tidbits...

*Great first half-week of school all-around. Annie likes her classes. Max said it wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be. :P And his teacher called just to let us know that he's adjusting to fourth grade wonderfully--"He's great at following directions and listening. He works extremely well with others. And he's just an incredibly sweet kid." Awwww...way to melt a parent's heart. And Gray, the one I was most apprehensive about, did wonderfully! Better than I could have asked for.

*My week ran soooooo much smoother than I'd anticipated. I was really worried that homeschooling two, plus the requirements that go along with active participation in Max's schooling would be more than I could gracefully juggle. I know that there will be weeks (probably many of them) that won't be as bump-free, but I'm so grateful for the start we had. It gives me hope that we can all manage this.

*The work it took to make this week go smoothly (not just lesson-planning, but meal/snack/packed lunches planning and execution, canning, scheduling of outside stuff, etc.) took its toll on my body. By Friday evening I was so physically miserable I just wanted to crawl in a cave. I've not yet learned how to pace myself. How does one do that? Seriously, how? *sigh* And of course, there was loads of cooking to do (partly for the week ahead), cleaning to catch up on, more lesson-planning, laundry, etc.--you know "life"--to get done this weekend. Sleep, as usual, is evasive. All this leaves me currently hating my body...and my body hating me. But I know there's a learning curve here, and over time I'll manage to make what I can better and to accept what I can't. Life is always a work in progress, right?

*Possibly the most amusing/most not-amusing thing to happen this past week occurred last night. We'd all settled in to do a little RIP viewing. After much debate (mostly involving the boys try to convince us to watch movies that are way too gory), we decided to try out an episode or two of Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes. We successfully made it through the first episode and were about to start the second, when from outside we heard Bacon barking/whining. It was obvious that something was wrong with him...and well, all it took was opening the back door to find out what it was. Silly dog went and got himself sprayed by a skunk. :(

Rich whipped up some "skunk shampoo" and Annie helped give the goofball a bath.

*Now that I've gotten over the back-to-school-end-of-summer funk, I'm starting to enjoy all those signs of fall. Geese honking away on their way south, goldfinch feeding on the coneflower seeds, even the first leaves starting to change.