Well, officially it's fall. Of course the 90 degree weather yesterday made us doubt the arrival. But today's 81 felt a little better. I love fall. We have tall trees behind our backyard and the flutter of changing leaves is so pretty (fortunately most of the leaves fall in areas outside our yard!) October is always a busy month for us. My birthday falls on the 6th, our anniversary (12 years!!) falls on the 21st, and Mike and I usually take a long weekend trip somewhere to celebrate both (this year it'll be the weekend in between). Even my dad's birthday is on the 23rd, and Mike's grandmother's 92nd birthday is on the 24th. So, it's a month of celebrations. This year we'll be visiting our college Alma Mater (Grove City College) on my birthday. It's Homecoming Weekend, and we haven't been up there in a few years. It's always fun to take the kids up to show them the college where we met and to catch the Homecoming Parade. What kids don't like a small-town parade with lots of candy throwing? Plus we'll get to peek in on the current fraternity brothers and sorority sisters and feel like old fogies. It wasn't really 13 years since graduation, was it??
This year's getaway-trip will be to Baltimore. We usually stay local, and this time we're visiting a place where the kids actually love to go. I think they were a little bummed to hear we'll be close to the National Aquarium and Science Center (and the McDonalds, as if we don't have one here!) This time, we'll see Baltimore from adult eyes, though. We'll let you know how that goes. I'm just looking forward to the peace and quiet and sleeping in! :-) Thank you, Gran and Granddad for the babysitting!!!
Our anniversary this year will be a bittersweet day. Our anniversary is on my paternal Grandmother's birthday. (We even had a cake for her at the wedding reception.) However, she just passed away last December. This will be the first birthday without her. GGMa is certainly missed... unfortunately the kids knew her only a little. She was the grandmother that lived on the water (Gulf of Mexico)... and lived fairly close to DisneyWorld, after all. She's the reason they got to visit Florida. And both Ben and Reagan remember her little dachshund Tippy! It's a shame Tommy never had the chance to meet her.
Well, it's Friday and we have a busy weekend ahead of us as always... but the highlight is Sunday. It's the circus! I vaguely remember maybe going once as a child (maybe I'm making it up in my mind, too!) The kids are so excited. They keep asking what to expect. I don't know! I figure clowns and trapeze artists... right? Popcorn and peanuts? A ringmaster? Elephants? Oh, I don't know... we'll find out.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
Back to School Time
Well, the kids have been in school for 5 days now. Even Tommy has been to preschool for a day. Man, they don't really break you in gently. We went from easy, breezy, sleep-in days to BAM! BUSY BUSY BUSY! We began soccer practices 2 weeks ago (4 practices a week with 2 kids and 2 games weekly). I am about to start as a new Brownie leader, so we're getting squared away with a brand new roster of girls, designating a meeting location, etc., etc. The first unit meeting is tomorrow. Mike begins teaching ESOL classes within a week or so. Yesterday the kids promoted in our church Sunday School program (and Mike and I were back to work!) Goodness, the PTO even sent home our first school fundraising sales packet today! So, we're back in the swing of things for sure!
So, with all the hub-bub going on (not to mention the continuing doctors appointments), it's no wonder I forgot an appointment on Sunday evening. Unfortunately it was my son's best friend's birthday party at a bouncehouse location! ACK! The party was from 5-7. At 7:02 (no lie), I looked at my planner to see "what the week held ahead of me". Ha! I forgot that the week started on Sunday, apparently. So at 7:45 (when I thought they'd be getting home), we trekked over to his friend's house to apologize and hand him his gift. I felt so dumb! It's not that we were overly busy on Sunday. I napped from lunch til 5:20... then went to dinner with my family. How could I forget?? Oh yeah... I forgot my daughter's friend's party in the spring, so I guess they are equal. I think it's a Sunday thing. Sundays are for church, football games, and then.... nothing. At least that's the way it used to be. Somehow I always forget if something else falls on a Sunday. Ask our neighbor John. He's our kids' guitar teacher. How many times has he called at 2:10 on Sunday afternoon to say, "Are they coming over?" People are going to think I'm losing my mind. I swear... it's just a Sunday thing!!
