WoW!!! What a week.

Newsboys
Originally uploaded by mgenovese

What a week we have had. Field trips for caleb's school, local Fall Festivals, pumpkin patch visits, NEWSBOYS CONCERTS.

I'll start with the last because it's my favorite. Caleb loves the Newsboys. I looked at taking him last year when they were in san antonio but I just couldn't see making the over hour drive, especially with the late hours it would make. So I swore if they ever came to town I would take him. Well they did and we did. He didn't like the fact that there were two groups on before them. Occassionaly he would say, "when are they coming on?" The hard part was they didn't come on until Eight thirty. Thirty minutes past his bed time. I couldn't believe he was still awake. But he enjoyed it. It looked like his eyelids would close any minute but they didn't. We left at the beginning of the encore, he didn't know the son anyway, at 9:45. I can't believe made it. He even stayed awake in the car until we got home at 10:30. What a trooper! That was a lot of fun. I'll put some pictures with this post.

So caleb has had one field trip after another with school. Aquarina Springs (natural springs here in texas), fire station, and pumpkin patch. I am also very proud of the progress he is making in school with his reading. Considering the fact that at the beginning of the year he could only read his name, he is now reading words like quilt, frame, the (which doesn't follow any rules) and toad! I am so proud of his progress. Now if we could just get him to write all of his numbers the right way. He still flips some of the backwards. But I guess it will come with time.

I have a hard time with his teacher being so strict some times. They can't even talk at lunch time until they've eaten half of their sandwich or whatever their main food is. Then when they do talk if they are anything above a whisper they are hushed. UGH! Give them a break it's lunch time! I've eaten with him a few times and unfortunately gotten some of the kids hushed because they were laughing so hard. I told matt, who is much funnier than me, he will probably be asked not to come back if he eats lunch with them. :) But I must say even though Mrs. T. (T short for Tejeda) is strict the kids still like her. Which I'm very thankful for. I don't know if you all remember the belt saga at the beginning of the year. Caleb didn't want to wear one, but thankfully that ended the second day of school when he wore one. Fridays are "dress down fridays" they can wear a christian t-shirt with nice jeans. So that's a treat he looks forward to.
He has made some very good friends at school. That of which I"m thankful. One of the boys is actually a foster child. He was given to the family the day before school started. Can you imagine?! I think it's admirable of them to give him a private education. the other kids are great as well.

In Austin it is popular to have Fall Festivals this time of year. Most schools and churches have them on the weekends. We went to two this past weekend a church one and our housing development had one as well. then we'll go to one Wed night at the church that sponsors caleb's school and then Caleb's school is actually having one friday night. Food provided by Rosie's Tamale House (beef, and chicken fajitas, enchiladas rice and beans). YUM! Then they'll have a silent auction to support the school. UGH. Each class will work a booth with a game to play for the night. Ours is some kind of fishing game. I don't know I was just told to sign up. I'm getting tired just typing all of this.

Then this sat we have two B-day parties this weekend, followed by emily's next weekend. Plus my mom arriving on next wed. UGH!

So that has been our life this past month or two. I"M exhausted. I thought life would slow down in Kindergarten. OH NO it's in high speed.

OH ok I must share one more thing. I volunteer to help out caleb's teacher every thurs morning. Let me tell you what the first thing I do every time is. empty the ice cube trays and fill them. ????? What you might say! this will give you a little insight into her. This is what she told me the first day, " Your first job every day will be to empty and fill the ice cube trays. To which I said, "What ice cube trays? THe ones in the teachers lounge. It bothers me that people only take one or two cubes out of the tray and then put the trays back in without emptying and filling them." HUH? I thought that didn't say it. To which I reply, "ok." Then the next thing on the list was. "Take down all blend ladders (used for reading) down off of the walls, check bathroom and other walls they are everywhere, take tape off of posters, put tape in garbage cans." Oh my gosh did she have to tell me to put the tape in the garbage cans????? Oh and yes the posters were EVERYWHERE they were in the bathroom off of their room on the back of the door on the wall infront of the toilet (gotta do your blends and pee at the same time) and even in the middle of the mirror (no fixing your hair girls). Ugh. so every thursday morning at noon your time think of me emptying ice cube trays and filling them up. But I must say all of this has given me a chance to get to know his teacher. :)

Well this has taken longer than I thought. Gotta go run and get the little ones ready.

Kris, by all means read Pride and Prejudice!! How have you survived ten years without? Persuasion also has some literary gems, though less romance. Someone suggested the Redwall series to me. I haven't read any but I've seen a cartoon version. It's animals in a medieval setting. For funny British books there's nothing like the Jeeves and Wooster series by P. G. Wodehouse.
There is no way to save half a banana. It must be eaten.

I found this little tea party on my living room floor yesterday. Do you remember Sydney, the lavender filled sheep you gave me in 1996? He really likes tea apparently. Cow is sleeping in the background.

