Garage Sale Find

A few weeks ago our neighbor was having a garage sale.  Paige literally begged me to take her over.  I finally agreed.  We looked around and I saw a Ripstik.  I told Paige she could get that and learn to ride it.  It was only $5!  The seller said her son only used it once or twice and it did look new, so we bought it.

I might mention my girls have never skateboarded, we don't even own one.   The ripstik was a bit of a challenge at first, but Paige kept working on it.  The hardest part is to have the courage to just jump on. Well after a few days she really started to get it.  Then her friend down the street, also bought a ripstik at a garage sale and a new before and after school activity was born.  These two girls practiced over and over in our driveway.

I can now say that they both officially are "ripstikers" they can turn, accelerate and go up and down the sidewalk.  It's pretty cute and they are having lots of fun!  $5 for hours of outdoor entertainment--gotta love that!

What a Week

This has been a tough week around here.  Dave and both the girls have not been feeling their best.

Ashley has been pretty sick.  She missed two days of school but honestly could have missed at least four.  The workload in high school is so heavy that missing more than a couple of days makes it too hard to catch up.  Dave took her to the doctor but it is just viral.  She has been practically living off NyQuil.  The bottles are pretty much empty.

Poor girl, for a couple days it seemed like maybe she was getting a little better or at least not getting worse.  But today, she seems pretty sick again. YUCK!

Paige also has came home from school sick this week.  She fainted in class and hit her head.  Yep.  Those of you who know her well, know where this story is going.  The librarian came in to Paige's class and read a story about a girl who got in a car accident and had to have her leg amputated.  The point of the story is that the girl overcame this tragedy and became an award-winning runner.  Well, just hearing about the amputation and how the skin had to be pulled and stapled over the the stump was too much for Paige.  

I had actually told Paige's teacher about Paige's queasy stomach but I didn't think to tell the specials teachers like the librarian.  Basically, everyone just thought she was sick with a virus or something.  Ah, but we know better.  Poor Paige was SO embarrassed to have this happen in front of the whole class, even though she doesn't really remember much.  Anyways, she ended up coming home as she was still a little queasy afterward and basically needed some more time before she could face her class.  Fortunately, kids have short memories and by the next day it was almost forgotten.  

I decided to teach Paige another strategy for coping with this anxiety of hers.  Basically, she uses a rating scale to evaluate "how gross" something is and uses that to gage her reaction.  Hopefully, it works.  Apparently this is a very common fear for kids 9-12.  Hers is pretty intense but I'm hopeful she will grow out of it and learn to cope better.  And now all her teachers know so hopefully she can be excused from listening to graphic stories.   Thank goodness the science units this year are rocks and the solar system!

Anyways, this week has been a bit of a drag, but just have to try to keep looking on the bright side.

High School Football

Ah memories...Friday night football games and pep rallies are some of the best parts of high school.  Now that Ashley is in high school, we have a team to root for and a school to support.  Ashley has gone with her friends to most the games and is gearing up for the big rivalry game this week.

Dave and I even went to one game and took Paige and her friends with us.  It was fun and Ashley and her friends even came over to say, "hi!"  Thank goodness we are cool enough for that!

GO East, GO Wolves, GO Blue!

Happy to Do It

This morning, as I was getting Paige ready for the school bus, I got a text from Ashley.  It said that she missed the field trip she was supposed to go on today for student council.  She got the time they were leaving wrong and the bus left without her.  Even though it was only a text, I could tell she was pretty sad about it.

Poor girl, she had been planning for this field trip all week.  She made all kind of schedule changes and plans to make up tests, finish assignments, etc., then she goes to the office all ready to leave and realizes that she was too late.

I told her to ask if I could drive her.  I figured it was a long shot, but they said yes.  So I rushed Paige to her bus and drove over to pick up Ashley.  Fortunately, she was attending a leadership conference at a nearby high school so we didn't have far to go.  In the end, I got her there right before the conference started so she didn't really miss anything.

I'm writing about this because, when I picked Ashley up she was pretty stressed, frustrated and almost a little teary.  I told her not to worry and that I was happy to pick her up.  And the truth is, I really was happy to pick her up.  This was something important to Ashley and I'm glad that I could be there to help her, not because the conference was important but because she was feeling bad and I could make her feel better.  This is why I'm glad to be a stay-at-home mom.  I want to be there for my kids when they need me even if they just need a ride and few encouraging words.

