Calendar Rebellion!

The lack of posts is indicative of the crazy schedule we keep during September. We've been so busy managing 3 kids at 3 schools plus their activities and our activities that there's been no downtime to blog.

The boys have settled into school routines, including earlier bedtimes. Brendan has learned the hard way that proper time management is key to getting his homework done on time. After putting off a large project for too long, he ended up with a very reduced grade, privilege removal at home and learning a (hopefully) life long lesson about using time wisely. He worked on his Boy Scout Troop's garage-raising over the past 2 weekends and earned the historic Carpentry badge.

Brett is enjoying 2nd grade and hanging with his buddies. He successfully lobbied his teacher so I won't have to help him with my LEAST favorite homework assignment at his school--the dreaded Writer's Notebook. Every fall, we have to cover this thing with pictures from magazines, photographs, ideas, etc that the child uses as writing prompts. Great idea, right? For a 1st grader, this is really too difficult to do. My kids aren't allowed to access my photographs, and the layout of all the pieces is tricky, as is putting the contact paper cover on top. I helped Brendan with them for 4 years and accepted the fact that I would do them for 4 years with Brett. Except he told his teacher how much I hate doing them and she said they could use last year's if there was enough paper left. BRAVO!!! Thank you, Brett!

Bryce has been exited out of OT because he meets or exceeds the goals for a child his age. His fine/gross motor are closer to 48mos as was his cognitive function. His potty goals are a troublesome area as he's far behind his age mates, scoring at 15mos for that. So he'll still receive speech at home and attend school one day per week.

Brad has been busy coaching Brett's soccer, being on Church Council and preparing to step up as Cubmaster. He's also a merit badge instructor in Brendan's troop. That's in his "spare" time. I've been busy setting up all the math clubs at Brett's school (5 of them!) and assisting with 2 math clubs at Brendan's school, plus running Brett's den, dealing with Bryce's Dr appointments and squeezing in handbells. Sheesh.

We've had a friend from college, N, and her daughter, S, move in with us temporarily. She landed a great job teaching elementary music near us and had less than 2 weeks to sell her home 2 hours away AND find a place to live here AND move. Can you imagine how stressful that must be? So, they are staying with us so she can settle into her job and find a great place to live and not kill herself doing so. It's nice having a 3rd adult here and S is fun for both Brett and Bryce to play with. S is a 1st grader and is so adorable. :) We had some really great folks help us get her settled in by providing a bed, bedding dresser, bookcase and some toys. Yay!

Open houses, parent nights, school picnics, curriculum nights are all behind us. We (and our calendar) are looking forward to the ever so slight break that October brings. Happy Fall!