August

Yep, it's here. August. The top of the big hill on the roller coaster. August 1 is the crest, and the rest of the month is the screaming, stomach-rolling ride down!

In my life these days:

Summer school just ended last Friday. This is my first Monday off since the end of June, and before that, the end of May. I have this week and most of the next to do everything I didn't get done this summer and pay at least one visit to my elementary classroom to set up.

Joseph (20) spent the summer in Bloomington, so he's the least of my worries right now. But he IS moving from his summer apartment to his fall rented house. Steven, my dad, and I will pay him a visit sometime this month to help move the furniture.

Rachael (18) is leaving for college at IU in Bloomington and we still have to finish acquiring all the "stuff". We are making progress on her room (aka: the pit) and she officially moves into her dorm August 25. No, I am not looking forward to it. She just finished starring in "Sweeney Todd" as Mrs. Lovett. She did an awesome job!!!

Daniel (16) starts his sophomore year on August 11. He started football conditioning in June but today starts the "2 a day" practices for a week. A little bragging moment here: the football team has 2 competitions to keep the guys motivated. The first is called "The Iron Man" and is all about weighlifting. They use age and weight to decide how much to lift to be an "iron man". Daniel was the only sophomore to make Iron Man and he set a sophomore record in deadlifting: 410 lbs. The second competition (not on the same day, a week later) is called the "1000 point try". The guys do all kinds of stations: chinups, jumprope, weights,pushups,etc., and the better you do at each station the more points you earn. The end station is the mile run - 100 points for finishing, more if you finish with a certain time. It is extremely rare for a sophomore to make the "1000 point club" but Daniel did with exactly 1000 points. He ran a 5:30 mile! My boy is doing do well! The coaches love him!!!

Aaron (10) is starting 5th grade at a different Catholic elementary school. Registration is this week. He started 5/6 grade football last week. Honestly the first practice didn't go too well, but he made it through. All the practices since have gone much better.

So, in the next 2 weeks, I have 2 different football practices daily, I have to get Rachael ready for school, finish up all the projects I started with good intentions in June, and get ready for my school to start. Yeah, no problem, right? (hee, hee)

Hope you all have had a great summer. If I can tear myself away from Farmville and Frontierville on Facebook (sorry, guilty pleasures!), I'll be back here more often.

Hugs to you all,
J.

ADDENDUM: Eek! I am a bad girlfriend! I forgot to mention Steven! (sheepish look on face). Probably because although he is a daily part of my life, he doesn't add work TO my life. In fact, the opposite is true. Things are going very well with Steven. He had to have some work done on his truck in early July so he was here with us for over a week. This past week he was here for several days. He gets along well with the boys. He's GREAT for Aaron. He and Rachael have a "working relationship", meaning they basically stay out of each other's way most of the time, but they're civil to each other. We will have been together 3 years in November! I'm happy, he's happy, it's all good. :)