Hey guys - ping ping! It's time to hear from everyone again!
It's difficult to give a speech to a silent audience, and the same goes for these emails. I so appreciate those of you who write back from time to time and tell me which stories struck a cord with you, or what's going on with you, or even just "hi". But MANY of you do not. I even forget sometimes how many people I sent these emails to, when there are so few responses! I remember a time when we all wrote weekly and all had plenty of stories to read, but that was many a moon ago...
On the subject of many a moon ago, this weekend was the second dumpster weekend! We cleaned out the closets in the front hall (one is a walk-in that I could no longer walk-in to!). Amongst the lost treasures of the front hall was a camcorder and stack of tapes, circa 1997-2001. And so we watched some movies of me looking very fat (Jesse: "Don't worry mommy, you still look beautiful, but you have a big belly"), and of Timothy having a much different head to body ratio than he does now.
I was strikingly large. I realize in much of the video I was either pregnant or up to several months post-giving-birth. But still, I was strikingly large. On the one hand it was hard to look at myself, but on the other I felt good that I don't look like that any more. And the eyebrows - yikes.
So anyway, if I haven't heard from you in the last 3 months, it's time to write back - or write a group email of your own! That would qualify as well :)
Rhonda
WE ARE SPECIAL, WE ARE WEIRD, BUT WE ARE NOT ALONE
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
October 2, 2011
Well today was another first. We had Timothy's girlfriend over for the afternoon, which gave us the awkward responsibility of making sure someone else's daughter didn't get overly groped on our watch. We decided that Jocelyn and Jesse were up for the task.
We let Timothy and his lady friend watch a movie in the game room (no door on the game room) while Josh and I watched How To Train Your Dragon (which was adorable) with the other kids in the living room. Every 5 or 10 minutes I'd send one of the kids in with a message - "go tell Timothy I'm going to brush Jocelyn's hair", "did you tell Timothy's friend that you're in the first grade?", etc. Pretty effective, they looked forward to the message giving and then came back and reported location and clothing status of Timothy and his friend. They were feeling quite important, and Timothy didn't yell at them even once (I assume because he didn't want to look like a jerk in front of his friend).
A bit after the movie I noted that Jocelyn and Jesse were in the play room so I managed to mosey by and saw there were 2 heads and a blanket on the couch in the game room. Hmmm, that was no good. So I found Jesse - "Did you show Timothy's friend your cartwheel?"
There, that took care of it.
So I think we managed a mostly grope-free house for over 3 hours - phew! What a stressful afternoon! Ah but it's always about creative problem solving isn't it - the kids acted the way the kids act usually and I didn't have to be creepy mom. Win win!
Otherwise not too much news around here. We have a dumpster this weekend and next so have tried to work on filling it in between rain showers.
Jesse started staying an extra hour at school this week for a lunch bunch. He was inviting to stay and do activities and have lunch with a few kindergarteners. We didn't realize he was the ONLY one invited to stay. Just so happens that one of the kindergarteners is his BEST friend from last year and so he's just having about the greatest time in the world.
On the first day, Jesse was VERY excited to tell me about his day. After covering, in detail, what was actually in his lunch box and what order he ate it in, we finally got to the conversation that occurred at the lunch. It went something like this:
me: what did you talk about
Jesse: oh, you know, like what we did on our weekends
me: did you tell them about your new bed (my mom came down and we built him bunk beds from a kit, which turned out awesome - stairs instead of a ladder!)
Jesse: yeah
me: dd they talk about their beds too?
Jesse: no
me: so what else did you talk about?
Jesse: FACE PAINTS! And EVERYONE had had face paints some time!
Then there was a long description of the face paint conversation.
I also asked him what teachers were there and he said Miss Suzette and someone else that he didn't know. He said she asked his name.
me: did you ask her name?
Jesse: no
me: why not?
Jesse: I don't talk to adults I don't know.
me: but if you asked her name, then you'd know her.
Jesse: but I don't talk to adults I don't know, so I can't ask her.
We went in circles for a while from there. I think Jesse is even worse than Jocelyn at remembering names! Even Josh knows the kids names now and still has to prompt Jesse. I'll have to google if that's a specific part of the brain or something. Neither will make good salespeople! haha
On the subject of lunch, I was checking the kids cafeteria purchases and noticed that Timothy was averages 3 cookies and an ice cream every day and that Morgan was getting 2 cookies a day. I asked Timothy WTF and learned that he was buying dessert for the whole lunch table. I'm just so glad that he's so generous when it's not his money!
Then I emailed Morgan's teacher and asked if we could just go with one cookie a day. Turns out that each day the morning para and afternoon para switched at lunchtime, so he would ask to go to the snack line with one and then wait for the other to arrive and go again. Morgan is one heck of a problem solver when it comes to food! So they are going to start getting the update from each other now when they switch.
I went in to Morgan's school on Friday to see the place and meet with his teacher. I got to see the fitness room and meet his "favorite" teacher (the computer room teacher!) and then we went upstairs to see his room and chat about his IEP. On our way up the stairs school was letting out and hundreds of kids were coming down while we were going up. We were walking up the left side, which I thought was strange. Miss Leah was pointing to her right and yelling to the hundreds of kids descending upon us "right side! right side! on the right!" When we got to the top of the stairs and were alone, I turned to Miss Leah and said, "You know that's their left, right?"
Well I guess that's the update from here! Hope everyone had a great weekend,
Rhonda
We let Timothy and his lady friend watch a movie in the game room (no door on the game room) while Josh and I watched How To Train Your Dragon (which was adorable) with the other kids in the living room. Every 5 or 10 minutes I'd send one of the kids in with a message - "go tell Timothy I'm going to brush Jocelyn's hair", "did you tell Timothy's friend that you're in the first grade?", etc. Pretty effective, they looked forward to the message giving and then came back and reported location and clothing status of Timothy and his friend. They were feeling quite important, and Timothy didn't yell at them even once (I assume because he didn't want to look like a jerk in front of his friend).
A bit after the movie I noted that Jocelyn and Jesse were in the play room so I managed to mosey by and saw there were 2 heads and a blanket on the couch in the game room. Hmmm, that was no good. So I found Jesse - "Did you show Timothy's friend your cartwheel?"
There, that took care of it.
So I think we managed a mostly grope-free house for over 3 hours - phew! What a stressful afternoon! Ah but it's always about creative problem solving isn't it - the kids acted the way the kids act usually and I didn't have to be creepy mom. Win win!
Otherwise not too much news around here. We have a dumpster this weekend and next so have tried to work on filling it in between rain showers.
