Happy Halloween!

When Halloween falls on a weeknight, I absolutely CAN NOT get my shit together. It is always a mad dash to get the kids home and fed and get costumes on them and get out the door. I never end up eating dinner, the kids are halfway dressed when the first trick-or-treaters ring our doorbell, I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to finish up last-minute costume details that I inevitably put off 'till the very.last.minute. Such was the scene tonight and ergo, no pictures of my kids in their Halloween costumes.

But this is what they dressed up as:

Seth:

William:

Well, for all you know, that could be William. So we'll just leave it at that. 

I did, however, get some (very grainy) pictures of the pumpkin we carved last night, and the other pumpkin I carved after the boys went to bed. (Between the two batches of sugar cookies I rolled out and baked for William's class party, and before I hemmed William's costume, twice, on account of the first time I safety-pinned the outside instead of the inside. But I digress.) Well, I actually pretty much drew the face and carved both the pumpkins, but Seth picked out the faces. The boys wanted to help, but, yeah. That was gonna take way too much time and we have a schedule, people. Maybe next year. 

Now I'm off to eat remove the peanut-contaminated chocolate from William's loot. It's a terrible job, but someone has to do it. Poor kid. No Snickers, no Reeses Peanutbutter Cups, no Twix bars, no Kit-Kats. I guess it's a good thing he doesn't know what he's missing!

Happy Halloween!

Vacation's Over

Thankfully, the saner heads in the Senate prevailed and I went back to work today. A few more days would have been nice, but I can hardly complain. A surprise 2 and 1/2 week vacation is a gift and I feel pretty good. Of course I keep thinking of things I should have done while I was off. But I got some things done and I spent a lot of QT with the boys and I got lots of me time. And now I'm ready to buckle down and get back into the swing of the old routine.

My boss said it was fine to take a long lunch to be the mystery reader at William's school tomorrow. I did have to cancel the shift I had planned to spend helping set up the school's book fair, but such is life. I signed up to work an evening shift instead. Not a big deal. The kids even got to ride the bus home today and they will again tomorrow because Ed has today and tomorrow off from work. We are both disappointed that our time off didn't coincide (we had great plans for an all-day date today), but we each got time to ourselves, which we both need, too.

Now that I have had this time off, it's given me a really good opportunity to think about priorities, to think about how I want my days to go, about what parts of my schedule stress me out, and about what parts of my schedule I can handle better. When you're in the weeds, it's kind of hard to do anything but plod through. With perspective, you can feel like you have a better grip on things. Of course, this time next week, I'll probably feel like I'm drowning all over again. But right now, I'm optimistic. And that's enough.

Girls' Weekend 2013

A long, long, long time ago--back in June 2013--I had my annual Girls' Weekend trip. My three best friends from high school and I have gotten together one weekend every year since 2002. We've all been friends since middle school, and two of the girls were in elementary school together. Each year of middle and high school brought us together and sometimes pushed us apart. We stayed in touch during college and somehow, we all managed to get closer after college--when we each started carving out our own paths in life and figuring out who we are and making mistakes and forging ahead.

I can't imagine how I would have gotten through my 20s, and then my 30s, without these women. We didn't live in the same cities and we didn't talk to each every day, or even every week or every month. We all took very different paths. But then again, not so different. And still--these are the women who have my back. Who do not judge. But will not hold back. These are the women I admire most, whose opinions matter the most to me. Even though we live in a high-tech world that makes it so easy to stay connected, the hustle and bustle of life with kids and husbands and work makes it a challenge to really stay connected with each other. This is why our one weekend a year is so, so important. We pick up right where we left off the year before--although sometimes, we're all lucky enough to see each others at other times during the year. As we get older, the weekends we spend together change. Some years we are more subdued. We certainly eat less junk food than we used to. We don't stay up quite as late. But I love to think about what our future weekends together will be like. What new adventures will we plan? What problems will we solve? How will I be inspired to be a better person?

Because no matter where we go or what we do or what we talk about or what we don't talk about, I am always inspired by these three women. They are amazing people and I am so lucky to have them in my life.

Girls' Weekend 2012
Girls' Weekend 2011
Girls' Weekend 2010
Girls' Weekend 2009
Girls' Weekend 2008

A Few Observations

• Maybe this is just me, and maybe I shouldn't be admitting this, but as a WOHM, I lived for the long weekends. As a SAHM, however, I kind of couldn't wait for the week to start and the boys to go back to school and Ed to go back to work. Someone's getting used to being home!
• I much, much, much prefer to do all my laundry at once on the weekend, rather than in drivels throughout the week. 
• I can't remember what was on my to-do list at work when I left. Guess I'm gonna have some acclimating to do when I get back to work.
• I am loving our fall baseball team. What a great group of kids! And parents, too. We only have two games left, and while I'm looking forward to a less hectic schedule, I will miss it. 
• It's super easy to watch time slip away as you "research" things on the Web, catch up on TV shows, and *ahem* blog.
• Seven hours does not feel as long as it sounds.
• Next weekend, Seth has a soccer game at 8:30, which seems kind of early, but I'm happy because I will get to see both Seth's soccer game and William's baseball game. 
• Although I want the government shutdown to end, it would be nice if it didn't end this week. I signed up to be the Mystery Reader in William's school this Friday and it would be awesome if I could actually do it.
• It's hard to get the smell of burnt toast out of your house.
• Making a bed can make you feel like you've actually accomplished something. 

