I survived the 1st week of school...

and that was no small feat, as I drove band carpool! We had to leave home at 6:10 AM!!! to pick up the other riders. Then had to get everyone to HS to dump backpacks, etc. in the band hall before 6:30. Then I had to drive them all to the football stadium to practice!

Seems VERY incompetent people were hired to stripe/sandblast & restripe the parking lot all before school started. Since it was done incorrectly, band had to bite the bullet and practice at the stadium last week.

BUT the joy of carpooling is that I DON'T HAVE TO DRIVE FOR 3 MORE WEEKS!!! Happy dance!

The band did a fabulous performance at their first football game on Thursday! And that was so fun to see. I've never been a band parent before, but I think I'm really going to like it. Fundraising is already underway for our HS band and my son has already reached his goal for the year! A big thank you to all my friends who have pledged money for the march-a-thon!!! We couldn't do it without YOU!

In other news, my hubby has a new job title -- Director of International Integration at Living Social. Sounds impressive. The plus side for us is frequent flyer points! ha. I'm thrilled for him.

My youngest child is in 5th grade. He's adapting to school. He was very bored with the whole organization, planning aspect of the first few days. On Friday he said, "We finally did some real work at school today." I guess he's ready for the challenges of another school year.

And on the final note, I have completed the 4x4 dinner groups for my Sunday School class. Groups have been made and I'm out of the loop for it now. I'm just a participant at this point. My next big thing for SS is to organize a fall social. Must give that one some thought. I am getting ready for Bible Study to start soon.

So my accomplishments this week were:

getting everyone delivered to band on time!
picking up / decluttering the house on Thurs/Friday
Have doen all the kids laundry (yesterday)
Made it to SS w/ the snacks today!
Have purchased all required school supplies (that I know about).

Sept & Oct

Well, it was an uneventful couple of months for mhy family of 4. However, that's not the case for our parents. My father-in-law has had two spells of extreme fatigue/weakness. The last one landed him in the hospital...for the better part of two weeks.

My mom is suffering from a Rheumatoid Arthritis flare. The first one she's ever had and it has almost killed her. The pain is so severe and constant that she can't do anything.

My eldest is doing well in school. He's currently 1st chair in his section (in the top band). He is currently in auditions for All-Region Band. He made the cut for the 1st round of auditions. The 2nd round is this week. He is constantly on the go working on group projects for school. I never know where he'll need to be after school lets out anymore.

My youngest is also doing well in school. He decided for himself that he would compete in the spelling bee in his grade. I am very proud of him for that goal. In part because he inherited my spelling gene! This will be an effort for him. I'm proud of him for the work he's already done.

My Bible study at church is wrapping up. Only 2 more weeks. The parenting class I help facilitate in our local school district is also wrapping up soon. This group has been so vocal. It's great to see parents helping one another with the unique needs of their gifted kids.

That's about all of note from here. Life with kids very busy. Life with kids and sick parent and sick in-laws us unbelieveably complicated when it comes to being in mulitple places at once. Thank goodness my husband works from home and can tend to his parents (for the most part).

School is out..

and has been for three weeks and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it!

In May, my oldest DS had a great number of things going on related to the end of school:

* induction into the National Junior Honor Society
* Duke TIP Recognition Ceremony
* End of Year Band concert
* Auditions for placement in band for next year (made the highest band!)
* Signed up to play football! A new adventure.
* Did extremely well on the state assessment tests (was commended, again ;-) )
* Finished up with speech -- hopefully for good!


My youngest finished the school year strong -- he took the state assesment tests for the first time ever and was commended! Very proud!

Now summer is in full swing. We started it off by having belated birthday parties for both boys. Youngest had a swimming party with friends; oldest, a pizza party and Toy Story 3 viewing.

The oldest is involved in many things this summer:

Band camp (two weeks, now over), football conditioning camp (starts Monday), Youth camp at church, & volunteering at VBS @ church.

The youngest has a much more relaxed schedule (thank goodness) and will attend VBS and Kids' camp w/ church.

The only other news here is that the hubby resigned from his old job and has started with another company, doing basicaly the same thing. No move (physically) was required. Thank goodness for companies that allow telecommuting! With both sets of parents in the area, a move just isn't in the cards for us at this time.

So, other than that, it's just a hot, Texas summer.

Complete family again

Hubby has been on the road for 3 of 4 weeks this month. He'll return tomorrow night and to my knowledge, no trips are in his immediate future! He's been home a night or two in there, but mainly to leave the dirty clothes and to pack clean ones. ha

He's been in Virginia, North Carolina, London, the DC area and North Carolina again.

I am ready to have him back because I am spoiled to having him do the morning school routine with the boys. And with the week I have shaping up with Mom's procedures and dr. appointments, I am looking forward to an additional 30 minutes in bed a morning or two this week.