September Gone

Well, I can’t even believe that September is already gone and it is now October. The leaves haven’t even really started falling yet. It has been a warm fall and only now is the weather beginning to turn cool and a little rainy.

Pizza Party!

I last wrote three whole weeks ago. That was the day that Michael ran his last 20 mile run. He’s been tapering since and this weekend is his marathon! We’re in Portland for that. So, I’m praying that he makes it through the 26.3 mile course and is proud of himself when he is done.

Now that summer is over, there is much less exciting fun stuff going on here and more homework and chores. I really got my act together with chores right before school got started and I’m happy to say I have four weeks into this new system and it’s still working! I even devised an easy AND educational method for paying the girls. They tend to lose money, so I became their account. I printed them a check register each and took their birthday money stash as their initial deposit. Then, every time I owe them allowance, I just record it as a “direct deposit”. The girls get to see the money add up that way and I don’t have to have a lot of cash around. Then, I have a copy of this register in my purse and if we are shopping they can purchase what they’d like with their money as long as they have enough. The only rule I made about spending money is they can’t buy anything at the dollar store…unless it is for something they actually need.

  

So, that leads us to the first big purchase after saving up their money. Tegan and Kelby finally got hamsters. They originally wanted gerbils because the neighbor has some. They babysat those ones and did really well with them. However, the clerk at the pet store was afraid of the gerbils and suggested the girls get these Robo hamsters. They are dwarf hamsters that are just tiny. Oh, my goodness. I had no idea I would just fall in love with these little pets. Once Mike taught the girls how to hold them without panicking, they learned to walk all over and stay nicely in the girls hands.

The other big thing that has happened recently is that Kelby has shown herself to be a very good fisherwoman. She begged and begged Michael to take her out fishing since there is a good salmon run this year. He told her that she would have to clean a fish if she caught one and she promised she would. Her cousin Emma caught two the first time they were out, but Kelby didn’t catch any. Emma did a great job cleaning her fish.

   

 

The next time Mike and Kelby went out, she tried to trick me when they got home and acted like she didn’t get any when she really caught her limit of four! Cleaning a fish was a lot harder than she had imagined and she almost didn’t do it. She really freaked out, but with a little bravery shown on my part (I stuck my hand in the fish), she finally did it. Mike filleted and smoked all that fish, then they went out the next weekend and caught four more!

Kelby wasn’t even phased by the rain. She and Mike went out in the rain at 6:00 am last Saturday!

Last Saturday night the girls and I went with Heather and Derek out to Oak Harbor to watch a drive-in movie double feature. It was a Girl Scout event where we were supposed to camp overnight, but we chickened out of that part and just went for the fun of the movies.

On Sunday Debbie and George came over for lunch and to watch football. We made plans for our trip to Portland. They are coming to watch Mike run his marathon too.

This is my book club! We read “School of Essential Ingredients” this month and it was about a cooking class and yummy food, so we had a fancy dinner together. The book was really fun to read. It was so descriptive that you felt like you could taste the foods they were making! I’ve been in this book club for over four years now.

 

We also had an Open House for the girls this month. Anika is loving kindergarten and seems to be picking up the sounding out of words. They’ve also started learning sight words. Soon she’ll be reading like her big sisters. I realized that this is really the last thing that keeps her little.

The girls had their Girl Scout uniforms on for Open House because we had a table showcasing our troop there. Our troop hasn’t officially started yet, but we are all prepared and excited. We had a parent meeting so all the parents and girls know what have in store for the year.

At the school open house we also found out some frustrating news of what the school is doing. We noticed “All School Silent Reading” time on Kelby’s classroom’s whiteboard scheduled at the end of the day. This seemed fishy to begin with, but I assumed the kids were in their classroom to read. Mike and I asked the principal and found out that they are actually corralling the kids in the gym and cafeteria and making them sit on the floor to read silently for the 15 minutes of the day.

It is absolutely ridiculous. I’ve gone in a couple times to check it out and there is a dull roar in there so that kids really can’t read not to mention how uncomfortable they are on that cold hard floor. They have only one adult per grade level in there to maintain order. Those poor folks have to try to keep those kids quiet and end up yelling at them to be quiet. My girls do not like it. I just don’t know what to do about it. It certainly isn’t what’s best for the kids. It has to do with the bargaining the teachers did for their strike. They wanted that parent contact time, so that 15 minutes is supposed to be for them to contact parents. I would rather have the kids come home 15 minutes early, but then they wouldn’t get enough hours to meet state standards, though I feel like this is cheating anyway. I wish there was something we could do about this. I guess I’ll write some letters to the school board and teacher’s union and the state. They just don’t have enough money to do what needs to be done, so what are you gonna do? I don’t even think the teachers like this solution. I know the principal doesn’t, but he has to enforce what he was directed by the school district and try to make the best of it. Most parents don’t even know this is happening yet. We’ll be keeping our eyes on the situation and see if we can make a positive difference.

Well, October promises to be fun and busy as always. I thought I’d be able to slow down a little or at least accomplish some writing or other things for myself once Anika started school, but it doesn’t seem to be happening. At least I get to escape for a scrapbooking retreat next weekend!