Vote for Me

In addition to everything else Paige is doing right now, she really wanted to run for student council at school.  Each 4th and 5th grade class elects two representatives to the student council.  This year was Paige's first experience with an election.  I know elections are a good learning opportunity but they also make me nervous.  I mean often they are just popularity contests and you never want your child to be hurt or disappointed.  Also, she and her friend Riley were both running so we had a big talk about "just doing your best" and that "not everyone can win" and "don't be too disappointed" and "be nice and considerate of others feelings if you win and they don't," etc., etc.

Fortunately, the school plays it very low key, each class takes one day in which all the candidates give speeches, the class votes, and the winners are announced.  We also played it pretty low key, we worked on her speech while driving to and from dance class, then she came home and practiced it.  It was barely a minute long, but seriously what kind of campaign promises can a fourth grader make?  Well, apparently, I missed the message because Paige came home to tell me that some kids gave power point presentation speeches!  Seriously?!

I told her, I didn't know power point was allowed and she said, "it doesn't matter because I WON!"  Whew!  Hooray!

Her best friend, Riley, didn't win, even though Paige said Riley had the best speech.  It's too bad for Riley but these girls already do almost everything together that it's probably for the best to have a little more separation.

On a different note, I went to Paige's curriculum night last week.  All the kids wrote a note to their parents.  Here is Paige's note.  She is so cute!

     
My favorite part is at the end, "I hope you know I am happy."  Really?  How great is that?  Probably the most comforting thing a kid can tell her parents!

What Were You Thinking?!

Fall is always a busy time as the girls get back to school and all the "activities" start up.  This year, I have a bad feeling that I am headed for one of those "what were you thinking?" moments.  Everyone has so much going on and as it all gets started, I just hope we can survive.

Here is a list of what everyone is up to:

Paige:  soccer, Beautification Club at school, intramural basketball, Girl Scouts, Activity Days at church, piano, ballet class, and Nutcracker rehearsals

Ashley:  early-morning Seminary, soccer, Student Council at school, Student Ambassador at school, Young Women at church, babysitting job.

Jenny:  Young Women at church, Institute class, childcare 3x a week for neighbors, PTA Vice-Pres, driving everyone everywhere.

Dave:  Tax busy season = working every day, all day and night.

I'm not listing all the yard work and housework that we have to do to keep this place going.  I may have  to consider laundry and home-cooked meals optional.

Actually, we are very lucky to have so many opportunities to learn, work, serve and play.  We can do it!  Let's go Team Smith!!

Labor Day

We had a super fun Labor Day.  Everyone is so busy right now, that I just wanted to have a little fun today.  Unfortunately, it didn't include Dave because he had to work.  Tax busy season has hit hard so he had to work Friday (a holiday in his office), Saturday, Sunday and Monday (Labor Day).  Not fun, but he can take those vacation days later, which he will definitely deserve.

As for the girls and I, we woke up and headed to the Naperville Labor Day Parade.  We aren't really parade people, but it had been a few years so I decided to do it.  Also, since Dave hates parades, it probably eased the pain of having to go to work, since he was only missing out on a parade.  It was actually a perfect day for a parade.  The weather was great, we found a front row seat on the curb, and the girls snagged lots of candy and handouts.

The Governor - really, the guy in the blue shirt is Pat Quinn (Illinois Gov.)

Clifford the Big Red Dog, & Berenstein Bears

Mustachio A Paig-ee

After the parade, we left and met some friends at The Cheesecake Factory for lunch.  It was fun, but I never really leave having loved my food.  It's good but not great.  This time I ordered a different cheesecake and I didn't love it.  It sounded so good too.  Let me describe--it was called Mango Key Lime Cheesecake.  It has a graham and coconut crust with a layer of mango swirled cheesecake, then a layer of key lime pie filling, topped with a mango glaze and fresh whip cream.  I had high expectations but honestly, the fruit flavors tasted artificial more like candy then fresh fruit.  Oh well.  It was still fun to have a girls' lunch!

strawberry shortcake - she doesn't like cheesecake

caramel turtle pecan for Paige

After that we came home to finish up any homework and then we went for an evening swim at the pool.  Today is closing day so we wanted to get one last swim in.  It was fun and the lifeguard even let the kids jump of the lifeguard stand so they had blast doing that for a while.

Paige - plug your nose!

Riley - touch your toes!

After swimming, we met Dave who was now home and ordered pizza for dinner.  What a long day, we  ate dinner at about 8:30!  For dessert, we had homemade mint brownie ice cream.  I am so proud of this.  Making homemade ice cream has been on my to-do list FUH-EVA and now it's done and it was delicious!!!

Whew, what a great day.  It was like giving a big hug good-bye to summer.