Another week down, a new beginning?

Well I am certainly glad last week is over with, and I am looking forward to a better week this next week. Hopefully, with some schedules in place for better use of time, for homework and less fuss and fighting. Chris has his first and hopefully last detention on Tuesday after school. In their school if they have 5 minor infractions, (talking, not completing homework, etc) in a week they have to serve an after school detention. So he had made it up to 4 on Thursday, and figured since he was already most of the way there, why not do it right and complete the five. (Well I hope that's not what he was thinking.)

In any case, we have since told him the penalties at home for detentions, which makes them much less appealing, so hopefully this is a one shot deal.

Kirsten missed the first volleyball game on Thursday because she came home sick, so her first game will be Tuesday afternoon, immediately following Chris' soccer practice. She is the team manager, (following in big Sis' foot steps), so it will be fun to watch her in action. Chris made it on a good soccer team this year so it should be a good season. With the change in dates for daylight savings time, the season seems longer this year, and wraps up right about the time Basketball will start, which wraps up just a week or so shy of when Baseball starts...so it should be a busy year. Hopefully I can remember to take my camera and catch some action shots.

Since we have an extra day this weekend, and we're all rested (I hope) , think we might go bowling. Sound like fun?

Back to the grind- Evil task master

I do not remember my parents having to brow beat me to do my best job on my homework. It wasn't that I found it particularly fun, but I know I took pride in doing a good job. I always feel like the Mean Evil task master when I have to send (normally Chris) back to do his homework again because he didn't do it right the first time. How can you mis-spell spelling words when your copying them from a list? Last week it was "esa" supposed to be "essay", today it was "poeple" supposed to be "people". And we're only in week two....this is going to be a long school year, he and I are both thinking as he stomps off ripping the paper to shreads.

Kirsten on the other hand -always does great work, if she can get started. She has a tendency to procrastinate, and is then asking for help when its past my bed time. She doesn't understand that the mean evil taskmaster needs her beauty sleep .:-)

7 Things about me

First let me give a disclaimer, I am new to blogging and am not familiar with all the term's, and by no means am familiar with the "How to", so having been "meme'd" by Sandy I will give it a good effort and ask for acceptance & forgiveness where it comes up lacking.

It is a difficult task to follow after my sister, as her gift with words is amazing. She is elegant and articulate and by comparison this may seem like the work of a five year old. (I might have used a fifth grader as comparison, but I have seen that show, and some of them weren't smarter than a 5th grader.)

1. As my blog states I am blessed with faith. I am unable to explain how, when I came to realize the Easter Bunny was not real, and that Santa was really Dad , and that things really aren't fair in life, that I managed to hold on to faith in God. Perhaps it is a very basic need to believe that there is a higher power watching over me and protecting me from myself. I have been told that each of us is given one very special gift from God, and that mine is Faith. At first I didn't understand that, but as the years go by, and I have attempted to explain my faith to others I have come to realize it is a gift. It's not the kind of gift I can give-away, or even share fully, (although I have tried), but is a forever gift, that even in times where I forgot to use it, it was there waiting on me to return.

2. I like to ramble, on and on and on, well you get the picture. After reading Sandy's 7 things I had to laugh, as my boss would tell me often over the years, that if it takes more than a paragraph to explain he's not reading it. I just consider it thoroughness. I'm not one to add a lot of fluff, or at least don't think I am, but I want to provide all of the facts the first time to allow the reader to make an informed decision right away, as opposed to exchanging numerous back and forth IM's or e-mails to draw the information out.

3. Perhaps the flip side of thoroughness in my exchanges, is impatience with others when I have to perform 60 questions to get the needed information. I am easily frustrated with people who are giving me information I am expected to make a decision on, and they beat around the bush, and hide pertinent facts in lots of fluff. Get to the point! I also find myself completing thoughts, sentences in my head, of others who are more thought out speakers, before they have gotten there. This is of course so I can formulate my concise reply, as soon as they have finished speaking. Because of this I am sometimes caught when their ending was different then the one I had envisioned and I am now at a loss for words.

