status report

1. Less than 20 days until school.

2. twoK got her first day of school outfit. She looks so grown up. It's a cute flowery skirt with a navy blue top.

3. oNe doesn't want a new outfit. She doesn't want to dress up. She and twoK are so opposite. I did talk her into a new t-shirt.

4. Three-a picked out her new outfit. It's cute! Purply-dress with flowers. It looks like a Three-a outfit.

5. Hrm... Need to think about their shoes for fall/winter. (It's always something.) I wonder if we're going to have a long Indian Summer. It's been such a mild summer. Last fall, we had very warm days after school started.

6. I've made some progress on my class. I want to get the syllabus done THIS WEEK. I don't know if I will manage. I meet the students, soon, but the course doesn't start until September. I feel behind and the course hasn't even started.

7. I need to tell you about chlorella... my new favorite supplement, but that will have to wait.

8. I also need to tell you about my new favorite food, a tofu spread, but there aren't any pictures of it on the web. I'll have to take some and share, soon.

9. The girls continue to delight and be easy and enjoyable. We went to the beach, this weekend, and I didn't have to get in the water, nor did I have to worry about one of them running off. It was so good.

good girls!

Today, the girls came to work with me. They stayed in an empty office while I was in a meeting all afternoon (1:30-5:30-ish). They had a few bathroom breaks (when they wondered the halls, but they were quiet!). I was really proud of how well the three of them did hanging out together, with very little adult supervision, for the entire afternoon. There was no bickering. They watched a Harry Potter movie, read books, and played on an iPad. I wouldn't want them to do this every day, but one day of all electronic media all the time isn't going to hurt them.

I'm so proud of them! I didn't even bribe them before hand. They knew what was expected and they did the right thing. So proud!!

Lunch Boxes 2011 - 2012

I'm thinking about getting these lunch boxes, this year. I've seen them at our Whole Foods and I want to go look at them in person, again, before I order them. I'll let you know what I think. I was really disappointed with the Land's End ones we got last year*. They were canvas and pink and were dirty after the first day of school. Ugh. I have hopes that those (see link) will wash off better. I'll keep you posted.


*I don't blame Land's End, but rather, I blame myself for not thinking through PINK not hiding the dirt.

Overwhelmed

But trying not to think about it... Here's a start on a list of stuff for the next 4.5 weeks:

1. Finish up Syllabus for OLU (actually one for fall and one for spring)

2. Get lunch boxes and backpacks for back to school

3. Assess clothing of children and determine what they need for school (I know I need to get a few more t-shirts for twoK.)

4. Go to the beach (this Friday!) (Yay, a family day. We took the girls to a little amusement park on Sunday, so we should be good on all the little trips. I also took them on the train on Friday and to lunch with Daddy!)

5. Figure out wood floor order.

6. More soon.

Bee End

Today, at the pool, oNe and her sisters rescued a cute little honey bee from drowning. oNe carried it, in her swim goggles, over to a grassy area. On the way, it started to crawl out of her goggles and she dropped it. I saw it crawling on the cement. oNe was unsure what to do to help it, and she was looking for a suggestion when, out of the grassy area, a lizard darted.

Oh, the horrors...

The lizard ate the bee. It was just like Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom! oNe looked like she was going to cry.

I quickly told her how the lizard was just doing what lizards do and it was all part of the cycle of life*. She held it together, and didn't cry, and we discussed the cute little lizard. (Whew.)


Bee end.



*Did I tell you how all 3 girls have decided it's wrong to eat the meat of animals and are now lacto-ovo vegetarians.

A sweet spot

When the girls were little, and things were crazy ALL THE TIME, MWH and I used to look forward to the day when the girls were big enough that it was easy. I think the time has arrived for us to enjoy.

The girls are super fun and are all at a wonderful age. They are "big enough," but not too big.They are good conversationalists, rational most of the time, sleep through the night, eat well, and are generally easy to take out and about. They haven't hit puberty yet, so they are still sweet. (I'm hoping we get another summer or two like this, but oNe will be a tween soon... Ai-yi-yi!) I remember HOW HARD it was from 2005 - 2008. It's been slowly getting easier since 2007*. I am definitely counting this time as "the good old days!"

I took this picture on a walk we took after dinner the other night. When they were little, I used to fantasize about the day when I could take them on a walk after dinner. Up until this year, we had too many bedtime meltdowns if we tried to do a walk after dinner. So far, this summer, we have done a few after dinner walks with no bedtime meltdowns. I need to make it a goal to do more after dinner walks in the remaining 4.5 weeks.

*I remember how HUGE of a milestone this was!

Not perseverating

I'm a little less disgustingly happy (see previous post), but not too bad. I had a little procedure done on my left eye to help relieve some dryness in it and now I'm healing and recovering. I think, I imaged that the relief from the procedure would be instant and that I wouldn't have any downtime. Certainly, I figured, I'd be all better by now, two days later, but nope. My eye is very irritated from the procedure. It looks awful, it hurts and itches. My eye is consuming most of my thoughts and energy. I'm worried that it will never heal. I need to get over it and move on. It IS healing. It looks better than it did Friday, but it is taking a while. Good things take time, right?

Moving on... The girls are enjoying horse camp. I can't believe it's here and 1/2 way over. I also can't believe there are only 4.5 more weeks of summer. OMG!

What else....

