Our first month into school and life has kept us pretty busy. Chris has traveled quite a bit this month, as is usual at the end of a quarter at work. Except for this past week when he was home every day. It was a nice treat for all of us, though he thinks he could use a hormone break! Our school has a program called Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) where the dads go and spend a day with their child(ren) helping out in the classroom, on the playground, and in the lunchroom. Chris was able to spend last Friday with Kristen and Misha in their classes. Kristen and Misha were beyond thrilled. There are a few 4th grade girls who would love to have Christopher come back even.
Amy has jumped into middle school and is doing superbly. She has been great about getting herself up around 6:30 every morning, and most of the time she gets her piano practicing done before heading for the school bus at 7:20. I am doubly impressed that her practicing does not wake up her sisters when she is playing. We've got her schedule down so that while she eats breakfast, the rest of us read the scriptures. She mostly listens, but answers and asks questions. I think it makes a difference to our day to spend this time together and to send our children out the door after having prayed together.
Amy has participated in intramural volleyball this past month. She will be participating in a single elimination tournament on Friday after school, and then she is finished. I signed all three girls up for swimming lessons, beginning in October, so that'll fill up our Wednesday evenings until December.
Not sure if I ever mentioned that Misha switched from playing the violin to the piano. My hope is that she will take piano lessons for a couple of years and then hopefully get back into the violin. She is doing quite well with piano since she already had a background in reading music; she likes to play a lot of the songs by ear that Amy is working on. Misha is a great student and seems to charm all of her teachers.
The nice thing about piano lessons this year, since I have all three girls taking lessons, is that their teacher, Rebecca, offered to teach the girls at our house. Last year, Amy and Misha had piano and violin lessons at the same time and I only had a 1/2 hour of waiting in the cold during the winter months. I was planning what I would do for 1 1/2 hrs during their lesson time this year. Now, no worries. I can be making dinner and listening in at the same time.
Kristen is loving Kindergarten. She is inquisitive and sweet and an all-around great girl. She is picking up reading more and more each day. She still says some of the funniest things and often tells me that she is "geniuser" than me. She started taking gymnastics at the recreation center in Frederick and loves it. You can tell that some of the girls have been doing it for awhile (and they're only five), but Kristen is picking it up quickly. I must admit, I did laugh when I watched her trying to skip backwards. Pretty funny. She has adjusted pretty well to having all of her playgroup friends going to school in the afternoon--meaning she never sees them anymore--but has made a few new friends in her current kindergarten class.
And me. Well, I am taking an Institute of Religion class at the church on Wednesday mornings on Scripture Study and how to get the most out of it. It has been great so far and just that extra oomph that I need during the week. Also, I have been taking a "Buff Moms" class twice a week at the Recreation Center. It pretty much kicks my butt every time, but it was that extra motivation I needed to get out of my current rut.
And that is September in a nutshell.
