Tuesday, June 28, 2011

1/3 finished

Can you believe summer is almost 1/3 over? I can't. Once again summer is going way too fast but it has been one of our best summers so far. I love hot weather and we have had some hot days and some not so great days but even with that this past month has been great. Yes I know I did some whining on my last post but life always has ups and downs and right now I'm focusing on the ups.

A big part of why this summer has been so much fun is that the boys have really grown up a lot since last year. Matthew has really grown and matured including in his social skills. Remember he is only 4 so social skills are something all children his age are still trying to master. Last night at softball I was playing catcher and taking occassional peaks at my kids between plays. I realized how nice it was that I didn't have to hire a babysitter this year. I could trust the kids to play nicely with the other children from our church and not worry that they would be hurting them or running off. Of course, I still kept a close eye on them but I knew the other adults could handle anything big and I didn't need someone assigned just to them.

We are also enjoying swimming more this year. Matthew started swimming lessons last fall and has progressed to a point that he is okay in water up to his chest without me worrying that he will fall and not be able to stand up. He can swim 3 to 4 feet without stopping which is far enough if he accidentally goes out to far. Jacob can now swim the length of the pool so I really only have to keep a super close eye on Matthew if he doesn't have a life jacket on. We checked out the city outdoor pool on Sunday and loved it.

This is also the first year that I have a set schedule with every weekend off. I can't even begin to describe how nice that is. To be able to choose which free or cheap weekend events we want to attend and not have to worry about trying to get time off work to do things with my kids is nice. My job has kept me very busy this month but that is fine. It makes my wonderful weekends come that much faster.

I also have holidays off now and that is putting a lot less stress on me. I always hated asking my family to watch my kids on holidays. I also hated missing the holidays with my kids. Now I get holidays off and can do fun things with the kids. Like watch the Memorial Day parade and watch the fireworks next Monday. Even when I do want an extra day off work for something it is much easier to get it off now. I flexed my hours last week so I could take yesterday morning off to take the kids to the dairy farm on their day care field trip. I plan on taking half a day off when we go to church family camp and Ethiopian American Culture Camp later in July.

There is still 2 months of summer left before Jacob starts kindergarten and the weather begins to cool down. 2 months of summer fun. I plan to enjoy as much of it as I can.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

More Ups and Downs

Life around here has been full of ups and downs the past few weeks. It's also kept me way to busy to blog on here even though I really wanted to.

So here's a quick wrap up of some of the more major events.

Matthew changed class rooms at day care. He is now back with the kids he was getting in trouble with last fall. As I suspected, he has had a few moments where he has been in trouble for being too silly and loud. He really feeds off the other boys in the room who are also always in trouble for being too silly and loud.

Matthew had a little regression in behavior at home as well as he transitioned away from his favorite teacher. He had Ms. Callie longer than any other teacher by about 9 months. He really loved her and it was hard for him to only see her a few times a day and not all day. He has come out of it pretty well though and the transition was much smoother and faster than previous transitions. It is great to see him maturing and feeling safer faster in new settings.

Jacob graduated 4K and is ready for kindergarten. His teacher told me he is ahead of the other children in his room and she has caught him reading a few times. The assistant director also stated she has noticed he is ahead of his peers. I only hope it continues this fall when he starts "real school."

Jacob has enjoyed playing t-ball but after 2 months he is starting to burn out. The season is just a little too long for these young kids. It's 2 games a week for about 10 weeks. I gave in today and told him he could skip it today. He agreed he wants to play in his last 2 games of the season.

I am playing softball and coaching this year. I enjoy it although it is a lot more work coaching than I thought it would be. I am having fun though and might volunteer to coach again next year depending on what is going on in our busy lives.

Work has been going well. I really do like my job. The past 3 weeks have been very busy and I am really hoping it slows down a little so I can get caught up. I like that it's normally busy though and I don't have a lot of down time. I also love working with all of the families and children and helping them to find resources to meet their needs. Of course, the current political climate in Wisconsin makes it very difficult to help people in need but I won't go there today. Just know I am fully on board to try to recall the current governor in about 7 months.

Besides just being way too busy my car needs about $200 in maintenance and my washing machine isn't working. I lost day care funding when I adopted Matthew so money has been tight without these new expenses. Hopefully I can get the washing machine repaired for fairly cheap and as soon as I have some extra time. There is no way around the car issue. I just have to take it in and pay the money. Jacob goes to kindergarten in the fall so his day care bill will be cut in half and money will be easier to find then.

Today we are planning to go pick strawberries at a local farm and then have a picnic lunch at a park. It should be a lot of fun. And of course we will enjoy eating some of the strawberries for lunch.

We have been swimming almost every weekend and will probably go swimming again tomorrow. Our neighbors are having a gathering in the morning that we will probably attend and then hit the pool in the afternoon. The kids are very excited to see the new Cars 2 movie but it will probably have to wait a week. I am trying hard not to be quite as rushed or overscheduled as I was during the school year. It's nice to just have time to sit at home and relax.