September

Now that it is the 28th, I guess this would be a good time to record highlights of a month when I haven't blogged very much.  So, here it goes:

School
We are in our second month of school (no, really).  Ben adores kindergarten.  That was a bit of a shock.  But a lovely shock like when a chocolate has a hazelnut cream core.  He has said multiple times that he knows "tomorrow is going to be a great day because every day is a great day!"  For. the. win.  I am curious to hear about his teachers' experiences with him when I go to parent teacher conferences.

Michael is doing really well in 2nd grade, although his teacher up and got a new job less than 30 days into the school year.  Ugh.  Can't blame her too much since the commute to this school was quite long and she got a job in her home county, but still.  In any case, new teacher starts tomorrow.  In the meantime, the GT teacher invited Michael and a couple of kids from his class to participate in a lunch group called the Philosophers Club.  We were told it was a group that would use the Socratic method to explore issues.  All Michael says is that she asks them a lot of questions.  I am not sure that he is sold on the idea that he should be spending his lunch time with the GT teacher, but he seems good to go as long as it isn't every day (which it isn't).

Josh also seems to be doing well, although his teacher has had rather spotty attendance thus far (her husband was in a motorcycle accident and she had surgery).  Luckily, they switch teachers for science and Josh loves his science teacher.  The teacher is the only male teacher in 5th grade (actually, he may be the only male teacher in any grade) and has the students do a lot of hands-on experiments and activities.  Josh has also been given his first book report assignment as well as a project to complete.  We are bracing ourselves for a life lesson on procrastination as the book report is due on Tuesday and, despite encouragement and discussions about time management, it is no where near finished.  We have also discussed how there will be no exceptions given on completing other chores and activities (ie piano practice) and no staying up late to complete projects given a month in advance.  Let the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth begin!


Activities
Piano lessons started up again this month.  We put them on hold during the summer as we wanted as much flexibility in our schedule as possible.  However, neither Jason nor I play so even though we tried to have them practice all summer to keep some of the skills fresh, we couldn't help them progress at all.

Scouts also started again after a summer break.  Josh and Michael both have great leaders.  Josh is lucky enough to have his best friend in his den and I am sure the two of them together are a handful.  Michael is thrilled to finally get to participate in scouting as well and his mom really needs to get on the ball and get his Bobcat badge attached to his uniform soon.

Rockets!  A friend of ours is part of a rocketry club and he invited us to come launch rockets and watch the night launch.  Sadly, I took no pictures, but it was so much fun.  The boys always love launching their own rockets (Republic Cruiser and the Clone), but watching the night launch just took it to a new level of fun.  The rockets were all decorated with lights and in the dark we could see the engines burn.

Telescopes!  The local astronomy club had a star gaze night at a local park yesterday so we went to see what we could see.  Turns out we could see the moon, Saturn and a couple of its moons, binary star systems, a nebula, and a couple of star clusters.  Not bad at all.  And now we are all more motivated to learn some constellations.


Baby
And the pregnancy continues.  I finally made it off of my nausea meds around the middle of the month.  The meds and the nausea were kind of a "pick your poison" type of situation.  Off the meds, I spent the day laying on the couch feeling horribly ill.  On the meds, I spent the day laying on the couch feeling horribly exhausted.  I will pick exhaustion over nausea any day.  So, being out of that stage is nice.  However, I now have the shape and proportions of a whale so that has its own set of inconveniences.  Oh, and at no other time in my life have I been so relieved at the presence of port-a-potties in outdoor places.  The baby seems to feel that my bladder is his own personal punching/kicking bag and I live in constant fear of peeing in my pants if he gives me a good, unexpected kick/punch when my bladder is full.


Birthday Boy
Jason had a birthday this month.  He is now the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.  Just in case you were wondering.