This week's crazy schedule

Things just keep on moving around here at what seems to be warp-speed. We are in the final days of September and I am amazed I have actual time to blog today, as it is one of my busiest days this week, although, I am looking at the schedule and this week is just plain busy.

We finished out last week with IC's soccer game in the morning on Saturday, and then I mowed yard and helped load pipe w/hubby in the afternoon. DH did have help, so I didn't have to heft the pipe, but I drove the pickup while they picked it up and listened to IC prattle ON and ON and ON about everything. He got on my nerves before 5 pm and we moved irrigation pipe until 6! My mom was able to watch the girls that afternoon, which was greatly appreciated.

Sunday, after church, we had the usual. IC begging to do stuff with daddy, Miss A wanting to watch TV all afternoon, and E-bunny napping for part of it. It took some doing to get Miss A outside, but she came around and had a good time playing football and soccer with Daddy and IC. E-bunny wasn't so happy-actually she was rather cranky outside. This is unusual for her, I thought maybe it was combination of teeth and it was pretty windy out. It's also possible she had a cold coming on, as she's got a yucky nose today.

This morning started with Miss A not wanting to get ready for school. She's a pill to get going in the morning, usually barely getting ready with 5 minutes to spare. IC is really good about getting going in the morning, so I rarely have to push him. E-bunny I let sleep as long as possible-she's usually pretty tired in the morning. We made it to school on time anyway, then E and I grabbed a few groceries before heading to my mom's to pick up the cosignment clothes I have there. Tomorrow is the day to take them to the big city for the sale. Now, I have a few minutes before I head to a doctor appointment for me while my MIL watches the girls. After my appointment, I get to come home and pick up the girls and head back to town to pick IC up from KFC. Then, we'll have to take a walk or something for 45 minutes until Miss A's dance class, in which I have to find IC and E something to do for 30 minutes, before we head home to eat supper and clean up and bedtime. Whew! Mondays are very full.

Tomorrow, I go to the big city and my mom watches the girls. I hope to be back around 2 or so. Then, at 6 is IC's last soccer practice. Coach is having pizza, but IC won't eat pizza, so I'll still have to feed him prior to going.

Wednesday is bell choir and regular choir rehearsal in the evening for me.

Thursday, unless it rains, I'm headed to the field to start learning how to drive something big. Hubby's itchy to be in the field, all the other farmers in the neighborhood are cutting beans. Our combine is OLD, so the beans have to be really dry in order for the combine to cut them.

Friday, I go with IC's Kindergarten class to the pumpkin patch about an hour away (probably longer on a school bus). 39 Kindergarteners-won't that be fun? It definately won't be boring!

Saturday is IC's final soccer game and possibly, I'll be helping in the field that afternoon-we'll have to see what the weather decides to do.

Technology

It's amazing what technology can do. Right now, I am sitting outside on my front porch, watching my children play on the driveway while I type in my blog. A lot of people can do a lot more, what with 3G phones and such, but to do this is pretty cool out here in the country-I like it. I might actually get something done once in a while.

Today was pretty busy as I moved E-bunny's crib into Miss A's room. This has actually been the plan from the beginning, but E-bunny didn't sleep through the night until long after she had turned one. This kept Miss A up and I decided to put E-bunny temporarily in the store room. The store room is full and Miss A has asked me several times to let E-bunny sleep in her room, so today before dinner, I moved her crib back. I'm betting it won't be long before Miss A wants her out, but E is there to stay. We have no other rooms and no extra storage, so this is the way it is.

It seems that I may have to help with harvest this year besides providing lunches at 5 pm. We will see, but I have alerted my mom to the fact I might need her this month a lot. The guys have been doing a little corn picking, but it's all wet and has to be dried so only so much can be done at once. DH usually isn't this worried and pushing to harvest so soon, but I think the wetter weather the past 2 weeks and the lack of help has him in the "harvest panick" a little early this year. Hopefully, things will go good anyway, despite the weather, lack of help, a REALLY old combine and panicky farmers.

Tuesday

We are FINALLY down to one day of soccer practice a week-yay! Of course, it's today, making the first 2 days of the week a little crazy, but soccer's over the first weekend in October, so there isn't that much more times of running to practice and games left. Actually, there's just a game this Saturday and next Saturday-it's hard to believe that September will be over next week.