Harry, thyroids, lobsters and more

Hi all. Thanks, Matt, for getting us back on track here! I've been checking the blog regularly, but just assumed that everyone was having a similarly busy-with-nothing life. Thank you, Karen, for those wonderful words, "I'm just drifting along, not really working toward any immediate goal. Dull stuff really to write about. But I'm having a pleasant enough time in this sheltered expanse of "motherhood."

That just about says it for me, too. It's all good, but I'm in a bit of a loop at the moment.

A few details, though . . . I've been re-reading the Harry Potter series since mid-August, and finally finished it today. When I bought and read book seven in July, there were so many things I couldn't remember from earlier books I thought I was missing out, so I just started over. I just finished all 4,100 pages of all seven books, and several months of complete Harry-ness. It was great. It's not that it's great literature, but it's really fun. I think I'll move on to something heavier, and I'm considering re-reading Pride and Prejudice, as it's been about ten years since I read it.

Next, up . . . thyroids. My mom had hers out earlier this week. For several years she's been "watching" a few cycts grow and multiply in her thyroid, and finally decided to just have the whole thing out and be done with it. Good news is that there was no cancer in or around her thyroid, and she's well into a good recovery.

Now, lobsters. Just before my mom had the surgery, the nurse came out to let me and dad to in and say good luck. "You're lucky," she told me, "Usually we only let one person in, but since your mom is allergic to shellfish she's in quarantine, and I can let you and your dad back."

Huh? I was half-expecting a sign mid-way through the ward saying, "No Lobsters Beyond This Point," and perhaps a disgruntled group of lobsters reading it and complaining about taking the long-way around the hospital.

What she meant is that since my mom is allergic to shellfish, she has a good chance of also being allergic to latex (which she is not, but they didn't care). Because of the shellfish allergy, she had to remain in a latex free (and I'm assuming lobster-free) area of each ward. Since that area was in the back, away from the others, they allowed two people to visit.

The entire day I kept laughing about lobsters, which is not always appropriate when your mom is having surgery. To make it funnier, her nurse back in her room actually ran around all day with a spool of scotch tape around her stethescope, which she used to tape little signs that said "Latex Allergy" all over the room and outside the door. No matter how many signs she posted, she seemed to keep finding a place for more. I think she was a bit OCD, but it made for a funny afternoon. I kept imagining the signs in different languages (maybe even lobster?), different fonts, just in case she missed anyone.

Hmmmm . . . more. Noah has learned the sign for "more" and uses it often. He just wants more of everything, it seems. We do pretty well. He's really good at telling me what he wants without actually telling me. As I said before, I'm in a bit of a rut.

Here's a question for all you mommies and daddies: Anyone have a good way to keep a partially used banana? There is no way Noah can eat one in one sitting, and I don't like them much. They get all yucky no matter what I've tried. Thoughts?

OK, the wrap-up . . . John is doing well. As I mentioned before, he'll need to monitor his esophagus every six months or so forever, but for the moment he's ok. We've been told raising the head of our bed 45 degrees might help, but 45 degrees? All I can think of is Wallace and Grommit, and Wallace tips through the floor to the breakfast table each morning. (In our case, it'd be the floor.)

My important nothings

I'm guilty of laziness. I keep checking to see if anyone has written but I've been too lazy to write anything. And now that I've been shamed into writing, I'm not sure what you would want to hear about. Would you like me to describe Jane's three weeks of diarrhea? No? Well the end of the story is that although she adores it, I think she is rather sensitive to oatmeal, just like Anna and myself. Would you rather hear a story about a fight that broke out in our basement? Well, an argument really. Nate had two clients over for an edit and they couldn't agree on something. It was all patched up the next day. Poor Nate has had a number of dealings with difficult people this past week. Anna's sixth birthday is tomorrow! I hope she has a fun day at school. I'm just drifting along, not really working toward any immediate goal. Dull stuff really to write about. But I'm having a pleasant enough time in this sheltered expanse of "motherhood."

Although I am not at all a baseball fan I think I'll turn on the Red Sox game. There, I've done my bit and I hope you enjoyed my "important nothings."

Wow, sure is quiet 'round these parts.

Has it really been almost a month since the last post? What's been going on with everyone?

Let's see. It was in the 90's last week. In one day it dropped into the 50's, and it's been that way ever since. Caleb went from shorts to jeans + a sweater.

Nobody is really sick down here, which is good news. Caleb is doing well in kindergarten, and is reading books by Shakespeare with ease. I may be exaggarating slightly. Emily is doing very well at her 3-day a week preschool (the same one Caleb attended). And Jenn has 3 days a week with no children for a good part of the day.

I'm co-sponsoring our second networking happy hour tomorrow, and we have ~100 people signed up to attend (with free food too!). Still waiting to hear on that job, start-up work is going well, and other side-projects are getting into gear.

Hope you all are well. Drop a note with what's happening on your end.

Matt