Rambling

Life has been busy...

I'm Kate's soccer coach this season, don't laugh. Okay laugh, it's pretty funny. I get my arthritic body out there, stretch, kind of run and kick the ball around with the girls. Other than the chaotic scheduling, so that I don't have to take all the kids to practice or games with me, it is pretty fun. And I get to spend time with just Kate, which is great.

Speaking of Kate she is loving middle school. Her day starts early, 7:40. Her dad takes her to school every morning and I pick her up when school is out. I went to her school open house with her last week and her school and teachers seem nice. We've made a deal with her that if she gets straight A's first semester, she gets to have a cell phone. I know, we are way behind the other kids her age. We've been putting off the inevitable. I hope she gets all A's. I will feel better if she has a phone and can contact me if any of those scary kids she goes to school with bother her.

Scary kids. Middle schoolers are scary. Well, most of them. Is it only the mother's that notice that? I'm pretty sure Kate doesn't. And 8th grade boys. Do you remember 8th grade boys. I do!

It's weird to only have one child in elementary school. Parker's best friend moved away over the summer and he seems to be adjusting to school without him okay. He is really liking third grade. He got into the GATE program and is really happy about it. The first day of school he came home with a letter asking me for permission to test him for the program. He and I talked about what it was and he was hoping he would get in. No joke, he checked the mail every day for the results to his test. I was really worried that he might not get in and be VERY disappointed. Luckily that didn't happen. He started the program this week and they built boats out of tape and straws and learned about water displacement. He gets to go to GATE for an hour and a half twice a week. I think it will be really good for Parker. He seems to be a bit bored in school and can use the extra challenge. As well as we told him that they don't allow children who misbehave to be in the program. So, no behavior issues so far.

Margaret started preschool and LOVES it. She is learning to write her letters and even has homework, which makes her feel very grown up. She also has art class on Monday and dance class on Thursday and Friday. We keep busy with all of that. She is quite a handful these days with whining and being stubborn. She is also a chatterbox. And if she isn't talking she is singing. I called my parents the other day just so she could have someone else to talk to. Sometimes my ears hurt. She still makes me laugh all of the time.

William is so adorable and so busy. He gets into everything. I had an epiphany the other day. I never knew why it seemed that the baby of all families is kind of spoiled and a bit entitled (please don't take offense if you are the baby of your family, this is a generalization). We were at Sam's and Will was yelling at me for not giving him the box of crackers I had put in the cart. Maggie tried to give him each item she could reach until she got him to stop yelling. So here was my epiphany, the baby of the family is spoiled by the older siblings, not the parents. If Will is unhappy and I ignore his plea for something, someone else gets it for him. He has three siblings who are at his beck and call at almost all times and can't stand to hear him cry/scream/yell. No wonder he is spoiled and yells at me when he doesn't get his way. He is not easily distracted either. When he wants something, he knows it and sticks to his guns until he gets it. Luckily he is cute and gives great open mouth kisses :)

I started working a bit from home. A good friend of ours has a business and I am doing the scheduling for his crews. And I will start doing the billing in the near future. I like having a job and working (at something other than being a mom), so I think this will be great for me. And since most of my friends have moved away, it helps to keep me busy.

We are counting down the days until Honey and Papa come home from their mission. We can't wait.