We are over half way through October. This month has gone by very quickly!
The last couple of weekends have been dominated by swim meets. Steven (10 years old, 5th grade) has been busy! He qualified for the Big Meets in several events, so he's pleased. We will see how he does in the Big Meets, but it's nice to see him placing high in these local-level swim meets now. He started year round swimming last year and was lucky to break into the top 20 at that time. Of course, he's still in the same age division as last year, but it's nice to see him getting more success as time goes on. The coaches still see lots of areas where he can improve his form. For example, Steven swam the 100 yard butterfly last week and qualified for the Big Meets. His coach's comment? "I think you aged up while you were waiting at the wall in between 25's." Basically, when Steven hit the wall he paused for a while to take a breath before keeping on swimming! Poor kid was maybe a little tired? Maybe? We now have a break from swim meets for a few weeks. Yay! Steven also plays on a volleyball team, but he's missed most of the games this season due to conflicts with swimming. He likes it, but they play against the girls, so that's a bit awkward for all parties concerned!! Steven is in his last year of Cub Scouts. Dare I say that he's losing interest in it already? He's just too busy, really.
Steven is our only child who does the year round competitive swimming. Steven's coach is trying to recruit Izzy, but she's just not that interested. The middle kids (Steven, Izzy, and Luke) all go to practices regularly, though. Steven has team practices, Isabel has stroke clinic practices, and Luke has swim lessons. Once Luke learns the butterfly and the breast (and he's legal in them), he'll do the clinic with Isabel. Probably not the SAME clinic, but the same idea- just different kids. Everyone is staying sufficiently chlorinated!
Luke (7 years old, 2nd grade) is playing on a soccer team this fall. One practice a week and a game on Saturday. He's starting to understand it more, I think... He is always willing to go to practice and seems to enjoy it. Luke is also busy with Cub Scouts. He's a Wolf this year. The kids went on a cub scout campout this past weekend- Mac braved the chilly temps and lack of a flashlight to stay with Luke, Steven, and Isabel. Josie and I stayed for the cookout dinner and the campfire, but then we headed home. (Ah, climate control and a Sleep Number Bed!!) Luke loved the camping trip-- he was definitely the most enthusiastic about it! The others survived... It was in the 50s overnight, so no one froze but it was definitely chilly. Mac likes to sleep with the temp at least 70 degrees! Must be the Latino blood in him?? Anyway, I'm still doing laundry from that camping trip. And that's remarkable because Mac didn't even have them change their clothes! Hooah, I guess? Is that the army way? Yuck. (Mac said, "You don't need to put on PJs- we are camping. Just sleep in your regular clothes!) I think everyone should be impressed at how often I bite my tongue, really. I did pack everyone clothes (even Mac), so at least I did MY part!
Isabel (10 years old, 5th grade) is playing on a volleyball team. She has learned how to do a sidearm serve that's pretty interesting to me, but she says it's more comfortable for her. When she makes her serve, it's like a little rocket over the net. Just doesn't offer a ton of control over where the ball goes! She almost took out one guy in the bleachers last week! She had an exciting game on Sunday where she "passed" a ball to a teammate on service receive-- using her shoulder! It was so fun to watch her team get excited over playing volleyball, especially when the rallies of 2 or 3 passes happened. Isabel is having fun and I think her coach is really neat! Isabel has also grown A LOT! She's almost as tall as Steven now! He's always been 3 inches taller than she, always. But she's really close now. Steven was just measured at his peds endo appointment last week, and he hasn't fallen off his growth curve in the last 3 months (he gets measured often on a very precise scale because of diabetes), so Isabel has been truly shooting up! I was shocked this summer to find that she fit into a LADIES size 8 shoe-- I kept trying to find kids size 4 or 5 that would work for her. Isabel is not in Girl Scouts this year (there are not many troops for her age). That's a bummer for her, because she enjoyed Girl Scouts, but she is filling her time with reading and drawing and crafting. She's not missing it too much.
Kate (15 years old, 10th grade) has been playing on her high school soccer team this year. The season is almost over, but Kate has really enjoyed practicing regularly with a big team. She's only been on smaller teams before, and they've never had enough girls to do a good scrimmage or even a productive practice. This team has been a fun experience for her. She plays defense, and she has made lots of new friends from the team. She is also working this month in a seasonal orchard/farm helping pack apples, move crates, and prep bakery foods. It's hard work, but she seems to enjoy it. She works on most weekends with a friend of hers. Thank goodness it's only this month-- I don't think that Mac and I could stand much more of driving her to and from work!
Josie (3 years old, preschool) is full of energy! She is constantly scribbling on everything she can find. She calls it her "homework". After scribbling for a while, she brings it to me to sign, because here the elementary school teachers want parents to initial everything the kids do for homework... So Josie has picked up on this and I need to initial her "homework" for her too, just like I do for Luke. Josie is very busy- she has preschool two days a week, Bible School one day a week, and I try to take her to the gym playroom once or twice a week too. She loves it all! She struggles to sit still through story time in preschool, but I'm told she's getting better at it... I was also told by her Bible School teacher (from Community Bible Study- a year-long Bible study that has a program for the moms and the kids running at the same time) that Josie is very quiet in class. I'm pretty positive that situation will change soon enough. She learns her verses easily, and tells me the stories afterwards, so I think she's taking it all in! There are a couple of rambunctious 3 year old boys in there-- I'm just glad she hasn't joined in their antics... yet. Then there will be trouble! Josie definitely holds court at home- she is not an easy-going, laid-back child. She knows what she wants... and generally she gets what she wants! But she's just so cute! She is not supposed to play with pens or pencils or crayons or other Writing Utensils With Staining Potential on any surface other than the kitchen table. The kitchen table is beyond repair from all the stains on it already. Anyway, she constantly tries to sneak a pen to any OTHER surface to work on her homework. Except she'll hold the pen behind her back, look at me sweetly, and say "I don't have a pen behind my back, OK?" as she tries to go to the stairs to color on the carpet. Sigh....
Mac is fairly busy with work. It's interesting (and a bit dismaying) how much administrative work he has to do. He sets the call schedules, the OR schedules, manages clinics, etc., etc. He spent any free time of his last few weeks on filling out the California state medical licensing application which he will need processed and ready to go by July 1. The California license paperwork packet is huge- a much more involved process than was the Virginia state license. It's done now, though. Including the Fat Check that we had to send to California. Citizens of California, you're welcome.
I am busy trying to make some headway into our house and sorting out stuff we really don't need anymore (strollers, as if Josie will sit in a STROLLER anymore), and donating the excess. When I have it down to what we really really need, then I will start to sort out what can be moved into a storage unit. Finally, after we have this house somewhat emptied out, we'll put it on the market. Of course, I've made only about 5% progress in the first stage of sorting, so I have a LONG way to go. And an ever-helpful 3 year old to undo whatever progress I make!
Oh well...
And Mac and I both upgraded our iPhones to the 4S! Along with all of the MacNerds on the planet, I was disappointed there is not an iPhone 5, but I guess all the supposed Awesome Features of the iPhone 5 are there on the 4S. I just think it would be cooler if it were called an iPhone 5. Again, no one asked me. Why don't they ever ask me?
