School Daze

What a month it has been! Looking in from the outside, it appears as if I've slacked in my blogging this month, but that isn't entirely true. Our main computer managed to get some corrupted files in Windows, which is bad news b/c apparently you can't make it turn on when that happens, and my netbook didn't have a charger, so no blogging for me. Even the library was closed to relocate to the new building, so I couldn't even go there. My blogging in August was just not to be.

This month, Spencer started school. And it is a pain in my rear, to put it mildly. I am missing our lazy days hanging out at home, but probably not nearly as much as Spencer is. I also went back to Mother's Day Out 3 days a week and Jack has aged out of the baby room and is now in the toddler class. He is not a fan. I can hear him wailing for about 10 minutes when I leave him and then for 10-15 minutes at nap time. I expected him to be a lot more clingy after we left each day, but he really hasn't been at all. It seems that, minus the tearful times, he's just fine.

I can't say the same for Spencer, though. He hasn't warmed up to Kindergarten at all and drop offs seem to be getting worse and not better. Last week he had one day that was so bad I told him if that ever happened again he'd be riding the bus from then on. We haven't had another day like that, but we've had several very tearful ones. It breaks my heart b/c it isn't an angry tantrum, it is a heartbroken cry. I'm considering going to eat lunch with him today, but I 'm not sure if it is a good idea yet. He'd probably want to come home with me and be upset when he couldn't.

A pic from the first day (note the joy and enthusiasm on his face, LOL):


I am hoping that next week will be better, but who knows. The three day weekend may throw him off even more.

The Pacific Northwest: A Top Ten

Top 10 Reasons I want to move to the Pacific Northwest:

1. Arkansas summers are unbearable.

I've been complaining about it all week, so I thought I'd complain some more. It seems the older I get, the more I loathe summer. Or maybe it is just the fact that I have kids who I'm trapped in the house with all summer. I can't let them out to run off their energy b/c they'd A) get terribly sunburned, even with sunblock and B) they'd probably die of heatstroke. It just isn't fun. Even the local bodies of water are too warm to cool you off.

2. Politics

I'm liberal. Like, way liberal. Most of Arkansas, well, let's just say they are not. My ideology just doesn't fit in here. Know where I'd fit in? The PNW. Jake wouldn't fit in there, but he doesn't like to talk politics anyway.

3. The Scenery

I'm not saying that Arkansas doesn't have its pretty spots b/c it certainly does. Especially in the fall over in the northwest part of the state. But regardless, Arkansas doesn't have the awesome towering trees and snow-capped mountains in the background like Washington state did. So beautiful.

4. Jake could probably transfer

Although it isn't a given, there are tons of CEDs on the west coast. I found at least 10 in Washington state alone and Jake said there are probably more divisions with different names that I didn't find.

5. Now is the time!

Jake and I had a big discussion about living away from our families recently. I'm of the opinion that now is the time to do it while the kids are young. Jake thinks that, if we want to move away, we should do it when the kids are grown. I maintain that, by that time, I'll want to hang around and play grandma.

6. Jobs

This logic could be used for moving back to Little Rock too, but living in or around a metro area would certainly give me better job opportunities. Of course, the cost of living might off-set that. Maybe this one is a draw...

7. Better Birth Climate

This is probably a strange one for me to list considering we are about to have our last baby, but the rules and regulations binding midwives in the PNW are a lot more reasonable.

8. The Weather

I mentioned how Arkansas summers suck, but not how awesome the PNW weather seems to be. Yeah, it rains. Whatever, I'll just wear my hair curly all the time. It is just so much more temperate there. I dig temperate. For example, right now, in Seattle, it is 67 degrees. Perfection!

9. Fresh Seafood

I'm sure they get stuff shipped in too, but the proximity to the ocean means fresh seafood. Yum! We don't have any fresh seafood here. At all.

10. I want a change.

I've lived in Arkansas my whole life. Small town, big town, bigger town, small town. Blah. It is more of the same. And maybe it would be that way somewhere else too, but I'd like to experience it. While I'm young, please.

A Day at the Lake

That sounds like the title of a children's book to me. LOL

Last Saturday, we were treated to a day at the lake with one of Jake's co-workers and his family. We live in an area with two lakes that are pretty easily assessable, and yet we almost never go. I think it is because we would rather go out and enjoy the lake from the boat and not from a swimming area (that may or may not be gross when we visit, yuk).

We kind of have a plan for trying to buy a boat in the next year or two, but we'll have to see how things pan out.

Anyway, we got to the lake around 1:30 or so. Donnie owns a ski boat while his son has a pontoon. I have always been partial to ski boats because that is what I grew up on, practically. Some of the best memories I have of my Dad from my youth include him behind the wheel of our boat wearing a backwards hat, sunglasses, no shirt, and the dorkiest lake shoes you can imagine.

The pontoon is much better for a family with kids, though. Mainly because they can take their life jackets off when the boat is stopped and they are gated inside the railing, so they'd have to put real effort into jumping/falling off the boat. Obviously, we hung out on the pontoon for most of the day.

Spencer was none too happy with our plans of a lake day. He didn't want to go. He was scared of the boat, scared of the water, scared of the wind and the clouds and the noise. I'm not convinced he was really scared; I think he just wanted to NOT get on the boat. Of course, when we "parked" the boat and swam, which was 99% of our day, he looked a lot like this:

(ie-as happy as a clam). The kid had a blast swimming and munching chips on the boat. And playing with Donnie's son, Robert (pictured here), who was either called "Robin" b/c Spence didn't hear his name right or Diesel, b/c, you know, everyone gets a train name. They grew grapes under the pontoon boat, which cracked us up.

Even Jack loved it. The life jacket was a bit too "up in his business," as I tend to say, for my taste, but he didn't seem to mind too much.


He also had this turtle floatie thing that he could sit in and we alternated between it and the life jacket. I took him in the water once with no flotation device (although I was sitting in a life jacket, so we had no trouble staying above water) and he kept drinking the lake water, which squiked me out, so he had to get back in the boat.

We didn't end up leaving until after 9 pm and, of course, the boys were beat down. So were Jake and I. But it was so worth it for the awesome time we had.