The Good, The Bad and The Sickies

The Good:
The new school opens tomorrow. I'm so excited. I've put a lot of work into making it look like a classroom and I think the kids are really going to like it. And I'm so excited about teaching there this year. Of course, this could also be construed as the bad, seeing as how I'm feeling quite a bit stressed about it all right now. But that will calm down once classes start and we're back in our normal flow.

The Bad:
My toe hurts. So does my ankle. So does the arch of my foot. Oh, and all on the right foot, wouldn't you know. TaeKwonDo is giving my body a bit of a beating. The arch has been hurting on and off even before TKD and the ankle is from an old riding accident that bothers me now and again. But the toes is all my fault - jammed it today but incorrectly kicking during a sparring match. Thankfully it just hurts and doesn't seem to be broken, but ouch!

The Sickies:
Oh yes, it is that time of year again. Carissa was sick Friday. Chase got it this morning. Tristan came home with it today. Thankfully it's just a fever, headache and balance/dizziness issues. No puking, so that's a positive. And Carissa's passed in a day so I'm hoping the boys do too. But for now I've got a couple of sickies on my hands.

Now that school is back in it seems like life is in fast-forward again. The days go by so quickly. I can't believe it's almost October!

Yes, life for us is busy. Thus is the life of parents of 3. Monday is Boy Scouts for Chase. Tuesday is Campfire for Carissa and TaeKwonDo (TKD) for all 5 of us. Wednesday is nothing yet, but Carissa is debating between Hip Hop dance classes or piano lessons, both of which are on Wednesday (and will probably replace the TKD that she hasn't fallen in love with). Thursdays are TKD again ... in the afternoon for the kids and in the evening for Brian and I. Fridays are blessedly wonderful no-commitment days. Our Saturdays usually consist of Competition Team TKD practice for Tristan and the occasional Boy Scout event for Chase. Then Sunday rolls around and we all just like to relax and decompress before starting the week over again.

Add to this the time I'm putting in right now to get the new preschool up and running. Wow ... it's a lot of work. But classes start on Wed. and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all goes smoothly.

So there you are, our life in a nutshell. Busy, yes, but also wonderful and happy.

Allow me to gloat...

Just indulge me a little Mommy moment here please.

So Chase joined Boy Scouts in February and has taken to it quite well. He enjoys the camping and outdoors activities. He went to summer camp for the first time as a Boy Scout this summer and worked really hard when I was there. He earned 4 merit badges while at camp. Then he came home and finished the partial one that he had from camp. Then he earned one more. He also completed all the activities to advance to his next rank.


So along comes Court of Honor, which is the big hoopla ceremony to award the boys the badges that they've earned in the last 6 months. Not only did Chase get his Tenderfood rank, one of four who got it -- two who joined the same time didn't even get it.



Chase also earned six merit badges. Six. Read 'em and weep. This kid had the most merit badges of the 25 kids in his troop. I'm so proud of him and he is thrilled for himself. The next day we went out and bought him the much coveted merit badge sash, which you can't wear until you've earned at least 5 badges. There's boys who have been in the troop a year longer than him who still don't have it. He proudly wore it to his next meeting.


OK, so there's my Mommy gushing for today. ;)

My newest craving

Well, I can't call it an obsession since that title is still claimed by the "Twilight" series, which I just got done reading *again*. But lately this has been my favorite food.



Fresh pineapple. Yummmmm. I've been eating it on everything. Chicken sandwiches. Burgers. With cottage cheese. Fresh out of the fridge. Any way I can get it I'm eating it. I probably have polished off two pineapples in the last month -- all by myself. I do take comfort in the fact that at least it's a healthy food I'm craving and not my normal hazelnut chocolate or that yummy zucchini bread that calls to me from the freezer (and can only be eaten warm and covered with butter).

First Day of School

This was one of the easiest first days of school ever, at least for Carissa and Tristan. They were headed back to the same teachers in the same classrooms of the same school. That's the advantage of a small school with blended classrooms. The only "new" thing for them was the handful of kids in the grade lower than them who are now in their classroom. It was a stress and worry free day for them and I love that!

Carissa dressed in her, as Brian called it, "child of the 80's" look for her first day of 2nd grade. It had to be a skirt, of course, along with a Camp Rock t-shirt and leggings. She even chose out Keds as some of her school shoes, though they are a bit different than the Keds I used to wear way back in the 80's. Now, the Camp Rock thing is something she's absolutely in to lately. She's loves all that Disney bubble gum pop stuff right now -- Camp Rock, High School Musical, Jonas Brothers, etc. I must admit that I like it too ... cute movies with lots of great songs and good messages. Anyways, she is fake-posing for the camera because she just wants to get to school!

