Life is What you Make It

I'm not off to such a good start keeping up with my blog, but man we've had a busy week or two! First off, we've had to move from our very comfortable rental house that we've been in for the past year while we're re-building our house, to a teeny-tiny TWO BEDROOM apartment. I'm talking going from 3200 sq. ft. to about 900 sq. ft. And there's 5 of us...in a TWO BEDROOM apartment! However, we've decided to set an example for the kids and make the best of it. There's actually quite a few good things about it...not the least of which is that we can keep the air as low as we want since utilities are included in the rent. We've been sleeping great at night now that we keep the temp set at about 72!! This was the first weekend morning we've woken up in a long time not having to worry about doing any yard work or property maintenance whatsoever. So...we may be in cramped quarters, but it's not all bad. And, I may have guilty feelings about one of the kids having to sleep on an air mattress, but they all think it's great! Every night it's a big fight over who gets to sleep on the air mattress. We've had to set up a rotating system. So long as I don't have to sleep on it, it's all good.

During the weekend of the move, we used the u-haul type truck that the storage place provided. Jim and Jackson went to pick it up and Jackson got in the front seat and yelled to Jim, "Hey, Dad, look at how the windows roll down!" Turns out they roll down by using a crank handle, which my sheltered son had never seen. So, at the very least, we're broadening their horizons a little.

While we are in the midst of this move we also had our meet-the-teacher event at school last Saturday. Our school is growing tremendously and we have tons of new teachers this year. Well, both Jordan and Jackson got teachers new to the school so this year is going to be one big experiment on our part. At first glance, both teachers seem great. Jordan's 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Cape, comes from Pine Forest and has tons of experience. Jordan really clicked with her and i liked her too. And, the best part is that Jordan's friend Susan Xu is in the class with her. They've been hoping for that every year since kindergarten.

Jackson's teacher is new too. She's young and has 4 kids age 4 and under!! No wonder she wants to get out of the house...even if it means being with other kids! Her classroom looked great, however, and she seems very organized.

Following meet-the-teacher on Saturday, we had the first day of school on Monday! The kids were excited (well, mostly Jordan) and got ready in plenty of time for me to take a few pics on the front porch. Jackson had an attitude, but that's par for the course these days. I was at least able to talk him into a picture with his teacher, but not Jordan. I guess it's just no longer cool in 4th grade.

The second day of school, however, Jackson came down with some mysterious illness which involved a one-time vomit in the early morning hours. No other symptoms but vomit is vomit so I let him stay home. This happens every year. He gets sick during the first week of school. Last year he had to go see the nurse on the FIRST DAY of school. It's crazy but Jim and I think it must be nerves or a the change in schedule or something. So he stayed home Tuesday and proceeded to drive me crazy as I was trying to unpack boxes and find any nook and cranny to store stuff.

He got bored enough, I think, that he spent most of the day wiggling his loose front top tooth. He wiggled it so much, that it finally came out Tuesday evening. The tooth fairy left him $3.00 so he was in heaven!

The rest of the school week went by uneventfully and we're adjusting to our new living space. Next week Jim is going out of town and this is one of the first times I'm actually looking forward to it...one less body in this apartment!

(Just found out that Jackson's teacher is Heather's sister-in-law's sister! How weird is that?)