Take 5

Ever since I can remember the fall has been a time of great stress, perhaps because my parents were both teachers it was always tense when the school year got back underway and inadvertently, even when homeschooling there would be an odd emotional upheaval as autumn got underway. This year my stress has been more internal in the form of anxiety and I'm not really sure way. I was doing well until this week when I took a bit of an emotional downturn with a wave a depression rearing its ugly head. I slept, let myself cry, leaned on my husband for support, then did my best to keep busy and count my blessings. Nothing is ever going to be perfect, right? I started my grantwriting class and have found it to be extremely informative and inspiring, after the first 'introduce yourself' assignment the instructor responded with a fantastic email containing a ton of resources pertinent to the areas I would like to seek grants for. Awsome. I've also been doing more cardio and weight workouts using my Karen Voight DVDs as opposed the Namaste Yoga program I usually do and actually found the scales to show me 6 pounds lighter because of it. Groovy.The other day as I was getting ready to go pick up the boys after school I looked out the back doorwall and noticed about 25 turkeys on the lawn. I know they're around but I've never seen them so close up to the house, grabbed my camera, quietly snuck out and got a couple snaps.

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Ethan and Ben's soccer team played the Lime & Black team twice last week and it was a fantastic match both games. The disparage in sizes at this level (all are 10 or 11) never ceases to amaze me, some boys are taller than the coaches while other look like they're barely out of 2nd grade! That doesn't hold them back though, they all played great even not having any time on the side since we only have 9 players on our team.

This was an exciting occurance, having a referee, and not only one but two "in-training" as well. They had there work cut out for them too, because both games were pretty fast-paced with great goalies, excellent defense, and forwards out to score!

Orange & Royal won the first game on Thursday, getting the first few goals so when we were matched up again on Saturday I was expecting they'd be poised for payback. Lime & Black got things started off with a goal within minutes but Orange/Royal held on and finished the game with a tie even without one of our strongest players who went and got himself sick. Benjamin was bringing it and had a couple goal kicks but they didn't get by the goalie.

Last Friday was homecoming for North Branch, the rain stopped for a few hours, just long enough for the parade to commence and then picked back up again as the kids were loading up on the busses. Fox rode with the Cross Country team.
The theme this year was A Royal Affair.

Yesterday was the Marlette Cross Country Meet and it was exciting to have another friend run bringing us up to four elementary representatives. They all ran great even though we only got together to "practice" a couple times. Out of about 100 runners everyone on the Ruth Fox Dream Team finished in the top 30%, Bruno being the leader, through the shoot at #14 in his first race! Afterward as we were heading to the car one of our mom's tracked me down and said her daughter would like to race too. She then recruited a friend who has two younger siblings that would like to race as well. So at next week's run in Brown City we'll have 8 students going for it. How cool is that!

In addition to becoming the 'unofficial' coach of the elementary CC team I've been getting things in place to begin after school choirs in the lower and upper elementary schools from November to March. Figured I'd sandwich it in between fall and spring sports, this time only working toward one program. Thankfully I do have things to look forward to so I'm never down for long.

4ward Motion

It's been a fun and exciting start to the new school year. The boys are enjoying their new classes and making friends. We've had our first couple rehearsals for the Lapeer County Concert Choir and I am taking on more duties as VP, creating a new website and FB group, plus easing into helping with the sponsorships. We have some challenging and fun musical selections for our December concert titled "Cathedral to Village: A Hope for Peace."

Last Tuesday I helped at the North Branch hosted TVC jam and worked in the shoot for the first time. Basically as the runners came into the finish I had to number them for places and try not to get puked on. It was quite an invigorating experience and I must say I was a success in both tasks. Fox didn't get as good a time as previous meets due to a sore ankle, but he still ran a legit race. Several parents have told me stories about Fox being an encouragement to their kids, one girl that was on the middle school team with him last year took his advice and got out and ran all summer long, now her times are really showing it. Another boy joined the team for the first time this year because he was impressed by Fox during gym class when they had to run the 1-mile. He's also coming into a new level of social outreach....when I picked him up last week he made me stop the van, so he could jump out and go say hello and give hugs and knuckles to a group of kids that he knew. Shocker!...but very cool.

Saturday I watched my first U12 soccer game with the brothers Parton on the field. Not sure exactly what the finally score was but basically we creamed 'em again. Ethan did great getting in there and being more aggressive, and Ben continues to be a strong player. Both teams played a good, clean, game on a beautiful fall morning.

Ethan doing his stuff, even out manuvering his big bro!

