Monday, December 12, 2011

My New Life in WA State - Long, Overdue!

 The Evergreen State
 Ever since moving to Washington State this summer (with its sickeningly green vegetation, impossibly tall evergreens, and other disgusting [not] qualities), I have been too unorganized to blog. It's really embarrassing, coming from someone who loves to organize, whether it's my time or my things. But...this is new territory! BEAUTIFUL territory!!!!



I thought once we moved here, and my kids started public school for the first time (and after exclusively homeschooling for 15 years), I would easily settle into my new lifestyle, and have PLENTY of time to blog and whatnot!

Welllll, that's not quite how it has happened! I am busier - with all of my kids at home now in public schools (grades 11, 8, and 5) - than I EVER imagined!  First of all, I can't get over all the school activities - BUT am loving it! I appreciate all the parents meetings, concerts, fund-raisers, etc.! Soon after school started, we had a birthday party to throw...


I get so enthused to just go inside each of my children's schools, see the hallways they walk and the classrooms they sit in and learn in, to see the teachers and meet the people they learn from and are a part of their lives every day. I am loving it!


I am still a stay-at-home mom, and I have about a 4-hour window of "free" time every day from the time my last student (Sky) leaves for school until my first student (AJ) arrives home. That time period is the four quietest hours of my day, unless I stay up late like I am doing tonight. (Which is actually not a good thing, since I will be exhausted tomorrow.)


We've had our sick days....

But those are few and far between!

Can you believe I have found a new love - packing lunches! LOL! This is nothing I expected or saw coming. Yes, I think it is fun to pack lunches. Maybe it's because it helps me feel more involved in Emma's day while she's gone. I really miss having my kids around during the day, but public school is the best choice for us now.

Here I have some turkey lunch meat rolled up on an acorn food-pick, some veggie chips, strawberries, a pumpkin-shaped olive and cream cheese sandwich (one of her favorites!), some red and yellow bell peppers cut in leaf shapes, and a small piece of cherry pie. Can you tell this was close to Thanksgiving? One of the fun I've had with packing lunches is having "themes", and of course, making it cute.

Our street - that's my little black Malibu parked in our driveway.

 A pretty sidewalk by our home that I many times run down...



Once my kiddos start arriving home from school, it is nonstop busyness. I spend about 15 minutes talking and listening to each kid about his/her day. This is such an important time for the both of us! After that, they each get onto their homework, and many times I am running all three to different after-school meetings or practices. We have established a rule that homework is started upon within 10/15 minutes of arriving home. They can get a snack and have some time to talk, but homework is a priority. No waiting until the last minute.

And, oh I should mention our braggy, proud...ahem, days, too!


Yep, that's my Skybaby, Miss Student of the Month!

This is our living room:



Sometimes we have practices, lessons, presentations, etc., to attend in the evenings - depending on the day. And sometimes all of the above in one day. I am still trying to get the hang of things!

Oh, some of the best news, my daughter and son-in-law and their two babies (my grandbabies!) decided to move here too! They are 3 miles away now, instead of 2,000 miles away, and I'm loving every minute of it!




On a good day, Andy will be home and can help me with the shuffling. Many days I have to figure it out on my own. There have been evenings I have spent three hours on the road driving back and forth - all within a five-mile radius. CRAZINESS!!! And yeah, we do our share of "packed dinners." I should make a blog post about that one! OK, when I get it all figured out I will! ;)



OK, so I am sure any parent who has several kids in public school and has always done this would just shake their head and think I am naive and just need some experience - and they are completely right. That is EXACTLY what I need! But if you would like to share any tips or give advice, I am ALL EARS!

1 comment:

Jessica said...

Glad to see you posting again! I enjoyed "catching up" on what your family is doing and can't wait to read the upcoming posts you've mentioned.