life

#1. We are having some major back to school blues (clare). Didn't help that she was super sick for a week and missed a week of school. Trying to re-establish bed time routine, piano, homework, etc. How can this be so hard after just a two week break?  I am thinking year round school would not work for me. It used to sound very appealing.

#2. Job hunt time. We are obsessed. It is tiring and stressful. Interviews at three places this month. I am hoping it all gets wrapped up quick. I am getting impatient and Dave will have a little less stress in his life once it's wrapped up.

#3. A friend talked me into running a 5k with her. We're doing the couch to 5k program. It's pretty easy but gives me something to think about and work towards. With my surgery and then a run of sick kids I haven't been working out as often as I like.

#4. I am feeling baby hungry. Maybe this is a result of the surgery and thinking "what if I could never have kids again?" don't know. Dave hopes it passes quickly. Lexey has been begging for a baby forever and is thrilled at the prospect. Clare wants a new puppy and Calvin wants a cat.

#5. We also started and couples book club. Our first book is One Hundred years of solitude.

#6. I love homeschooling lexey. She is an angel. Today she sent me this email : dear mommy, i love homeschooling with you.love, Alexey   The best thing about homeschool is that we get all her work done in the  best time of day and don't have to worry about piano and homework in the evening. She gets so much attention and one on one time her cup is very full.  She is so happy and fun to be with.

#7.  We are loving our life. I still hate Houston, but we are happy here. It might seem like those are contradictory statements so let me explain. Houston SUCKS. Schools are terrible, getting a prescription filled is a 3 hour ordeal and requires driving all over town. The mailman doesn't come some days, the bus doesn't come some days.  However, we love our neighborhood, our friends here and our life here (minus the above mentioned items).

#8. Paying tons for my surgery. $500 deductible and then 25% of the bills. Out of pocket maximum will be $5000 but we might get up to that point. Such a bummer. So expensive! And it happened in Dec so if I have other expenses this year we'll start over again with the deductible and out of pocket maximum.

#9. Clare decided she wasn't enjoying dance much so we stopped that. She is excited for swim lessons in the spring and then we'll do soccer in the fall.

#10. Lex is begging to play voilin. I told her she needs to do 2 years of piano first and then she can start.  She will do swim in the spring and then soccer next fall also.

#11. Jo is kind of like a 3 year old terrorist. Super daring but super demanding.

#12. Been catching up on Downton Abbey season 5. Love it!

#13. Booked a vacation for March in Destin with two other families.

#14. We had our first "I don't want to move back to California" this week. Jo said, "I don't want to move back to California, I'm going to miss Mandy too much!"  Today Jo was telling Dave that "if mommy dies it will be okay. You can marry mandy."  Mandy is our next door neighbor. She's an angel. Jo is obsessed. From the minute she wakes up she asks to go see Mandy and we tell her that they're still alseep, which buys us a few hours!  When the weather is good she will sneak over and peek in the window. Luckily Madelyn really loves Jo's company so it works out well to spend a lot of time together.