4. I have a strong work ethic. I got this from Mom and Dad. Although its a good thing and I have received various gifts and awards over the years for it, like the trip to Hawaii , WOW, it is also the type of thing that can become a monkey on my back. I find it difficult to sit still and just relax, when I know the pool needs to be cleaned or the dishes need to be washed etc.

5. I'm controlling. There, I've said it. I like to control anything and everything around me. Me I can trust, you I am not so sure about, so life will be better if I just take care of it. There are a few people I trust implicitly, but the majority have to prove time and again they are capable. Unfortunately I have passed this ugly trait unto my oldest daughter Heather, (she is one of the few I trust implicitly- I wonder if there is a connection?) and I can see it manifesting its ugly head in her life too. I find it funny that I am able to give her advice on relinquishing control, but I am not able to follow it myself. "Whats up with that?"

6. I am a reserved person, some would call me standoffish perhaps, I like to think of it as just quiet. I like to sit back and observe many things, rather than participate in them directly. I have perhaps as much or more fun on the sidelines, than I would if I were in the middle of the action. I think my lack of participation is often times driven by fear that I won't do as well as I would like and embarrass myself as well as others - so I choose not to join in.

7. I like to think of myself as a people pleaser. I do most things that are asked of me, even if I don't really want to. Unless its physically impossible, or goes against my nature (see #6) I will bend over backwards, go out of my way, etc to lend a helping hand, or do whatever is asked of me. Sometimes I find myself run ragged because I don't like to say NO. (Heather would tell you differently I'm sure :-). I also find that sometimes once I've done something as a favor, then it links to #5, and then I am the only one who can do it correctly. Although my younger two kids sometimes do not seem to appreciate how hard I try, someday perhaps they will think back to...Mom as the swimming instructor, Mom as the bike riding instructor,(my back still hurts), Mom as the driving instructor...(think I lost years off my life ), Mom as the practice catcher..(thank goodness there were no cameras around.) However, as much as I would like to say I do this to make others happy, and I do in part, it has given me a warm and wonderful feeling to sit back and see all the fun times I have shared, and the enjoyment I have had.

Whew....that was hard. I don't know too many people who are bloggers yet, and I am not sure how to link them in, so we'll see if this works. http://heatherlehman@blogspot.com, and my friend Sherri..http://sherri-iloveflipflops.blogspot.com/

The Meme'd Rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Back to School

Summer has come to a close, and the kids started back to school on Thursday! Yeah! It was a good summer, but I am exhausted from trying to hold down my job, and provide entertainment for the kids to keep them from getting too bored over the summer.

We ended the summer with Christopher's 10th birthday party. This year he wanted to have a sleep-over with his 3 gaming friends. So we planned to swim early in the evening, (I was secretly hoping they would be exhausted after this), then a battle on the WII.....he chose Mario Olympics, and then a movie to calm things down.

Needless to say after 2:00 AM I had to separate them into different rooms in order to get them to sleep. Unfortunately at 5:00 AM Ginger heard some movement in the living room, where 2 of the boys were asleep, and ran out barking, raising the alarm that woke up most of the house. Thankfully I was able to get them, (not me) back to sleep until 7:00. I told Chris, don't think I need to repeat this experience for another 10 years, and by then he should be in college and living in a dorm. I am just not the sleep over Mom type I guess, I need my sleep more than they do.

We were able to fit in several fun outings over the summer. Think the kids saw every PG movie that came out, either with me or the sitter. We went to the water park once, and ice skating a couple of times. Kirsten tried ice skating this last time, and did fairly well. I was proud that she didnt give up and quit when she wanted to. Christopher has the knack of it now, so he does not fall as often.

Chris made the decision not to play fall baseball this year, but elected to do soccer instead. He is still taking his private lessons for pitching and batting which he wants to continue until Spring, but was not interested in playing since his Coach would not be able to coach the team for the fall. Soccer is a much shorter season through the school, and is only one night a week, so this is wonderful news for me. Kirsten did Volleyball tryouts on Friday and is very hopeful that she will make the team. She is extremely sore, and this made shopping for school clothes entertaining yesterday since she had difficulty walking, and well....just moving in general. I am happy to see her interested in joining anything. Since Chris is not playing baseball it should give me the opportunity to watch her in action on the courts.

We're off to a good start, and hopefully this will be a good school year!