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| Third year at Wiggle Out Loud -- it was swelteringly hot |
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| Last day at the community pool this summer. |
2. I scrapbooked 6.5 pages during all that, which is awesome. We have great plans for a "project" area in the formal dining room some day, but for now we rotate out project time (usually LEGOs for him, scrapbooking for me) at the dining room table with the occasional meals. The kids often help one or the other of us. It is great fun. I am currently limiting my supplies to those that fit in one cabinet in the house (the excess remains in the garage). Occasionally I go pull another folder or something to keep my options open, but it is working fairly well. Still SO loving the Ali Edwards Story Kits for all my pages.
3. M tried Ballet + Jazz/Tap last Wednesday. She claimed to love it and had interesting things to report, but was beyond exhausted at bedtime. She got really fixated on the idea that someone was going to come and shoot her. We tried all sorts of coping mechanisms. It was a hard night. It seems like she has figured it out in ensuing days. She does request that we say her Guardian Angel prayer every night before I say good night, which is a great tradition to grow together.
4. E is a potty training mess. He has one accident at least every other day. His school is so far strangely OK with that. I'm not sure what to do. We've tried rewards and dabbled in "consequences" like having to clean up himself and his mess. He just does not care. I think he is really too old at this point to go back to pull-ups. I suppose we shall perservere. He otherwise remains incredibly cute and fun. Oh, and he seems to love his new teachers and generally being a bluebird. He has one little friend that I know of and tells me all about his animal cracker snacks daily. He seems very happy there, save for a few slightly tricky moments at drop off. Hooray for a good fit!
5. B is actually in the best place right now of all of our kids. He does get a little tired of his homework at some point each day, but other wise seems happy and good. He and M are making friends with the boys next door, which is great. They are all very excited about the Fun Run on Thursday (the fundraiser for their school ---you can donate here or here if you are so inclined and get a lovely thank you note from them in return). B seems to be enjoying baseball, save for occasionally getting hit with the ball in kid-pitch. He didn't seem too upset to miss today's game due to rain though.
6. Brent and I continue to work through our house fixing projects. Our most recent interests are determining that all the stuff in our gutters is a likely contributing factor in the drainage issues. We've begun working our way around the house cleaning them out, but we have quite aways to go. We're also learning all sorts of things about smoke alarms--- namely that we have no ideas if ours work and almost certainly have way less than the code requires now. (ooops?) So we're buying two spiffy new smoke alarms and a new thermostat and will gradually add more of each until we're all up to date, modern, efficient, and safer. Sound good? We love tech so somehow the smoke alarms, thermostat and, wait for it, our sprinklers, are all going to work together to make things awesome. It is exciting and a tiny bit creepy.
7. I survived the first week of the extended schedule at my job. I like the new challenges, but they are just that, challenges on paths that have never been tread. So I am trying new things, asking for help, and doing my best. Adding more running, scrapbooking, and late night chats with my girlfriends definitely seems to be helping with my mental game in the face of all this change. (Have I mentioned I don't handle change/transitions that gracefully? Yeah. That.) Telecommuting remains a bit lonely, but rebuilding the structures that help me counter that and think we're on our way back to balance.
8. Brent's computer has been fixed so he's happily gaming with his friends about half the evenings. The other days, we are hanging out together watching Sherlock, or working on our other hobbies at the table. He still has dorm night one night a week and as it is football season is gone frequently on Saturdays to OU games with his dad. We're hoping for a date night one of these weeks, but haven't quite made it happen since the move.
9. I've rejoined Weight Watchers. This time, I'm trying the "with a coach" model so that I have a professional to meet with weekly. The idea is to create accountability and to have someone help me with the plan and the challenges I frequently encounter sticking with it. I know going to the actual meetings is the most successful, but so far doesn't fit in our life so I am trying this approach instead. So far so good in the first week. I'm also trying a new weights regime my friend Scott designed for me. I asked for just two 25 minute weight routines per week as that is what is realistic right now and we'll go from there. It is great to have friends who know awesome stuff and are willing to share to help each other.
10. M continues to insist she wants to learn French, but not really retain much French. Many weeks in the last year, we did a bad job reinforcing what she was learning between lessons. We are currently trying to do better and spend at least 10 minutes on French daily. Ten minutes or until we reach a stated learning objective. It is frustrating. Brent and I have accepted that she learns differently than we do and we try to mix up all different kinds of learning styles to see what sticks. So far, not a lot does, but we shall see. Meanwhile, E & B are learning French by leaps and bounds without trying. She doesn't seem particularly frustrated and sometimes we think she is playing us or being silly. I have offered many times to just stop if she doesn't want to do this, but she insists she does and that French is the thing she most wants to learn. We shall see. I'm willing to put forth the effort so long as she is....
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