Just life...

Monday, March 23, 2009
Didn’t see Alex this morning which isn’t unusual since Rob does the bus run for me on Monday; I probably won’t see her much this week since ‘Nit Wits’ is in the final throws of dress and tech rehearsals. Ah, the theater…. The boys got up and got themselves dressed, Fox did his shower, Ben was last night, and Ethan washed up before the meet yesterday. Checked everyone’s backpacks, sent notes to teachers about pick-ups this week, doled out hugs, kisses and well wishes; Rob took them down to the bus on his way out to work. Crunched across the frosty grass to let the chickens out to free range and give them the food scraps. Came back in, made a cup of instant (minus French Vanilla creamer…boo), did my Weekend Update blog post, some bill paying, put on my New Orleans Blues Party CD and got down to business writing TV on DVD entries. About 11:20 I went out and brought the chickens in, gathered 2 eggs, then went for a brisk (in temp. & pace) 20 minute walk around the trails, came in and did 10 minutes of intense yoga concentrating on loosening up my hips which have been very tight again lately. Spent about 2 minutes in corpse pose then jumped in the shower, got dressed then had some homemade cabbage soup. Went up to North Branch, dropped my papers off at the school administration office for substituting, hit the library for a spell then picked the boys up for school and headed right down to Rochester. Fox and Ben stayed at the library to play on the computer and read while Ethan and I did gymnastics. Alex had tech rehearsal after school and got her own ride home, she was already in bed by the time we made it back at nearly 10pm.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Ben was already up before I was. Put Alex on the bus, gave Fox and Ethan a little extra sleep time but then gave the wake-up call about 7:20am got them fed and backpacks in order, fed the chickens (no ranging today, but gathered 4 eggs), got them on the bus then followed it up to Lake Pleasant and headed over to Grosse Pointe to clean for my mom. Cleaned, then did a brisk (temp. & pace again) 20 minute walk around the neighborhood with her poodle, Brulée, then did 10 minutes of core pilates before heading back home, stopping on the way at the grocery store, gas station, and bank. Ethan has been a concern for me. Yesterday and today he cried that he did not want to go to school, I think he is still feeling under the weather but he is very overwhelmed with the work load and long day. My prayer today was that something cool/special/exciting would happen to put the spring back in his step. Oddly I thought Fox would be the one with the toughest time adjusting but he is doing fine. Ethan I figured would love having buddies around since he’s so friendly and outgoing but he is the one wanting to be back home. Of course he really doesn’t want to work at home, just play on the Wii all day! This is partly where our problems began. Boys got home and we had spaghetti dinner, they played some video games then Ben and I headed off to our last Michigan History class. Fox got his homework packet done and practiced the trumpet. Alex had dress rehearsal again but was home before we were. When we returned I sat down and did some reading with Ethan then he took a bath and I wrestled everybody to bed.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Did the high school bus run, woke the boys, Fox showered while Ben jumped in the tub. Quick breakfast of homemade banana muffins. Made cold lunches since hot lunch selections were rejected. Fed the chickens, gathered 4 eggs, and consoled Ethan again because he cried he didn’t want to go to school. We even went into our prayer closet (literally the bedroom closet) and took a moment to cast our cares and claim our strength in the Lord. He seemed to calm down. Backpack check. Loaded up and headed down to the bus stop for the second run. Discovered my back tire was flat AGAIN, slowly made my way to the church to do some work, stopping on the way at a gas station to fill the tire. Worked at the church and got my new bulletin board started, which looks TOO CUTE if I do say so myself. When I came out to the car to leave the tire was flat AGAIN. Put the donut on and decided I should go by Kan Rock and see if they had a used tire to put on since I had to go down to Rochester tonight and didn’t want a blow-out. PTL they did have one. Got back home and instead of walking today in the misty, nasty rain I took a 30 minute power nap instead. Woke up, got my coaching clothes on, had some cabbage soup, got some food together to bring to the boys to eat on the way down to Rochester, then went to pick them up from school. On the way down everyone ate and shared about their day and I quizzed Ethan and Ben on their spelling words. Fox read us his new “novel” he started writing today. Ethan told me again he didn’t want to go to school and that he couldn’t stop crying. I asked if the teacher knew about him crying and he said no, he did it quietly, nobody really knew. I was impressed that he knew most of his spelling words and he said he finally reached his goal on Rocket Math so he can go to the next level. I put a call in to Mrs. Hosner the principal earlier this morning asking her to check on Ethan and see if she can find out more about why he’s having troubles. I saw her when I picked them up and she told me she got the message but didn’t have a moment to delve into it today but will tomorrow. Fox and Ben stayed at the Rochester library and did homework and played on the computer. Ethan had a good practice and my practice with Super Mites went really well too. Picked the other two back up and headed straight home. Alex was home from rehearsals when we returned but went to bed shortly after. Heading for some shut eye myself and looking forward to not having to go anywhere tomorrow.