Mondays are our easy days. The boys ride the bus home, get homework done, a normal dinner, and time outside. The rest of the week not so much. On the schedule we had soccer practice Tuesday night, Eli’s flu shot Wednesday morning, Faith Formation Wednesday night, soccer practice and a parent meeting for Noah’s First Communion classes on Thursday night and a phone meeting with Caleb’s teachers. This required me to pick up the boys from school Tuesday thru Thursday, so they could have time to do homework, eat, and get ready for the activity in the evening. No big deal, we had it planned out.
The week was going okay until Wednesday. After Eli’s shot I was running errands when I got a call from the dealership that was fixing the suburban. It was done, one problem they needed John or I to sign a paper for the warranty. Well, things didn’t work out easily and so I had to run back home drop off car seats, pack, and head to my parents’ house. We had thought that we might be going down there that weekend, but not Wednesday. I stopped by the school to talk to Noah and let him know what was going on. My kids are really stuck on routines and I knew that me telling the school for them to ride the bus home was going to really confuse them, especially if John was a few minutes late. I told Noah how to get in the house incase John was late. He seemed a little worried but okay. It was cute as he walked away Makaela says “bye Wo-wa” and he turns around and waves. She loves her big brothers! I was then off to Georgetown with the three little kids.
John got caught in a meeting and was a few minutes behind the bus. Noah and Caleb got into the house on their own just fine. They made us very proud since they were both working on their homework when John got there. The boys did fine without mommy. Of course, who would expect any less from the Best Dad. They grabbed dinner on the way to church. Then afterwards finished homework, cleaned up, and got lunches ready for Thursday. They even got to have a piece of pie and go to bed 30 minutes late as a reward for starting their homework without being told. Ian was a little sad that he had to miss church, but the boys clued him in on the fire drill he missed!
The little kids and I made it to Georgetown with time to spare before the dealership was supposed to close. We signed the papers and headed over to the park where my Dad was waiting to watch Ethan run cross country. We actually had to drive back afterwards to pick up the suburban. Mom and the girls arrived after we did. Ethan didn’t know we were going to be there, he didn’t even see us until they started running. He did great! 18th out of 60 seventh and eighth graders. The boys were impressed when he got a medal. Makaela was his own personal cheerleader. I teased Ethan later that we “threw off his groove” by showing up unannounced.
After the race while waiting for Ethan to do the “cool down” and get his medal Grandma showed the kids the ducks and creek at the park.
We grabbed food, picked up the truck, and got back to my parents’ house. I felt a lot less stressed when I drove my truck back to my parents. Of course that ended the next day when we drove to soccer practice and went past 100,000 miles, warranty gone. As John said, “Weight of world back on shoulders.”
I learned a lot that night. For one, we haven’t seen any homework yet! My siblings had a lot of homework do to. Grandma kept the kids outside for a while and out of the way. Then I gave them baths and put them to bed. I don’t think they liked that too much because usually they get to play in the tub a long time when the Aunts give them a bath. After the kids were in bed, I looked at Bridgette’s AP Chemistry homework and glazed over. It was stoichiometry and I was clueless. I had Chemistry in high school, 2 semesters of Chemistry and 2 semesters of Organic Chemistry in college and I had forgotten it all! Stoichiometry is not taught in Middle School, so I can’t use my “teaching background” for that! I did help Rachel with some analogy homework. I don’t remember my Honors English having homework like that! Then there was Ethan, his was the easiest! A Spanish PowerPoint on Peru. I’m glad I could help, but man did it show me what lies ahead for John and I!
We made it back home in time to pick up Noah and Caleb at school Thursday afternoon. It was funny as the jump in the car excited to see everyone and wanting to give hugs, I had to tell them to wait for home there was a line of parents behind us. We found out that Caleb needs his sleep. Getting to stay up late had him crying over everything once we got home. I finally just sent him to bed. I hoped that if he was able to get a 10 minute nap in he might survive the long night ahead of us. We got everything ready for practice, Caleb got his nap, we ate, and were out the door for soccer practice.
I thought when we signed up the boys that they would have to be on two different leagues because of the ages. 8 and under for Noah and 6 and under for Caleb and Ian. Then we got our first email and Caleb and Ian were not on the same team. I was frustrated since that was a question I asked when I was registering them. The lady acted like it was no big deal they do it all the time. Well, I had to CALL and ask for Caleb and Ian to be put on the same team. On Tuesday at Noah's practice, I found out here was at least one 5 year old on his team, but thought maybe they wanted him to play up. Then we get the roster for Noah's team and it is full of 5 and 6 year olds. Then we get to Caleb and Ian's practice and guess what they are in the same league and they play each other twice! John and I are VERY upset. If I hadn’t called we would have 3 different teams out of the 4! I know fussing probably wouldn’t help me or anyone else. I just can’t believe that they can’t make rosters better and keep in mind siblings. Don’t they know the strain this puts on a family not only the competition between the boys, but also the different practices and game times. NOT HAPPY!
Other than that practice went well. Noah already started trash talking, sigh. Ian stuck by Caleb for most of the practice. He looked a little stiff at first, trying to hard to kick the ball in the goal; but after that seemed to loosen up. Caleb looks like he never took a year off from soccer. Then we rushed over to the church for the parent meeting for Noah’ first communion. Made it with time to spare. We are really interested to see how this goes. Noah is always a guinea pig being the first kid. I’m just hoping they continue to have a nursery for the other kiddos, so John and I can both participate in the classes with Noah. He is growing up!
Friday I had a phone conference for Caleb’s speech. It was his normal yearly conference and I didn’t want to bring all the kids so I opted to do it over the phone. I found out he is doing VERY well in school. All the reading this summer paid off and he is already above average for the beginning of the year on one of the reading assessments they give. I went back and looked up Noah’s he was at a 4 and Caleb is at an 8! Noah was upset, but I told him that we will keep up reading this summer and look at next year to see how they compare. I also told Caleb to thank Noah for his help since Noah had helped him read some this summer. Even though I tried not to make it out to be a competition, Noah decided he was not going to let that happen again. He went to his room picked up a book at started reading! Of course Caleb followed suit! Oh my!!
We had a nice relaxing Friday evening after a hectic week. The boys practiced some for soccer and John finished up the bottom of our bookcases for the play room. Breathe…..