Oh my goodness. There was so much going on this past month. We started with a wedding, then we had the school's Mother's Day breakfast (hosted at my house for space reasons) then actual Mother's Day. There was Bring Your Pet to School day immediately followed by Eden's cardio appointment in Plano and then Miss Saigon in Dallas. Then was the Father's Day breakfast at the school, the school talent show at Beltway North, and Kindergarten graduation and awards ceremony at the Alliance for Women and Children, plus I've been keeping some extra boys this week and I AM TIRED.
I cooked for the MDO one week and two days later cooked for my mom's Christ Care group. I took a tour of the second MDO the girls will be at this summer. We had our standing game night and played a new game and made waffles and bacon that we forgot about. (I found it in the oven this morning and we made it Saturday...oops).
I think I'm taking the next few days "off" as much as I can.
Next week is CALF and I'm already exhausted just thinking about it. Herding our group through crowds for two days is stressful and fills me with anxiety. And the kids really don't seem to care. I'm starting to debate even doing it in future years. (I'm in a down mood currently, so that could all change. Maybe this year will be so amazing I'll wonder why I ever thought that.)
Eden's cardio appointment went as well as usual. We were given a questionnaire to see how she's developing, a standard thing they do with cardio patients when they're 4. She tested normal in everything but gross motor skills and Personal/Social, where she shows some delays. I agree with the gross, because she couldn't do the things in the questionnaire, but the social....like, anyone who's met her looks at me like I'm crazy.
Anyway, she has another doctor's appointment with a psychologist in Dallas in mid-June.
Because this girl needs a sixth doctor. Good lord, she's a full time job by herself.
It'll be a 3-4 hour long appointment and starts at 830, so I get to have another hotel stay with Eden. Woo. The purpose is to have the doctor really assess her in person and give us guidance on how to help her catch up and make sure she's ready for school. She can read a little and she's already writing her name fairly well, so I think intellectually, she's pretty ready for Pre-K, but her ability to obey and sit still are still at the level of a 4 yo. I worry about Pre-K vs MDO because they are pretty different. And if we send her to Pre-K, I'll have 2 drop offs and 3 pick ups twice a week and 1 and 2 three times a week. I'm not interested in becoming a taxi service, so that's actually a huge factor in what we do with her. Plus, only having a few hours a week to do doctor's appointments and whatever else I need to do without kids is really difficult. Granted, Rebekah is so easy going, taking her along by herself wouldn't be a huge deal. But I couldn't take her to a hair appointment or really to a doctor's appointment.
I say Rebekah is easy- going, but she's starting to develop some real PERSONALITY. She LOVES 'mingos, and insists on wearing her mingo dress whenever she can. She cried when I put it in the laundry after she'd worn it for about a week straight. She's got a toddler bed now and I couldn't find mingo sheets and blankets, but I found rainbows and unicorns and flowers, so that's pretty good. She puts herself down for naps a couple times a day and that is the best thing in my life at the moment. Bedtime is a different story.
Asher and Elijah finished school yesterday and had their awards ceremony. They both got awards for diligence and Asher was given an award for following written instructions (not a given with a 2nd/3rd grader) and was on the A honor roll all year! None of us realized this. The report cards have a mix of letter grades, checks, and numbers, so its a little tricky to understand sometimes. He was surprised, too. Especially since the last semester he's been doing 3rd grade work instead of 2nd.
Elijah came home from school a while ago with a Brain Quest summer workbook for K-1 and Asher requested one as well, so I got it. Yesterday, about 3 hours after he got home from school and after he'd read a book I had saved until the end of school, he came and asked if he could do some learning. So he's got the workbook and is diligently working his way through it. I was hoping it would last all summer, but if he finishes it before too long, I'll ask if he wants the next level up workbook and have him work through that. We'll have him in sixth grade by September! lol
There's not much to report about Elijah. He's just plugging along, doing his thing. He's still got his anger outbursts occasionally, but it feels like they're farther apart now. At TLCA, the teachers and principal told us there's something magical about the summer between Kindergarten and 1st grade because they come back so different. So I'm hoping for that for him. Let him grow up a little more this summer, but not too much. He's a sweet kid 99% of the time and so enthusiastic about his favorite things. Asher is so much a little adult I sometimes forget that Elijah isn't and find myself adjusting my approach to him mid-sentence. He got a Math award at school yesterday, which I caught a glimpse of and thought it said Mario and figured "yeah, that makes sense."
The boys were blessed at the awards ceremony and Elijah was blessed with continued diligence and Asher with the ability to find answers in scripture. Something like that. She talked about how scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching.
Overall, all is well. We're healthy, we're happy, we're busy. So busy. But hopefully, the summer will slow things down for the most part. I think there's only one week where everyone has something, so that will be fun. Today, it's a day of being lazy and zoning out in front of screens. Let their minds rot a little bit.
Except for Asher who's probably halfway through his workbook.
Check facebook for photos and videos.
Friday, May 31, 2019
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
It's May!
Hey-o!
I haven't written in a while because I've been busy. Lots of things seemed to happen all at once towards the end of March and I felt like I was doing good to keep my head above water, so blogging was way down low on the priority list.
