Our schedules are ramping up the more weeks of school pass. Roger's been gone for three weeks and counting so he's missed most of it, but we've been healthy and busy.
Luke is in the middle of cross country. He switches between JV and varsity each race. The race pictured here was at Colony High. He's at the end of a 5K (I love the expression of the kid in Wasilla yellow - he's trying SOO hard!) which Luke finished 8th out of 143 boys. Luke is determined to letter as a freshman and this has given wings to his otherwise reluctant feet. He's decided to play club hockey another year (ugh) as a Bantam prior and after the high school hockey season. That starts next week so we'll have about 3 weeks of overlap juggling two sports. Luke is also involved with youth court and he wants to keep a 4.0 in advanced classes so this will be a very busy time for him.
Nate's first day of preschool was today. One of my goals was to enroll him in a cooperative preschool like I did with the other two. I didn't have time last year so was thrilled when a spot opened up at Parentshare Preschool's 4 year-old class. He's pictured with his teacher, Jenny Nash. I'll be working twice a month - along w/ various other volunteer work, I'm sure - but really looking forward to getting to know other families with boys Nate's age. Nate will be in the IP hockey program this year also. I can't wait to see him all padded up and hitting the ice for the first time....and second, third, fourth, etc., etc. It'll be deja vu Luke all over again. I'll be sure to take video and post it.
Grace will be doing Battle of the Books this year. (Yeah, I bribed her with the promise of a hamster but the girl needs to READ.) Her girl scout troop is raising money for a trip to SanFran in May to attend a bridging ceremony on the Golden Gate Bridge. I'll try to work Disneyland in while we're there. She's also taking piano lessons and talking about joining the school basketball team when the season starts. We'll see if that happens. She's my laid back girl in between two very high energy boys so it's nice to have one restful child. She's almost taller than I am and we can no longer wear the same shoes - her feet are bigger! Roger is supposed to come home later this week. I hope he gets to stay at least as long as he was gone. I've just started one of my final graduate classes on classroom research. It's basically a semester-long qualitative research project which I will grit my teeth and endure. Only two more after this and I'm DONE. I've also started writing again. After a two-year hiatus, I'd forgotten how easy it is to lose myself in words. I'll start scouting for an agent after Christmas.
Everyone had a blast 4-wheeling at the Jonesville mine over the weekend. The kids got totally muddy but it was worth it.
