Its Finally Friday

[waverly]

I didn't do a ton of work this week because it some how ended up being my week of appointments.

Monday: Mom took me to my upper scope.  Then I was informed I can't drive the rest of the day, so she had to take me and the dog to the dog's vet appointment that I had made.  ha ha

Wednesday: Kid's dentist, court date for my dad's conservatorship which went well.  Unfortunately dad is taking a turn for the worse mentally (slower response times) and also choking on his food.  So the assisted living place is changing his diet to softer foods. 
Then locker day for DS/ middle school.

Thursday: DS's physical and I finally went to the chiro.  Last time I went was 3 months ago.

Tonight, DH is making home made pizzas and DS has horseback riding lessons.  DD wants to go and watch him, so maybe I will take them.  The kids are driving DH crazy.  

2 more working days until they go back to school.

We have a busy weekend but only on Sunday (DD has 3 events).  Saturday is free!  

Next week is back to meet the teacher (X2 kids).  Then actual back to school on Wednesday.  

[rere]

We are having a send-off barbecue for Dd tomorrow. Dh is going to pick up the meat and cookie cakes after he gets off. Then hopefully we can have a chill night at home maybe with grilling or take out. And a drink.

Dd got another scholarship from Dh's work! $1000, so that along with the other last minute scholarship from her club, I should be able to cover housing for this semester.

Sunday, dd has requested chili before she leaves. So I will probably cook it outside on out outdoor burner, and chili seems odd when it is 88 degrees, but it's what she requested.

[mae0111]

My "week off" is coming to an end in about 2 hours, when DH and the kids get home from their camping trip. The week was neither as restful nor as productive as I'd hoped. But I'm going to be happy to have them home.

DD1 has booked herself solid this weekend with birthday parties Sat and Sun. DD2 has plans with a friend on Sat, but not sure about Sun. I will unpack from the camping trip and work my way through stinky camping laundry over the next few days. DH will probably work all weekend since he's been off all week.

It's my mom's birthday on Sunday and she's being cagey about what she wants to do. She does this every year - won't tell anyone what she wants to do, then is mad that no one does anything. Neither of my sisters are available so it's up to me and my dad. I didn't want to make dinner reservations without her approval because she hurt her knee and is extremely uncomfortable moving around. I offered to make the reservations, have her over for dinner, or bring dinner to her - no response. It always feels like if one particular sister isn't available to celebrate something (her birthday, parents' anniversary, Christmas) then there shall be no celebrating. Oh well!

[supertrooper1]

Beau and I are still tired from our trip, so we're taking it easy this weekend. Tonight we'll hit the gym and then drive out to his son's house where my new phone was shipped. I've felt lost without a phone since Tuesday. We'll probably hit the gym again on Saturday and then get our bikes ready to do our first night ride to the top of a mountain in our area to watch the meteor shower. No plans for Sunday yet but I'm sure we'll figure out something to do.

[sdlaura]

Today is the last day of my older 3 kids' summer camps, and of DS3's in-home daycare. Today I took DS3 to visit his preschool room and teacher during the preschool open house this morning. He loved playing with all the toys there and on the playground. The parent orientation was last night and I went in case any policies had changed. But this is our 4th kid going through the YMCA preschool, so I kind of felt like I could be leading the orientation Then I dropped him for his last day with daycare provider and he didn't want to go and was really confused.

This afternoon we get teacher assignments by email around 4 pm and then I'll get more texts in 30 minutes than I do all year, with everyone trying to figure out who is in whose class. We'll also walk up to the elementary school for a "back to school bash" from 4:30-6. Then DD has a flag football scrimmage at 7.

Our best family friends are moving tomorrow, to a bigger house around the corner. I'm going to try to take their 3 kids for a bit so they can focus on that. Tomorrow night we're going out to dinner with 3 other couples and I'm excited. One of the couples is visiting from the Boston area where they live now, so it will be good to see them.

Sunday DD has another softball travel team tryout in the morning and a basketball game in the afternoon.

Otherwise we'll just be trying to get ourselves together. Monday DS3 has his first day of preschool and we host a big 11th birthday pool party for DD in the afternoon. Then my 3 older kids have their first day of school Tuesday, including DS2's first day of kindergarten, and it's DD's actual birthday. So exciting times around here!

[librarychica]

sdlaura I laughed at the teacher text comments. I was visiting my parents when my phone just went off and off and finally my mother was all “what on earth?” and I was like “teacher lists have been posted.” Thankfully DD1 is old enough that the kids blow up one another’s phones now.