It's becoming apparent that E-bunny is not a morning person. She is seemingly liking to stay up later at night and sleep in mornings. This is what Miss A would prefer, which is why it's hard to get her moving in the mornings for school unless she's helper-THEN she gets motivated. Unfortunately, that's only about twice a month, so you can imagine how much fun it's not the rest of the time! As for E, she's taking a morning nap this am-very unusual for her. She didn't go to bed until nearly 10 last night-which is late for her, by the way. And, in getting up for taking the older 2 to school, I don't know that she was ever really "aware" of much! She has slept til 9:30 or 10 am when given the chance! I believe, though, that I need to go wake her or she'll not have any nap this afternoon and that's not a good thing, either.

Miss A, the dancer

Yesterday was our first day of dance for Miss A, she was very excited, to the point it got a little annoying, but I really did understand.

We started with a busy day, dropping off the older 2 kids, then E-bunny and I headed to my mom's so I could finish putting price tags on the outgrown clothes for the cosignment sale next week. After that, it was get home, in which E fell asleep and then proceeded to take a 3 hour nap! After I got Miss A off the bus and we were all done with dinner, it was soon time to get ready to leave again! We picked IC up from school and headed to the church for KFC (Kids for Christ)-the afterschool program for K-4 on Mondays. I helped with craft, but I really spent more time keeping my two girls out of trouble in the nursery! Our church has heavy curtains separating several classrooms, so the girls could easily go back and forth between the class we were in and the nursery, as they were next door to each other and I had the curtain opened some. Since this was the first day of dance, I was testing out to see how things were going to schedule out. KFC gets done at 5 and Miss A's class is at 5:45, it's not worth going home. So, we stayed at the church and had lunchables (this one time for convenience), before going to class. What I learned: there's not much time to eat, the kids need to go run at this time because they've been cooped up all day, and IC is NOT going to be fun to deal with during Miss A's class. It was good to eat, because then I didn't have to worry about it at 6:30, when we got home. We just showered and had a little TV time before bed. The down side is that IC needs to run off steam before Miss A's class, so it looks like next week, I'll bring a little snack, let the kids run around before class, then take Miss A to class and either walk around the block with the other 2 or bring something for IC to do. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of places to sit in the dance building. It's in the old high school and dance is in 2 class rooms, but there's no chairs in the hall and very few in the little "waiting room" off of the one classroom. To add to the fun of IC's whining, the stuffiness and heat of the rooms and the ever-chaos of the first day, there were last minute dancers there that needed to be measured for the recital costumes, which ended up taking up a lot of the dance class time. That was really frustrating for the moms who've been to the meetings and open houses-already having their child measured when it was supposed to be done and wanted their child to start dance, not run around waiting for the teacher. Hopefully, next week will be better. Miss A did enjoy her class, I believe. She didn't say much, but when asked, said she liked it.

Friday and Saturday

Well, as it turns out, IC did have a small virus that's going around. He ended up vomiting once, but then he felt alright. He continues to complain of a headache some, but has a molar coming in that's been fairly painfull. We ended up going to my mom's after Miss A came home from school and we ate dinner. My mom is storing my many clothes I am selling on a cosignment sale the first weekend in October. I am getting rid of as much as I can of outgrown clothes and baby stuff, as my storage space is VERY limited.

Yesterday, IC went back to school and finished his star student week. He also got to get a glow necklace for homecoming and show off his 2 grandmas at the Grandparent's Day program at school.

Later in the afternoon, the older 2 got to go with Daddy on the combine. E-bunny, however, did not and proceeded to cry and pout. Poor girl may have a complex before she's old enough to go with Daddy as often as the others. She's a Daddy's girl, always making a beeline for Dad the minute she sees him in the yard. DH ended up picking corn some yesterday so the BIL can have some for his many pigs-he ran a little short this year. It's early for corn, so we have to dry it first before using.

After a ride, the older 2 got to play in the yard awhile with the Tornado, my niece who's a year older than IC. Normally, there is fighting between IC & Miss A, as they have a difference of opinion on what should be played and the Tornado is caught between them, but there didn't seem to be any for once.

Today, is another soccer game, with a few errands run before the game. IC got a good price for Spooky the calf, so he gets to put his share of the money in his savings today. Since his sisters often "helped" with the chores, they get a little money, too. After dinner, will be my opportunity to mow the yard, as my mom came to go to the game with us and watch the kids while I mow. Fun for all.

