Can I just blame jetlag for the delay in writing. There is also the fact that I'm trying to catch the blog up on our summer activities. I have made a small dent, but still have a long way to go. But I'd rather blame jetlag. It is no joke. Matt and I have been saying how impressed we are looking back at Brian and Hilary. Wow. Our kids honestly adjusted MUCH faster than their parents. Yes, both parents. You see, Matt switched to nights while we were still in the states. It helped him feel less lonely and allowed him to talk to us during our waking hours in the USA. The night we flew in, he picked us up from the airport at 8pm, brought us home, helped us unload, then went to work until 9 the next morning. We felt pretty bushed, but got a second wind. We ended up completely unpacking, doing two loads of laundry, the girls went through their old and new clothes and rearranged their beds, Isaac kept busy doing....? maybe Facebook?
We finally called it quits and tried to make ourselves go to bed around 2 or 3am local. The kids were completely zonked when Matt came home the next morning. He still kept up his month long tradition of swimming a mile before showering and going to bed and then crashed himself. I had instructions to not let him sleep longer than 4 pm. He was going to start switching to days too. He didn't go into work Sunday or Monday, to allow time to switch. Then he worked Tuesday and was back to his normal schedule of having Wed and Thursday off. How perfect was that?? The kids and I tried to ease into school Tuesday, then had more family time for two days. The kids were fine after a few days. Totally fine. Matt and I kept getting desperately tired in the late afternoon. And whether we succumbed to a cat nap or not, we would wake up at 3 am and just not be able to go back to sleep. But after nearly two weeks later, we were good too.
I have a couple more random pictures.
Oh, Jess also sewed on the three new buttons to fix her scripture bag Grandma Terry helped her with.
We finally called it quits and tried to make ourselves go to bed around 2 or 3am local. The kids were completely zonked when Matt came home the next morning. He still kept up his month long tradition of swimming a mile before showering and going to bed and then crashed himself. I had instructions to not let him sleep longer than 4 pm. He was going to start switching to days too. He didn't go into work Sunday or Monday, to allow time to switch. Then he worked Tuesday and was back to his normal schedule of having Wed and Thursday off. How perfect was that?? The kids and I tried to ease into school Tuesday, then had more family time for two days. The kids were fine after a few days. Totally fine. Matt and I kept getting desperately tired in the late afternoon. And whether we succumbed to a cat nap or not, we would wake up at 3 am and just not be able to go back to sleep. But after nearly two weeks later, we were good too.
My unfortunate incident that has complicated my life greatly was another 2 second incident I desperately wish I could relive and correct. Long story short, I burned my wrist/hand with boiling pasta water. It happened our first Monday night back. For a couple days my right arm was completely useless and I marveled at how the two one-armed women in my life got through each day. It has progressively gotten better and doesn't hurt or hinder me at all any more, though the girls are still afraid to touch it. You can check out gross pictures on the blog once I get there. I snapped some from day to day with my phone. (here they are now)
The first day. You can see where my watch blocked a bit of wrist.
Getting into the HOT car after church made the blisters swell up like crazy.
Skin is peeling, getting better.
So the happy consequence of the first two items, mixed with the absence of brownies and ice cream multiple times a day, is significant weight loss. Those new Ross clothes look a lot cuter with 6 pounds less of me. Now that I have normal sleep habits and am lacking considerable pain, I will have to work on the self control a bit more to resist the baking urges of my dear children who love the creation much more than the indulgence.
Matt can't swim everyday any more because the pool across the street is not open early or late enough on his work days. However, he is still enjoying laps on his days off. The kids and me too. I couldn't participate for awhile after my burn incident, but I joined him for a mile the last two days. I'm was happy to find it's perfectly doable even after a several month break from the pool. Isaac has been doing lap workouts as well--more intense than his parents. He does srpints and different strokes and fancy stuff he learned at swim team. Matt and I just crawl 40 laps. The girls love to tag along and mostly play. Makenna will do a few laps and can still beat me, but it's not her favorite. She likes swim underwater a lot more.
We are heavily into school now. Isaac is taking 6 BYU high school classes and didn't take one bit of my advice about starting slow. He is doing 10th grade English, German 41, Geography 41, 2nd half of Geometry, honors Chemistry and health. No electives. He is enjoying chem and german most though they are also tough. The girls had a fabulous start to the year. They had a few days in a row where they got through loads of material and still finished before I expected. They are doing science, Lit, and Language Arts together this year. Just history and math are separate. It is a much better use of my time. (Hence the progress on the blog) So far, so good. They like being off k12 and so do I. It was a LOT of work to plan out, but now I am reaping rewards.
Isaac has his first babysitting job since being back tomorrow night and two new families asked about him and his rates just today.
One big time draw is scouts. Both Isaac and I have increased our involvement and responsibility this year. I am on the PLC and the assistant advancement person (don't laugh, there are over 60 active boys in the troop. 10 made eagle last year and there are another 6 who are working on it for this year) and will be teaching at least 2 merit badges again. Isaac is a patrol leader and could be up for eagle if he steps up his game. He has 5 merit badges (cooking is being added as required this January) and a project. The girls are hoping that they can tag along on more campouts. They also love playing with their sibling friends during the meetings, but want the temperature to drop. Outside is still very sticky.
They start gymnastics again this week. The question is how much. The staff are encouraging the girls to be on the performance team--of course they are. More money and they get my cute and talented girls. But I am not about to commit to more than 2 times a week. Each session is either 2 or three hours. We aren't aiming for the Olympics here. But the girls still love it, so we will continue to dabble, 4-6 hours a week. sigh.
Just as I have been enjoying my new clothes (so many people have noticed--I guess I really was in a rut!) so have the girls. Makenna has been wearing Kim shirts EVERYDAY! And they love wearing the new skirts they helped design to church.
Last big time draw, primary. A few new families moved in. They all have sunbeams. We now have 11 sunbeams!! That class makes up almost 1/4 of our whole primary. I spent the first 2 hours after church today on excel updating new names, taking out old names and emails to cover the holes for next week. We lost more teachers than students. And then I hit the primary program in earnest. Our date just got moved up two weeks because of a change in stake conference. gasp. Makenna is the oldest and a head taller than the next tallest kid. She has sprouted!
I have a couple more random pictures.
We made ice cream in the blender and tried Cathy's crepe recipe.
The kids went to ski Dubai.
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