School's In!

It's official!  The Summer of Fun has ended at the White household.  I had a lot of fun with my kids this Summer, but I'm glad that they are both starting new adventures this fall.  Going to all the places we went is fun, but even that gets boring after awhile!  

Ben

Ben started 5th grade this year, and is loving it so far!  Last year was very difficult for him; the class seemed unorganized because his homeroom teachers worked 1/2 days (1 worked AM, 1 worked PM), and he needs as much help as possible with organization. This year, his homeroom teacher pasted the class schedule to his planner, had him write what needed to go where in all of his folders, and seems to be a good fit for him.  Ben said she called him "Speedy Gonzalez" for finishing his work so quickly.  I am hoping this year will bring a fresh perspective for him; I don't want him to hate school or else his chances of wanting to go to college will be zero.  He is starting to get homework this week, so hopefully we will continue to have a happy student!

Lauren

We were expecting to start Lauren at preschool on Sept. 4th, but we started her a week earlier.  Her babysitter, Carol, has been on crutches for about a month with what she thought was a bad sprain.  It ended up being multiple ankle fractures that might require surgery!  When I went to pick Lauren up last Thursday, Carol informed us that she needed time off-effective immediately.  I completely understood, but that meant that Lauren wouldn't be back!  It was very hard to say goodbye to someone that has taken such extraordinary care of both of my kids from the time they were 6 weeks old until they started preschool.  For 10 years, she has been a huge part of our life, and I will never forget how much she did for my family.  

We had begun discussing preschool with Lauren a long time ago, but she knew it was coming down to the wire.  It was sad because I could see the stress on her face when we would talk about it.  She kept going back and forth-"I want to go, I don't want to go."  When we told her that she would be starting this week, she said, "I don't want to talk about it anymore."  

Monday morning, she was reluctant to get up, too nervous to eat, and talked about how much she didn't want to go to preschool the whole way there.  Mark followed me and Ben came along in support of his little sis.  She was very shy when she walked in, clinging to my leg and not talking to any of the teachers.  We took her around to all the toys, Ben kept saying, "Look at this, Lauren!  Do you want to play with me?"  No, she didn't want to play with any of them.  We finally told her goodbye, and she lost it.  She had to be pried off of my leg, and was screaming, "Mommy!"  When I got to the door, she yelled, "I just want a hug!"  At once, Mark and I both turned around and went up and hugged her.  I'm sure the teachers were thinking, "NOOOO!!!"  We couldn't help it; that wasn't going to be our last memory of her for the day!  We left to the sound of our "baby"crying, with a lump in our throat.  Ben broke the silence: "Well, that's going to ruin my day."  I love that kid-so much like his father...

I said a prayer on the way to work, asking God to be with her and give her peace.  I called when I arrived to check on her-she was doing fine!  Mark picked her up that afternoon, and found this face:

Now, here I sit typing my blog while she is at preschool!  She would rather go than stay home with me (on

my last Wednesday off) because she would like to "play with her new friends."  God is great!

She's holding up post-it notes, I don't know why!

Come On, Gurl!

One of my favorite things about football season is Monday Night Football on ESPN.  They have a segment called, "Come on, Man!"  During this segment, they show dumb mistakes football players made in previous games while giving their own commentary. 

I would like to introduce to you, "Come on, Gurl!"  This will be a recurring segment on my blog as well.  When the moment presents itself, I would like to capture it and give it a commentary that fits. 


Prepare yourself for the first installment of, "Come on, Gurl!"

So...you're wondering why 3 out of 4 kids are staring at your crotch, are you?  Here's a tip:  next time you're at Gabriel Brothers, grab a size or ten bigger so we all don't have to wonder if we are seeing inner thigh fat or part of your female genitalia.  Come on, GURL!!!!


After walking around Kings Island all summer, looking at people not wearing appropriate clothing sizes, I couldn't take it anymore!!!!  I had to snap this picture as a public service announcement to all fat people. I am one of you, and I have learned that buying a smaller size does not make me look smaller.  Please...cover up and have mercy on the children!!!!

August 1st

With the new month starting today, Mark and I decided that we need to get organized-in all areas of our life. We have gotten lazy with our health (spiritual and physical), keeping our house/cars organized, and making our money behave-to quote Dave Ramsey. So, on Monday, I started back on Body for Life along with my friend, Casey. On Friday I am taking the kids to the Dr. for their check-ups, and working on our budget for the month of August. Saturday will be clean and organize everything day, and Sunday will be our day of rest and spiritual re-fueling.  We've decided that living without a purpose in all of these areas is not living at all.

getting back to our monthly budgets and the envelope system

One thing I like to do to keep organized is keep a dry-erase calendar on the fridge with all of the events for the month on it.  As I was filling it out this morning, I came to several realizations: 1) This is the last 4 weeks I have with Ben before he is a 5th grader and 2) I need to update my refrigerator calender more often-it still has late May and early June on it!  As I was writing the dates and the events, I took some time to reflect on the Summer. 

This Summer has been...wonderful for me. Although playing mediator between Ben and Lauren has been exhausting at times, I have really enjoyed every minute of the extra time I've had with them, so I don't have any regrets or sadness that it's coming to an end. I'd be lying if I said that I won't miss them and this easy-breezy schedule, but some Thursdays even going to work to do kennel duty has seemed like an easier job than being home! Some days, my vocabulary is nothing but, "Ben, you are too loud! Lauren, why are you whining, now?"  I feel very blessed to have had this time with my kids; hopefully I can make this a Summer tradition!

faces only a mother could love

.