The riding lawn mower

I was going to post about me today.  I like to cut the grass, but my allergies have never been appreciative of that task.  About three years ago we got a riding lawn mower and our push mower died.  I have not cut the grass since.

I love driving a manual car, so Jason is baffled why I have not been willing to use the riding lawn mower.  Granted, the first hand-me-down riding mower we got you had to jump from the car to get it started - definitely not for me.  The most recent hand-me-down riding mower we got is much easier to run.

Jason doesn't typically work on Saturdays, but he was doing a side job today.  And it has rained a lot.  And our grass has not been cut in awhile.  And I think the neighbors were beginning to talk.

  

So, I decided to go for it!  And it went fine.  I told Jason I hoped no neighbors were you-tubing me and laughing at the lady across the street with a lot of kids that drove the lawn mower at speed 1.  But, actually, I did make it up to speed 4 (out of 6).

I didn't do the edges or around the tree because I didn't feel like fighting the roots of the tree or fighting the curb and being the cause of a bent mower blade.  When Jason got home, he was going to do the "detail" work, but instead, on a whim, he let Tavis take over.  

And he did great!

He did have a few issues with the fact that he barely weighed enough to hold the seat down for the engine to stay on (if you lift off the seat, the engine cuts off).

Entering a new era....

Stretched Too Thin

I wanted to title this, "Mom Fail", but didn't want to be too doom-and-gloom.  I have always respected Mom's that work outside of the home and manage well, but my respect is growing by leaps and bounds.  Especially those that do it as a single mom.  No idea how that works?

I love my job.  I love that I get to work from home.  Without my job we would not be able to afford private, Christian school - which is what we have a heart for.  Without my job, I would be homeschooling.  And I don't have a heart for that right now.

But, somewhere along the way, things have gotten hectic.  Maybe it is because the guys I work for have sold and closed 65 house already this year.  Do you know how amazing that is?  They are incredible at what they do, and I like to believe, that I help make that possible because they can sell, hand the paperwork off to me, and then I keep it going while they work with the next client.

Remember my recent post about forgetting the birthday party?

Remember my recent post about not getting school supplies until the last minute?

These things are not the typical me.  I promise.  I am usually organized and timely.  I keep telling myself when the kids are in school and I can concentrate on work while they are gone, I will be more "available" to keep everything else organized....

So, yesterday, I realized that Mollee didn't have a current physical on record at the school in order to play soccer.  We went out to the dr at 4:15 yesterday in order to get our physical.  While at the dr I realized I did not have the right school form and would have to bring it back the next day for dr signatures.

In my mind, soccer tryouts were today.  I thought it was weird they were only one day, but I just went with it.  Apparently, as we found out at Locker Day, soccer tryouts have been all week, cuts were made yesterday, and the first practice was today.  Mollee is out....because I messed up.  And I had to break the news to her at school when she was supposed be excited about Locker Day.

The coach was sweet and encouraging.  And bummed, because he was really looking forward to Mollee playing for him again this year.  But, she is going to have to wait for 8th grade to keep going on her soccer career.

She is probably handling it better than me...

Locker Day/Desk Day

Today was Locker Day for my Middle Schoolers and Desk Day for my Elementary Kids.  It is a day to meet your teachers, fill your desk with supplies, find out where you classroom is, etc.

 Mac - Kindergarten, Mrs. Sabourin (he can never remember her name, so she said to think So Boring)

 Capps - 3rd grade with Ms. Gordon

 Daegan - 4th grade with Ms. Whitmore

My Elementary Crew:

 And since it wasn't cool to take pictures of the Middle Schoolers - here is Mac is Tavis' locker.

I am looking forward to a good year ahead!

School Supply Delay

So, I waited until the last minute.  This working-mom thing is something to learn, and right now I am hanging on by a thread.  I keep telling myself when the kids are in school, it will get better.  

Thankfully, Mimi took the older two shopping for some supplies and for clothes.  That was a huge help because I don't clothing shop well with them.  And, when I took the younger three, I could just take them and didn't have to bother with the older ones.

Tonight we had to label everything - you know, about 15 hours before it needed to be done.  This might be normal for some of you, but this is way out of my comfort zone.  But we labeled, 

and labeled,

 and checked off the lists, 

 and labeled

 and checked to see what we were missing.

For the elementary kids I labeled 96 crayons, 40 markers, 30 colored pencils, 3 pairs of scissors, 9 glue sticks, about 20 folders and notebooks and a bunch of other stuff.  

Not sure how well Tavis is going to keep everything together - but he got a zippered binder for most of his stuff.  And a few 1-inch binders for subjects that specifically asked for it.

 And, Mollee was patient to be last - but she basically did all of her labeling herself.

(look at her cute notebooks...)

Ice Cream with the Halvorson's - finally!

It has taken all Summer, but we finally got together!

 Capps and Whit

 Banks and Tavis (almost too cool for a picture)

 P-I-N-B-A-L-L

A Saturday and the family street

Jason put up a new rail for my Granny today.  

She lives in an apartment attached to my sister's house.  My Mom and Dad live next door to her, and today Mom was babysitting my brother's four kids.  So, there were a lot of cousins running around the neighborhood.  Fun memories! 

 The boys worked hard on a movie - this the preview at the end of the day!

Go Braves!!

Tuesday I was called and offered some tickets to the Braves baseball game on Thursday.  It was a 7:00 game, which would mean leaving work early and then getting home very, very late.  There were four tickets, so we wanted to find another couple to go with us.  

I called around to see if I could find different places for the kids to spend the night.  And we needed to find someone to go with us.  All the details came together and the Armao's were gonna go with us! (Heidie had never been to a game before).

Our tickets were awesome, and they came with food credit.  And we had VIP parking.

We got to the game about an hour early and as soon as we found our seats - it started to pour rain - see this dark cloud?

We got up and ate and then the game was delayed a little, but the skies cleared!

I love these guys!

Our seats were incredible - so, so fun!!

2-run home run!

I love to go to baseball games, but mostly for the atmosphere and the food.  This was actually a great game with lots of activity.

And cotton candy!!!

This is our Chloe-style picture!

We got home just after midnight, so it wasn't too bad - although it was hard to get up in the morning.