Music Monday

Stef over at My Love Knot is having Music Monday. This is my first time participating. She always has very inspirational songs. Today, the kids are home on Fall Break, so I asked them to help me find a GREAT song.....here's what they came up with. Of course the 8 yr old wasn't in agreement, so here is her choice. They are both very upbeat & FUN. Maybe next week I'll come up with something on my own.

It's Fall Break here.....

Fall Break is something new for us. When we moved to Tennessee in 2004, we didn't arrive until November. But the next year we were presented with a new holiday break we never even knew existed. In the middle of October the schools are closed for a full week....they call this Fall Break. It is kind of like Christmas Vacation & Easter Vacation, but there is no holiday associated with it.





Today some of the kids went down the street & picked apples from a neighbors tree. He told us in early September that we were welcome to pick as many as we like. The 10 yr old climbed high into the tree & passed them down to the 8 yr old, while the 3 yr old put them into a basket. They came home with 19 apples and are now busily peeling them in hopes that I will make them an apple pie.

Update.....They didn't get a pie, but I did make an apple crisp with no oatmeal (10 yr old doesn't eat Oatmeal)....it came out quite yummy!!! And there are still enough apples left for a pie.

It's FALL!!!

The kids had a blast yesterday raking up leaves into huge piles like this one & then jumping in them. The rain we got on Friday has had a dramatic cooling effect on our temperatures. We're all in long sleeves & I've broken out the down comforters. I'm trying not to turn on the heat for a while longer.

The little ones are especially happy to finally be able to wear their sweaters & turtlenecks.

Cuteness

My baby is getting sooooo BIG!!!

And the 3 yr old is not a baby anymore at all.....look how big she's gotten.

Report Card Day

The first 9 wks of school is over & the kids brought home their report cards today. They both did very well. All A's in behavior. All A's & high B's in their subjects & both were rated above grade level in reading. The 8 yr old's teacher says she is a pleasure to have in class. The 10 yr old's teacher didn't write any comments. They didn't miss any days & they weren't tardy even once. This is the first year in quite some time that we have only had two kids in school.

Rotten day....

Thursday is usually Hubby's day off. But today, he had a conference for work. Of course I thought he had to actually go to his office, but he didn't tell me that until we were in the car. Traffic was heavy & the off ramp we needed was closed due to an accident. I didn't get as much sleep as I had hoped for & I was cranky. Hubby only gets one day off this week because of the conference & so he was cranky.

The 1 yr old is cranky because of teething. The 3 yr old is cranky because the sky is overcast & her friend next door doesn't seem to be home. The 8 yr old came home in a "mood"...she was complaining to herself outside before she even got in the door. Seems she didn't sleep well last night & thinks something is wrong with her tonsils. She took her temperature and when she didn't find a fever immediately asked to go outside & play with her friends.....at least her crankiness was short lived.

The 10 yr old was no where in sight when I arrived at school to pick him up from his after school orchestra practice. He came out of the building a few minutes later & informed me that he is in trouble because I "take so long" to come pick him up. The schedule was changed last week or the week before & he now gets out at 3:30 instead of 3:45 & since all us parents are such good mind readers the school didn't feel the need to inform us about the change, but they did send a note to all parents today reprimanding us for not picking our children up "promptly" and informing us that if we need after school care there is a cost of $25 per hour for drop in care at the school's program. If I fail to pick him up promptly anymore, he was told, they will drop him from the orchestra program. Playing the viola is also challenging for him. He thinks he is the only one who cannot hold the bow properly & he is upset because one of the cello students dropped out & now there are 23 violins, 5 violas and 3 cellos.......the violins will surely drown everyone else out. He's only been playing for about 3 weeks. We've payed the rental on his instrument through the end of November, so the plan at the moment is for him to stick it out at least until then & we will talk again about how it is going & whether he wants to continue. Things in his classroom were difficult today too....they have a new seating arrangement, he is now sitting in a group with his 3 least favorite classmates. He is supposed to turn in the money to be able to participate in the class Halloween party tomorrow.....we don't have the money this week.

Next week is Fall Break....the kids will be out of school for a whole week, I'm sooooo ready!!!

Operation Christmas Child

My 8 yr old & 10 yr old belong to a service club at our church. Their current service project is Operation Christmas Child. The kids are very excited about it.
Last month their group had a bake sale to raise the money needed to "ship" the shoe boxes of gifts. A fee of $7 per box is required for each & every one. To me, this seems like a lot.