This was my first actual 30-hour work week in 18 months. It was AWESOME! Great meetings to kick of a new HUGE project that I’m way excited about. So much less stress knowing I have some hours to actually work on the projects rather than get going Tuesday and put it all away Wednesday and never really get a chance to complete anything.
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I found out I might get two trips to Italy in the next 6 months out of this new gig. I’m hoping I get to go on at least one . . . not holding my breath, but it’s a definite possibility!
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Kids had their first full week of school. They did great! Dude is having a little trouble with all the homework - not the actual work, but DOING the homework. He’s got 30-45 minutes each night, which is way more than the 15 he’s had the past few years. He’ll figure out his time issues . . . hopefully sooner rather than later!
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I went to Back To School Night on Wednesday. That’s where you get to go listen to the kids’ teachers talk about how they run their classroom and what they plan to do for the year. You also get to sign up to volunteer to help in the classroom. I didn’t write my name down for 5th grade. I did volunteer to help with 2nd grade. We’ll see how that all shakes out. I did, however, sign Hubby up to present to the 5th grade - that’s what he gets for not being here this week 
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Dude has the BEST desk in the entire school. I’m convinced of it. His classroom was actually intended to be the science room, so it’s a corner room with lots of large windows. His desks faces a window - a giant window that frames Pikes Peak perfectly. I’m quite jealous. He’s quite happy.
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I think Dude’s teacher will be perfect for him . . . she loves the outdoors, hiking, climbing, rafting, biking, camping . . . all the stuff Dude likes.
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Dude had to create a culture wheel . . . they had to take a round piece of paper and cut pie shapes out. Then they wrote the part of their life that consumed that pie shapes amount of the whole circle. Anyhoo . . . Dude’s huge more than half shape said “Outside”. The other shapes were all pretty even, and said baseball, hiking, camping, bike riding, soccer, and family. Ummmmmm . . . if I’m not mistaken, all of those are outside
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Princess has the same 2nd grade teacher that Dude had. I’m way excited that she has Mr. Krich! I love his male perspective to teaching - and he’s got a loud boisterous voice, he’s got RULES that the kids must follow, he’s got lots of fun incentives for them to learn match facts, he loves recess as much as the kids. He is the ONLY person on this planet who has ever said of my two children “It’s amazing how much alike they are!” Seriously? He ammended that statement with he doesn’t know how alike they are academically, but he made that remark because Dude and Princess apparently both like to talk (who knew!) and are the only two kids he’s had that felt the need to yell “He’s looking at his watch!” rather than give the loud SHHHHHHH that most of the kids give. I think Mr. Krich is in for a big surprise in a week or so when he sees Princess’s real personality come out
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I took a look at Princess’s math and spelling books that were sitting on her desk. She spelled her own name wrong . . . in her spelling book.
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In addition to work and school, Dude started soccer this week. Practices Wednesday and Thursday from 5:00-6:00. He’s so excited and had a blast Wednesday . . . we’ll see how it goes tonight.
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Princess starts soccer next week - practices on Thursdays from 6:00-7:00. Thankfully she didn’t start this week since Dude had a pack meeting on Thursday at 7:00.
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The principal called me yesterday after school. She started with “I just wanted to let you know that we had an incident on the playground with Princess today.” She must’ve heard my sigh and realized I was thinking “Are you kidding me! ALREADY??!!!” The next words out of her mouth were “I guess I should have started with she didn’t do anything wrong and isn’t in trouble at all. But we did have to call the other little girls parents to come into school and talk.”
Turns out 3 little girls had emotional issues - gasp! Girl 1 promised Girl 2 she’d play with her. Girl 1 decided she wanted to play with Princess and asked Girl 2 to play what they were playing. Girl 2 got mad at Princess for “stealing her friend” and started chasing Princess. She pushed Princess down on the concrete sidewalk and started kicking dirt at her. Princess told the playground monitor. So all 3 girls had to go to the office for a chat . . . Girl 1 and Princess got apologies from Girl 2, who had to stay and wait for her parents to come to chat about all of it.
OMG - girls. I can’t WAIT until she’s a teenager and their hormones start working their magic . . . ugh!
Princess is fine . . . didn’t even mention it, so she must not have been too traumatized. We did chat about it and about how SHE would have felt if she were girl 2 and how she could handle the situation . . . she simply said “There are lots of kids on the playground - I’d be sad, but only for a minute because I’d just find someone else to play with that day.”
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We had a busy week . . . needless to say, the kiddos were a bit GRUMPY this morning. They complained that they didn’t get to just watch a movie any night this week. And OMG they didn’t get to watch America’s Got Talent!
I politely reminded them that NOTHING we did this week was for me and that we can stop doing any of their stuff any time . . . outside of school and work, we went to SOCCER practice because they wanted to play soccer. I went to Back To School Night because they started school. We went to a Pack meeting because Dude wants to be in Boy Scouts. I met with my Brownie co-leader because Princess wants to be in Brownies.
They are not willing to give up soccer, Boy Scouts, or Brownies - they are, however, willing to give up school. I told them that was not an option. They said OK and asked for a snack. I said we didn’t have any because we hadn’t gotten to the grocery store with our crazy week. Their world just about ended.
Until I reminded them we have about 50 gallons of ice cream in the freezer . . . then they were good.
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After being home for almost a month, Hubby went to work Monday . . . I guess this was good practice for me doing it all this week! So glad for him to come home today.
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This weekend we will DECOMPRESS and get ready for next week and do it all over again, minus the back to school night and Pack meeting . . . but we will add Thursdays to our soccer practice schedule.
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On a side note, can I just tell you how happy I am that I am completely stupid about soccer . . . never played it and really don’t know much about it, especially at the level Dude is playing at. It’s SOOOOO nice to be able to go to a practice or game and just watch without feeling obligated to help (I so would not be helpful with soccer) or really even know what’s going on, so I don’t have to be stressed about whether my kids know what they’re doing 
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I am off to finish my Friday at work, then head home to beer and Bloody Marys while Hubby takes Dude to soccer practice