Tristan is all about the dragons this year. Dragons for his room, for his backpack, for his t-shirts. He loves them! He also requested that I spike up the front of his hair for the first day of school. Of course, I don't even think he's brushed it since then, let alone asked for it spiked again. But it was cute for the first day. He's leaned out a lot this year, partly becaues he's grown taller and partly because his TaeKwonDo keeps him really active. As a matter of fact, I just realized that he's only inches away from being able to do the splits. He was feet away from the floor when he started TKD but he has gained a lot of flexibility and is doing awesome! Here he is, off to his first day of 4th grade.If there was a "hard" first day of school this year it would be for Chase. We spent all summer in limbo, not knowing if he was going to be attending the school in town or the small island school where he'd take his chances on a new teacher that was hopefully better than the last two, neither of which lasted more than one school year. The Friday before school started they finally called with his teacher assignment ... the teacher we had hoped for at the school in town. With that settled he started to get a little nervous, worried that he wouldn't know many of the kids and would be starting over again. He had no reason to be worried though. Three of his good friends are in that class and he knew nearly everyone there to some extent. He picked right back up where he'd left off before leaving the schools in town and by the end of the first day he was happy to be back here in town.

6th grade is his final year in intermediate school and next year he goes to middle school (ACK!). He chose a lot of skull stuff this year ... skull t-shirts, a skull hoodie, etc. Very "mature" and not "cartoonish" things too. My, how he's growing! We had to buy him mens sized shoes for the first time this year and he has eeked above his brother in height again, which thrills him to no end. He's getting all grown-up on up so quickly! And yes, I do realize that he has one yellow shoelace and one white one. Apparently that's "cool". I don't get it ... LOL.

Wahoo!!!

My neighbor fixed the problem (I needed a new power source) and I have my computer back!!! YEAH! I was getting worried about the fact that my bills and my checkbook and everything are on the computer. Thankfully it has returned before payday. Wahoo!

That also means that I can finally post all the things that happened recently. So look for those posts soon.

I'd love to update...

I'd love to post pics of the first day of school and tell you all about it. I'd love to share Chase's first Boy Scout Court of Honor. I'd love to, but I can't. My computer is broken. Yup, that's a technical term, at least for me who knows nothing about them. It was working one minute. Turned it off. Wouldn't turn on the next day. That's it. And yes, it is plugged in.

The one thing I can tell you is about my exciting new position. Tinkertime Preschool is opening up a second school, this one in my hometown (instead of the next town over). Tinkertime Too will be opening in October sometime and guess who the teacher will be ... MOI!!! I'm excited. I'm teaching this year but in a co-teach position. This will be me, teaching in the hometown that I love, at a new little school and with a class of my own. I'm soooooo excited! There's a lot of do to get it going but soon enought I'll be working just a mile away from the house. YEAH!!!

Well, that's all you get for now, at least until my neighbor (hopefully) gives me a prognosis on my busted computer. Take care all.

Just had to share

This was one of the shots I got while we were off exploring Sauvie Island on the last day of summer. I just love it ...

14 years.

14 years! 14 years? Have I really been married for 14 years? I'm too young to have been married that long. Whoa ... reality check. Guess I'm not. Guess I'm really that old and have really been married for 14 years. Unbelieveable.

As I've gushed about time and again, I am so blessed to have Brian in my life. He is such a wonderful man, such a loving father, such a caring and strong husband. He is everything I have ever wanted and even more. We've been through 14 years of marriage. It hasn't always been rainbows and butterflies. We've lived through devestatingly tough times and also unbelievably, overwhelmingly happy times. Somehow we've made it through 14 years together and still love and adore one another. Today, on our 14th anniversary, I am proud to be his wife and partner and to have such a wonderful man by my side in this journey of life.

Forever Summer

This is it. The last afternoon, the last day, the last moments of summer. We spent them outside, freely exploring the outdoors and enjoying each other. No worries about what tomorrow brings -- new teachers, new classmates, new schoolwork -- just eagerly soaking up the final rays of this sun-soaked season. In moments like this I mourn the end of summer, the end of relaxed and carefree, the end of unscheduled and unrequired. In moments like this I wish it could be forever summer.