The Rat Race Starts All Over Again

Summer is over and we've hit the ground running. Helen's up before 5 once again, which means no staying up late for her. I tell myself I'm going to get up with her, but even if I go to bed with her I usually stay up too late reading and when her alarm goes off in the morning and I see that it's still dark - getting up with her just doesn't seem that important, so I usually sleep until a little before 6 - as daylight is breaking. I think I could get up with Helen if it was light outside, but it just doesn't seem normal to get up when it's dark.

Both the boys are doing soccer this Fall and Helen and I are doing tennis. On Monday's we have Derek's soccer practice. Tuesday's are Adam's soccer practice and Helen's tennis practice. On Wednesday's the boy's have piano lessons. Thursday is my tennis practice. Friday's are another soccer practice for Derek. On Saturday's the boys have their soccer matches and I have my tennis match.

We joke that once October rolls around the rest of the school year really goes by in a flash: soccer, tennis, football, various Fall festivals, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, skiing, Spring Break, and then it's Summer again.

The boys had been playing soccer in a church league the past couple years, but this Summer Derek decided that he wanted to play in the county league. Adam was not so eager - after some probing we discovered that he thought he would have to play with big boys Derek's age. Adam also has his little friend Ryan who lives next door on his team - so he is happy now.

The first two weeks of school have flown by. Both the boys really like their teachers - we're very glad that Derek seems to have someone he clicks with. Derek was the sweet big brother and walked Adam to his class the first two days. They had also been sitting on the bus together - then Adam got off the bus very sad on Tuesday - Derek wanted to sit with a friend - Adam was crushed.

We keep asking Adam if he has learned the names of anyone in his class - he tells us that all he knows is "Draw". We ask if maybe it is "Drew", but he says no. He's recently added a couple more names to the list - one is of a little boy that we saw at the pool on the second day after school. He knew who Adam was - but it is taking Adam a while to get names down.

Derek is have a great time in 3rd grade - he goes to a 1st grade class and has a book buddy, he is excited to start multiplication (hope he always loves to learn) and he seems to have made some new friends in his class.

The boys have still not gone outside for recess because of the heat. Thankfully, the weather pattern seems to have broken. We've actually had some rain and the temps seem to have receded back to a more acceptable low 90's, so hopefully the school will allow the kids to go outside this week.

We've walked to school a couple times a week and the boys get to bring a dollar and get ice cream one day a week, which is always a big day for them. Derek complained that he was miserably full after eating his lunch and ice cream on Friday.

Adam is also getting his six year molars - he says it doesn't hurt too bad unless he touches it with food. He also lost another front tooth (total of three), but there is only room for the two new teeth that are coming in. He also has two other loose teeth - on the bottom next to the teeth he's already lost. He hasn't lost any teeth on top yet. We're going to have some questions for the dentist at his next appointment, which thankfully is coming soon.