After the game, we came back to the house, grabbed some lunch then headed "around the corner" to Reynolds Berry Farm to pick more raspberries. Seriously if you live in the area, go and pick some, there are tons, I hate to see them all go to waste. Only $2.50 a quart if you pick them yourself, we got 6 quarts in just a short time. They are on Ceder Creek road off of Burnside, just East of Lake Pleasant.

Saturday evening I attended a gathering of the Rollicking Readers book club for the first time. A friend of mine from our former homeschool co-op and fellow soccer mom had invited me several times but it never worked out for me to go. I went even though I hadn't read the book (Three Musketeers) and had a fantastic time with the ladies, many of whom I already knew and some I met for the first time. Now that I am the only woman in the house since Alexandra moved out I am making more of an effort to get together with lady friends, and not just that but get together in a social setting without "being in charge" of anything. We also watched "Something Borrowed" and "Hanna" after our pot-luck meal and book discussion, the giggles abound leaving me looking forward to hanging out with them again next month.

Rob's job has been going well, at his one month review they expressed how impressed they were by his abilities and knowlege (never had they sent a tech out on a job by himself so quickly). The owner of the company even hinted that there is a new position they are going to be creating and he would be a perfect candidate for it, adding "it's more responsibility, but with more responsibility comes more money!" Time will tell.

I'm off to my first sub job of the school year, back by popular demand, in afternoon special ed. begindergarten (sp?), then to watch the cross-country county meet hosted by North Branch. Go Broncos!

3 Boys Run & Play

The first week of school went amazingly well although I'm still waiting to receive my postcard with the bus information. Way to be on top of things transportation department. We checked the website but went down at the time we did last year, since it was about ten minutes off. Fox has already had homework in AP History, and Intro Physics plus lots of introductory forms that needed to be signed. Ben and Ethan both had one assignment each, pretty simple, already have their first spelling list. Yeeha!

Saturday was the soccer duos first game together. We had to divide and conquer so Rob took that run which was closer to home so he could sneak in a scrap metal run with the boys....everybody made a few hundred bucks on the endeavor. Woot. I got a quick snap of them when I returned from Fox's meet. The Orange & Blue creamed 'em 13-1 ... Ben got two goals and was Mr. Super Pass while Ethan held his own in defense and had an uneventful quarter in goal. I'm looking forward to catching the action first hand next weekend.

Fox had a meet in Bad Axe this weekend. I remember two years ago, this was his first meet ever in 7th grade, his goal was just to finish the 1.8 miles and not walk at all. He came through the shoot third from last. Well times have changed and training has made all the difference. Running the 3-mile high school course this year, he finished 23rd (medals to the top 25) with a time of 20:28, shooting for 19-minutes now.

What's that! ... a little crack of a smile on the boy?

Sunday we checked out a new church, they were having their Worship by the Pond, church picnic kick-off for the new season. A couple of my friends told me about it and had visited plus I recognized some kids from school. I liked the pastor, and the whole experience had a good vibe to it, very down to earth, easy-going people. We definately enjoyed ourselves and will check out some more regular services. Plus it's ten minutes from the house....love that!

2 Good 2 Be

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven.

For some reason the Pete Seeger song keeps running through my head this morning. Great tune.

So the boys all went on the bus at 6:57am, Rob left shortly before we headed down to the bus stop, and now I am enjoying the silence of the first day back to school. Aaaahhhh.

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Below is a picture of Ben and Ethan that I took at the Open House, how can you not have a great year when a sign like that greets you everyday. Both of them have lots of kids in their class from previous years and they are excited to get into the routine. Ben however, is hounding me to quit band but I'm standing firm and making him stick with it. Hopefully things will pick up and he'll have a change of heart about it this year.
Last week I was fortunate to be invited to a luncheon at a friend's house from the Lapeer County Concert Choir. It was quite fun, everyone brought a salad to share and after we ate some of us went raspberry picking up the road from her house. Many of the ladies were retired teachers and one I knew from North Branch, she works as a parapro in the elementary. Good times.

Fox has been doing well with cross-country. I got to attend the Brown City Meet. They had enough boys for a team finally although the girls were the ones that received a team medal. Two of our boys medaled and two girls. Fox medaled and had a time of 20:54....met his goal of bringing it under 21 minutes! Hope all goes well his first day at high school.

Signed up for my grantwriting class at Mott but my first class isn't until the 21st. Things are in place to substitute teach again but there usually aren't any jobs the first couple weeks of school. So for now I'm just writing TVonDVD entries, putzing around the house and yard, and hoping we get a few more house projects done before the snow flys.

Enjoy the day!