Jesse started staying an extra hour at school this week for a lunch bunch. He was inviting to stay and do activities and have lunch with a few kindergarteners. We didn't realize he was the ONLY one invited to stay. Just so happens that one of the kindergarteners is his BEST friend from last year and so he's just having about the greatest time in the world.
On the first day, Jesse was VERY excited to tell me about his day. After covering, in detail, what was actually in his lunch box and what order he ate it in, we finally got to the conversation that occurred at the lunch. It went something like this:
me: what did you talk about
Jesse: oh, you know, like what we did on our weekends
me: did you tell them about your new bed (my mom came down and we built him bunk beds from a kit, which turned out awesome - stairs instead of a ladder!)
Jesse: yeah
me: dd they talk about their beds too?
Jesse: no
me: so what else did you talk about?
Jesse: FACE PAINTS! And EVERYONE had had face paints some time!
Then there was a long description of the face paint conversation.
I also asked him what teachers were there and he said Miss Suzette and someone else that he didn't know. He said she asked his name.
me: did you ask her name?
Jesse: no
me: why not?
Jesse: I don't talk to adults I don't know.
me: but if you asked her name, then you'd know her.
Jesse: but I don't talk to adults I don't know, so I can't ask her.
We went in circles for a while from there. I think Jesse is even worse than Jocelyn at remembering names! Even Josh knows the kids names now and still has to prompt Jesse. I'll have to google if that's a specific part of the brain or something. Neither will make good salespeople! haha
On the subject of lunch, I was checking the kids cafeteria purchases and noticed that Timothy was averages 3 cookies and an ice cream every day and that Morgan was getting 2 cookies a day. I asked Timothy WTF and learned that he was buying dessert for the whole lunch table. I'm just so glad that he's so generous when it's not his money!
Then I emailed Morgan's teacher and asked if we could just go with one cookie a day. Turns out that each day the morning para and afternoon para switched at lunchtime, so he would ask to go to the snack line with one and then wait for the other to arrive and go again. Morgan is one heck of a problem solver when it comes to food! So they are going to start getting the update from each other now when they switch.
I went in to Morgan's school on Friday to see the place and meet with his teacher. I got to see the fitness room and meet his "favorite" teacher (the computer room teacher!) and then we went upstairs to see his room and chat about his IEP. On our way up the stairs school was letting out and hundreds of kids were coming down while we were going up. We were walking up the left side, which I thought was strange. Miss Leah was pointing to her right and yelling to the hundreds of kids descending upon us "right side! right side! on the right!" When we got to the top of the stairs and were alone, I turned to Miss Leah and said, "You know that's their left, right?"
Well I guess that's the update from here! Hope everyone had a great weekend,
Rhonda
Sunday, September 25, 2011
September 25, 2011
Besides having a visit from Josh's parents and brother this weekend, my mother also was here Friday night and into Saturday for a project weekend! We painted Jesse's room and built him new bunk beds from a kit.
The room has one blue wall (which I was smart enough to do last weekend since I knew it had to be dry before we did the next color) and 3 tan walls. I got home early on Friday and we replaced the light over the kitchen table and got 2 coats on all 3 walls before enjoying shabbos dinner with the Rosenbaum clan.
The bunk beds were quite a project! I was up earlier than my mom (surprising!) and had Timothy help me drag 4 of the 5 boxes it came in in from the garage. I say drag because we couldn't really carry them so just lifted them into the house and onto a blanket and then dragged them across the floor into the game room. There I found that each box contained... a box. The 2nd box contained all the pieces and hardware. It took me over an hour to get everything unpacked, and by the end I was a tired sweaty mess! It didn't help that we've had quite a humid weekend.
The last box was so heavy that I couldn't actually lift it at all, so once my mom was up we unpacked it in the garage and carried everything in in pieces.
Once I had all the hardware laid out and labeled on a big piece of cardboard, it was almost 8:30am and we were ready to start! Four and a half short hours later, we were ready for the unveiling.
You can find pictures of the room here:
gallery.me.com/lessardr#100374
Jesse LOVES it and has thanked me a billion times, including first thing this morning when his head was less than an inch from mine as I opened my eyes. He and Jocelyn had a sleepover in there last night, but of course Jesse got the top bunk.
Mom went home after a nice shabbos lunch with the Rosenbaums and then I had to take a bath for about 90 minutes because once I was in, I couldn't get out - I'm so sore! It didn't help that Friday afternoon was our Department outing and we bowled and then did laser tag and bumper cars. I have to believe that unloading the boxes was the hardest part, because the alternative is to admit that my 61-year-old mother is in much better shape than I am, and I really don't want to cop to that.
Today Josh and his parents and his brothers are at an event at the University of Hartford, which means this morning Josh and I went to Men's Warehouse to buy him a suit. When we got there, it was "buy one get one for $100" so I got one for Timothy just based on his pants size. I told the guy that he's a 33x32 so he gave me a 34x32 just in case (both suits were hemmed before we were even done checking out!) and thank goodness because they are none too big. Luckily the jacket is and the jacket and pants were separates so we can a) let these pants out up to 3 more inches at the waist and 6 at the hem, and b) then buy the next size pants in the same color assuming the jacket still fits. Not bad! Of course, Josh's suit was somewhat more expensive, and once we had rather overpriced shirts, ties, belts, and shoes, well, we pretty much needed another mortgage. But I got to say ta-ta to 2 very nice looking fellas this afternoon! And Timothy says maybe he'll wear it for his 8th grade dance in the spring. There's a picture of him in the suit in the link above.
Starting tomorrow Jesse will get to stay at school for an extra hour each day to have lunch with a smaller group of friends. He is VERY excited.
Jocelyn informed me that she got sent to the "thinking chair" twice this week for forgetting the rules about no talking to your friends. I asked how long she had to stay, and she told me that you have to take ten deep breaths and then think about your community and what it means to be part of a community. Well isn't that just something that I'm not sure how I feel about. I suppose it's better than hitting her with a ruler. Josh has some choice words for the entire process, but I don't think I need to share those :).
Morgan is loving school. He especially likes the fitness room still and so he's been getting to go there twice a day as the reward for doing his work. That's way better than the "one M&M per minute for not hitting anyone" approach we had to take a few years back!
Well I have to go get these kids some leftovers for dinner. Hope everyone had a good weekend!
Rhonda
The room has one blue wall (which I was smart enough to do last weekend since I knew it had to be dry before we did the next color) and 3 tan walls. I got home early on Friday and we replaced the light over the kitchen table and got 2 coats on all 3 walls before enjoying shabbos dinner with the Rosenbaum clan.
