First Week of School Catch-up

Day 1: Grade 5, Grade 4

When you get an email from Grammy requesting an update because blog posts have been few and far between, you know you'd better write back. You also know that the other two people who read this blog might want to know what's the what, too. So here's what I wrote Grammy:

Dane's in Fall Ball, which means practice from 3:30-6 on Thursday nights and two weekend tournaments this fall. He's also doing a pitching clinic that's from 4:30-5:15 2x a week for 4 weeks, and has started a basic skills clinic that's 1x a week for the next 5 weeks. This might sound like a lot, but it's really kind of like having 2-3 practices a week with an occasional game.

Aubrey started gymnastics again and has it 2x a week for an hour and 45 minutes each time. She loves it. She comes back all sweaty and happy. She also has 2 birthday slumber parties coming up and keeps getting invited to her girlfriends' houses after school, so she's nice and busy.

Each kid has homework and they usually do that after dinner and dishes, and then they basically get ready for bed and read there for half an hour.

I've been busy with PTO meetings, a meeting with the principal (for site council), a meeting with the librarian to get started with Battle of the Books, and an order at our local book store, Bookwagon, for 4 copies of each BOB book (at a 30% discount and PTO is paying -- isn't that exciting?) to go straight to Walker's library in about a week. Somewhere in there I've been cleaning/sorting all the stuff I took out of the kids' bedroom, which is piled in the spare room. It looked like a hoarder's room for a while. Well, actually it still does. RCC starts in a week and a half, so I'm also putting together my syllabus. Oh, and I started working out at the Y 3x a week in addition to running Sharkles every other day.

Mick's working away full-time and still gets home around 6:45 every night. Last night he went to the MARA ski club fundraising meeting, and found out he'll be expected to do that every Wednesday night until November! It's the Auction committee, and it meets right by his office, so it works out ok. It's our biggest fundraiser. We also recently got news from MARA that the club's been running at a deficit and they have to raise prices to actual cost. Kids will now have to pay $600 each. Yikes! Hopefully we'll find a creative way (raffles, more auction $, etc.) to actually offset it a little. Mick's currently reading a book called The Long Emergency. I haven't read it, but it looks like it analyzes economical and environmental situations and impacts in America and the world.

Oh, and last night Dane and Aubrey and I went to a rain barrel workshop. We can't wait to analyze our property and set up a couple rain barrels to harvest water! I'm going to see if the kids will document how they help me -- as a Science Fair project -- building it with me, taking notes on how they did it, notes on how it fills throughout the year, etc. It would take extra work, but I could see it being really great.

The dream barrel set-up.

Ok, hopefully that gets you up to speed for now. What have you been up to?

The Random Update Post

The kids started school! And they love their teachers! And they love their classes!

Mick's going to buy an off-road motorcycle! (Gratuitous exclamation mark there.)

Dane's playing fall soccer at the Y. ("You know what I like about the Y, Mom? They don't keep score...")

Aubrey's taking Gymnastics at the Y and moved up from Hot Shots to Level 2. ("Mom, when do you think I can move up to Level 3?")

Dane's reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret for his first book report. In addition to his written report, he has to think of his book as a movie and imagine how he'd direct it. Then he gets to make a "movie poster" to accompany it. What a cool assignment. There's not as much text in Hugo Cabret as I'd like to see, but (1) it's his first report of the year, (2) the text that's there is thought-provoking, (3) I'll be pushing him to elaborate on his ideas and connections in his book report (that's our agreement), and (4) he has to read another book he started, Heat, as well. That might sound rough, but Dane's still excited.

Aubrey's reading Tom's Midnight Garden for her first book report of the year. She's a quarter of the way into it and enjoying it. I think it holds a special place in her heart because I read it as a kid. (It's my copy.) I'm not sure what her report assignment will be, but today she took a little 3x5 card to school with a synopsis (half copied from the jacket, the rest in her own words -- oh well!) and a picture she drew of Tom.

Mick's reading Consider the Lobster by his current favorite author, David Foster Wallace (RIP). Foster Wallace is masterful in his sentence structure and style, his ideas and connections, and his depth and humor. For all those reasons, Mick smiles a lot when he reads this author.

I'm about to read Auntie Mame for book club, but I'm dying to read Beatrice and Virgil, by Yann Martel, author of the incredible Life of Pi, instead.

I scored 20 points (3rd place - here's how they scored) in Session 1 of my NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Contest. This is a great score and puts me in good standing to advance to the next round - if I score high again on Session 2. Here are the prompts I was given:

• Session 1 - Genre: Comedy. Location: A Dance Club. Object: A Motorcycle.
• Session 2 - Genre: Romantic Comedy. Location: A B&B. Object: A Snow Shovel.

I'll let you wonder what I wrote while I decide whether I'll post my stories.

I took a job teaching 9 credits (3 classes) of Writing at Rogue Community College, Mondays and Wednesdays, 9:30 - 2:30. I start September 27th.

Our Siskiyou Challenge team fell apart when two athletes succumbed to back injury. They're fine now, but our pushing-40 bodies reminded us not to push our luck this time around. Sorry, now you can't ROOT FOR US!

Our back yard is kind of done - at least for this phase. The new fence is up, the ground is mulched, the sprinkler system is up and running, and the lawn's grown in. We now have a drawing/plan of how we'll fill it in over the next couple of years - and my mom is coming down this fall to help me put in a perennial garden and plant some trees. (Right, Mom???)

Mick's amazing grandmother (Mimi) is taking her entire family (23 of us?) on a cruise this Christmas for her 95th birthday - and we're headed to the Bahamas! And... before we board the ship in Baltimore, our little family of 4 is going to hit Washington D.C. for some history tours. (This fall we'll be doing some U.S. History prep!) Added bonus? We'll stay in Mimi's home a few of those days - and Mick's excited to show the kids where he's visited her since he was four. Right now we're in the throes of purchasing plane tickets, acquiring passports, renting cars, reserving tour spots, and arranging to kennel a dog.

The dog! Sharkles is still our fuzziest, lovin'est, happiest little pal in the house.