Since I last wrote, we have:
1. Started up a semi-regular game night with some friends. It started as us trying to work our way through a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery game, but the first time out, we ran out of time and the second, we forgot some of the people we're supposed to "interview" so were nowhere close to solving the case. The other two times we've gotten together, we've played other games and every time we've had a blast. Lots of laughing and good food and it's become one of my favorite parts of the month.
2. We called someone out to check on the insulation in the attic, knowing that we needed to put in about $1000 worth. Well, that snowballed VERY quickly and we ended up having soffit (sp) vents installed as well. Those are vents in the eaves of your house to let air circulate through. We thought we didn't have any but when the workman started working, he discovered we had trapdoors rigged to a pulley system so that they could be opened in summer and closed in winter. They had not been used in likely 30+ years, so the ropes were dried out and the hinges rusted. And OF COURSE the vents in place were custom sized, so if we wanted to get newer, prettier vents, it was going to cost something like $250 a vent. For twenty-five vents. Needless to say, we put the old ugly ones back up. In the process of that, we also had a roofer come out to make sure we had the appropriate number of turbines on the buildings and we do, but the carriage house needs soffits, too. So maybe this coming fall we'll get those.
3. We discovered that the bills on the Mulberry house had shot through the roof, not because of anything the renters are doing, but because we neglected to renew our electricity contract so we were paying THREE TIMES the rate we had been. Plus there was a toilet that ran off and on. So fixing the contract and the toilet issues and that's been much better.
4. We somehow forgot to pay property taxes on Orange street, so that bill was racking up late fees and then we accidentally paid it TWICE. Late March/early April was super expensive.
5. I had my first mammogram and that was super duper. My mom's younger sister had breast cancer twice, and I think she was 28 the first time she was diagnosed, so I need to start screening early. Everything is great and I go back in a year. It wasn't that bad, just super awkward positions and a little uncomfortable. That plus a well woman check happening in the two weeks that everything above was going on made me feel very poked and prodded and squeezed.
6. We went to the Brother's Keeper movie premiere. We thought we were getting steak, but it was bbq. It was good, but when you're expecting steak, it's a bit of a letdown. We had a good time, though, and we were all dressed to the nines. The movie itself was awful. There's been a lot of talk about it online and apparently the producers are taking some of the comments into consideration and reworking the movie. What we weren't told at the time was that there was about 40 minutes still to be put in, so when none of the story lines were resolved and there was literally no football in a football movie, we were confused. And then when the main character was a white savior for the minority disadvantaged youth, it felt wrong. I'm not saying that Abilene doesn't have issues with drugs and gangs, but it felt like they were saying our city is a cesspool of crime. And I really don't think we are. I'm not even sure we're more dangerous and crime-riddled now than we were 10 years ago, when the movie is set. We may just be way more aware of the crime because of social media. I wasn't in Abilene 10 years ago, but 20 years ago, when I was 15, I would regularly leave my house at 2 am and walk around downtown Abilene when I couldn't sleep. Bare foot. And I never felt unsafe. Granted, I was 15 and stupid and I'd ground my kids forever if I found out they were doing the same thing, but my point is, I grew up downtown and on the edge of a not great neighborhood (where I now live) and never felt unsafe. Hell, a convenience store literally 3 blocks from me was robbed at gunpoint a few days ago and I still feel ok about where I live. Abilene is not a terrible place.
Anyway. Off the soapbox.
7. I helped my in-laws look at at least a dozen houses in Abilene for their impending move and found one that is perfect for them. The kids are excited about BB and Papa being in town and are making some plans. Mostly they involve watching tv and playing with trains or going to the park or to get pancakes every single Saturday. We'll see how long the magic lasts. For both grandchildren and grandparents. Austin's grandmother was moved to a nursing home in Arlington last summer and she'll move to one here in Abilene with his parents, so she may actually get to meet her great-grandchildren. Apparently, the one she's most interested in and delighted by is Rebekah. I find this amusing because every time we called to tell her about another child, she was surprised. I think she said "Really?!" to Eden and Rebekah. She had one and her son had one, so her grandson having four seems ludicrous to her.
It'll be good for the kids to have more grandparents in town. And supposedly grandkids keep you young, so it'll be good for the grandparents, too.
8. Austin and I finally got to see Hamilton and it. was. amazing. Like, the music is so so good, but you miss how funny it is, how touching, how visually stunning it is when you're not watching it with a crowd. We saw it opening night and the theater was packed. The woman next to me and I were both singing along under our breaths (that's really hard for me not to do when I know the music). I laughed, I cried, I was blown away, I want to see it again. And again and again and again.
Upcoming is a family wedding this Saturday and another doctor's appointment for Eden and another play for Austin and me. Then school ends and summer begins. We've got lots planned but also lots of "nothing" planned. Camps and trips and friends in town and downtime. The kids have lots of ideas of things to do and places to go and we'll see if any of them happen. For now, we're going to try to get through the next month of school.
I haven't written in a while because I've been busy. Lots of things seemed to happen all at once towards the end of March and I felt like I was doing good to keep my head above water, so blogging was way down low on the priority list.