The bunk beds were quite a project! I was up earlier than my mom (surprising!) and had Timothy help me drag 4 of the 5 boxes it came in in from the garage. I say drag because we couldn't really carry them so just lifted them into the house and onto a blanket and then dragged them across the floor into the game room. There I found that each box contained... a box. The 2nd box contained all the pieces and hardware. It took me over an hour to get everything unpacked, and by the end I was a tired sweaty mess! It didn't help that we've had quite a humid weekend.
The last box was so heavy that I couldn't actually lift it at all, so once my mom was up we unpacked it in the garage and carried everything in in pieces.
Once I had all the hardware laid out and labeled on a big piece of cardboard, it was almost 8:30am and we were ready to start! Four and a half short hours later, we were ready for the unveiling.
You can find pictures of the room here:
gallery.me.com/lessardr#100374
Jesse LOVES it and has thanked me a billion times, including first thing this morning when his head was less than an inch from mine as I opened my eyes. He and Jocelyn had a sleepover in there last night, but of course Jesse got the top bunk.
Mom went home after a nice shabbos lunch with the Rosenbaums and then I had to take a bath for about 90 minutes because once I was in, I couldn't get out - I'm so sore! It didn't help that Friday afternoon was our Department outing and we bowled and then did laser tag and bumper cars. I have to believe that unloading the boxes was the hardest part, because the alternative is to admit that my 61-year-old mother is in much better shape than I am, and I really don't want to cop to that.
Today Josh and his parents and his brothers are at an event at the University of Hartford, which means this morning Josh and I went to Men's Warehouse to buy him a suit. When we got there, it was "buy one get one for $100" so I got one for Timothy just based on his pants size. I told the guy that he's a 33x32 so he gave me a 34x32 just in case (both suits were hemmed before we were even done checking out!) and thank goodness because they are none too big. Luckily the jacket is and the jacket and pants were separates so we can a) let these pants out up to 3 more inches at the waist and 6 at the hem, and b) then buy the next size pants in the same color assuming the jacket still fits. Not bad! Of course, Josh's suit was somewhat more expensive, and once we had rather overpriced shirts, ties, belts, and shoes, well, we pretty much needed another mortgage. But I got to say ta-ta to 2 very nice looking fellas this afternoon! And Timothy says maybe he'll wear it for his 8th grade dance in the spring. There's a picture of him in the suit in the link above.
Starting tomorrow Jesse will get to stay at school for an extra hour each day to have lunch with a smaller group of friends. He is VERY excited.
Jocelyn informed me that she got sent to the "thinking chair" twice this week for forgetting the rules about no talking to your friends. I asked how long she had to stay, and she told me that you have to take ten deep breaths and then think about your community and what it means to be part of a community. Well isn't that just something that I'm not sure how I feel about. I suppose it's better than hitting her with a ruler. Josh has some choice words for the entire process, but I don't think I need to share those :).
Morgan is loving school. He especially likes the fitness room still and so he's been getting to go there twice a day as the reward for doing his work. That's way better than the "one M&M per minute for not hitting anyone" approach we had to take a few years back!
Well I have to go get these kids some leftovers for dinner. Hope everyone had a good weekend!
Rhonda
Saturday, September 10, 2011
September 10, 2011
I attended my 3rd Leadership Forum this week and found it inspiring and informative as usual. This one was different in that it was held at the Cleveland Clinic instead of Hartford.
Now, I'm not exactly a "yay I get to travel somewhere new" kind of person, especially when it involves an airport. It's not that I don't like flying, the actual flying part of flying is actually still fun for me and I was able to get window seats for each leg, which I enjoyed. It's the rest of the stuff that goes with flying that I don't care for.
The cheapest flight option I had was to leave Hartford at 10:10am on Wednesday, spend 2.5 hours in Baltimore, then on to Cleveland. A direct flight was 3 times the cost, so long layover it was. (See Terrie F? See how I think about expenses?). I was not the only cost-conscientious leader and so 10 of us were together in Baltimore awaiting our next flight.
And then it started to rain.
A LOT.
And so around 1:20pm, about 10 min before our flight was to board, it was canceled, and 10 of us watched the rest of our plane-mates rush in an every-person-for-themselves manner to the Southwest counter to get on a later flight.
I called Sheila instead. Between Sheila and 2 other EAs, 2 travel agents were on the case for all 10 of us. We headed to the Southwest counter, together, to stand in the long long line. Before we made it to the front of the line, travel had confirmed they couldn't get us on another Southwest flight, which was unlikely to take off anyway. They got us on Continental instead (which was a very far walk!). So we all headed over to Continental, which had a surprisingly shorter line, and got our boarding passes. Then back through security, where I totally forgot that I had purchased a water in between Southwest and Continental and so that $1.99 was not money well spent.
By now it was around 2:30pm and the flight, which was originally scheduled to depart at 3:30pm, was delayed until 4pm. Ok, not too bad. We all parked ourselves in a bar and got comfortable.
Then it was delayed until 4:30pm.
Then it was delayed until 5pm.
Then it was delayed until 5:30pm.
Then it was delayed until 6pm. By now we would have been better off having driven from Hartford! But it wasn't canceled yet, and we were comfortable at the bar, so life wasn't so bad.
We did finally get to board a bit past 6 and we did make it to Cleveland, even though we missed the welcome reception. All's well that ends well.
The Cleveland Clinic is a massive place, and we had so many great speakers at the forum. I'm anxious to tell you about everything I learned, but if I type it out now, I'll be here all day! I think that I'll pick one topic each Friday for the next few Fridays so I can do each one justice. For now I'll just mention that I was a bit ashamed to not know that there's an Aetna iPhone app, which I downloaded onto my iPad while there during a group scavenger hunt where we had to locate different types of providers in different zip codes. So we all logged into Aetna Navigator on our various mobile devices and off we went to scavenge!
By Friday I was definitely nervous about making it home. I had a 3:25pm flight from Cleveland to Baltimore connecting to a 5:45pm flight to Hartford. Before we left Cleveland, we knew the connecting flight was delayed. That couldn't be a good sign! Somehow we had picked up more friends heading home and now there were 20 of us hanging out at gate B6 in Baltimore waiting for news that we'd be able to actually get home. We managed to entertain ourselves and each other and the delay ended up being less than an hour, so by about 6:30pm we were headed home! Yay!
The descent into Hartford was as the sun was setting and the view was so pretty. I was glad to be home, and I was glad to have gone to the forum, even if it wasn't exactly a smooth trip.
Josh picked me up at the airport and the kids cheered my homecoming and chattered away about their week, each getting progressively louder so as to be heard over the other. Such a comforting noise!
As I reflect on the trip out, I realize that I was really happy not to be alone. I am not often categorized as a "people-person", yet being in a group of people with which I was only mildly acquainted made the whole situation tolerable. Had I been alone, I'm quite sure the stress level would have been exponentially larger. And had I not had Sheila on the other end of the phone saying don't worry, I'll find someone to take care of you, well that I can't even imagine.
