Finally, the weather is starting to get cool...cold even. I've had to wear my fleece jacket a few times now. I don't know why but I think this every year - the transition into fall and through to winter is my favorite part of the year. I don't know if it's because the heat is finally over or that Laura and pretty much the entire retail market starts to get ready for the holiday season, but it gives me a good feeling. A couple of months have passed since my last blog, so let's see what we missed.
Connor has NOT been practicing his 10 minutes/day at all. Not even close. He has been practicing more than last year, but that's not saying much. It seems like his stuff is starting to get tougher, as in playing with both hands. He says he's doing fine, but we'll see when recitals and tests start to come. He did get his medal from the last test he took in the spring. He was proud of it.
Emmeline has been doing well at school. She's gotten a lot of trays for lunch and seems to enjoy it. She's the only one that goes half-days all week and she was missing music because of that. For now, she's going to try going full days Tue/Fri to be able to participate in music, but we're thinking that after winter break, she might go full days all day. We'll see about that. I worry about her doing the school's "quiet time." She will not be quiet. The other thing she's been struggling with is coming out of her room every single day before the clock is green. It's been something like 10 days in a row now she just comes into our room and wakes us up for stupid reasons. I don't understand why she keeps coming out. It's getting old. I wish we could close our door, but Laura doesn't want to.
Aside from that, nothing's really changed from the normal routine.
The big thing that's been happening the last month is drama with my Mom. In the short time she's been there, she's just been increasingly difficult to deal with, according to Justine and company. So, the stress and clashing just got higher and higher until it reached a point a few weeks ago where they were all fighting. Each had their own points, but the main cause I'm assuming is something with my Mom's health being the catalyst. Anyway, after all was said and done and after many texts from my Mom to me, we decided to send an e-mail to my side of the family inquiring about how my Mom was doing and all that. Steve wrote back a lengthy e-mail outlining the issues they were having. After the conversation, one that Ken was in on as well, we decided that the best course of action would be for my Mom to live in a senior apartment. We had already put her on a waiting list here, but Steve and Reiko looked around a few places near where they live and found a place, albeit a bit expensive. They found it within a week and moved in after submitting an application after looking at the place. So, a couple of weeks ago, my Mom moved into that apartment. She seems to be doing ok for now. I'm slated to pick her up in 10 days for her to spend some time here. I already know that it's not going to go well. Her memory is failing more and more each time she's here and it's pretty noticeable. She's not eating well in Texas and although it's better here, she just doesn't keep it up.
When we go to drop her off, we are going to surprise the kids with a medieval times experience. I still remember when Laura and I took TJ to medieval times as a surprise for his birthday. I had more fun than I expected. It was my first time, too. I don't think we're going to do the birthday package, although, I just realized that it would be pretty close to Emmeline's birthday. Now that I think about it, maybe we should for the photo. At any rate, I think it'll be fun, though expensive. It would be about the same price as the Disney On Ice that we went to.
Laura took the kids to Tulsa for a couple of days. I should just rest up. Like, sleep until they get back. But, I know I'll end up staying up late and be even more tired. I really need to stop doing that. Lately, I've been playing too much Destiny 2, a video game on the computer. A new expansion came out and a lot of the new stuff is free is why. I can't justify buying the expansion part of the game. Dunno. I really need to find a better use of my time when the kids are in school. I've thought about doing a flipping thing with ebay and stuff, but I just don't have the motivation for some reason.
Anyway, it's late, and I should go to sleep.
Thanks, Laura, for taking them. I promise I will take them both somewhere for some overnight trip closeby so you can have some time at home! Love you!