6 am

It's 6 am and I've been up since around 5. IC started complaining of a tummy ache this am, so I am currently listening to him moan. We made a pallet on the floor of the office in case of vomiting and now I'm waiting to see what will happen. I'm not sure if it's the start of the flu-normally, that happens fairly quickly, where this is dragging on. I'm not so sure it just isn't a combination of allergies, a molar tooth coming in and maybe a little stress from selling Spooky this week and mom and dad going to the farm show without him yesterday.

Yesterday, dh and I went to the farm show a little over an hour away from home. We've been taking 1 child every year for awhile, but elected to go without kids this year. It was warm on and off when the sun came out, but it wasn't too bad. There were a LOT of people there, which there usually is anyway, but it seemed packed yesterday. It was a lot of walking, so my feet were hurting, but it was nice to get away from home for a day.

The Start to an Up & Down Week

It's Monday and the start of a new week that will have some up and down's for IC. He is the star student of Kindergarten this whole week. He gets to take things to show and tell all week. He is the first one on the list to get to be the star, as he's been one of the better behaved children so far.

The down is that IC's calf, Spooky, is headed to the sale barn tomorrow. IC's been pretty good about feeding him all summer. I didn't know he was too attached to him until DH said it was time for the calf to go and he started to cry some. It wasn't a loud wail, just a small sniffle. He does get the money, though, for the sale, so that will help a little. I imagine he will recover fairly quickly, as Spooky's name described the way he is-a little spooky around people. He definately is not a pet.

Miss A also had a set-back this week. She was supposed to start dance tonight, but people didn't show up to the open house like they were supposed to and another open house had to be held. This made it difficult to get the schedule done, so tonight is a parent's meeting for the schedule, instead of class. Miss A was disappointed when I told her, but hopefully, she can hold out one more week.

Saturday Busyness

It's been another busy Saturday, starting with going to IC's soccer game. It rained 1.25 inches last night, so I was a little trepid that it might be soggy, especially since we were the third game. It wasn't bad though, the only muddy spot being right in front of the goal. IC's team did a lot better today, they are finally starting to get the hang of things. After a run home and quick dinner, I ended up refolding most of the clothes I had in the girls' laundry basket, since E-bunny decided to pull everything out of there. I'm not convinced that she didn't have help from a certain Miss A. It took awhile, but I got it all refolded and put away. By that time, my mom was here so I could mow, before I could lose a child in the grass-it was tall.

As an unexpected bonus, we got a visit from the sheriff, as one of the boys from the boys' home is on the loose. A few miles down the road from us is a former old people's home, turned to foster home, turned to monestary, now currently a home for troubled boys. Boys come from all over the state to stay here to hopefully get straightened out or else go to juvenile hall/jail. We haven't heard of a lot of escapes, but they are bound to happen. I appreciate the sheriff letting us know that one was headed this direction. Hopefully, they found him.

As it is, we keep on going. Tomorrow is the kick off Sunday School day, so our choir sings 2 songs. Then there's a hot dog, sloppy joe feed at church after service, so we get to have a free meal, which is always nice.

Monday was supposed to be the first day of dance class, but not enough people came to the open house, so they had another one today, which means we don't know the set schedule with times until Monday, so there will be a meeting instead of a first class. Poor Miss A is disappointed, to be sure, waiting one more week for dance will be hard for her, she's been so excited for weeks already.

On the up side, IC is the star student of this coming week in Kindergarten. He gets to take show and tell all week-that will be interesting and fun for him.

Behind in Everything

I've been meaning to get to making some entries the past few days, but everytime I went to do it something got in my way. It's not that we weren't busy for the past few days, we certainly were and still are. My house, which did not get cleaned last week, is still not clean. Although, I worked Monday evening and vaccummed up the thousands of food crumbs that were located in the livingroom, especially congregated under the sofa. It was enough to feed an army of mice for a year, I swear. I spent the Labor Day weekend laboring on Saturday to get the kids' outgrown clothes ready for the cosignment sale coming up at the end of the month- and I'm still not done. It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to get things ready. Sunday, after my solo in church, we spent the day at home, which was nice. Unfortunately, since IC's started school, he's been even more obnoxious than usual, Miss A's been even MORE whiny than usual (if that's even possible) and E-bunny is more cranky. To say the least, getting used to a new school routine has NOT been easy for any of us. It's so much harder to get the house clean now that I have a clingy nearly 18 mos. old in the morning, a clingy 3 1/2 yr old in the afternoon, and a crabby, mouthy 5 yr old in the evening. On a good note, both older 2 children seem to be doing well in school. Miss A got a note sent home last Thursday that she has been befriending her classmates, and IC mentioned yesterday that he befriended the new girl who started on Monday. Now, if they could bring some of that goodness home.

