Johnny Appleseed Day

Today is Johnny Appleseed's birthday. Michael's class was making applesauce so I went in to help. My job was to help staple the hats, (which are supposed to look like pots). I had a lot of fun making the hats, coloring pictures of apples and tasting apple sauce and apple cider.

I also found out some bad/good news today. Michael is too smart, he didn't qualify for Extended Day Kindergarten! How could this be!? I hadn't taught him anything all the previous year and when the girls tried to teach him how to write his name I had them play other games. Not that I didn't want him to learn, but I needed him in school all day so I could go back to work. His teacher showed me the scores on his test. He had written the first four letters of his name and knew 18 out of 26 letters. I was told he wasn't even close to the bottom 15 in the class. I guess it is good to know he learned all that on his own. Now, though, I will have to find somewhere for him to go when he gets out of school when I go to work. As my neighbor said, it's better to have to be finding somewhere for him to go because he was too smart, instead of having to find a tutor because he doesn't understand. Hopefully he will continue to learn fast throughout school.

There is a small YMCA between our house and the school which he can go to. The bus will even drop him off so I won't have to worry about transportation.

Mom x3

Air Show

The first few weeks of school were uneventful, which is good. Michael has learned he has to listen and obey the teacher and bus driver, or face the consequences. I think he thought he only had to listen to mama and papa and that we would never know if he didn't listen to others, away from home. The girls like being back in school. Kristina has made new friends, since her other ones are in different classes. Luba's best friend Maggie is in her class again this year. Michael says he has friends, but he doesn't know their names yet.

John had to go to Atlanta for business for three days and I decided I didn't like being a single mom. How they do it, I will never know.

I have started interviewing for jobs. It may be hard to find the right one which will work with the hours I want, since I want to be home when the kids are home. I always have the option of going back to work in the hospital on the weekends, but I don't really want to have to do that. During my free time in the mornings I have begun putting down attic flooring. We really messed up when we didn't have to builder put any down. I haven't told John, so in the mornings I go to Home Depot and buy the plywood. If necessary I have to use our circular saw to make sure the wood is cut the right size. I have become quite a pro using the saw and nailing down the wood. I have put down a total of 96 sq. feet though out the attic.

Today we went to the Air Show. It wasn't the best day for one due to the clouds, but the kids had fun. They loved watching the Blue Angels flying close together and seeming to almost hit each other. We were able to walk around and just look in some of the planes and helicopters.












Mom x3

First and Second day of school

September 2, 2008

Yesterday was the first day of school for Kristina and Michael. Kristina is starting fourth grade and Michael is starting Kindergarten. Michael is so excited to be going to school like the girls. Being the youngest he always wants to do what the older ones are doing. He can't wait until he has homework to do like the girls, but I think the big thing is riding the bus. He rode the bus home from school and John's mom was able to watch him since I was still in the hospital with Luba. I got home from the hospital with Luba around 7 PM. Both Kristina and Michael were so eager to show m what they had done, both talking a mile a minute. What a difference from last year when they were talking a mile a minute in Russian and I couldn't understand them at all. They both loved their classrooms and met a lot of new kids.

Today we went through all the picture taking again since it is Luba's first day of school. She wa sad to miss the first day of school, but glad to be home from the hospital without having to have surgery. I don't think she feels 100%, but she didn't want to miss anymore school. Even when I went in at noon to pick up Michael, I saw Luba and she was running down the hallway and her teacher said she was doing great.

September 3, 2008

Once the kids got on the bus I went to my usual thrift shop. It was sad since I didn't have Michael in the cart with me. It was amazing though how much faster it was to do all my errands.

Mom x3

Hospital stay for Luba

Well, we got up Sunday morning and went to the Cracker Barrel in Waynesboro for breakfast. Luba wasn't eating much and was complaining it hurt to chew. This was not a complaint she had had before. Her neck was much more swollen and red so we decided to go back home and straight to CHKD ER. Of course she was terrified and started saying she felt fine, but you could tell she wasn't ok. She was crying on and off the whole way home and kept asking what the doctor was going to do. We got to the ER at 2 PM, she made it upstairs to a room at 10 PM. (We watched 3 complete movies in the ER.) Mutiple doctors had to come see her. A 1st year resident ER would first see her, then a 3rd yr resident, then the attending. Then we had to go through the same thing with Pediatrics and the same thing with ENT. I don't know how many times I had to go through her history. She was wondering how many doctors she was going to see. She also had to have a CT done. Or course putting in the IV and drawing blood was no picnic either. John stayed out in the waiting room with Kristina and Michael, along with Cliff, (John's brother who had gone to the game with us), for four hours until he decided he needed to go home.

