First week of school

We've had our first week of school and it went pretty well. But, before I describe how everything went I thought that I would introduce pseudonyms for the kids. They are at least partially age-related so they will have to be adjusted through time. Child number one (girl, age 4) is now going to be referred to as the Pillow-fight Fairy. Child number two (girl, age 2) is now going to be referred to as Adrenalin Junkie. Child number three (boy, age 6 months) is now going to be referred to as Rug Rat. Now that we have this out of the way, back to our original subject: the first week of school.

We had a good start on Monday (one of the busiest school days)and most of the planned for items got done before 10 am. I was very pleased. Tuesday was just the opposite and it was the lightest scheduled day of the week. I don't remember what got us off track. Nevertheless, a good week was had by all. Pillow-fight Fairy and Adrenalin Junkie got to fingerpaint and play with clay. Pillow-fight Fairy's new spelling lessons are currently in a review phase so those will be going fast for a while. She has taken to doing her memory verse for Sunday very well and has completed the first McGuffey Reader. I plan to have her copy out and memorize the poems that were in it. She loves poetry. We also made it to our first Library story-time and checked out some books for the week. A weekly library trip was part of my life growing up when I was in elementary school (and before since I had older brothers) so I would like to do that for my kids as well. Rug Rat had some break throughs this week too. One more tooth and the ability to sit up for extended periods of time count as break throughs for a 6 month old (the tooth especially). He is also doing well with cereal. He's been cleared on rice and oat cereal. Tomorrow we start training on barley. It's an exhausting regimen and he takes two or three naps a day to keep up his energy reserves.

Other items of note: We planted three young shade trees and 36 strawberry plants this week. I told my husband today that our very large backyard is starting to look not quite as empty. This brings our tree-planting total up to 17 since we moved in nearly 4 years ago. It really did need that many trees. We have two more trees planned, but it was the wrong season to get those at our local nursery.

Also, I've nearly got the finances back in order after, well ... the first of the year. As a result, I've decided that the record keeping will need to be computerized in the future. I've done my record keeping and budget planning mostly on paper for the last decade and have now decided that it is too slow, when time is a rare commodity. And since I'm the one in the marriage handling three kids during the day, most meals, homeschooling, and finances, I need a better way to keep up with it so that I don't get so backed up. By the way, if you think that list makes my husband look like a lazy, its not true. He works long days, does most of the yard work, extra projects (like building patio and pathways himself), practicing harp so that he can play for two weddings this summer, and assisting in the clean up of muddy children after an evening of fun in the backyard. That doesn't even count what his responsibilities are at church (song leader and sometimes teacher).

I was also reminded this week why I want to keep the extra activities down fairly low. The above list is a good wake up call. Have you ever sat down and made a list of everything you do. Try it sometime and you will probably surprise yourself and decide that you need a vacation.

That's all for now

Swamped in the little things

OK... So it's been a while. As the title says, I've been swamped with little things that are all important. Little people are important and I've now got three of them to look after. That is going fairly well. The oldest two can usually play together without killing each other when I need to look after the third. The baby is easy going enough that he can play on his playmat while I do dishes, cook, or do homeschooling with the girls. However, there are other little things that have added to the general chaos like finding time to do our taxes and finally, today, take all three kids to the post office with me to mail them. I think it brightens people's days to see me out with all three kids. For some it is nostalgia. For some it is "thank God I'm not her."

I also have to update our financial records to find out if we are still breaking even. I haven't touched them since before the baby was born. Then there is the fact that I can't wedge anything more in the filing cabinet. That needs thinning out of unneeded items (haven't done that in about two years). I can't paint with my oldest daughter until I clean a much used counter so we have a place to dry paintings. We sort of got roped into doing some stuff at a Easter play day at our church when we have sooo much work to in the backyard.

The backyard construction zone is now at the form building stage in preparation for creating actual walkways and a patio. Since my husband is doing this in his almost non-existent free time, it'll take a while. I find it hard to be patient at times and not begrudge time to good causes every now and then.

With the kids, the most recent thing is that our oldest has lost two more teeth. This time they were not symetrical. Her right front tooth on top and a left slightly to the side tooth on the bottom came out on the same day. She now has a really fun jack-o-lantern style smile.

Life is feeling full. And, although the baby is allowing a little more sleep lately, I feel like I'm playing a ridiculously big job of catch-up. I also have trouble thinking clearly during allergy season. So if this post seems a little disjointed, that is why. Allergens are little things, too.