Off to make some beds!

Fall Camping

When I was growing up, my favorite time of the year to go camping was the fall. The nights are crisp enough to want to gather by the camp fire, the mosquitoes and gnats have disappeared, and the leaves are gorgeous if you time it just right. With that in mind, I hope to always plan at least one fall camping trip with the boys, and a few weekends ago, we got our chance. After our spring camping trip, however, when Ed and I pretty much got no sleep and felt like we did a lot of setting up and breaking down for just one night, we decided to do things a little differently. We found a rustic cabin.

In order to find an available cabin with just a few weeks notice, I had to be open to locations. I found one at a Maryland state park less than two hours away. It was near the Eastern Shore, so not in the mountains, where we prefer to camp, but there was a fishing area, and trails. And we were only going for one night, so we booked it.

Staying in a cabin was a game changer. We didn't have to pitch a tent. Or break it down the next day. The cabin had electricity--and even AC or heat, if we needed it. (We didn't.) There were bunk beds for the boys and a full-size bed for Ed and me. It was perfect! We fished by the water, walked around on the trails, came back and built a campfire, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for s'mores, and went to bed once it got dark. The next morning we built a fire and made breakfast, played on the playground, walked around the trails some more, and then headed home. I can't wait to book a cabin at a better campsite for the spring--and maybe I'll even go ahead and book a cabin now for next fall. I'm sold!

Ruff Readers

In trying to adjust to my new stay-at-home status, I've found that it's much easier to adjust our after-school activities when needed. Baseball practice was cancelled on Monday because of rain, so it was rescheduled for Wednesday. Wednesday is normally Taekwondo day, but we can also go on Tuesday. So when the boys got off the bus yesterday, I told them we were heading straight for Taekwondo.

Well, it might be easier for ME to adjust our schedule, but for the boys, not so much. They both immediately dissolved into tears and fits. I'm used to this with Seth, but when William starts crying? I better listen. Fortunately, William can also go to TKD on Thursday, so I gave them the option of going on Thursday instead, to which they both readily agreed. I still wanted to get them out of the house, however, because the cleaning lady was there (I know--tough life, right?) So we went to McDonald's to get ice cream cones (although Seth ended up eating a cheeseburger and a 4-piece chicken nuggets and an ice cream cone and William ate chicken nuggets and an ice cream cone. So much for dinner--boys are HUNGRY after school!) and then I took them to the library to check out a program I'd been meaning to sign them up for.

Ruff Readers is a program that brings therapy dogs to the library and kids can sign up to read to the dogs. They come to the library once a month, but they're usually there from 5 to 6, a time that doesn't work for us when I'm working. So I've never signed the boys up for it. Yesterday, however, when we got to the library, someone had cancelled his appointment at the last minute, so William got to read to one of the dogs! He chose a big German Shepherd and read for 20 minutes. Seth sat next to the dog, too, and got to feed the dog treats. William LOVED it and read beautifully. Be still my heart! This morning, he woke up, got dressed, and then brought a book downstairs to read to Clark (our cat). Clark even cooperated for a little while (thank goodness). I've been waiting for William . to turn that corner with reading--to really want to read. I mean, he loves books, loves to be read to, loves checking books out from the library, and loves to learn new things. He's on grade level with his reading. I wouldn't say he's struggling. But he is rarely self-motivated to read on his own. I've tried all different kinds of books--picture books, graphic novels and comics, non-fiction, magazines, chapter books. I've tried books on CD that he can read along with. (He never reads along--he just looks at the pictures.) I've tried poetry and joke books and the Book of World Records. He's interested in all of them. But not in reading them. So, if reading to dogs can possibly help motivate him to read, then I am all over it!

You can bet that once I'm back to work, I'll be adding a monthly appointment with Ruff Readers to our calendar and I will find a way to get William there.

Week Two of the SAHM Gig

I wish I could say that I'm rocking this stay at home mom gig, but I'm totally not. I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. All the crap that I manage to squeeze into weekends and nights gets dragged out during the week when I'm home. Instead of cleaning up the kitchen once, at night, I feel like I clean it five times a day. (How the heck do I manage to make such a mess all day?) Instead of pounding out the laundry in one day, I'm doing a load of laundry every freakin' time I turn around. Wash. Dry. Fold. Repeat. Ad nauseum. I know, I know. Cry me a river, right? I will say that it's a bit less stressful, not having to cram everything into small windows of time. But I do better when my time is tightly managed.