Don't worry, I'll find someone to take care of you.
That's a powerful sentence, and it's something that Aetna does every day. Nurses reach out to patients that may be scared or not knowing what to do or alone or all three of these things and more, and they say "Don't worry, I'll find someone to take care of you."
At the Cleveland Clinic, on every employee's badge, it says "Caregiver". Every employee, from the janitors to the surgeons to the CEO. Every employee is a caregiver.
Before this week, I thought of providers as very different from payers, perhaps even enemies of each other.
I don't think that any more.
I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!
Rhonda
Now, I'm not exactly a "yay I get to travel somewhere new" kind of person, especially when it involves an airport. It's not that I don't like flying, the actual flying part of flying is actually still fun for me and I was able to get window seats for each leg, which I enjoyed. It's the rest of the stuff that goes with flying that I don't care for.
The cheapest flight option I had was to leave Hartford at 10:10am on Wednesday, spend 2.5 hours in Baltimore, then on to Cleveland. A direct flight was 3 times the cost, so long layover it was. (See Terrie F? See how I think about expenses?). I was not the only cost-conscientious leader and so 10 of us were together in Baltimore awaiting our next flight.
And then it started to rain.
A LOT.
And so around 1:20pm, about 10 min before our flight was to board, it was canceled, and 10 of us watched the rest of our plane-mates rush in an every-person-for-themselves manner to the Southwest counter to get on a later flight.
I called Sheila instead. Between Sheila and 2 other EAs, 2 travel agents were on the case for all 10 of us. We headed to the Southwest counter, together, to stand in the long long line. Before we made it to the front of the line, travel had confirmed they couldn't get us on another Southwest flight, which was unlikely to take off anyway. They got us on Continental instead (which was a very far walk!). So we all headed over to Continental, which had a surprisingly shorter line, and got our boarding passes. Then back through security, where I totally forgot that I had purchased a water in between Southwest and Continental and so that $1.99 was not money well spent.
By now it was around 2:30pm and the flight, which was originally scheduled to depart at 3:30pm, was delayed until 4pm. Ok, not too bad. We all parked ourselves in a bar and got comfortable.
Then it was delayed until 4:30pm.
Then it was delayed until 5pm.
Then it was delayed until 5:30pm.
Then it was delayed until 6pm. By now we would have been better off having driven from Hartford! But it wasn't canceled yet, and we were comfortable at the bar, so life wasn't so bad.
We did finally get to board a bit past 6 and we did make it to Cleveland, even though we missed the welcome reception. All's well that ends well.
The Cleveland Clinic is a massive place, and we had so many great speakers at the forum. I'm anxious to tell you about everything I learned, but if I type it out now, I'll be here all day! I think that I'll pick one topic each Friday for the next few Fridays so I can do each one justice. For now I'll just mention that I was a bit ashamed to not know that there's an Aetna iPhone app, which I downloaded onto my iPad while there during a group scavenger hunt where we had to locate different types of providers in different zip codes. So we all logged into Aetna Navigator on our various mobile devices and off we went to scavenge!
By Friday I was definitely nervous about making it home. I had a 3:25pm flight from Cleveland to Baltimore connecting to a 5:45pm flight to Hartford. Before we left Cleveland, we knew the connecting flight was delayed. That couldn't be a good sign! Somehow we had picked up more friends heading home and now there were 20 of us hanging out at gate B6 in Baltimore waiting for news that we'd be able to actually get home. We managed to entertain ourselves and each other and the delay ended up being less than an hour, so by about 6:30pm we were headed home! Yay!
The descent into Hartford was as the sun was setting and the view was so pretty. I was glad to be home, and I was glad to have gone to the forum, even if it wasn't exactly a smooth trip.
Josh picked me up at the airport and the kids cheered my homecoming and chattered away about their week, each getting progressively louder so as to be heard over the other. Such a comforting noise!
As I reflect on the trip out, I realize that I was really happy not to be alone. I am not often categorized as a "people-person", yet being in a group of people with which I was only mildly acquainted made the whole situation tolerable. Had I been alone, I'm quite sure the stress level would have been exponentially larger. And had I not had Sheila on the other end of the phone saying don't worry, I'll find someone to take care of you, well that I can't even imagine.
Don't worry, I'll find someone to take care of you.
That's a powerful sentence, and it's something that Aetna does every day. Nurses reach out to patients that may be scared or not knowing what to do or alone or all three of these things and more, and they say "Don't worry, I'll find someone to take care of you."
At the Cleveland Clinic, on every employee's badge, it says "Caregiver". Every employee, from the janitors to the surgeons to the CEO. Every employee is a caregiver.
Before this week, I thought of providers as very different from payers, perhaps even enemies of each other.
I don't think that any more.
I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!
Rhonda
Friday, September 2, 2011
September 2, 2011
I get so stressed out by the start of school!
My first step in being completely overwhelmed by the start of school is the ridiculously long list of school supplies that comes home with each child. Well, ok, the littler kids aren't much of an issue - scissors, glue sticks, colored pencils. But the older 2 are in middle school so the list is quite extensive, including graphing calculators and memory sticks! So $400 at Staples later I end up with a big piles of items in my home, and now have to figure out what goes with what kid and assemble it and get it into backpacks. To maximize the stress involved, I leave this to almost the last minute.
While going through the lists, I notice that Jocelyn's note says they will spend the first day of school discussing the All About Me posters they have been working on all summer. ACK! What All About Me posters?!?! I search the house for the stack of end-of-the-year letters that we got in June, only to find that either my husband threw them away or my house ate them (impossible to tell which). So we take a break from organizing back packs to make a poster.
Then Timothy learns the hard way that opening his 3 ring binder is not done via brute force but rather by pushing a button. Ack! I didn't get a back-up! What to do what to do what to do what to do ok here's the plan - give Morgan's to Timothy so he has one that's not broken, give broken one to Morgan who probably won't use a binder anyway since it's annoying, email Morgan's special ed teacher than it's broken and if he needs another I'll get one this weekend, put extra notebooks in Morgan's backpack. Ok, that's a plan. Take deep breaths.
Jesse needs an extra set of clothes in a freezer bag with his name on it and a stuffed animal for the first day and a picture for the second day. Jocelyn needs two snacks and a water bottle. Morgan needs extra clothes and a snack and a water bottle. Morgan has chewed the tops on most of the water bottles. I can't send Jocelyn to school with a chewed water bottle top! The one without the chewed top says "Eli Terry Elementary". Jocelyn goes to Philip R Smith. Well that's just a faux pas. I think my mother gave me a bag of water bottles from her day care and I threw them in a closet somewhere. Which closet was it? Why do we have to have so many closets in this house? No wait, without them would be much worse. Just breathe.
