I have to admit - I’m loving having a part time job!  Its just perfect - I’ll only be working when the kids would be in school anyway so I won’t be missing any time with them, plus I get a few hours a week of adult interaction and I get to help parents and teachers through my work.  I really like having an office again, too, and I found today that I am just as crazy-productive as I ever was before having kids.  At home (and when out with the kids) I’m always pulled in at least two directions and seem to never have my mind fully on any one task and I feel like I don’t ever get anything done to the best of my ability.  But in my office at the school campus I was as “on” as I always was when I used to work full time.  When I worked at a children’s museum I always had a million balls in the air and juggled them all very well, it was nice to realize I am still as capable as I was then.  I think this is going to be just the perfect setup for me this year.  I’ll drop the kids off at school, go to work, have a healthy packed lunch, then go to the gym for at least a couple hours, and then pick the kids up from school.  I am really, really looking forward to this year - I think it’ll be the perfect balance for me between being a stay-at-home mom and working.  As tough as the last few years have been in some way, I’m so glad I waited until my kids were both in school to start working again - and even now I have no plans on going back to work full time for at least another 3 or 4 years.  I figure I have the rest of my life to work 40 hours a week, there’s only a few years when my kids will be little…

But we’re still having fun so far!  This week was full of all our regular activities and then some.  On Thursday, Killy has his 4 year old well child visit.  The nurse practitioner declared him “practically perfect” and commented on how healthy and smart and happy he is.  Other than a bit of drama about having to pee in a cup, all went well.  Later that day we had our regular playdate with Killy’s best friend, and I got a good picture of them together:

The rest of our week was full of library story time, childcare at the gym, visiting Galax, having a yard sale on Saturday, and various other activities.

This morning I realized that I’m really liking my hair at its current length, almost enough that I might keep it this way.  I always disliked shoulder-length hair because it didn’t seem decisive enough - not really “long” but not really “short,” either.  Now, I’m starting to understand why so many women wear their hair like this!  I had David take several pictures so I could show them to my stylist if I decide to keep it at this length/cut:

And Ellie wanted come join in the picture taking fun, of course!

It will be another busy week this week - I start my job this week but the kids aren’t in school yet so I’m having to call in favors from everyone around me to take care of childcare this week.  My sister is watching the kids Tuesday, David is watching them Wednesday, and Grandmommy is watching them on Thursday.  I also have a doctor’s appointment this week plus the regular hours doing childcare at the gym. There’s a meeting and a workday for Killy’s school this week AND we leave for vacation next Sunday.  WHEW! When we get back from the beach we’ll have one day off and then school and work start again.

Killian is VERY excited because he gets to start Kindergarten this fall!  At his school, they place kids based on their ability rather than age, and so he’ll be in the K-1st grade class.  I think it will be a much better fit for him - when he gets bored his behavior starts to become problematic, and I think he’ll benefit from being challenged this year.  Plus, he’s SO CLOSE to reading, he can sound out some words and recognizes a lot of words already, and I’m glad he’ll get more reading instruction this year.  Yay!

January 2006:

August 2008:

So this weekend was VERY busy!  Friday night was my parents 31st anniversary, and we took them out to a Japanese Steakhouse for dinner.  It was so much fun!  The kids - Killy especially - had a blast!  It was kind of a little thing, but I was actually quite impressed with Killy.  After the showy part of the food prep, the chef came and sat at our table to chat with us - he liked Killy a lot because he has a son the same age.  So, he was joking with Killy and asking in a sing-song voice, “Did you eat all your chicken I fixed for you?” and Killy answered in exactly the same sing-song “No, my tummy is very full!” which cracked the chef up!  Killy is so socially gifted, its really interesting to watch him interact with other adults.  He’s still very much an immature four year old, but he picks up on more subtleties than I would expect.

Anyway, then Amit and Sophia came over and spent the night and we played Cooking Mama on the Wii, which was very amusing.  The next morning, we got up really early to take the kids to Galax so their grandparents could take them to a Barter Theater kid’s show while David and I went hiking.  Heading out the door, I reminded David to grab the camerear and he made some smart aleck comment about how we’d need to document it when the wild ponies started nuzzling us…

Mission acomplished!  We had a really wonderful time, and this time we went all the way to the summit.  We also got to climb up some of the rocky outcroppings that we had to skip last year due to having kids strapped to our backs:

The landscape is amazingly varried on the way up Mt Rogers.  Here’s a few shots at different points along the trails up to the summit:

All in all, we had a great weekend!  Very busy, but great.

Suddenly the last few weeks of summer are full of visits, outings, work-stuff, vacation-stuff, and doctors appointments.  I’m a bit overwhelmed, but there’s nothing BAD that I have to do, just a whole lot of stuff.

Today, Killy made a very cool art creation at Grandmommy’s house.  He told me he drew this picture of “Mommy and Daddy on a dark night.  Daddy is the one with the big head and you are the one with the small head, Mommy.”

Isn’t it adorable?

Have I mentioned that David is a Hummingbird Whisperer?  There was a hummingbird stuck in my parents garage last week and he charmed it out, he has about 30-50 hummingbirds that come to his feeder regularly, and they’ll even sip hummingbird food out of legos in his hand:

Today we did our regular stuff: went for a long walk to the church playground near us, took a picnic to the park in town and met up with some friends, and went to do child-care at the gym.  However, it was an amazingly wonderful day because I got offered the job I interviewed for earlier this week!  Its part time with the local school system, I’ll be working in a parent resource center.  I am really thrilled about this because I should be able to drop the kids off at school, go work for a few hours, go to the gym (either do child-care or workout, depending on the day of the week), and then pick the kids up from school at the end of the day.  I’ll actually be saving money on gas because I won’t need to come home during the day 2-3 days a week.  This is just the perfect situation for me right now.  Sometime next week I’ll meet with my supervisor and the other woman who works there and we’ll all get acquainted, go over the work I’ll be doing, and design a schedule.  Yay!

But, wait - there’s more!  Ellie made HUGE strides in the potty-learning process today.  I am soooo relieved.  It just “clicked” for her - due in a large part to the DVD Potty Power.  We checked it out from the library and she’s watched it about a million times this week.  I am so releived.  We still had a couple accidents and I put her in a pullup to go to the park and the gym, but we had several successes!  We have a month till school starts, and I think we’ll be in good shape by then.  Whew!

And, finally, my parents came over and we had a nice dinner together and then after the kids went to bed we played Crazy 8’s and Don’t Quote Me.

What a wonderful day!