When I go back to work, I don't want to look back and think about all the time I wasted not getting anything done. But on the other hand, I don't want to look back and regret that I didn't take advantage of this time to relax. I'm trying to be a little bit selfish and do things just for me--read, go through recipes, browse the Internet, catch up on TV shows. But boy--is it easy to let a whole day go by with little to show for it.

I have a list of errands to run today--dry cleaners, pharmacy, Post Office, Goodwill. And the cleaning lady is coming, so I need to make sure everything is picked up. (See--if I was working, I would have had all of this done last night!) I might take the boys bowling when they get out of school. Or maybe to the batting cages. It's nice to have options. And time. I keep hearing this voice in my head saying, "Enjoy it while it lasts! Enjoy it while it lasts!" So that's what I'm trying to do. You know--the same way you're supposed to enjoy your kids while their young? Yeah--like that. LOL. Maybe I'll get the hang of this in another week or two. Probably just when they end the stand-off and I return to work. :-)

The Wedding

Sometime last year, Ed's cousin asked William and Seth to be ring bearers in her wedding. They had no idea what it meant, but eagerly agreed. Ed and I were honored, but also apprehensive. This would be a formal wedding. With tuxes. Meaning, the boys would have to wear tuxes. Mind you, William still will not wear anything with buttons. No pants with button fly, no collar shirts or button-downs, not even elastic-waist pants or shorts with cargo pockets with buttons. At this point, he won't even wear khaki-style pants or shorts with elastic waists. It's even hard to get him to wear a plain or striped t-shirt. He only likes polyester sports pants and shorts (a child after my 70s-loving mother's heart) and graphic t-shirts. So you can imagine our concern.

But we talked it up with the boys, told them how they would get to wear awesome tuxedo "costumes" with shoes and vests and ties and everything. We took them to get measured. The store didn't have anything for them to try on, so we had to wait for the tuxes to come in. When they did, I took both boys, by myself, and struggled to get them into their get-ups properly. I needed a lot of help from the store clerks, who were not all that eager to help me. I guess they didn't realize the sooner they helped us, the sooner we would leave. I managed to take a few pictures while they were getting fitted.

William seemed to take it okay at the fitting. Seth kept jumping up and down and saying the pants were itchy. The day of the wedding arrived and the boys were actually excited. They had met the flower girls a few weeks prior and had really hit it off with them. The girls were the exact same ages as the boys and they had fun running around during the rehearsal. So the boys were actually asking about the girls and when they would see them. We got them into their tuxes (with pajama bottoms on Seth underneath his pants) and they didn't complain at all. They loved their shiny shoes. They liked getting all dressed up! And oh my goodness--they looked so cute!!! The tuxes were brown (which wouldn't have been our first choice), but it didn't matter. They were still so handsome!

Once it was time to start, I left the boys with the wedding party and the organizer, and Ed and I took our seats. The boys did so well. They walked out with the wedding party. They stood there while the bride walked down the aisle. Then they sat down with us once the father of the bride took his seat. After the ceremony they walked out with the flower girls. Sooo cute! Then they went with the wedding party to take pictures. Ed and I stayed back, figuring the kids would be better behaved without us there. I have yet to see the pictures, but I hope they're good! In typical Beth style, I had remembered to bring my big camera, except I had forgotten to put in the battery. So I had no camera at all. (Left my cell phone in my car. Grrrr.) But Ed's sister took some pictures, too. Just look at my handsome men!

The bride is a horse fanatic, so the boys carried rings tied to horseshoes

With the father of the bride--Ed's uncle

 We were so proud of them! They had a great time at the reception. There was a kids' table with a huge centerpiece made of lollipops. Brilliant! And each kid got a goody bag with all kinds of awesome stuff--stickers, crayons, activity books, glow bracelets, and more candy. They didn't want to leave! It was a great experience and I hope this means I can now get William to dress up more often!

*Cough* *Cough* *Ah-choo!*

Please excuse the dust as I brush this thing off and try to get her going again. Hello, everyone! Where have you all been? Ha ha.

Today, this blog post is brought to you by our wonderful government, which has deemed me non-essential, which frees up a wee bit of my time. For what it's worth, I would be embarrassed if my job was considered essential. But I'm sure we can all agree, no matter where we fall on the political spectrum, that this situation is ridiculous, terrible, indefensible, and unconscionable.

That said, I have a few days off. Woo-hoo! I can't say that I'm not nervous about having more than a few days off, but I'm one of the lucky ones who doesn't have to worry about the financial hit we're taking. (At least not in the short term.) Ed is not furloughed and we have savings and we live (for the most part) beneath our means. My thoughts are with those workers who are not so fortunate.

