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).

Our Chinese boys have come and gone

I cannot believe the three weeks with our Chinese boys have already gone by.

Charlie & LeBron were our sons/brothers for three weeks. It was really fun and interesting to have them here and to be exposed to another culture.

The parting was harder on Charlie & LeBron that on us, it seemed on Monday. They both shed some tears as they had to leave. We did not cry, but *boy* was the house quiet that night! They boys and the rest of their tour group should be in Disneyland today. Then they leave for China on Friday, I believe.

Tonight is the wrap-up / reflection mtg @ church. I'm looking forward to hearing how the other families enjoyed their homestay kids as well.

Over halfway with the homestay

We met our Chinese boys on July 20th. We now have living at our house...LaBron,James and Charlie,Daniel(s). So figuratively speaking wer are dribbling and fiddling around here! LOL

James, LaBron and Charlie went to Texas/China Camp M - F last week. We went to the Mesquite Rodeo on Saturday night, after everyone slept in very late. We did take everyone to Sichuan Cuisine (restaurant) becuase Charlie was asking for spicy food. They really seemed to enjoy it! Then Sunday was church day. Then in the afternoon Glenn helped a SS class member move to a new house. Then Glenn & Daniel went swimming @ Jack Carter, but the rest of us stayed home.

I think it was good that we did, as I jokingly told the boys that their parents didn't send them all this way to text in chinese to their friends. They are here to practice their English, so we played cards and had a really good time.

Then for dinner last night, I made tacos. Charlie had been wishing for spicy food, so we bought jalapenoes, green salsa and two habaneroe peppers. The first two items didn't reallly register on Charlie's spice scale, so we brought out the Tabasco sauce. I think that finally was spicy enough for him!

I've not yet attempted to even slice the habaneroes. I'll have to watch Alton Brown before I do. I'm not touching them w/o gloves!!

Today's the day!

our two Chinese boys arrive for their 3 week stay! We've been working very hard around here to try to get the house arranged and cleaned.

My feet are killing me, so off the podiatrist I will go next week.

but for now...I've gotta keep workin'!

Wednesday, July 6th

We did it! The boys and I made it back home, sans hubby/dad, and it was a much smoother trip coming than it was going!

We got up at 4:30ish. Everyone got dressed, got the last stuff packed, and we were out the door @ 5:15. We stopped in the Metro station and purchased one-way passes to Reagan airport.

We got to the airport, checked in and got to the gate. We only had to wait about 10 minutes before boarding. The fight home was fine. We were among the first to get to the luggage claim & our bags were among the first 6 or so bags to come out.

less than a 2 minute wait for the shuttle to take us to remote parking and we were outta there!

Great trip!!!

Tuesday, July 5th

Well, the trip has been good for my youngest. He's been eating and *sleeping* and has been in a growth spurt while we were here! So today, we bought passes to go to Ballston and back. We shopped for a new pair of khaki dress pants for D, had lunch @ Chick-fil-a and came home.

We got everything packed and ate out tonight.

Have to be up @ 4;15 in teh a.m. to leave on time!

Monday, July 4th

Well the plan was to get out and go to the National Cathedral today. Reality was that we stayed home and rested.

There was a party on the roof of the apartment building tonight, so we ate dinner (tacos!) and then went up for the party. We had an almost 360 degree view around Arlington. We had lots of far, distant fireworks to see. Then the Capitol fireworks started!

They were fantastic! The mall looked so crowded on TV that we felt we really did make the right choice in staying home.