Thursday, September 30, 2010

Little bits of excitement

I wrote this several days ago (Thursday). I'm hitting "Publish Post" now (Sunday) -- just know that some of the stuff that I said we were about to do might've already happened. And stuff that we said happened yesterday really happened several days ago.

We haven't posted anything in a while. We're busy, busy, busy these days (all days?). And I just haven't been feeling "it" -- that draw to blog. It'll come, I know, especially as the weather gets cold, but for now, we're having fun reading, playing, visiting with friends, learning, cooking, and generally hanging out.

But I thought I'd quickly check in and post some mini updates on each of us, since we've all had exciting stuff going on . . .

Mark
Mark scored BIG points recently by making something happen for us -- a beach trip! We haven't done a beach trip since 2005, mostly due to finances or just not getting it together. We always talk about doing it, but somehow time goes by and we don't get out there as much as we'd like. Well, this year, he found us a great little beach house to rent and we got ALL kinds of deals for going off season!

Homeschooling is grand -- the flexibility it gives us is amazing. We love the beaches in Delaware and going off-season is the way to do it! The beach houses are significantly cheaper, the restaurants are cheaper as they try to draw in the locals after the summer season, you don't have to feed the parking meters, the beaches aren't crowded, and you can take your dog on the beach!

We're making this a yearly tradition -- the beach, cheap lobster dinners, the beach, getting away from it all, the beach, renting a cute beach house, the beach, hanging out and watching movies, the beach, collecting sea shells, the beach, watching the sunrise over the ocean, oh, and have I mentioned the beach?

And professionally, Mark's just awesome. He's getting so much great feedback from patients on the work we're doing here. He has helped a lot of people and continues to do so. We recently hosted our annual tradition of hosting a backyard BBQ for our patients and clients to celebrate our business anniversary (now entering year 4!) and it was a great success. Everyone had a lovely time and the food was awesome.

He was also recently made vice-president of the board for the local community concerts. They really value his opinion on the board and seek him out for advice on the direction of the program series and selection of performers.

Me

I got invited to be the Municipal Liaison for our area here for NaNoWriMo! I'm crazy for doing it, but I just can't resist, because it's so fun!! There are several of us who already know each other who are doing it and several more from the area joining us as well! I just sent my paperwork in yesterday and soon it'll be all set up. I'm so excited!!

We're all doing NaNoWriMo again this year -- the kids have declared it their favorite part of our school year and something they want to do every year.

I was also recently invited to pursue a part-time job at the college doing counseling with the students there. I would have loved to do it, but it's not the right time/season yet (given our work schedules and everything else, there's no way we could make it work without other things suffering in the process). Someday, though. I'm flattered that they approached me and have me on their radar.

Thing 1

Thing 1 is excelling in all that she does. Of course, she's always reading and writing and her stories are just fabulous. There is no question in my mind at all that she will always write and will someday publish books. She is also doing so well with her music. This weekend, she begins taking part in a multi-generational string ensemble at the college. It's such a neat opportunity and she's excited to have fun doing it. She practices piano and violin daily with genuine enjoyment. Her violin playing is just gorgeous, so this will be a great chance to play in an ensemble setting with others and we're excited for her to participate!

Thing 2

Thing 2 recently earned his yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do! He has such a natural agility and is quite athletic and coordinated. He learns his forms quickly and can kick and jump with such power! The teachers there are constantly telling us that he has a natural knack for it. Thing 2 has his eyes on the prize -- he is enjoying advancing through the belts and talks about teaching there someday when he's older. He'd be great at it -- the kid makes friends everywhere he goes and is comfortable talking to anyone.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Funny Kids

Today in the backyard after playing a game together as a family in which Thing 2 could barely contain his humor, comments, and general self:

Me: I'm done. I know! Let's play that game where we come up with obstacle courses all over the backyard and the kids run them and race.

Thing 1: YES! . . . Wait. This is one of those grown up tricks where they try to wear us out.

Crap. They're on to us.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

We're here!

We're here. Just swamped. I haven't blogged in a while and I'm pretty behind on blog reading, too. I'll resurface eventually, but for now we are super busy with back-to-school stuff and activities and home stuff. We're having a great time -- just not in my blogging groove (yet).

Some of the stuff we're doing includes:

tae kwon do
violin
group violin
scouts
4-H
ice skating
playing games
getting together with friends
keeping busy with our clinic
harvesting from our garden
reading/book clubs
Hershey Park
piano
cleaning out and organizing rooms of our house
library, library, library
getting organized for schooling at home
getting organized in our homeschool group
Hershey Chocolate World
entertaining house guests
beach
enjoying these beautiful 70-80 degree days

You get the idea. So, my inbox is filled to overflowing and I don't dare log in to Bloglines right now. I'm trying to return texts and phone calls (but I really stink at that--well, phone anyway). We have a lot of stuff coming up over the next couple of weeks, so it may be a while, but just wanted to say we're here. Somewhere. :P

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Random Thoughts - Saturday Version

We do about 3 giant loads of laundry every 2 weeks on average.

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If I were to come up with a personal fashion style,
it would involve not wearing a bra.
Not so much for the style, just because I hate wearing them.

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I was just sitting down enjoying a handful of Oreos with milk . . .
. . . until I saw a 60-something year old man jogging down the street.
Then I just felt pathetic.

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What ever happened to after school specials?
I loved those.

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I am reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for book club this month.
I've wanted to read it for a long time, so I'm glad someone suggested it.

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I have an old high school friend coming to visit next week
for a couple of days.
He and I always got along okay,
but not as well as we did afterward.

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Beach, beach, beach.
I love the beach.

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I also love Indie films.
We're watching a promising one tonight called "$5 A Day."

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We've created a really cool organizing system on one of our walls
involving cork tiles and cool-looking sticker letters.