Since I last wrote, we have:
1. Started up a semi-regular game night with some friends. It started as us trying to work our way through a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery game, but the first time out, we ran out of time and the second, we forgot some of the people we're supposed to "interview" so were nowhere close to solving the case. The other two times we've gotten together, we've played other games and every time we've had a blast. Lots of laughing and good food and it's become one of my favorite parts of the month.
2. We called someone out to check on the insulation in the attic, knowing that we needed to put in about $1000 worth. Well, that snowballed VERY quickly and we ended up having soffit (sp) vents installed as well. Those are vents in the eaves of your house to let air circulate through. We thought we didn't have any but when the workman started working, he discovered we had trapdoors rigged to a pulley system so that they could be opened in summer and closed in winter. They had not been used in likely 30+ years, so the ropes were dried out and the hinges rusted. And OF COURSE the vents in place were custom sized, so if we wanted to get newer, prettier vents, it was going to cost something like $250 a vent. For twenty-five vents. Needless to say, we put the old ugly ones back up. In the process of that, we also had a roofer come out to make sure we had the appropriate number of turbines on the buildings and we do, but the carriage house needs soffits, too. So maybe this coming fall we'll get those.
3. We discovered that the bills on the Mulberry house had shot through the roof, not because of anything the renters are doing, but because we neglected to renew our electricity contract so we were paying THREE TIMES the rate we had been. Plus there was a toilet that ran off and on. So fixing the contract and the toilet issues and that's been much better.
4. We somehow forgot to pay property taxes on Orange street, so that bill was racking up late fees and then we accidentally paid it TWICE. Late March/early April was super expensive.
5. I had my first mammogram and that was super duper. My mom's younger sister had breast cancer twice, and I think she was 28 the first time she was diagnosed, so I need to start screening early. Everything is great and I go back in a year. It wasn't that bad, just super awkward positions and a little uncomfortable. That plus a well woman check happening in the two weeks that everything above was going on made me feel very poked and prodded and squeezed.
6. We went to the Brother's Keeper movie premiere. We thought we were getting steak, but it was bbq. It was good, but when you're expecting steak, it's a bit of a letdown. We had a good time, though, and we were all dressed to the nines. The movie itself was awful. There's been a lot of talk about it online and apparently the producers are taking some of the comments into consideration and reworking the movie. What we weren't told at the time was that there was about 40 minutes still to be put in, so when none of the story lines were resolved and there was literally no football in a football movie, we were confused. And then when the main character was a white savior for the minority disadvantaged youth, it felt wrong. I'm not saying that Abilene doesn't have issues with drugs and gangs, but it felt like they were saying our city is a cesspool of crime. And I really don't think we are. I'm not even sure we're more dangerous and crime-riddled now than we were 10 years ago, when the movie is set. We may just be way more aware of the crime because of social media. I wasn't in Abilene 10 years ago, but 20 years ago, when I was 15, I would regularly leave my house at 2 am and walk around downtown Abilene when I couldn't sleep. Bare foot. And I never felt unsafe. Granted, I was 15 and stupid and I'd ground my kids forever if I found out they were doing the same thing, but my point is, I grew up downtown and on the edge of a not great neighborhood (where I now live) and never felt unsafe. Hell, a convenience store literally 3 blocks from me was robbed at gunpoint a few days ago and I still feel ok about where I live. Abilene is not a terrible place.
Anyway. Off the soapbox.
7. I helped my in-laws look at at least a dozen houses in Abilene for their impending move and found one that is perfect for them. The kids are excited about BB and Papa being in town and are making some plans. Mostly they involve watching tv and playing with trains or going to the park or to get pancakes every single Saturday. We'll see how long the magic lasts. For both grandchildren and grandparents. Austin's grandmother was moved to a nursing home in Arlington last summer and she'll move to one here in Abilene with his parents, so she may actually get to meet her great-grandchildren. Apparently, the one she's most interested in and delighted by is Rebekah. I find this amusing because every time we called to tell her about another child, she was surprised. I think she said "Really?!" to Eden and Rebekah. She had one and her son had one, so her grandson having four seems ludicrous to her.
It'll be good for the kids to have more grandparents in town. And supposedly grandkids keep you young, so it'll be good for the grandparents, too.
8. Austin and I finally got to see Hamilton and it. was. amazing. Like, the music is so so good, but you miss how funny it is, how touching, how visually stunning it is when you're not watching it with a crowd. We saw it opening night and the theater was packed. The woman next to me and I were both singing along under our breaths (that's really hard for me not to do when I know the music). I laughed, I cried, I was blown away, I want to see it again. And again and again and again.
Upcoming is a family wedding this Saturday and another doctor's appointment for Eden and another play for Austin and me. Then school ends and summer begins. We've got lots planned but also lots of "nothing" planned. Camps and trips and friends in town and downtime. The kids have lots of ideas of things to do and places to go and we'll see if any of them happen. For now, we're going to try to get through the next month of school.
Insulation getting blown into the attic
Vents! That function as such!
The trapdoors they removed.
Hamilton stage.
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