Jocelyn will be buying lunch in the cafeteria for the first time. They don't exchange cash any more, they have a PIN that they have to remember and it draws down an account that I can make deposits to. Jocelyn is not good at remembering things. I make her repeat the number back to me 50 times in a 24 hour period.
Jocelyn's name tag that came in the mail has the wrong bus stop on it and we have to call the bus company and change it and then fix the name tag.
Morgan will be picked up at 7:16 at the house and Timothy at 7:30 down the street and I leave the house each morning at 7 and all of us have to shower. Well, maybe I won't need to shower here if I have to be committed before the first day of school!
And so it's 10pm on Tuesday, the eve of the first day of school and only Morgan is actually asleep. Timothy is a nervous wreck, which I completely understand because you simply could not pay me enough to be in the 8th grade again. His clothes are laid out on the floor in the shape of a person. I happily note that he included clean underwear in the ensemble. Jocelyn and Jesse are too excited to sleep. Wait - clothes! We forgot to pick out clothes for them! How can we possibly decide on the fly in the morning?!
Wednesday morning ends up going fairly smoothly. I worked from home so I could braid Jocelyn's hair and take pictures at the bus stop and then meet her bus in the afternoon. She stepped off the bus and yelled - "first grade is AWESOME!" On the walk home I heard about the most important part of the day - lunch. The cafeteria is awesome, the food is awesome, and chocolate milk is awesome. Her teacher is awesome, her friends are awesome, and recess is awesome. I asked about the poster and she said, "Oh, I just gave that to my teacher, only me and Jamie did them."
Timothy's bus was late to drop him off but he got home just the same. The "popular kids" already don't like him but he found friends to sit with at lunch, including a new kid from Virginia Beach.
Morgan's note says he did fine and went to all his classes and also to the gym.
Jesse goes only in the mornings and it's the same school and teacher as last year, so his transition was easiest. He reported that only 2 kids cried - one loudly and one softly - and 1 kid tried to run away but the teacher caught him. Also he had crackers and juice for snack and didn't fall in any puddles. (He had asked why he needed extra clothes for school and I couldn't really think of any good reason to tell him because if I said it was in case he had an accident, he would argue that he hasn't had an accident ever that he can remember, so I told him it was in case he fell in a puddle, at which point he suggested that he bring 2 sets of extra clothes in case he fell in 2 puddles).
Then it was time for my homework - take the 8 thousand forms out of each backpack, being careful to not forget which form goes with which kid, fill out my name and phone numbers over and over, tell what each teacher should know about my child, decline the additional insurance, agree they will follow the bus rules, agree they can use the internet at school and have pictures published on the school web site, etc etc etc. It took me an hour! And even after all that I was missing a form where I would agree to review Morgan's planner each night, which is fairly silly since I don't really think I will, but still, one must complete all the forms! So I had to write a note back to the teacher to please send another.
So we made it through. Josh ended up with his first 2 hours of kid-free time in 13 years, but he hasn't quite figured out what to do with that yet. Though yesterday he went to Target and bought a carpet shampooer and came home and washed the living room carpet, so that was nice.
Oh, and yesterday, we got the first fund raiser. Anyone want to order cookies??
My first step in being completely overwhelmed by the start of school is the ridiculously long list of school supplies that comes home with each child. Well, ok, the littler kids aren't much of an issue - scissors, glue sticks, colored pencils. But the older 2 are in middle school so the list is quite extensive, including graphing calculators and memory sticks! So $400 at Staples later I end up with a big piles of items in my home, and now have to figure out what goes with what kid and assemble it and get it into backpacks. To maximize the stress involved, I leave this to almost the last minute.
While going through the lists, I notice that Jocelyn's note says they will spend the first day of school discussing the All About Me posters they have been working on all summer. ACK! What All About Me posters?!?! I search the house for the stack of end-of-the-year letters that we got in June, only to find that either my husband threw them away or my house ate them (impossible to tell which). So we take a break from organizing back packs to make a poster.
Then Timothy learns the hard way that opening his 3 ring binder is not done via brute force but rather by pushing a button. Ack! I didn't get a back-up! What to do what to do what to do what to do ok here's the plan - give Morgan's to Timothy so he has one that's not broken, give broken one to Morgan who probably won't use a binder anyway since it's annoying, email Morgan's special ed teacher than it's broken and if he needs another I'll get one this weekend, put extra notebooks in Morgan's backpack. Ok, that's a plan. Take deep breaths.
Jesse needs an extra set of clothes in a freezer bag with his name on it and a stuffed animal for the first day and a picture for the second day. Jocelyn needs two snacks and a water bottle. Morgan needs extra clothes and a snack and a water bottle. Morgan has chewed the tops on most of the water bottles. I can't send Jocelyn to school with a chewed water bottle top! The one without the chewed top says "Eli Terry Elementary". Jocelyn goes to Philip R Smith. Well that's just a faux pas. I think my mother gave me a bag of water bottles from her day care and I threw them in a closet somewhere. Which closet was it? Why do we have to have so many closets in this house? No wait, without them would be much worse. Just breathe.
Jocelyn will be buying lunch in the cafeteria for the first time. They don't exchange cash any more, they have a PIN that they have to remember and it draws down an account that I can make deposits to. Jocelyn is not good at remembering things. I make her repeat the number back to me 50 times in a 24 hour period.
Jocelyn's name tag that came in the mail has the wrong bus stop on it and we have to call the bus company and change it and then fix the name tag.
Morgan will be picked up at 7:16 at the house and Timothy at 7:30 down the street and I leave the house each morning at 7 and all of us have to shower. Well, maybe I won't need to shower here if I have to be committed before the first day of school!
And so it's 10pm on Tuesday, the eve of the first day of school and only Morgan is actually asleep. Timothy is a nervous wreck, which I completely understand because you simply could not pay me enough to be in the 8th grade again. His clothes are laid out on the floor in the shape of a person. I happily note that he included clean underwear in the ensemble. Jocelyn and Jesse are too excited to sleep. Wait - clothes! We forgot to pick out clothes for them! How can we possibly decide on the fly in the morning?!
Wednesday morning ends up going fairly smoothly. I worked from home so I could braid Jocelyn's hair and take pictures at the bus stop and then meet her bus in the afternoon. She stepped off the bus and yelled - "first grade is AWESOME!" On the walk home I heard about the most important part of the day - lunch. The cafeteria is awesome, the food is awesome, and chocolate milk is awesome. Her teacher is awesome, her friends are awesome, and recess is awesome. I asked about the poster and she said, "Oh, I just gave that to my teacher, only me and Jamie did them."
