Feeling the Burn

You know that feeling you have when you are doing a set of squats, and you just don't know if you can do any more because  your quads are screaming from the burn?   I think the first week of school is a little like that for me.  I don't remember being this fatigued last year, but then again, I didn't have double to load last year.

A day in the life of...

5:45 AM  Ashlyn wakes everyone up.
6:15 AM  Help children off to school.
7:00 AM  Drive seven loud and energetic elementary school children to school.
7:45 AM  Clean as much as I can before going to get the babysitter.
9:00 AM  Get said babysitter and start work.
2:00 PM   Emerge from my Web Design cave and blink hard as my eyes adjust to the real world again.
                 Return babysitter.
                 Organize chaos.
2:45 PM   Gather children for violin and homework/reading.
2:55 PM   Attempt in earnest to gather children.
3:00 PM   Violin with Ezra.  He's fairly on-task.  Eliza does her work in the background.
3:15 PM    Switch. Eliza begins her new whining tactics regarding violin.  Nothing is truly accomplished a midst the rubber-arms and tears.  ...   Ezra quietly reads.
{20 minutes later}   Eliza has recovered her senses.  We can finally have a productive violin practice.
4:00 PM   Try and figure out what I am supposed to do for Webelos.  Realize I should have looked much sooner.   Cramming for time.  Realize that Ashlyn decided to paint about 1/4 of my kitchen table with fabric paint while I was doing violin with the others.  No time to attempt a rescue.
5:00 PM  Webelos swim party.  Ashlyn has a poop accident all over the bathroom and the bathroom carpet.  Thank Lysol again for inventing sanitizing wipes.
6:05 PM  The last Webelos leaves, and I realize that I didn't plan anything for dinner and my children are starving.  Gather the children and hop in the car to go pick up something.  Practically vomit in my mouth as I watch myself drive to McDonalds at the pleas of the children....
6:30 PM  Get home to a friend dropping her baby off for me to watch while she and her husband go to an appointment.
7:30 PM   Bedtime routine.  
7:55 PM   The last light is out.  Give baby back to frient.   Collapse on my couch.  Immovable.

Yuck. Somethings got to give here.  We haven't even gotten to the hard part yet where the kids get real homework and start tumbling and wrestling and such. I think that it will get a little easier once I get the hang of things, but sheesh am I feeling the burn.  I don't think I properly warmed up for this workout.

First Days

I believe this summer was the shortest summer of my life. 

Eight weeks... that's it?? I am still feeling a little dazed by the fact that my children are in school already! 

Eliza sat up last night in bed feeling all sorts of anxiety about homework and reading and math.  I tried to calm her fears, but couldn't help but empathize with her--school has never been her strong suit.  For that reason, we held her back and she's going to 1st grade again this year.  She was one of the youngest in her class last year, and she really struggled to stay on top of her work.  So, in an effort to give her a better foundation, we decided that repeating 1st grade would be best.  

Much to my surprise, Eliza whole-heartily agreed.  In fact, she was excited to be one of the oldest in her class and have a jump-start on what she could expect to learn. 

Ezra starts Kindergarten this year.  He has been looking forward to this day for weeks.  He got up and wanted his hair combed just right.  He was first to the car and first to the sidewalk.  

When it came time to enter the Kindergarten play area to await "Kindergarten Line-Up" I noticed Ezra's initial zeal deflate into a subdued uneasiness.  I introduced him to his teacher and he clung to my leg.  When asked if he felt a little nervous, he looked at me and said, "No Mom, I'm not nervous.  I'm just scared."

Smile.  Of course you are. 

Thankfully, he soon found his best friend, Jens, and his fears soon subsided. 

By the time they called for all the Kinders to line-up, he was his usual confident self. I'm going to miss  having this kid around all day...

Renaissance Festival Preview

Okay, I know I am way backed up on this blog, and I will eventually get to those past posts... But for right now, I am still reveling in my victory over the 5K.

It took me a year of training to work through my hip issues.  But, with the help of a dear friend and some life-saving Vibrams, I worked my way up from running around my block to running 3 miles!  We ran the Arbor Day 5K around Tempe Town Lakes on Friday and it was AWESOME.  It was painful and long, and I was incredibly slow, but after I sprinted past that finish line I felt invigorated, alive and STRONG.

So humbled that I am finally in running shape again.  Really.  And what's more, I actually enjoy it.  For so long running was something I did to stay fit and cross off my list.  But after a 5 year hiatus, I can't take my fitness for granted anymore.  It's either run now or watch my body atrophy and start from square one again.  So, I choose to run.

So happy.

Legos

When I was a little girl, I remember loving to build with Legos.  My siblings and I would spend hours--days even--creating the perfect Lego masterpieces.  Granted, we sometimes disagreed on the meaning of  "Masterpiece".  (My brothers spent most of their time building cool spaceships and guns, while my sister and I built Lego Mansions.)

These days I often find all three of my children playing nicely around a huge pile of Duplo Legos. (No regular Legos for now...  I am not ready to find my heals in pain from stepping on teensie weensie Lego pieces).

This morning the task at hand was building a Lego tower taller than Ashlyn...  Once that was accomplished, the goal was taller than Ezra and then Eliza.  

But, soon after that goal was met, their thirst for the "tallest Lego tower ever" began.  

And, while thee didn't quite meet that lofty goal, they did create something taller than me. And for them, that was like winning the lottery.  Go kids. :)

A Monster of a Project.... But done nonetheless!

I spent the last 6 weeks designing, coding, and re-coding an eCommerce Shop and Blog for a very nice lady named Janae of Thoughts in Vinyl.  I created a custom design and then seamlessly integrated it between a brand new Magento installation and a Wordpress Blog.  She had to create over 400 new products for her store that were formerly on her husband's construction store, poor lady.  But now she has a sweet new shop!  And, did I mention that we transferred all her posts from her Blogger blog to her Wordpress Blog and then redirected them seamlessly so that she didn't lose any links or traffic?  Oh yeah! Check it out:

Not to be Out-Done

Apparently Eliza decided that she couldn't let her little brother learn to ride a bike without her.  She requested her pedals be put on at the first available moment.  We were out the next day with her brand new pedals and she got on and rode away!

Who says a little competition among siblings can't be a good thing?!