Back into routine.

It has been busy around here, getting back into the school routine. The hardest part is the evenings. Staying on a schedule of when to make dinner, eat, do homework, play outside, and have downtime inside. Oh yeah, and when to have a bath and read books and wind down to go to sleep. All between the hours of 4p - 8p! Especially with the warm weather and staying light so late, it is hard to stay on target. The kids and I are doing fine getting up in the mornings, Allie has always been an early bird, but Asher is grumpy most mornings and I am definitely NOT a morning person either. We are working on earlier bedtimes to help make up the difference. John and I were talking about how it will be easier when the cooler weather comes and its not as nice outside, plus it'll be getting dark early. Asher is doing well in school. He's enjoying his class and his new teacher, Mrs Tumey. She told the students that she is expecting and will be having her baby towards the end of the school year. Of course I'm happy for her, but that will be a new experience having a full-time sub for several weeks, especially towards the end with testing and so forth. I am sure it will be fine though - we'll make it through! Homework started Monday night. No Math this week, but Reading and Weekly Spelling Words. Spelling consists of 15 words. The list is given on Mondays and it is up to Asher to study and learn them (no homework to turn in on them). The first night we wrote them 3x each, and last night we wrote each word in a pyramid. Wednesday we did a practice test and figured out which words needed more practice. Tonight was writing again - repetition! - and verbal. There are still a couple of words he isn't 100% on so we will see how the test goes tomorrow. Reading is going well. I was a little overwhelmed Monday when I went through his backpack and saw the book - it had a 900+ word count. His assignment Monday night was to read through about half the book, and then tell me 2-3 main ideas from those pages and I write them down. We also have to time him while reading. It took him 17 minutes to read those pages. There were several new words to him, but overall I was impressed with how well he is reading! Tuesday night we finished that book, and did the same thing with the summary. Last night was a new book and tonight was 2 new books, also doing the summary. Mrs Tumey called Tuesday afternoon and at first my heart sank as I thought we were having a behavior or some other issue. She assured me everything was fine and was just calling to see if I had filled some forms out. I had, I had just turned them all in to the office instead of giving one of them directly to her. We chatted for several minutes about Asher and she said she really enjoys his personality and all of his stories. She said he is doing well there and asked how he seemed at home and if he was saying everything was OK. I told her yes and that also I was a little surprised at the reading book, but then impressed with how well he did, and she told me that Ash is in her most advanced reading group. Yay! That makes me feel really good. I have always LOVED reading, and every year in school I would be reading several grade levels higher than where I was. I of course hope to instill that love of reading and excelling at it with my own children. Good start! :) I'm also getting back into my daytime routine - I have started back at the YMCA exercising, first thing in the mornings after dropping Asher off at school @8a. I went Thur (first day of school) and Fri of last week. Allie had really missed it and loved seeing her "teachers" there and playing. I have also gone Mon/Tue/Wed and today of this week. Tomorrow is a home day! I have missed it terribly - not just the workouts and how they make me feel better (physically and mentally) but also my Y workout buddies! It feels great getting back into the swing of things. I am going to try for 3 days at week at the Y, and maybe some weeks 4. It usually takes me 2 hours to workout and shower. Allie's Preschool starts this coming Monday, the 23rd. Yesterday I had a meeting with her teacher, Mrs DeLong, to sign and fill out more paperwork and to drop off school supplies. Allie was thrilled to go to her new classroom and to see Mrs DeLong. Allie has been talking nonstop about her teacher and what she wants to tell her and show her, this has been going on for at least 2 weeks. Probably since we have been preparing Asher to go back to school. Oh, and she has been upset every single day that I have dropped Asher off at school and she didn't get to go. Tuesday she literally burst into tears and was still crying when we got to the Y, saying she missed her brother and she wanted to go to school and "Why does Asher get to go first? I want to go first!" We spent about an hour in the classroom and Allie of course wasn't ready to leave. She had asked where the other children were. She got to see her cubby and her seat at the table and her mailbox. She say that she is sitting in between two boys and informed Mrs DeLong that she didn't like boys and didn't want boys in her preschool class! Haha. We showed her on the calendar how many more days until she gets to start. There is another little girl named Allie in her class, and it's not a nickname, so Mrs DeLong asked us would Allie want to be called Allison or Allie B? I said I call her Allie B at home sometimes and that should be OK. Allie piped up and said, "I'm not a bee. I'm an ALLIE-GATOR!" since that's John's nickname for her. We laughed at that and said that at school that probably wouldn't be a good idea! Then all the kids would want animal nicknames! I told her, "You can be Allison or Allie B. Which do you want?" and she said, "Allie B, but I'm still an Allie-Gator!" Allie also got a haircut Wednesday, about 2" off - it's still nice and long, but so much healthier/prettier and ISN'T TANGLING which is fabulous since she has such a tender head! I had 3" cut from mine last Saturday. The summer sun and activities do a number on our hair, that's for sure. We have continued to can tomatoes, although not in the last several days - no time - and have over 60 quarts. I have already made a few recipes using the canned tomatoes/sauce and WOW the difference is amazing. Canning is very labor intensive to do, but we are enjoying the results! Our raspberries are also still going strong, and should up until frost. We are picking about 2-3 pints every couple of days. We eat them fresh, give them away, or they will hold in the fridge a couple of days. We haven't experimented with preserving or cooking or anything with them other than just eating them right off the plant or smushed over vanilla ice cream. The installation work on our two cattle waterers is almost complete. It feels really good knowing the cattle have good water available year round - it also means we could add other animals, like a horse, to our farm and be able to care for them year round as well. Before, we had to sell our cattle when cold weather came as the ponds, which was their only source of drinking water, would freeze. This resulted in selling when prices were low (because other farmers were doing the same) and not making as much of a profit. Also, being able to have year round cattle means we can buy heifers that calve. It definitely is better all the way around. While the water lines were being installed for the cattle, which is part of a conservation project we are signed up with through the government and therefore mostly paid, we decided to have water lines and faucets installed to the dog kennel, down through the fortress for the gardens, at the barn for the birds, and over to the corral for when we need to pen the cattle. Hooray! This will make our lives easier in many ways. And I got my belated birthday present today (I turned 33 on the 6th) ~ a 17" HP laptop! So as I type this I am sitting all comfy in my recliner upstairs with John instead of in the cold basement (aka dungeon). I am totally stoked!!! That's about it for now! :)