Our schedule this week includes the double soccer practice at 6 pm (1 on Tues & 1 on Thurs), and a soccer game on Saturday am. It's supposed to be at 11 am, but most likely, it will be at 11:30 or 11:45. The kids' games have been running late, but they're only Kindergarten & 1st graders, so it's really to be expected. IC likes soccer, and is hopefully starting to get the hang of it. There are a total of 4 more games (including this Saturday's) which will run us into the first weekend in October.

Adding to the chaos of our life next week, is IC joining KFC. Kids For Christ is an afterschool program at our church for K-4th grade. They have a snack, bible lesson, craft and exercise time. It runs from after school until 5 pm.

Also adding to the chaos will be Miss A's dance class. Luckily, her class is a 1/2 hour lesson one day a week, on Monday, of all things. So we will get IC from KFC at 5 and have to turn around for Miss A's lesson at 5:45. Most likely, we'll end up staying the 45 minutes at our church and probably having supper before taking her to class. Next week will definately be a lesson in time management, again. Another change to the routine, just part of life, I guess. Miss A's so excited to go to dance, she's been waiting a LONG TIME to get to do something of her own. It will be fun to watch her.

We just finished 2 days of chopping silage. Now we have feed for the cows for the winter. It won't be long before we'll be harvesting the corn and beans-it's only about a month away. Then, there will be a temporary, but crazy time when I'll be juggling harvest lunches with our other activities. I guess it keeps us busy, that way we don't find anymore trouble than we need. :)

School Fun Run

Yesterday was the 1st fun run for the school year and the 1st for my children. They both ran the 1/2 mile and I was afraid Miss A might get tired half way thru and quit, but she did great! IC of course, did well, too, but I had no worries that he would do fine. At the end, they got a popsicle and a glass of water. Even Daddy was able to come long enough from working on getting ready to silage chop to watch the kids run.

Miss A's First Day

Yesterday was Miss A's first day of preschool. She was FINALLY excited to go, sort of. She doesn't say much about school in general. She has done well in getting up and getting ready to go these past 2 mornings, but she did that last time and by the 2nd week, didn't want to go anymore. So, we'll have to see, as she may be my one who doesn't like school much. She will be going every morning, Mon-Thurs. E-bunny has been rather lost these past 2 mornings with no sibling to bug, er I mean, play with. She clings to me until Miss A comes home from school at 11:30.

State Fair Fun

Miss A and IC got to make bracelets in the fine art building where our photos and scrapbooking entries were at.

IC and Miss A wanted to try their hand at bow and arrow shooting. They did pretty well and even hit the target some!

E-bunny loves watermelon!

Posing at the caboose that is part of the "old town" exhibit there. There's a post office, train station, log cabin and school that you could go in and look at.

IC got to sit in a real army helicopter and try on a little gear.

DH and I took all 3 kids to the State Fair on Sunday. Not our normal thing, but silage cutting is quickly approaching, and school for the 2 older ones is during the week, so there just didn't seem like any other time as the present to go. This year is the last year it will be held in the capital and we definately wanted to take the kids. We even had discussed this last year at the fair, when just us 2 went. We ended up having a good time. The kids had a few bouts of tired, whining, etc, but it went well otherwise. We got home a little later than planned, but it was worth it. The best part was the weather, it was comfortable-no roasting or rain this time! We saw most of the fair: horses for Miss A, construction stuff and the armory (he thinks tanks are pretty cool) for IC, and art and some of the vendors for me. E-bunny liked any animal we saw and DH got to run a small backhoe for fun. We didn't do any rides, as we had let the kids ride a lot at our county fair and that was enough for this year. We ate more fair food than we ever had, because everytime we turned around the kids were hungry! I ran into a friend of mine mid-day, whom I haven't seen in awhile, so that was an added bonus for me. It was a good day.