Timothy's bus was late to drop him off but he got home just the same. The "popular kids" already don't like him but he found friends to sit with at lunch, including a new kid from Virginia Beach.
Morgan's note says he did fine and went to all his classes and also to the gym.
Jesse goes only in the mornings and it's the same school and teacher as last year, so his transition was easiest. He reported that only 2 kids cried - one loudly and one softly - and 1 kid tried to run away but the teacher caught him. Also he had crackers and juice for snack and didn't fall in any puddles. (He had asked why he needed extra clothes for school and I couldn't really think of any good reason to tell him because if I said it was in case he had an accident, he would argue that he hasn't had an accident ever that he can remember, so I told him it was in case he fell in a puddle, at which point he suggested that he bring 2 sets of extra clothes in case he fell in 2 puddles).
Then it was time for my homework - take the 8 thousand forms out of each backpack, being careful to not forget which form goes with which kid, fill out my name and phone numbers over and over, tell what each teacher should know about my child, decline the additional insurance, agree they will follow the bus rules, agree they can use the internet at school and have pictures published on the school web site, etc etc etc. It took me an hour! And even after all that I was missing a form where I would agree to review Morgan's planner each night, which is fairly silly since I don't really think I will, but still, one must complete all the forms! So I had to write a note back to the teacher to please send another.
So we made it through. Josh ended up with his first 2 hours of kid-free time in 13 years, but he hasn't quite figured out what to do with that yet. Though yesterday he went to Target and bought a carpet shampooer and came home and washed the living room carpet, so that was nice.
Oh, and yesterday, we got the first fund raiser. Anyone want to order cookies??
Monday, August 29, 2011
August 29, 2011
Hope everyone is doing ok and has power - we're good here. We managed to sleep through most of the interesting part of Irene, but did wake up in time to be outside to watch the neighbor's tree crack in the middle and gently fold in half, hitting nothing and staying out of the street. How cool is that? The fact that we didn't lose power is nothing short of a miracle, and we are soooo thankful because right now half the state is in the dark and may be for up to a week. That's a super bummer! So besides our yard being now a collection of leaves and sticks, no harm done. I had a nice easy drive to work as apparently most people decided not to bother. There clearly HAD been trees blocking several main streets but had already been cut up and moved to the side of the road.
In other exciting news, we also (as obviously many of you did too) had an earthquake last week. Josh said he didn't feel it, but it was very obvious in my 5th floor office at work. I was on a conference call, staring at the phone, and suddenly wondered if I was having vertigo or started drinking at work without knowing it. I turned my head to the side and noted that my monitor was shaking. I muted the phone and shouted to my staff, "is this building moving?" Not used to earthquakes, I guess many buildings in Hartford evacuated, which even I know is the about dumbest thing you can do in an earthquake. But at good ol' Aetna, they didn't even send out a note or anything. We like to not panic :)
The kids are still scheduled to start school on Wednesday, so tonight I did the annual "freak out and make sure everyone has the proper school supplies in their backpack" dance. Not a particularly fun dance, and even after all this time I'm still really bad at it. Somehow I missed the fact that Jocelyn was supposed to do an "all about me" poster, so Josh will be helping her do that tomorrow. Morgan's bus picks him up at 7:16am this year! Josh ought to have fun with that!
So to summarize - earthquake, hurricane, school-supply-freak-out. Hope everyone else is having fun too!
In other exciting news, we also (as obviously many of you did too) had an earthquake last week. Josh said he didn't feel it, but it was very obvious in my 5th floor office at work. I was on a conference call, staring at the phone, and suddenly wondered if I was having vertigo or started drinking at work without knowing it. I turned my head to the side and noted that my monitor was shaking. I muted the phone and shouted to my staff, "is this building moving?" Not used to earthquakes, I guess many buildings in Hartford evacuated, which even I know is the about dumbest thing you can do in an earthquake. But at good ol' Aetna, they didn't even send out a note or anything. We like to not panic :)
The kids are still scheduled to start school on Wednesday, so tonight I did the annual "freak out and make sure everyone has the proper school supplies in their backpack" dance. Not a particularly fun dance, and even after all this time I'm still really bad at it. Somehow I missed the fact that Jocelyn was supposed to do an "all about me" poster, so Josh will be helping her do that tomorrow. Morgan's bus picks him up at 7:16am this year! Josh ought to have fun with that!
So to summarize - earthquake, hurricane, school-supply-freak-out. Hope everyone else is having fun too!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
August 21, 2011
Well I'm sure you're just all on the edge of your seats wondering what we did on vacation... let's see how much I can remember.
We headed up Friday afternoon (8/5) and met Elisabeth & Family at the Howard Johnson's in South Portland. We hung out for the evening and ordered in pizza. Rob took the kids out on the lawn and played some football - so nice being related to someone that can't sit still! I tried to hold Reese but it didn't work out for me, and in fact I found it best to avoid eye contact.
Saturday morning we went over and visited Grammy & Grampa at the cemetery. Elisabeth remembered to bring painted stones to leave behind, and I brought a beer for Grampa. We walked around the cemetery for a while - I find them fascinating. Elisabeth and I agreed that there should be a little button to push to get an audio story of the people buried at each grave.
After the grave visit, we went over to Chuck E. Cheese's at the Maine Mall. The kids had SOOOO much fun! Jesse was hysterical on the basketball game, shooting granny-style and actually making quite a few! Jocelyn made several friends that followed her around the whole time. Then she found the stage where there was a camera shooting a live feed to a TV screen. Yeah, that was a hit. We collectively got enough tickets for 6 foam shooter thingys and some rulers.
We temporarily parted with Elisabeth & family and headed up to Sebago to get checked in and settled and meet up with Uncle Joey who did our grocery shopping for us and met us at the cabin. It was warm so we through the sheets on the beds and hopped into the water. Mandy & gang showed up around 7 and after we put the kids to bed we drank the night away down by the lake.
Sunday morning we were joined by Elisabeth & family and mom and dad for more swimming and italian sandwiches and birthday cake for Patience. Mandy and Elisabeth and I walked the kids down to the baseball field. We tried playing baseball. Patience got to go first because it was her birthday but when it wasn't her turn EVERY time, well, it seems that was a personal insult. Jocelyn was just as happy to prance around the infield not really paying attention, and was surprisingly the only child to hit the ball with the first swing. We switched to pickle and Timothy managed to run into Chase and knock him over, so now Chase was crying and Timothy was pouting because I yelled at him for not realizing that he's 5'5" 130lbs and Chase is not. With 3 of 7 kids in a snit, we decided it was time to pack it in and do some more swimming. That was a much bigger hit!