in the ER

At least I was able to sleep in the hospital with her, not how we planned on spending the weekend. Once she was put on IV antibiotics, by Monday afternoon the redness and swelling had gone down some. They decided she didn't need to have surgery. That was great, but she would have to stay another night, which would mean missing the first day of school. I have to admit I was very sad for her missing the first day of school. I even shed a few tears myself, Tuesday morning knowing I was missing taking Michael to his first day of Kindergarten. I did get to talk to both Kristina and Michael on the phone before they left and John took pictures.

in her hospital room

Luba got home from the hospital at 7 PM on Tuesday feeling much better and excited about going to school in the AM.

Mom x3

UVA football 8/30/08

Today was the first UVA football game of the season. Everyone was so excited. (We were glad to be going because Luba had be started on antibiotics the day before due to a questionable lymph node infection on her neck. When she woke up she said she felt fine and her neck was feeling better, she also didn't have a fever.) Of course we knew it was going to be a 'slaughter' as John put it, but it is still fun going and how often do you get to see USC play. It was extremely hot and humid and not knowing if it was going to rain or not we decided not to tailgate and ate at Arby's instead. We were able to relax in the gym (with AC) before the game and everyone had to have a Chris Long picture taken.

Just before the game started it clouded over a little bit so the sun wasn't beating down as much which made the game a lot more tolerable. The did lose as expected, but the kids enjoyed cheering and yelling when they could.

We are spending the night in Waynesboro and plan to do site-seeing Sunday and Monday. One last Hoorah before school starts.

Mom x3

Unexpected concert and the beach

During the past week and a half not much was done, but run a lot of errands. Kristina had her laser surgery on the 13th so we spent the rest of the week relaxing around the house. Kathy and Kendall, (John's sister and niece), came to visit over the weekend, which the kids always love.

Tuesday, the 19th, I was able to take Kristina to the Jonas Brother's concert along with Kendall and her friend. Kristina's doctor bought us the tickets!!!! I've never known a doctor who would do that. She was so excited, but of course didn't know what to expect. We had lawn tickets and ended up standing the whole time, (3 hrs) about 30 feet from the rope. It was so LOUD. The place was packed, I haven't been to many concerts there, but there were more people than at any other concert I had been to. I honestly think Kristina was a little bit scared because there were so many people. She knows a lot of the songs and she was singing along, she is more reserved out in public so she was dancing or jumping around. She really had a good time. Unfortunately I didn't bring the camera because on the ticket it said no cameras, but of course everyone had one. :(




Today, I met a friend of mine from highschool, and her two boys, at the beach. It was the first time all three had been at the beach together. It was very windy, so the waves were big. They spent their time digging holes in the sand and standing in the water about ankle deep. They did have a good time. Michael learned not to feed the sea gulls. I didn't realize he was throwing his sandwich to them until he started yelling. There were about 20 on the sand less than 10 feet from him and some others were hovering in the air. We had to have a long talk about how the sea gulls weren't hungry.

Mom x3

Fishing and swimming

Today after church we went over to a friend's house for a cookout. We were a little worried because it was pouring so bad on the way over. It cleared up by the time we got there and ended up being a very nice day. There were a total of four families which included nine children. Our kids always love going over to someone else's house and playing with different toys, although they tend to want to take out all the toys at the same time, which is typical.

After eating the kids all had fun playing in the pool, until the fishing poles were brought out. Suddenly our children didn't want to swim anymore. Kristina caught on very fast and was soon casting her line by herself. She caught a total of eight fish, she was so excited. Luba caught one and Michael, unfortunately didn't catch any. Not sure what happened with him, but he didn't have the patience to sit and wait and wanted to go back in the pool after a short period of time.

After going back inside the kids all got into the costumes and enjoyed dressing up. A fun time was had by all!!!!!!

Mom x3

Fun in the pool

Well, I finally took the camera to the pool! Today was an awesome day, the weather was perfect. All five of us were able to go and enjoy the pool. Kristina and Luba love to throw a hockey puck across the pool and swim under water to pick it up. They also like to do handstands and somersalts under the water. Michael just enjoys floating around. We were at the pool for over five hours and we were able to sit and enjoy sandwiches.

Mom x3