So, like I was saying, where have you guys been? I've been around, "working it out" so to speak. I guess I have a lot of catching up to do, but if I try to think about allll the catching up I need to do, I get overwhelmed. So I'll do some general updating today, and then I may go back to fill in some details. Or maybe I won't.

First things first--Summer! We had a fabulous summer. William went to a bunch of different summer camps, which seemed to work out well for him. They were mostly all run by our community center, so the location and the before- and after-care were all consistent. I think it was good to switch things up each week so that he didn't get bored. Seth, meanwhile, finished up the summer at his daycare center, where he has attended since he was 12 weeks old. Leaving there was bittersweet, but he was ready. We had a few fabulous vacations. The boys and I went to Florida and to North Carolina. I had my annual girls' weekend with my 3 best friends and it was as wonderful as it always is. At the end of the summer we went to an all-exclusive resort in Mexico--just Ed, William, Seth, and me. The boys LOVED it. Ed and I liked it okay.

Which brings us to Kindergarten! And 2nd grade! William has a fantastic teacher and LOVES 2nd grade. He comes home every day chattering away about his day and what he learned and who he played with. This is definitely a new phenomenon. He gets a homework packet on Monday of each week, which is due Friday. And he has to read for 20 minutes each night. It is still like pulling teeth to get him to read and do his homework. But he doesn't seem to be struggling with anything, so that's good.

Seth's adjustment, meanwhile, has been a little bit more challenging. Which is to be expected, but I actually wasn't expecting it. I thought he would LOVE kindergarten. But it's only okay for him so far. I don't know much about his teacher, but I don't think she's the problem. I think he's just adjusting to not being able to do what he wants to do all the time. This morning, he actually hid in the bushes when the school bus arrived, and I practically had to drag him out and put him on the bus. I don't think the bus driver was amused. *Sigh* I'm hoping things will get better for him. We have his school's open house next Thursday, so I'll get a chance to talk to his teacher for a minute then. And we have parent-teacher conferences the first week of November. Hopefully things will improve. I wouldn't say he's unhappy (although he was unhappy this morning), but he's not as cheerful as I hoped he would be.

 On the bright side, Seth is playing soccer this fall and he loves it! And he's really good. He talks a little trash, though, to the other team, which we're working on. But he's very focused on defense and pretty much has his head in the game the whole time. William, meanwhile, decided to play fall baseball. And guess who got asked to coach about 20 minutes after submitting his registration? That's right--me. I'm coaching baseball! Not t-ball, mind you. Baseball. I insisted that I needed to co-coach, though. That I couldn't do it all myself, mostly because I can't pitch, and this level is coach-pitch. So I got paired with another dad and it is working out beautifully. I do all the communication and keep track of the line-up and the fielding positions. The other coach runs the practices. And our team is awesome! I'm really having fun with it, and William seems to be enjoying it, too. He doesn't really love practice (which makes me nuts), but he's improving and he really likes the games. The kids on our team all go to a different school, so that's actually a good thing for William.

William is also continuing to do Taekwondo, which is making our schedule a bit crowded. We have baseball practice on Monday, TKD on Wednesday, soccer practice on Thursday, TKD on Friday, and a baseball game and soccer game on Saturday. BUT this will only last 'till Nov. 2. And then things should calm down. It has been a bit of a struggle to get used to our new schedule. I'm trying to get out the door earlier in the mornings so that I can leave work earlier and shuttle the kids to practices. But the kids have decided they would now like to sleep past 7:00 a.m. on weekday mornings (unlike years past when they bounded out of bed at 6:15 and got all in my business while I was getting ready for work), so it's hard to get them up and get them fed before I leave for work.  I definitely took for grated the morning time that I got to spend with them in years past.

My commute is also taking a lot longer without Seth in the car. I can't take the HOV lanes now, and it makes a bigger difference than I thought it would. Such is life. Adjustment, adjustment, adjustment. I have a feeling that my future is going to be full of adjustments. It's weird having elementary-aged kids now. But weird in a good way.

For now, however, I'm trying to take advantage of being a stay-at-home mom. So far, so good. I had lunch with Seth on Tuesday. I went grocery shopping during the day. I detailed my car. My laundry is done. Beds are made. The kitchen is clean. I even cleaned all my drains with baking soda, vinegar, and boiling water. (Thanks, Pinterest.) Yesterday, I took the boys to a fun playground after school. Today I'm going to a funeral. (Ed's mom's cousin died.) I've also made dinner every night--and I'm not talking sandwiches, fruit & cheese plates, or quickly heated chicken nuggets.  And I'm updating my blog. Good stuff! (Well, except the funeral, but I'm glad I can pay my respects.) We'll see how long it goes on, and how much more "adjusting" we'll have to do. In the meantime, I'm off to find my bon-bons!