Thursday, May 19, 2011

It All Started With a Big Bang...

Unsettled. In one word, that has been our family the last few weeks. As we head into the final countdown of the school year, the seams of our regular schedule begin to tear, and we are thrown into the abyss of daily chaos. Where to today? A end of year art show? A Spring choir or orchestra concert? A bridging to girl scout event? There is no rhyme or reason to where we need to be. I am good about writing everything down in my planner, but when things get so crazy, I am not so good about checking it. And so last week, as I was taking a minute to breathe, the orthodontist office called wondering why Harry had missed his appointment.

Last Tuesday, Bella spent the night at the Minnesota Zoo sleeping "with" the dolphins, "with" meaning on the hard concrete floor next to the dolphins' swimming tank. It was a special treat for the 3rd graders in an attempt to get them more independent as they move up to Upper Elementary next year. I had planned to chaperon (I know that spelling looks wrong, but I looked it up) the trip to help with her implants, but the teachers really wanted no parent chaperons so the kids could feel more independent. So, I met with her teacher to review the basics of turning on and off Bella's implants and that was it. Bella is a very independent little girl, so she was thrilled. It was way harder on me. By 5pm, I was in a fog of what to do with myself. Having only Becca and Harry felt so odd. It was in that moment I realized how much easier it was to have only 2 children, especially when those two children are getting so big. After I shared this with a friend, they said when you are feeling overwhelmed with your life, you should add another big thing like a foreign exchange student or watch someone's dog for a few weeks. Then when they go, your life feels so much easier.

On Friday, we attended Harry's art expo at his school. I have to say there was so much cool art there! It always fascinates me when people are good at art because no matter how hard I tried in school, I could never make my art projects resemble the sample, or really anything for that matter. Art is most definitely not my thing, which is apparent in the stick figures I still draw. Harry had his mosaic up in the art show.

Yeah, it was the same mosaic that nearly broke him (and me) when he was doing it. See previous post for more details: Harry's mosaic A lot of pieces were for sale, but not Harry's. He said it was "priceless" due to all the work he had put in. I have to agree...

And so we are gearing up for next week when Erick will go to a farm school trip with Bella, Harry and Becca will participate in school music concerts, and I will try to fit in some homeschooling for Bella which is getting harder and harder with this crazy season of activities/field trips.

 In just a few short weeks, Harry will be leaving to travel to Costa Rica to spend a month with his grandparents. I can't decide if I should adopt a dog, get a foreign exchange student or just read a book during his absence...

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