Saturday night was our Dinner Group, hosted at our house. For anyone who is looking for a great excuse to get out of the house from time to time for some adult-interaction-time, I highly recommend starting up a Dinner Group. My friend Kathleen organized ours. She found 4 other couples that were interested in addition to her and her husband. We meet every-other-month at someone's house for a dinner. The host offers the beverages and main course. The other couples each bring another course, such as veggies, dessert, appetizers, salad, etc. Then we spend about 4 hours talking, laughing, and eating. What could be more relaxing than that? Our group has now dwindled down to 4 regular couples, but it is so much fun. The other 3 couples are from our old (but not far away) town, so we rely on these dinner groups to keep in touch. It works beautifully! For our dinners, we try to stick to a theme, and that's the best part. Most of us are not using old tried-and-true recipes, but rather searching online to find the "perfect" dish. So far, we've had Italian, Fondue, Tapas, Chinese, Mexican, Pizza (bring your own toppings), BBQ (picnic with family), and Greek. I know I'm missing something in there, too. We did Greek on Saturday. Lamb kabobs. Mmmm. Our next outing, we've decided, is to go to the Melting Pot instead. Granted, it's pricey, but we all loved fondue... and who can beat NOT cooking once in awhile? :-) And some lucky babysitter will get many hours on the clock that night.
Well, as the title of this post mentions, it's "back to school time", and my schedule is super busy tomorrow. Time for some sleep.
So, with all the hub-bub going on (not to mention the continuing doctors appointments), it's no wonder I forgot an appointment on Sunday evening. Unfortunately it was my son's best friend's birthday party at a bouncehouse location! ACK! The party was from 5-7. At 7:02 (no lie), I looked at my planner to see "what the week held ahead of me". Ha! I forgot that the week started on Sunday, apparently. So at 7:45 (when I thought they'd be getting home), we trekked over to his friend's house to apologize and hand him his gift. I felt so dumb! It's not that we were overly busy on Sunday. I napped from lunch til 5:20... then went to dinner with my family. How could I forget?? Oh yeah... I forgot my daughter's friend's party in the spring, so I guess they are equal. I think it's a Sunday thing. Sundays are for church, football games, and then.... nothing. At least that's the way it used to be. Somehow I always forget if something else falls on a Sunday. Ask our neighbor John. He's our kids' guitar teacher. How many times has he called at 2:10 on Sunday afternoon to say, "Are they coming over?" People are going to think I'm losing my mind. I swear... it's just a Sunday thing!!
Saturday night was our Dinner Group, hosted at our house. For anyone who is looking for a great excuse to get out of the house from time to time for some adult-interaction-time, I highly recommend starting up a Dinner Group. My friend Kathleen organized ours. She found 4 other couples that were interested in addition to her and her husband. We meet every-other-month at someone's house for a dinner. The host offers the beverages and main course. The other couples each bring another course, such as veggies, dessert, appetizers, salad, etc. Then we spend about 4 hours talking, laughing, and eating. What could be more relaxing than that? Our group has now dwindled down to 4 regular couples, but it is so much fun. The other 3 couples are from our old (but not far away) town, so we rely on these dinner groups to keep in touch. It works beautifully! For our dinners, we try to stick to a theme, and that's the best part. Most of us are not using old tried-and-true recipes, but rather searching online to find the "perfect" dish. So far, we've had Italian, Fondue, Tapas, Chinese, Mexican, Pizza (bring your own toppings), BBQ (picnic with family), and Greek. I know I'm missing something in there, too. We did Greek on Saturday. Lamb kabobs. Mmmm. Our next outing, we've decided, is to go to the Melting Pot instead. Granted, it's pricey, but we all loved fondue... and who can beat NOT cooking once in awhile? :-) And some lucky babysitter will get many hours on the clock that night.
Well, as the title of this post mentions, it's "back to school time", and my schedule is super busy tomorrow. Time for some sleep.
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