him do it right away, but it has to be done regardless and so far it seems getting it over and done with right away is best for us, especially since Allie is usually still napping. Miss Lambert has said that she is keeping homework lighter at the beginning of the year.
Ash is figuring out the changes from Kindergarten to 1st Grade, from the workload to behavior expectations to just basic differences in teachers. Mrs Hughes did a fantastic job preparing him for 1st Grade, and the transition has been really smooth! Speaking of Mrs Hughes, Ash says he tries to go by and see her in the mornings before the bell rings, but it depends on what time he gets there. If he rides the bus, he is at the school by 8a without fail, and the first bell doesn't ring until 8:15 and the tardy bell at 8:20. However, if I drive him, he tends to get there closer to 8:15 and usually has to go straight to his class. I am working on that, though! My goal is to leave the house by 7:40 if not 7:30 to have plenty of time to get him to school and then go on to the Y before my exercise classes start. I hate feeling so rushed yet seem doomed to it.
We have signed Ash up for Flag Football again, and I am waiting to hear the schedule for that. It will be at least one evening a week, maybe two depending on how they do practice. The good part is he will be on a team and compete against other teams of 1st and 2nd graders only. Yay! Last year it was preschool and K classes which as some of you may remember did not go over well. So much so that I didn't want to sign him up again, but John and Ash both wanted to! So we'll see. I am trying to keep an open mind! I also have tried to inquire about the Swim Team through the YMCA, but the aquatics director is on maternity leave.
Before I go, here is a picture of Allie with her friend Brie, cooking together at Brie's house a couple of weekends ago when we went for dinner. Denetra (Brie's mom and a good friend!) was so great about the girls "helping" and didn't care a lick about the mess. :) The girls were getting the flour mixture ready for the fried green tomatoes.
Alright, outta here!
