More of the Same

I think we're finally starting to get into the routine of school.

The kids all have a lot of homework everyday. We've already gotten projects for science finished and turned in and books picked out for the papers due in December. We've even been geocaching for extra credit points.

We did get good news on Addison. She did not tear her meniscus. The doctor says that she sprained her LCL and has tendinitis. She's on a single crutch for now, doing a lot of rehab type exercises at school, and keeping it iced down as needed. She still has a lot of pain, but it is a wait-for-it-to-heal kind of injury.

Last Saturday she and I were supposed to work the merchandise stand during the football game (it was the soccer teams night to work) but it was raining and we were supposed to be selling shirts and such and they didn't have any awning to cover us so our services weren't needed. Instead, we sat in the rain and watched the first half of the game.

Addison got sick the first week of school and it has spread through the house and now all the kids have had it. Wyatt and Abigail are holding onto it longer than the other two did. Can't seem to shake those coughs yet. But, hopefully, this means we've taken care of sickness for the year. Hopefully.

Last weekend, Addison had to go to a mall in San Antonio as one of her duties as pageant queen to help out at a Disney Radio event. They were working with young (2-5 years old) kids showing them how to be royalty. It was cute. But because of her knee, the pageant director wouldn't let her do anything but sit at a table and take the raffle tickets that people turned in.

In other breaking news, Kirsten has signed up for show choir at school (think Glee) and is really excited about it. I don't know if they will just perform or if there will actually be competitions. I guess we'll wait and see.

It's been really busy and I'm kind of hoping for a quiet weekend. Since the science projects have been turned in, there shouldn't be a lot of extra kids at my house this weekend so maybe it will happen. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Maybe back to school isn't so great......

As parents we usually love back to school time. I know I'm guilty of it. But we're only a couple weeks into the school year and I'm already shaking my head.

Last week during her athletic period, Addison twisted her knee running up the bleachers. She iced it down, wore a brace, and took it easy over the weekend. Well, yesterday the Athletic Trainer took a look at it and it appears that she has torn her meniscus (the cartilage in her knee). We'll see the doctor on Saturday morning to find out for sure and to find out what we do from there. In the meantime, the coach is giving her some exercises to do so that she can strengthen it without doing more harm.

What's the deal with my kids and their knees?

Over the weekend, I took Kirsten and a classmate to do some geocache searches as part of a project for World Geography. They're learning to use longitude and latitude coordinates. It now appears that we got into chiggers so we are both scratching fools. The other three will still have to do this work and Kirsten and her friend still have five more searches to do. Hopefully we won't keep finding the chiggers with each search day.

Over the summer Addison did quite a bit of volunteering at the nursing home in town. She absolutely loved it! Now that she's back in school, she misses it. She even got up early on Labor Day to go volunteer again so that she could see the residents. But, I guess that gives her something to look forward to on days when she doesn't have school.

Abigail has decided that she would like to be a veterinarian. We have a couple of clients that are vets and they have been kind enough to invite Abigail to go to their offices and shadow them for the day. She had the chance to do it one day during the week before school started. This vet was even nice enough to make sure he had some surgeries scheduled for that day so that she could be part of the 'fun stuff.' She had a great time so now we'll have to see if we can work around school days to keep her going back.

We are so very fortunate to have people in our lives that are so willing to expose our children to these great opportunities. We are also fortunate to have children that are willing to take part when the opportunity is presented.

But, as for school, things are going nicely. The kids have a lot of homework, but so far they are staying on top of it. And they seem to be enjoying their classes, which is a big plus!!

Back to the Real World

We've been pretty busy since we got back from vacation. I guess that's sort of obvious since it took me over a month to get the vacation posted about.


Since we've gotten home, the kids did go and spend a couple of weeks in Houston with their grandparents, which is always a lot of fun for them.

We've done some geocache searches, there has been some golf and tennis played, and we've had a few trips for ice cream or sno-cones.

(Wyatt is looking more and more like his dad.)

Addison was in another pageant and won her age division. For this one she will compete in a State Pageant next year in May or June.

Dax and I got invited to attend an event for retired Texas Rangers law officers. We had a nice time. It was on a beautiful ranch along the river, with good food and good company.

 This was my date for the evening. Isn't he handsome?

 

 Then, the very next week, we attended an awards luncheon where Dax received an award for all the volunteer work that he does in connection with the Hays County Sheriff's Department. He had received a regional award earlier, but this one was a state level award. We are all so proud of him and all that he does.

I took the girls to do some back to school shopping. Even though their grandparents had taken them already.

 

A little touch of glamour on her eyes.....

But, I guess the biggest (and most traumatic for me) thing that has happened is that school started. And I have high schoolers!!!

(Addison, Abigail, Wyatt, & Kirsten)

 

I am just not ready for them to be this grown up. I had to fight back the tears when they got out of the car on the first day of school. They all have pretty tough schedules this year because their mean parents made them take the harder classes, but they're off to a good start.