A friend is coming on Friday. (I hope my eye looks better!) MWH's company has a party on Saturday. (I hope my eye looks better!) I'm still planning my class. (At least my eye is feeling a little better today than yesterday so I can read a little.) I need to go shopping to find some new black pants that oh heck, I already wrote what I want in black pants. My needs haven't changed, but styles have, so I must go shopping. (When I go shopping, I'll be wearing my new pink lens sunglasses the entire time...My eye looks horrible.)

right now

Right now, I'm very thrilled with everything I'm doing and I understand how I get so busy. I truly am lucky to have a great family, a great job, great friends, great hobbies, and because I like everything, I never want to say no to anything. It's always my own damn fault that I get overwhelmed. I'm kind of bursting with love right now and not feeling too overwhelmed at this moment; it's kind of sickening, but nice. Ask me at the end of the day how I feel, though.

Long lost friend

This week, the girls went to gymnastics camp. It's the same one we've been going to since 2007. It's still poorly organized. Our nanny picked up the girls and was appalled by how poorly it was organized. She's 19. That's saying a lot, me thinks.

Way back in 2007, I was worried the girls would be lost if I left them alone there. Now, with three of them looking out for each other, I know the girls know who they are supposed to leave with and not leave with, so that's good. I have to rely on them to do the right thing and not the camp.

Anyhow, that's not the point of this post....

Camp was fun! Three-a had the most fun and she's ready to go back again, later this summer (not sure if we will or not). twoK and oNe had more fun than they expected. oNe was pleased she didn't get sore and twoK was excited because we ran into a little girl who was her friend when she was very little. I wrote about M, here. I'm thrilled M and twoK found each other, again. We lost touch with M in 2008, after my friend D died. M's Mom and D were similar; being around M's Mom reminded me too much of D and it was too painful for me to do it. I hope, now, 4 years later, it's not too hard and painful.

Fountains

I just thought I'd post a picture of our favorite fountains. We often run through them. These fountains are one of the places Three-a first walked (almost ran). She was so excited to go play in them.

accomplishments

I have so many balls in the air, I feel like nothing is getting accomplished. Little things are, but not BIG ones. Perhaps the problem is that I only write down the BIG things I need to do. I just keep the little things in my head. Maybe I should write down the little things I have accomplished so I can feel better about things.


The Floor.... I told you we decided to put in wood floor on the first floor of the house. I found a floor installer (our old one disappeared) and then he found the wood. Then, the place where he found the wood raised the price. I told him I'd call around. I did find a place that is cheaper. It all took time, though. Just think, I started this back in April. I had hoped to have a new floor in August, but now it looks like September/October. It's OKAY. (I move slow around here. I guess, I am thankful that at least I am moving.) So my accomplishment is calling about the wood, and getting that going again.

The Class.... I have gotten my online access (email and faculty stuff) all set up for the university. I have all my library access set up again, too. Life is good! I have started meeting the students. I most likely will have 20 students. (It's kind of a lot. Last time I had 17. I was hoping it would be more like 15, but it'll be okay, even at 20.)

The syllabus.... Not done. I have a book to finish reading, another one I just ordered and when it arrives I have to read it, too. I have about 4 more articles I want to read and one more activity I want to think about things a bit more. This all takes time. I should realistically set next weekend (7/15) as my deadline so that I can slip until 7/22 and be fine.

One of the graduate students.... Already friended me in FB. Super cute or s/he'll end up being a big pain... It could go either way. I approach it all with the hope that everyone in the course is coming to learn and is eager and excited plus scared. This is a huge endeavor for them. I just <3 the grad students!

The new project.... I need to learn about a new technology and start setting up some stuff in it. Since we don't yet have an official project yet, I am hesitating, but I should spend a little time thinking about it.

The pool.... We're going to our first social event, tonight. It's a kids thing.


Okay, back to work for me.

I did it, again

I am overwhelmed and it's all my fault. I'm putting together my course for the fall for OLU. I'm not done, yet and I want to be done. I haven't worked on it long enough to be done, but I'm feeling antsy. It's okay, deep breath.

Book report

twoK finished HP 1. oNe is working on HP 4 (for the second time). Three-a has asked me to read HP 1 aloud to her and we're on page 5 (this could take a while). It's fun, she reads some of the words with me. I continue to be amazed and delighted by the process of learning to read. I have finished Book 6 and started Book 7.

Oh, and MWH and I have watched about half of movie 6. (We bought it on iTunes for $5. It was 2.99 to rent or 5 to buy. And! No DVD lying around and getting in the way! Love the virtual!)

July! And a question!

It's July. We have already discussed how crazy it is that the year is more than half-way over. We will move on to other things. I'm finally re-reading the later books in Harry Potter series. I've been putting off reading them because there aren't e-book versions. I finished Book 6 (started it Thursday night), so apparently I haven't forgotten how to read print on paper.

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet because I don't have a lot to report. We're getting ready to go to a party with our friends, today. Tomorrow we'll do more hanging out by the pool we joined and I'll read more Harry Potter. I hope to finish 7 this weekend, too. Then, I'll turn my attention to finishing the planning of my class for the fall.

The girls continue to be super fun and I almost feel like I'm getting to enjoy summer with them. I haven't been working as much as usual at work; I'm going to be busy soon, so I'm trying to enjoy this downtime. (They start their camps, next week, too. June is over.)

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Heh... I'm sitting here blogging and twoK is with me reading--she's reading HP book 1. She just looked at the floor by my side of the bed and asked, "Why do you tell us to clean our room when your room is messy." Great question, my love. I'll get right on the cleaning up, after 1) take a shower, 2) go to the grocery store, 3) make food for the party, and 4) make sure you are all ready to go. The better question is, would my room be clean if I didn't have other responsibilities.... We'll never know.