Summer School 2

Here's to a bunch of catching up. There's 3 other posts that follow this one, but I made sure to include pictures for those of you (you know who you are!) that only look for pictures and don't read any of the journaling.

It has been about 3 weeks since the last post. Yes, we are all alive and well. Our family is still intact after my summer classes and E's closing shifts (minimum) 4 days a week. I'm so glad they're over. The routine went a little something like this....

6:00 Wake up and shower (if I was feeling generous)
7:00 Class starts
9:20 Get home
9:20-10:30 Finish dispatch
10:30-11:55 Attempt to spend "quality family time" without thinking about what was due the following day
11:55 E leaves for work
12:30 Put kids down for naps
2:30 Leave to pick up N
3-8:30 Chaos/crowd control (snacks, N's homework, dinner, baths, etc.)
8:30- ? Get 4 kids to bed, start laundry, get dishes done, pick up around the house
11:00 E gets home
?- 5:59 Finish a minimum of 2 assignments per night, in addition to one weekly 4 page research paper (typed, SINGLE SPACED)
6:00 Repeat

Looking back at the stacks of work that I have completed, I'm very proud of myself. Just shy of 40 assignments, all packed into a 5 week session. I managed to survive, largely in part to a fabulous husband that supported me. He would sleep in the office while I worked on assignments, and woke up whenever I needed some input. He sometimes carried the load of a single parent on the weekends while I did research. I am looking forward to having a more relaxed, further spaced out fall semester - at least as normal as it could be with the little last minute twist recently thrown in. (for those curious, NO, the twist does not equate to pregnancy)

Summer 2's grade.....

Darn straight! 96%

First Day of School

N started kindergarten: 1 kid down, 3 to go! I'm a little (2 1/2 weeks) late, but this is the first time I've got to sit down to blog in a long time.

I had class the same day so I went in as usual, then midway through I ran home so we could all take him to school, then off I went back to finish my class. N is doing really good. It was interesting to pick him up the first day and explain why he got a stick taken away. :) We don't blame him because we never put him in preschool and raising your hand to talk isn't something they strongly enforce at primary. He said, "Mom, Mrs. J took away a stick because I kept forgetting to raise my hand before I talked." I asked him why he kept forgetting and he said that it was because his teacher was asking lots of questions and nobody said anything. "Mom, I had to tell her the answers because I know everything and the other kids don't know anything." Hmm, I wonder where he could have picked that up from?

Lining up with his classmates


is his backpack big enough? he picked it out himself


"Have fun! Don't get in trouble because I'm not coming back until 2:40 to pick you up!"

Our Fishies

We're so excited that we've gotten so much use out of our pool this summer. Yay for all of our kids who love to swim! [update for those who didn't yet know: N has nicely "adapted" to swimming. He prides himself on being able to swim the entire length of the pool. We just needed a few lessons from Mrs. Laurel and a new pair of goggles.]

Camping

You read that right.... CAMPING. We went camping: well, sort of. For everyone who says, "yah right, you don't camp," you're totally right! I am not a big camper. My idea of camping is visiting the dirt, then retreating to a hotel room in the evening where I can shower all the nastiness away. Sitting around for hours and not being physically active just isn't my cup of tea.

We decided to have a little family outing during my 5 day break between summer sessions back in July. We went up to a lake that's about 45 mins from here. It was horrible to say the least. The elevation is barely higher than where we live, so the 110 degree heat was not escaped. To make matters worse, our assigned campsite was about 20 yards from the bathrooms that weren't equipped with flushing toilets... Sweltering heat and a glorified porta-potty- Fabulous! But who cares about that when the campsite is 20 feet from the swampy part of the lake? I couldn't wait to jump in! [note the sarcasm] I was constantly reminded how much I love camping. For the record, I did not complain once. Perhaps it was due to the much thought out planning of taking 2 vehicles. We knew there would be no way our 7 1/2 month old would share a tent with us and get a decent amount of sleep. Once the sun started to set, I brought the younger 2 boys home. Words can not express how wonderful the car's AC was. The whole drive home I couldn't help but reflect on how miserable I was, but it was all worthwhile. It was a temporary inconvenience for an experience we could share with the boys. The following morning, Daddy and the older 2 were supposed to come home around noon-ish. I laughed hysterically when they walked through the door before 8. Apparently camping (in a tent) at that location in July isn't what it was cracked up to be. We have learned our lesson.

Thinking Outside the Box

At some point between him laying down and waking up, his brothers decided to go in his room and throw him something over the railing so he wouldn't be bored while in his crib. He knew that Mommy never gets him out until quiet time is over, so he had to get a little creative and use what resources he had. I went to go get him up from his nap and, low and behold, our sweet boy has (once again) demonstrated his brilliance. Can you guess what we are currently working with S on? It's true... sometimes you just got to think outside the box.

Or in this case, inside the box! What else would you use a lego box for?

On a side note, did I mention he loves to help us clean? About a month ago we started taking him into the bathroom to get him used to the idea of peeing in the toilet. We'd give him a little privacy so he wouldn't have to perform in front of an audience. He got to the point where he would pull off his diaper and say, "I go potty!" and run into the bathroom. I'd wait a few minutes then go check on him to see if he was done. Every time it would be wet around the rim and we'd have a Wa-hoo-you-went-pee-pees-in-the-big-boy-potty-yay-for-S! dance and never gave it much further thought.

A few weeks pass and one day he pulls off his diaper, says "I go potty!" and off he went. I went to go check on him and saw that it was all wet around the rim. I begin to dance the special dance and start singing when.... wait a minute..... why is he running away? Better yet, what's in his hand? S, get back here. Aaahh, holy crap! He joyfully walked back over to me and handed me ["mom, I clean!"] my toothbrush, my WET toothbrush. Further investigation proved that the liquid on the rim was not urine, but the toilet bowl water that came from Mommy's "cleaning" brush. I love you too, S!

Almost There

Summer School Update

3 weeks down (23 writing assignments) , 2 more to go

It's not as bad as I thought it would be, but I hate always being tired. I seem to be maintaining a 95% but we will see what happens... It has been "fun" pulling all-nighters at least twice a week. The nights when I get lucky enough to get 3 hours of sleep, 6:15 comes way too fast! 8 more days.... 8 more days.... I can do it!

Summer School 1

The grades have been posted for the English class during the summer 1 term. I got...

an A (96.4%)