August! How'd We Get to August?
Oy! I had intended to blog every day this month, but then life happened. I'm not sure where to start, so I think this will be very stream of consciousness sort of stuff.
1) This is our first week back to school. Sari's in 5th grade, TJ's in 9th, and Mimi's in 10th. He got a bump up when we moved to NC because they drew the "cut off date line" in a different place the year he was born than FL did, so we'll see how it goes as the year goes by, but I think he'll be fine.
2) Mimi has her learner's permit, but has spent about 20 minutes behind the wheel of my car total because the van intimidates her...that has to change. We live in the car, by now, she should have enough hours logged to drive to the moon and back! Where is good, positive peer pressure when you need it?
3) Scott has a job coach who is meant to be helping him find a job, but that's a super-slow process. They have filled out a few applications, but apparently I flubbed the first call for an interview by not understanding how the whole process was supposed to work, so he has no leads yet. That's okay, because to be frank, they are barking up the wrong tree with the jobs they applied to. His old job coach is currently in grad school, and the new one is still figuring things out, so in the process, we're in the weeds a bit (which is how I didn't know what to do when they called and how the interview got flubbed, but since it's for a job that wouldn't be a good fit for him anyway, I'm not too worried).
4) My garden is totally a bust (again) this year. We got 2 meals worth of dragon's tongue beans, and maybe 3 pea pods before the heat just burned them up, but my tomatoes may or may not ever yield anything worth eating. Sigh. I think until we are out of this house, a garden is just a dream. The only area in the back yard that is flat enough for a garden just doesn't get enough light to allow plants to mature at any sort of normal rate.
5) I had a kidney stone. They seem quite (un)popular right now among people I know. Mine took 3 weeks to pass, and so I lost 3 weeks of my summer to lying around in pain. On the plus side, I did get some pleasure reading done ;). Two weeks in, during a period of intense pain (I had 4 kids naturally-one at home- I'm talking serious pain here) I went to the ER just to be sure it really WAS a kidney stone and it was the size that could indeed come out on its own and that I wasn't just putting on a brave face for nothing. SOOOO glad that is over. I think I got it from taking Airborne on my trip to Scotland. I read high doses of Vitamin C can cause them, especially if you aren't drinking enough. I drink more water than most elephants, but while traveling it's hard to stay hydrated, so I think it was a one-two punch. Lesson learned!
6) Scotland was fabulous and I do have pictures to post, I promise.
7) For the first time ever, about half of what my older kids are learning this year I will not be teaching them. It will be a HUGE adjustment for them, but good for them and for me, I think. I need to work more with Sari one on one.
8) Sari has some sort of learning issue. Her evaluator thinks it's an eye tracking issue. Either way, though she's made huge strides in reading, she still reads below grade level, and fluency-wise (speed wise) is equal to a kindergartner. That has to change, so this year we will focus on some intensive therapies for her...I'm just not sure what that looks like yet. First up is an eye appt.
9) Em is playing volleyball right now. She has practice 3-4 times a week. Right at dinner time :). Tonight is 5:30-8. But really 5:15-8 because they need to get there early to set up. So that's another reason she needs to get cracking on this driving thing.
10) TJ's soccer will start soon too. Just to add to the crazy.
I have other things I'm sure, but I'll stop there. This listing thing makes everything seem kind of like a downer, but it's not really. It's just busy, and crazy, and, I think, pretty normal for just about everyone I know. I'll leave you with two pictures from last week's service project at church. We were packing bags (care packages) for our missions team to take to India with them. Mimi and TJ are at the far left below, and Scott is in the bottom picture making a card. Each bag had a personal card that said something like, "You are special" or "God loves you" or something like that.
1) This is our first week back to school. Sari's in 5th grade, TJ's in 9th, and Mimi's in 10th. He got a bump up when we moved to NC because they drew the "cut off date line" in a different place the year he was born than FL did, so we'll see how it goes as the year goes by, but I think he'll be fine.
2) Mimi has her learner's permit, but has spent about 20 minutes behind the wheel of my car total because the van intimidates her...that has to change. We live in the car, by now, she should have enough hours logged to drive to the moon and back!
3) Scott has a job coach who is meant to be helping him find a job, but that's a super-slow process. They have filled out a few applications, but apparently I flubbed the first call for an interview by not understanding how the whole process was supposed to work, so he has no leads yet. That's okay, because to be frank, they are barking up the wrong tree with the jobs they applied to. His old job coach is currently in grad school, and the new one is still figuring things out, so in the process, we're in the weeds a bit (which is how I didn't know what to do when they called and how the interview got flubbed, but since it's for a job that wouldn't be a good fit for him anyway, I'm not too worried).
4) My garden is totally a bust (again) this year. We got 2 meals worth of dragon's tongue beans, and maybe 3 pea pods before the heat just burned them up, but my tomatoes may or may not ever yield anything worth eating. Sigh. I think until we are out of this house, a garden is just a dream. The only area in the back yard that is flat enough for a garden just doesn't get enough light to allow plants to mature at any sort of normal rate.
5) I had a kidney stone. They seem quite (un)popular right now among people I know. Mine took 3 weeks to pass, and so I lost 3 weeks of my summer to lying around in pain. On the plus side, I did get some pleasure reading done ;). Two weeks in, during a period of intense pain (I had 4 kids naturally-one at home- I'm talking serious pain here) I went to the ER just to be sure it really WAS a kidney stone and it was the size that could indeed come out on its own and that I wasn't just putting on a brave face for nothing. SOOOO glad that is over. I think I got it from taking Airborne on my trip to Scotland. I read high doses of Vitamin C can cause them, especially if you aren't drinking enough. I drink more water than most elephants, but while traveling it's hard to stay hydrated, so I think it was a one-two punch. Lesson learned!
6) Scotland was fabulous and I do have pictures to post, I promise.
7) For the first time ever, about half of what my older kids are learning this year I will not be teaching them. It will be a HUGE adjustment for them, but good for them and for me, I think. I need to work more with Sari one on one.
8) Sari has some sort of learning issue. Her evaluator thinks it's an eye tracking issue. Either way, though she's made huge strides in reading, she still reads below grade level, and fluency-wise (speed wise) is equal to a kindergartner. That has to change, so this year we will focus on some intensive therapies for her...I'm just not sure what that looks like yet. First up is an eye appt.
9) Em is playing volleyball right now. She has practice 3-4 times a week. Right at dinner time :). Tonight is 5:30-8. But really 5:15-8 because they need to get there early to set up. So that's another reason she needs to get cracking on this driving thing.
10) TJ's soccer will start soon too. Just to add to the crazy.
I have other things I'm sure, but I'll stop there. This listing thing makes everything seem kind of like a downer, but it's not really. It's just busy, and crazy, and, I think, pretty normal for just about everyone I know. I'll leave you with two pictures from last week's service project at church. We were packing bags (care packages) for our missions team to take to India with them. Mimi and TJ are at the far left below, and Scott is in the bottom picture making a card. Each bag had a personal card that said something like, "You are special" or "God loves you" or something like that.
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