Roll Call?

Is anyone still reading this blog? As far as I can tell, it's my brother and two commenters. If you read this blog somewhat regularly, please tell me if you are an adoptive parent, parent or otherwise and where (generally) you are.

Life Now that School has Started

Now that school has started, we are kind of into a routine, and life is pretty ordinary. We still try to get to the pool or beach on the weekends, but it's not the same. Sigh.

Two of the kids have an insane schedule.

Our days go like this:

On school days, Rick and Kayla are out the door at 6:10 to drop Kayla at her charter school bus stop, and then Rick goes on to work. Jasmine, Kaleb and I get up when they leave. Previous years we all had devos and family meeting at 5:40. So it feels different not doing that. We try to read a devotion at supper because despite the crazy schedules, we try to all eat together even if it's at 4:30.

Kaleb does his afternoon jobs at 6:30 a.m. because his afternoons are crazy. He also does his homework before school. Jasmine does her homework in the morning, too.

Either Ty or I leave with those two at 7:45 and drive them to two schools in two very different districts. Jasmine's school starts at 8:30 and Kaleb's at 9:00. She is in kind of a poor school, and Kaleb goes to the rich middle school. It's laughable how different the school are. Sometimes they have club before school. Both twins plan to join Fellowship of Christian Students/Athletes.

In the afternoon, we pick Jasmine up at 3:10. We were going on to Kaleb's school (he gets out at 3:30), but the car line is so long that it was a two hour round trip. So Rick is picking Kaleb up at 4:00 after he gets off. That is about what time we actual got through car pick up anyway. His doing that really helps because we can get Jasmine home at 3:30 instead of 4:45. Kayla's bus gets here about 3:45.

On Monday evenings starting after Labor Day, Jasmine will have County Christian Choir from 6-8:15. This includes a Bible study each year. They will be going on tour to Michigan next summer.
The twins were going to be in the Middle School choir, but the director was just selected to sing with the USAF choir and tour the world. So middle school choir was cancelled. There has been a bit of a fuss over that, so they may come up with something for them.

Jasmine has percussion at 5 and full band at 6 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There was no way to get her home, fed and back in the days before Rick took over picking up Kaleb.

Kaleb has swim team every night at the college which is about 45 minutes away, a little less if there is no traffic. Thankfully it starts at 6:45 so he has a short time to get home, eat, change and head back out.

We are going to take Wednesdays off from team and all three go to youth group at church. We may take some Fridays off too. Jasmine has football games many Fridays. I would like them to have some unscheduled time too, although the twins need the structure of schedule even if it's scheduled outdoor free play or Wii (electronics are rare around here with the exception of Ty which is pretty much all the time he isn't at work or driving).

Kayla was supposed to start city soccer, but she violated some counseling goals/rules/boundaries, so she will start with either school soccer or city basketball in a couple of months. She will do youth group with the others but is disappointed there is no middle school choir.

So life is a bit crazy around here. If grades fall or kids get too stressed, something will have to go. The problem is that band really stresses Jasmine out, but if you skip a practice, you can't play at the game plus you get an F AND have to write a research paper. That goes for excused absences too, so don't dare get sick! She is going to drop band either after first semester or after the year because of the stress. It also takes the whole summer. This summer we went on a family vacation at the only time we could, and she missed percussion camp. It wasn't pretty. She also missed an evening practice the week of her surgery and couldn't carry her drum during full band camp because of the weight and her recovery. I think kids need the summer off. We do our summer math and reading packs, but also family time and free play.

While the kids are at school, Jessica, Tyler, River and I get time together. Jessica, River and I went to the beach last week.

My Nikon is damaged, and my water camera's battery went dead after these two photos, so no cute water pictures.

Ty is always talking about how I do things with the girls, but that he and I don't share any major activities (our advanced scuba fell through--money and instructor changes), so he and I went to comic con in Pensacola for a day.

This morning before going to the pool, the girls went to Lowes to the free kid's workshop. Technically Jasmine is too old, but that's one advantage of being small. Even though her age is on the registration form, they have never told her she's too old.

They made the last of the Avengers characters they've been making each time. There were six total.

We've been also working on using the jigsaw at home.

So that's kind of how life has been here lately.

Fun Friday: National Dog Day

Fun Friday: Here's an Easy One

I have posted this same thing on all four of my blogs today, but no one has given the simple answer to this:

Q: First I threw away the outside and cooked the inside. Then I ate the outside and threw away the inside. What did I eat?

