transition

I had a friend ask me the other day "is it nice to have the kids back in school?" and I had to respond "not yet." Because I knew that eventually the transition from summer to school in would be my "new normal" and it would be fine, but my brain, as with most brains, struggles with any large scale change but I'm happy to report that yesterday I finally felt like I had adjusted and all is well again. Having a junior high school child in the mix added an especially difficult transition to adjust to, but I think I've calmed down enough this week to feel assured that Savanna will survive and may even succeed in jr. high. Its still weird having her leaving over an hour earlier than the other two and coming home so early, really cuts in on my personal time ha ha, but she gets up on her own and gets ready fairly independently so its all good.

We had another little angel join the family August 20th.  Ava Luann Schauers was born to Amy and Aaron.  She was only 5 lbs 14 oz, the same as Savanna. She is so tiny, or was when I saw her, she is already two weeks old! Jared had a hard time believing Savanna was once that small, but she was! She is adorable and we are very happy for A and A.

I made a lovely dinner one night, then Jared called and said he wouldn't be home til late as usually happens during the summer, and so we took a picture and said "the only thing missing from this awesome meal is you!" I have been getting on this kick lately of putting fruit in waffle cones. Its a low sugar treat that makes me very happy. I even went to the trouble of borrowing waffle cones from anyone in the neighborhood who had some on a Sunday so I could share my yummy side dish idea with the Schauers family. The evenings are getting pretty busy for me and the kids, so when Jared is busy in the evenings too its a big bummer. Crazy getting going in the morning, dead during the day, crazy going here and there in the afternoons, its the new normal. I hope Jared's business slows down this fall/winter like it usually does so he can help me more, because the kids' and my schedules only get more and more crazy until Christmas which is the climax of all stress. Just looking at my calendar Oct through Dec gives me shivers.

Homework homework homework! If we aren't getting to gym, clogging, orthodontist apts, YW, scouts, volleyball, after school socials, plays, drama tryouts, and friends' houses, we are home hitting the books! Sav had her first "stay up late to finish homework" experience last night. Ah the joys. Thankfully the girls are self motivated to get theirs done on their own, Weston still needs mom and dad to set him down and put a pencil in his hand. 

Poor Weston's hands. Thanks to 9 hours of gymnastics every week he has gotten some big old blisters on his palms that refuse to callous and rip open every time he goes. That caused him a lot of pain, stinging ripped open blisters. He told me not to tape them because he was afraid of slipping off the bars, but yesterday after class he said "Mom you need to tape these, they keep bleeding!" Yes we need to tape those! We watched "Holes" just so Weston could empathize with the boys' blistered hands digging holes every day. Weston comes home from gym with a new set of sore muscles each time, first it was his pectorals, then his triceps, then his abs, then his back muscles. Its been hard on me as a mom to watch him build endurance. I keep reminding myself that other than gymnastics his life is easy, he could use some toughening. Brave tough little Weston.