where did the time go?

well, you know it's been a while when you can't even remember your own web address. sad i know. unfortunately, my life has really not been too terribly exciting. hubby has changed jobs a few times. he is now back to selling fords in the same place. he was managing a tire/garage location, but we never saw him. he was putting in 65 to 70 hours a week (sometimes even more) and not taking a day off. if he would have been getting overtime i might have told him to suck it up, but just making a salary and working himself to an early grave? no thanks. the kids need a dad and i need my hubby. so selling cars works out so much better.

alex starts high school this fall. i'm not sure if i am excited about this or depressed. his is going to the same school i graduated from...while 6 months pregnant with him. there are only a couple of teachers still there from when i was there. he started football. and surprisingly he LOVES it. i say surprisingly because he is pretty lazy, and they work his tail off! he will be taking 3 different advanced/honors classes. honors geometry, biology, and honors history. he's really smart, but i hope he's not overdoing it for his first year. it's a pretty big change. he's going from a class of 19 to a class of 200+.

haley will be in 7th. she's taller than me (has been for about a year now) and looks more like 18 than her actual age of 12. not cool. not cool at all. this i a big year for her. at least a big fundraising year for her. this is the year they raise money for their 8th grade year. there are 2 big trips in 8th grade. one is a team building trip the beginning of the school year, and the other is the pro life trip to D.C. plus the gift to the school, the teacher/staff and other assorted odds and ends. she decided to play volleyball again this year. she skipped last year because she didn't want to play for the coach. but she's not coaching anymore so haley decided to give it another shot. so we are looking forward to soccer and volleyball for her in a couple of months.

grace will be in 4th grade this year. big change there is we are losing the nun who had been teaching this grade for quite a while. there is a new teacher we have yet to meet. she gets to start volleyball this year...well instructional at least. unfortunately, the coach haley didn't like will be grace's coach. thank goodness she has a son so she's only going to coach this one year. i'm pretty sure grace needs glasses. we were discussing the books she reads, and why she likes them...and her reasoning was she could see the words easier and they didn't give her a headache when she tried to read them. great! so i need to get her in to see what she needs and if she should or could do contacts. contacts seem like a lot of work, but if she's like haley, and her prescription changes as much as hers did, contacts may be better. we will see.

josh is going into 2nd grade. first communion year. first confession year. big big year! i can't wait to see how he's going to do this year in school. he's really smart and this teacher is great at challenging the kids. his class is pretty small (i think there are 16 kids) and it makes it easier to focus on the individual needs of each kid. josh is getting so big now. and sweet! he is my most helpful kid. he should be doing instructional basketball this year. boy is he going to be good! he's bigger than most kids his age...not just taller but he's like a brick wall. it's going to be interesting watching him. he's really gotten into Lego's this year. like getting the kits and making whatever. he has several star wars things and i think quite a few halo things too.

zack is going into 1st grade this fall. last year was tough for me. trying to keep up with what he was doing in his class and all the things going on with alex in his class was more difficult than i thought it would be. i appreciate that they were trying to get the kids excited about doing projects and such, but really? a different project a month. he did his own stuff...not like quite a few other kids in his class. but seriously, most of it was stupid. one month was a leprechaun trap. stuff like that. i know, i know. it sounds cute and all, but really? just teach the kid to read and add. but no, he didn't learn much with that. we are still working on that. i'm worried about this coming school year. this teacher is really nice and all, but not the best. i'm hoping i can get him where he needs to be before school starts so he won't get left behind. i think he just has to get interested in what he's learning. i've been taking them to get books from the library and he's been really enjoying that.

i'm still watching kids...yeah for me. most of the kids are great, but there's a couple that are a little tougher. i'm not sure if it's their personalities or the fact that i have them for 12 FREAKIN' HOURS A DAY!!! that's a lot. sorry, i'm complaining and i shouldn't. they are for the most part a nice family. young, but nice. the kids i watch during the school year (3 of them) will be 3 years old this year. the girls are potty trained, but the boy, um, not so much.

we still have chickens. we even hatched some out this year. it was pretty cool. we have casey the dog, and the cat. no name for the cat. it just is. actually i'm pretty sure it's a girl...it has a pretty big umbilical hernia. i wasn't sure it was going to survive when the kids found it last year. it was maybe 4 weeks old and haley found it under the neighbor's truck. the cat and casey have a very loving relationship. casey treats the cat like her play toy/baby. and the cat takes it. in fact when the game is over (swinging the cat by the scruff of the neck) the cat i usually the one to come back for more lovin'.

well, i think that's it for me!