A: Corn on the Cob

First Days

Not all of my children went back to school the same day. Kayla is at the charter school, and it started a day ahead.  They get out a couple of days earlier and don't have the same teacher work days off. I don't know why they insist on having a different schedule. It makes it hard for those who need daycare or who have children in both public and charter and want to do things as a family on those days. This year if Kayla's grades are good, I am going to pull her out when the other two are off so we can do day trips.

Kayla signed up for band but was denied it with them saying it is due to her having to take intensive math. They are not at the same time. And she has PE. Normally the kids get a PE waiver to take band.

The public schools started today.

 Jasmine has said this will be her last year of band due to the overwhelming commitment both during the year and the summer. It takes up most of the summer. We skipped some of it for our trips and her surgery. She is going to focus on drama and voice starting next year. She has a tough year this year with Band, Biology, World History, Liberal Arts Math (which uses the Algebra 1 book), 2D art 2 even though she hasn't taken Art 1, English 2 and Spanish 1. 

Kaleb only scored 4 points higher than Kayla on the math test and should be in intensive but isn't. I'm not sure if they waived his for band or not. They have one less period in the day than the charter school. Although they are in the same grade, they don't actually have all the same classes. He has US History and she has World Culture. He has band while she has PE. She has the extra math class and he doesn't.

My step grandchildren started school last week. 

Ashley is a hair sylist, so they always look great. Phoenix is in 7th and in her town, that's the first year of middle school. Griffin is in 3rd. He's a little smarty. We got a spend a few hours with them in Indiana this summer. I am hoping we get more time together next summer.

I suppose we will blink and this one will be in school!

Last Days of Vacation

It feels like we haven't done as much this summer as other times. Maybe because we did all the big stuff in June--Jasmine had choir tour, we went to the Smokey Mountains in NC, the twins went to camp, Jessica, Jasmine and I went to Indiana, and then Jasmine and I went to Cincinnati and Chattanooga. But then Jasmine had enough band camps and practices to last us for a long time. Enough that she's talking about this being her last year of band and focusing on drama and voice after that. It has also rained the past two weeks with only a couple of clear days. So we have hardly been to the pool even though we paid a lot for a season pass. We went to the springs on two of the nice days. Well, actually it started storming as we were leaving.

Two of the kids were in the Missoula Children's theater play this year.

Here are some photos of that.

The whole cast. Jasmine is Scarella, the wicked fairy. Kaleb is a troll, but he changed to a 50s character. However, they left the troll paint on him, so he looks a little crazy. I wish they would have changed back into the troll costumes for photos.

Jasmine was amazing. The audience loved her.

The videos are too big to upload here, but if I get them uploaded to YouTube, I'll post a link later.

River and Uncle Ty Ty are becoming attached

Jessica didn't get to go to Ponce de Leon springs last time, so we went again. I can only take 5 people in my car, so not everyone went.

Kaleb was thinking maybe he wished he'd volunteered to stay home and play Wii!

River found the springs a little cold for her liking!

Tonight is Kayla's last night of freedom. She starts middle school at the same charter school she's been attending, and it starts a day early. The other two start Thursday.

We are looking forward to an exciting year and many changes!

Fun Friday: What Was the Number One Song the Day You Were Born?

The number one song the day I was born was "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."



What was the number one song the day you were born? Find out HERE

Today's Activities are Tomorrow's Memories

Okay, I just made that up, but doesn't it sound impressive? LOL.

Well, yesterday we went to a state park and made tomorrow's memories.

Tyler and Kayla opted out. Jessica had another activity, and Adam was at his reserve weekend.

The tubing didn't amount to much. It was only about a foot deep and no current.

It's a lot shorter jump than the 22 foot drop at Wakulla. This was about a three foot drop into 8 or so feet of water. It's a spring for 72F year round. For water, 72F is cold. You need a wet suit if you stay in long.

Jasmine wasn't sure about it, but she tried it once.

The cold water caught her by surprise, and she didn't like it. So this was her only jump.

Rick went several times. He tried to bounce on it like it was a diving board, and that didn't go so well.

The child who was suppose to pack the forks for the hot dogs and marshmallows, the plates and napkins and matches, left them sitting on the counter. But we had paper towel and one set of tongs in the car so made do with that.

These are the moments memories are made of.

Check out my post on the Tyndale blog about making the most of the final moments of summer HERE