Mandy and Elisabeth and their respective crews cleared out a bit before dinner and the rest of us grabbed leftover sandwiches and then swam some more before bed.
Monday Mom treated us to lobsters and pizza. Dad and Morgan paced while Mom and Jocelyn and Jesse and I went out to pick it up. Jocelyn ate more than a whole lobster on her own. Jesse tried a bite then said he liked it but would prefer pizza. Timothy also had a lobster. Morgan and Dad stuck with the pizza. Joey was out in Naples on the Songo River Queen Tour.
Tuesday morning Mom and Dad cut out before we were up. The rest of us took a while to get out of bed and lolled around until after a late breakfast. Then Joey and Josh and Morgan headed over to Kettle Cove to rent us a boat for the afternoon. Morgan wouldn't get on the boat so Joey brought him back while Josh drove the boat over. We had more luck getting Morgan into the boat from the cabin, though it was still a bit touch and go. Once in though, he seemed quite content and we all had fun tooling around the lake. Then, suddenly, Morgan was unhappy. I got back next to him and managed to figure out that his shoulders were hot from the sun. I should have put him in a t-shirt! But once I covered his shoulders with a towel he quieted down and we headed back. We rested and swam for a while and then I took all the kids but Timothy inside while Josh and Joey and Timothy went back out on the boat and then returned it.
Wednesday we finally got around to going to the Ice Cream Dugout for ice creams. Jocelyn and Jesse had a competition for who could be messiest. It was a close call, I think they may have each independently set a world record. Morgan likes the ice cream part but not the cone part, but he also won't use a spoon, so we have to get a cone even though he won't eat it. When he gets to the bottom of the cone he scoops the end of the ice cream out with his fingers, putting an end to the myth that ice cream isn't finger food.
Thursday Josh and Joey took the kids on a drive around the lake and then picked us up blizzards from DQ because it was Miracle Treat day where they donated $1 from each blizzard to fight Childhood Cancer. You know, normally I would never advocate 2 ice cream days in a row, but it was a worthy cause, so what could we do??
Friday Uncle Joey headed home and Josh went out and got more groceries to keep us through the weekend as we try not to make a habit of leaving the cabin on the weekend and fighting all the traffic. We spent the weekend swimming and resting and swimming some more. I found spray on sunscreen horribly inefficient and it took a whole can just to coat the 5 of us (everyone but Mr. I-Don't-Burn) where as a regular bottle lasted me the whole two weeks. Sunscreening 4 kids plus myself was the only bummer of the whole trip, so I refused to do it more than once a day. So we swam during sunlight once and then waited until after dinner for the 2nd swim each day. Timothy burning on two swipes of his arms where I thought he did the sunscreen and he thought I did. Otherwise no burns except for Mr. I-Don't-Burn, but that wasn't until later in the week...
Over the weekend we bribed Jocelyn into jumping off the dock (with a life jacket on). It cost us $2 and the promise of another lobster. Money well spent as after only one jump she was addicted and did it about a thousand times over the next week (taking off the life jacket after only a couple jumps).
We had rain all day Monday so we went up to Bridgton to shop at Cool Moose and the party store - our annual outing. Josh and Morgan stayed in the car and watched videos on the computer. The rest of us ventured inside to get t-shirts and one toy each. Then we stopped at the fudge store and got 1 1/2 lbs of assorted fudge - yum!
Tuesday started out rainy as well so I took Timothy and Jesse and Jocelyn and we went to Mexicali Blues for more t-shirts (for Josh and Timothy) and a purse for Jocelyn and a wallet for Jesse. Then we went to the Salvation Army and got Timothy a suit, boots for me, Timothy, and Morgan, sneakers and snowpants for Jesse, and some assorted clothing (including of course, a blue velvet dress for Jocelyn). By the time we got home the rain had cleared and it was time to swim some more!
Wednesday and Thursday were gorgeous and we spent most of our time in the water. Jocelyn started getting the hang of swimming. She could already swim underwater fairly well but put her feet down whenever she came up for air. Then she sort of figured out the doggie-paddle. Then once she figured out how to combine the two she was quite pleased with herself. Jesse stuck to wearing a life jacket, which allowed him to go out deep with Josh and Timothy to play football. Jocelyn was too scared to go over her head until almost the last day when she finally figured out the miracle of a life jacket as well. Once that happened we even managed to coax her up onto the raft and she and I jumped off of it holding hands. After that she jumped all by herself, several times.
Jocelyn and Jesse were cutest when they were playing together nicely, which was surprisingly frequent. They would play on kickboards together in the water and then get wrapped up in towels and sit on the dock together. It was super sweet.
Friday we cleaned and packed and swam and cleaned and packed and swam one last time, getting out as thunder rolled in. We hustled into the car and were on our way home around 6pm. Jocelyn cried for the better part of a half hour, talking about how much she was going to miss vacation. Jesse fell asleep by the time we hit the highway and slept until CT, giving us quite a peaceful trip home! We stopped at a different rest stop than usual and ended up having to use port-a-potties. Jocelyn was NOT impressed with them.
Saturday it was time to get some school supplies so Timothy and I headed to Staples and bought about one of everything they had. Then we headed over to TJMax and Timothy picked out some new clothes while I grabbed an outfit for each of Jocelyn and Jesse (showing up at home with only things for Timothy would not have been a popular move!).
We've gotten the bags out of the car and generally into the right room, but actually unpacking them will wait. A bit more than a week before school starts. We got Jocelyn's PIN for buying school lunch in the mail, and her bus number and tag. The short bus will be picking Morgan up at 7:16am!!
Well that's the story of the last two weeks!
Rhonda
We headed up Friday afternoon (8/5) and met Elisabeth & Family at the Howard Johnson's in South Portland. We hung out for the evening and ordered in pizza. Rob took the kids out on the lawn and played some football - so nice being related to someone that can't sit still! I tried to hold Reese but it didn't work out for me, and in fact I found it best to avoid eye contact.
Saturday morning we went over and visited Grammy & Grampa at the cemetery. Elisabeth remembered to bring painted stones to leave behind, and I brought a beer for Grampa. We walked around the cemetery for a while - I find them fascinating. Elisabeth and I agreed that there should be a little button to push to get an audio story of the people buried at each grave.
After the grave visit, we went over to Chuck E. Cheese's at the Maine Mall. The kids had SOOOO much fun! Jesse was hysterical on the basketball game, shooting granny-style and actually making quite a few! Jocelyn made several friends that followed her around the whole time. Then she found the stage where there was a camera shooting a live feed to a TV screen. Yeah, that was a hit. We collectively got enough tickets for 6 foam shooter thingys and some rulers.