TGIF! I’ll actually be working for another hour or so but now I’m doing so with a glass of wine. This week has been insane at work and also with the kids going back to school. H took them to a friend’s house and I’m going to wrap up some stuff and then putter around, make a sandwich, maybe read some.

I have a pretty calm weekend. I’m going to go look at ovens before mine falls apart on me and Sunday we have our goddaughter’s 11th birthday party. We are going for pho and then to an arcade.

[k3am]

We had the flurry of teacher texts on Monday. Except for DD, who apparently handled all of that on her own through messenger kids.

[sdlaura]

librarychica and k3am, one of the parents of kids going into 6th grade created a group text that grew to 28 parents - that’s more than half the grade!

[k3am]

Aug 11, 2023 20:28:23 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

librarychica and k3am, one of the parents of kids going into 6th grade created a group text that grew to 28 parents - that’s more than half the grade!

I would die. The 5-6 parents were close to and WhatsApp group for DS’s 1st grade class was more than enough! To be fair, we have 4 second grade classes, so 100-120 kids, but even 28 parents sounds cray cray.

[sandandsea]

Aug 11, 2023 20:32:10 GMT -5 k3am said:

Aug 11, 2023 20:28:23 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

librarychica and k3am, one of the parents of kids going into 6th grade created a group text that grew to 28 parents - that’s more than half the grade!

I would die. The 5-6 parents were close to and WhatsApp group for DS’s 1st grade class was more than enough! To be fair, we have 4 second grade classes, so 100-120 kids, but even 28 parents sounds cray cray.

Lol. I’m in a WhatsApp group for 2nd grade that was just one class so 30ish families and the 6th grade middle school one that has 89million people of which about 1/3 went to dss elementary school and most of the others are complete strangers. The posts on both get super overwhelming to keep up with but I have learned more about the middle school from that group than from the school.

[librarychica]

Aug 11, 2023 20:28:23 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

librarychica and k3am, one of the parents of kids going into 6th grade created a group text that grew to 28 parents - that’s more than half the grade!

That’s a tiny grade! DD1 at one of the smaller K8s has 180 classmates and my goddaughter at one of the “big middles” has almost 500!

No one has tried to form a mega text group to the best of my knowledge, lol.

[sdlaura]

librarychica yeah our public elementary on our street is the smallest one in the district. One grade (2nd) only had enough kids for 1.5 classes - I think that year was really impacted by people deciding to send their kids to private kindergarten vs risking public schools closing down again due to COVID. DD’s 6th grade only has 2 classes.

[dglvrk2]

Our school district releases class assignments on August 24. There are only 2 teachers per grade level at DD2's school. Both of her potential teachers are amazing. I'm hoping for/anticipating little drama/text blow ups. DD1 enters 7th grade. The parent culture for her class is really chill, so no class assignment chatter. I'd be more likely to get "what day does school start?"text. On the second day of school.
My six weeks off work is coming to an end. I go back to work on Tuesday.
My family has been in the Pacific Northwest for vacation this week. It was a true vacation! DDs went to sleep away camps on the Puget Sound and loved it. H and I camped for a few days in the San Juan Islands and spent a couple of days in Seattle with friends. It was the break we didn't know we needed until we were taking it
Yesterday we picked the girls up from camp. It was really nice to hear all their stories etc. We have a multi-day drive back home, so we stopped at H's parents' home to regroup and do some laundry. My ILs are traveling right now, so we had their mansion of a house to ourselves.
H took the girls to his childhood bestie's house for the afternoon; I stayed behind and did a ton of laundry. I logged on to work email for the first time in several days. I really like my coworkers, but there were some things that need a face to face meeting rather than being resolved over email. It stressed me a little. As work email was blowing up, the washing machine went tits up, flooding in-laws' basement. I was able to get a hold of the in-laws, who calmly explained this just happens and walked me through shutting off water sources. In general, things at their home are just a little harder to operate than most. I feel the same about my parents' home. As H says, their home is one constant project. Yep.
During the flood drama, our dog jumped into their pool and it took me several minutes to get him to swim to the edge so I could get him out.
we have a multi day drive home. We go through a lot of rural areas. They're naturally beautiful. Some of the political messages on flags are aggravating, so I have to have a good sense of humor on these drives. Yes,summer, you've been fun. Until next time!