It has been a while since my last post...2 years

The school year is off and running and for the first time ever, all three boys are in the same place!  Dylan is now a preschooler at Saint Isaac Jogues Catholic School along with Finn (first grade), and Sean (third grade).  It sounds like I have all sorts of free time, but so far I haven't experienced that phenomonon.  Dylan goes to school on Monday, Thursday, Friday until 11:15am.  Monday is grocery shopping day, and so far I have been running errands, helping out at school and organizing the year's cub scout activities, and catching up around the house on the other days.  A lot of driving back and forth takes place which is getting expensive with gas prices.   On Tuesday mornings, Dylan and I go to BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) at Utica United Methodist Church. We are studying the book of Genesis from now until May 2013. I am pretty excited about it! I love my discussion group, the daily "homework", and the children's program. I am already learning a lot, and the lessons have actually inspired discussions at work and at home.

Today is a teacher in-service day and the boys are home, which means that we aren't going anywhere until I leave for work at 3.  This doesn't mean we are lazy...well maybe a little, since school days usually mean up by 6:30am.  I need to clean the house at some point.  I do live with 4 males.  ;-)

My work schedule makes for difficult mornings, as I work from 4pm till midnight 5-6 nights a week.  By the time I get home and go through mail/school papers/make lunches....I sleep from 12:45-6:30 and that is not nearly enough.  It is super hard being on the afternoon shift.  My nights off are usually for some event at school, one of the boys' sporting events, cub scouts, etc.  I don't have the seniority for dayshift, and probably wouldn't choose it at this point with Dylan still home a couple of days.  Midnights is probably calling me back next year when all three will be in school all day.  I can't talk about that fact now...Baby D in kindergarten?  Boo.  So, I work mostly weekends and have a day or two off mid-week so I am home for dinner and bedtime.  I would love to be home every night and take the burden of homework and dinnertime off of Clinton.  It is nice, however, to only need a sitter from 3:30-5pm three times per week while our work schedules overlap.  Not many households can claim that.  During the summer it is great, but school time is hard.  I could do latchkey, but seeing them if only for 20 minutes after school is nice (wish it was more but I'll take it).  The babysitter is also less $$$ and close to work. 

So, that's us in a nutshell lately.  Getting back into the routine of work/school.  We have two cub scouts now (Sean and Finn), and a football player (Finn). 

Until next time...hopefully sooner than two years....

Laura

Soccer

Today was the last practice for soccer.  Finn is in U-6 and there are barely enough kids on the team.  I hope they let us play!  Sean is in U-8 and there are a ton of kids.  It is funny watching them practice, the boys have such different styles.  Sean is careful and timid, while Finn is rough and focused.  They are both the smallest ones on their teams, but Finn is going to be a force.  If he can pay attention long enough and not play with the dirt. 

When I signed them up, I assumed games would be either Mondays/Wednesdays OR Tuesdays/Thursdays, since that is what we did last year.  Oh no.  Sean and Finn play opposite days, meaning we are at the soccer fields four or five days a week until the first week of October.  Come on!  Who came up with this?  I feel bad that Clinton has the brunt of the running back and forth, since I work afternoons.  I ended up taking mostly Tuesdays and Thursdays off, since I didn't get the soccer schedule in time for picking my work schedule.  It will be a rough (and hopefully quick) month.  Oh well.  It doesn't cost much, and it is excellent exercise....for all of us, since wrestling shin guards and cleats onto the boys and shuffling them in and out of vehicles makes me sweat.

Poor Dylan is stuck in the stroller most of the time, or has to stay home with someone while either Clinton or I take the boys to practice.  I love his age right now (2) because he is growing and learning, but when it comes to keeping him from running onto the soccer fields, forget it.  Clinton gets pretty frustrated, and it is hard, but we'll get by.

I will post pictures soon, as Sean's first game is Tuesday September 7th, and Finn the very next night. 

First Blog post yo!

Nuthin.