We temporarily parted with Elisabeth & family and headed up to Sebago to get checked in and settled and meet up with Uncle Joey who did our grocery shopping for us and met us at the cabin. It was warm so we through the sheets on the beds and hopped into the water. Mandy & gang showed up around 7 and after we put the kids to bed we drank the night away down by the lake.
Sunday morning we were joined by Elisabeth & family and mom and dad for more swimming and italian sandwiches and birthday cake for Patience. Mandy and Elisabeth and I walked the kids down to the baseball field. We tried playing baseball. Patience got to go first because it was her birthday but when it wasn't her turn EVERY time, well, it seems that was a personal insult. Jocelyn was just as happy to prance around the infield not really paying attention, and was surprisingly the only child to hit the ball with the first swing. We switched to pickle and Timothy managed to run into Chase and knock him over, so now Chase was crying and Timothy was pouting because I yelled at him for not realizing that he's 5'5" 130lbs and Chase is not. With 3 of 7 kids in a snit, we decided it was time to pack it in and do some more swimming. That was a much bigger hit!
Mandy and Elisabeth and their respective crews cleared out a bit before dinner and the rest of us grabbed leftover sandwiches and then swam some more before bed.
Monday Mom treated us to lobsters and pizza. Dad and Morgan paced while Mom and Jocelyn and Jesse and I went out to pick it up. Jocelyn ate more than a whole lobster on her own. Jesse tried a bite then said he liked it but would prefer pizza. Timothy also had a lobster. Morgan and Dad stuck with the pizza. Joey was out in Naples on the Songo River Queen Tour.
Tuesday morning Mom and Dad cut out before we were up. The rest of us took a while to get out of bed and lolled around until after a late breakfast. Then Joey and Josh and Morgan headed over to Kettle Cove to rent us a boat for the afternoon. Morgan wouldn't get on the boat so Joey brought him back while Josh drove the boat over. We had more luck getting Morgan into the boat from the cabin, though it was still a bit touch and go. Once in though, he seemed quite content and we all had fun tooling around the lake. Then, suddenly, Morgan was unhappy. I got back next to him and managed to figure out that his shoulders were hot from the sun. I should have put him in a t-shirt! But once I covered his shoulders with a towel he quieted down and we headed back. We rested and swam for a while and then I took all the kids but Timothy inside while Josh and Joey and Timothy went back out on the boat and then returned it.
Wednesday we finally got around to going to the Ice Cream Dugout for ice creams. Jocelyn and Jesse had a competition for who could be messiest. It was a close call, I think they may have each independently set a world record. Morgan likes the ice cream part but not the cone part, but he also won't use a spoon, so we have to get a cone even though he won't eat it. When he gets to the bottom of the cone he scoops the end of the ice cream out with his fingers, putting an end to the myth that ice cream isn't finger food.
Thursday Josh and Joey took the kids on a drive around the lake and then picked us up blizzards from DQ because it was Miracle Treat day where they donated $1 from each blizzard to fight Childhood Cancer. You know, normally I would never advocate 2 ice cream days in a row, but it was a worthy cause, so what could we do??
Friday Uncle Joey headed home and Josh went out and got more groceries to keep us through the weekend as we try not to make a habit of leaving the cabin on the weekend and fighting all the traffic. We spent the weekend swimming and resting and swimming some more. I found spray on sunscreen horribly inefficient and it took a whole can just to coat the 5 of us (everyone but Mr. I-Don't-Burn) where as a regular bottle lasted me the whole two weeks. Sunscreening 4 kids plus myself was the only bummer of the whole trip, so I refused to do it more than once a day. So we swam during sunlight once and then waited until after dinner for the 2nd swim each day. Timothy burning on two swipes of his arms where I thought he did the sunscreen and he thought I did. Otherwise no burns except for Mr. I-Don't-Burn, but that wasn't until later in the week...
Over the weekend we bribed Jocelyn into jumping off the dock (with a life jacket on). It cost us $2 and the promise of another lobster. Money well spent as after only one jump she was addicted and did it about a thousand times over the next week (taking off the life jacket after only a couple jumps).
We had rain all day Monday so we went up to Bridgton to shop at Cool Moose and the party store - our annual outing. Josh and Morgan stayed in the car and watched videos on the computer. The rest of us ventured inside to get t-shirts and one toy each. Then we stopped at the fudge store and got 1 1/2 lbs of assorted fudge - yum!
Tuesday started out rainy as well so I took Timothy and Jesse and Jocelyn and we went to Mexicali Blues for more t-shirts (for Josh and Timothy) and a purse for Jocelyn and a wallet for Jesse. Then we went to the Salvation Army and got Timothy a suit, boots for me, Timothy, and Morgan, sneakers and snowpants for Jesse, and some assorted clothing (including of course, a blue velvet dress for Jocelyn). By the time we got home the rain had cleared and it was time to swim some more!
Wednesday and Thursday were gorgeous and we spent most of our time in the water. Jocelyn started getting the hang of swimming. She could already swim underwater fairly well but put her feet down whenever she came up for air. Then she sort of figured out the doggie-paddle. Then once she figured out how to combine the two she was quite pleased with herself. Jesse stuck to wearing a life jacket, which allowed him to go out deep with Josh and Timothy to play football. Jocelyn was too scared to go over her head until almost the last day when she finally figured out the miracle of a life jacket as well. Once that happened we even managed to coax her up onto the raft and she and I jumped off of it holding hands. After that she jumped all by herself, several times.
Jocelyn and Jesse were cutest when they were playing together nicely, which was surprisingly frequent. They would play on kickboards together in the water and then get wrapped up in towels and sit on the dock together. It was super sweet.
Friday we cleaned and packed and swam and cleaned and packed and swam one last time, getting out as thunder rolled in. We hustled into the car and were on our way home around 6pm. Jocelyn cried for the better part of a half hour, talking about how much she was going to miss vacation. Jesse fell asleep by the time we hit the highway and slept until CT, giving us quite a peaceful trip home! We stopped at a different rest stop than usual and ended up having to use port-a-potties. Jocelyn was NOT impressed with them.
Saturday it was time to get some school supplies so Timothy and I headed to Staples and bought about one of everything they had. Then we headed over to TJMax and Timothy picked out some new clothes while I grabbed an outfit for each of Jocelyn and Jesse (showing up at home with only things for Timothy would not have been a popular move!).
We've gotten the bags out of the car and generally into the right room, but actually unpacking them will wait. A bit more than a week before school starts. We got Jocelyn's PIN for buying school lunch in the mail, and her bus number and tag. The short bus will be picking Morgan up at 7:16am!!
Well that's the story of the last two weeks!
Rhonda
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