Roll Call

[PrincessFiona]

Where is everyone? It's so quiet in here lately! What is everyone up to? What is keeping you away?

[PrincessFiona]

I have been so busy with the kids and with my unofficial practicum. I have only been working on Mondays and Thursdays but it has really been taking its toll. I haven't even had classes in the Cities for the last month. Somehow though my schedule has just been so full with laundry and cleaning the house and violin and orchestra and ballet and ..... erp. I don't even get on the computer anymore ever unless I'm writing a paper. My computer literally sits in my bag for weeks at a time unless I have to enter something into my hours spreadsheet. I write stuff down and avoid the computer like the plague. I'm just not a fan of the computer anymore. I am a new Tapatalk convert and I'll get online that way but I find it hard to type that way. I don't know why I hate the computer so much!

My internship starts on Monday and I'll be doing the internship Monday Wednesday and Thursday from 8-5 (holy. crap). On Tuesdays I'll be in the Cities all day. I have classes from 1-4 and then from 6-9. Where is the THUD emoticon? This can only mean feeding my CJBanks addiction Tuesdays and feeding my iMSN addiction between 4-6 on Tuesdays on my computer! I have Fridays off so I anticipate Friday being a laundry day and once school is out I plan on making it my take Zoe to the park day.

I'm super nervous. I've never worked like this in 20 years of being a mom. I've never had to juggle so much; do so much; learn so much ... and I wonder how I'll manage to keep the house going. How will I do laundry, cook meals clean the house, take showers .... and meet everyone's needs? It's going to be a rough summer. I think everyone is pretty much on board right now. They are all excited for me in theory but once things get going it might change. I'm planning on taking it all one day at a time.

I'm not sure where I'm at as far as the iMSN conference this year. This year DH is not supportive of me coming, which is a first. He wants to see how things shake out with internship first. I know I'm putting my family through a lot and I think a lot hinges on how things go. I want to be able to do it all. We'll see what happens. I hope I don't completely lose touch this summer. I plan on making Tuesday afternoons my iMSN afternoons.

Kris

[ladymoreta]

I hope you can make it, even if it's just for one day!

We just got back from our Disney cruise. Longest vacation we've taken since having kids. Overall it was good, really good. But we're all pretty tired of each other at the moment. (Well, kids vs adults. DH and I are dying for some time without them. I love the little guys, but they're just *so* needy right now!)

Not much on the agenda for a couple months. We're hoping to send the kids to visit my parents for a weekend at the end of June and sneak off to Napa. I'll have both kids in 5-day, half day preschool over the summer. I feel kind of bad, but they don't have much curriculum, mainly just playing, and I know they'll have more fun with other kids than with me around the house every day. I'll try to take them on a few adventures.

We're hoping to hear about partnership for DH sometime this summer. Not holding our breath, as there's some uncertainty about one of the outpatient surgery hospitals his group works with, but if they won't commit to a timeline, we may have to start looking around at other opportunities. Dreading that. I'm finally starting to feel like this is Home and making some really great friends.

[Pollyanna]

Currently busy trying to organize our summer. Dd21 landed a summer research spot at ND so we have to get her to South Bend over Memorial Day weekend, then back for recital, then the next week there are two short camps for dd6 and dd13,then a lax camp for ds, then another camp for dd13, a week off and then we need to get dd13 to her ABT summer intensive. Oh and this is all of June in which Dh is on call until the 27. Poor guy is going to be exhausted.
Then in July, dd6 has her own local summer intensive for a week, ds18 heads to Tuscaloosa for orientation (Roll Tide), ds15 to Navy for LAX (FYI: love the organization of those Navy folk), he is super excited to go. Then toward the end of the month we pick up dd13, then back to South Bend for dd21. I think we have about a week after that before school starts here and maybe two weeks before we officially drop ds18 off for college.
And we are kind of doing part time homeschooling through the summer. So I'm trying to decide how best to approach that.
Phew! Who has time for vacations anymore?

[Sheherezade]

It's crazy. I miss vacations!


Angie

[Pollyanna]

It's crazy. I miss vacations!


Angie

Lol, me too!

I used to be the mom that refused to sign up for anything and me and the kids just had a relaxed summer with swimming, movies, and adventures. That doesn't work once the kids get older

[ides]

Just rolling along here. School is starting to wrap up. This next week is teacher appreciation week so O and I made a bunch of cookies for all of his teachers - there's 9! O ends school at the end of May. Dh left yesterday for a two week volunteer trip to Bolivia with the ASSH. In June we are going back to NYC and upstate ny for a week then in July O has a bunch of half day summer camps. We'll probably fill up the rest of the time at the pool, parks, etc.

[mommax3]

Roll Call

21 more days of school, not that I'm counting or anything. DS #1 has finished his sophomore year of college and came home yesterday. He took EMT classes this past semester and is certified in OH, but needs to take a couple of tests to be certified in IN, so he will do that this week. He is hoping to find an EMT job for the summer once the certification is all worked out. I don't know how likely that is...I guess we'll see.

We have started the college search process with DS #2, who will be a senior next year. We are looking at NAIA schools that have men's swimming...hoping for some scholarship money. He is interested in Psychology right now.

DS #3 is finishing 7th grade. I have had him in one of my choir classes and in homeroom all year, and it has been wonderful. He is really so pleasant to be around! He played basketball this year and is currently running track.

DH has had a good year. The two other OB/Gyn groups at his hospital have sort of imploded. Some providers have left, and the docs that remain have combined into one group. Many patients are leaving the new group and coming to DH's group, which is nice. However, DH's group used to share weekend call with one of the now-defunct groups, which meant we have had 1/7 weekend calls for the past several years. We're now back to 1/3 weekend call, which will be hard to get used to after having a nicer schedule for so long.

My job is in the midst of change. Currently, I teach 4 sections of 7th grade choir with about 32-33 kids in each class. They combine into one (very large!) choir for concerts. I also teach 2 sections of 8th grade choir with about 48 kids in each class. They also combine for concerts. I see my students every day, and a class period is 46 minutes long. I also have a homeroom (which mostly functions as a study hall, although I do some character ed stuff with the kids as well) that meets at the end of the day each day. We have a new principal this year, and she is making lots of changes. She thinks our class periods are too short (I don't disagree, btw) and has decided that next year, each class will be 63 minutes long. In order to make this work, related arts teachers will only see their students every other day, and will start teaching 5th and 6th grade students as well. So I will need to cut my 7/8 curriculum in half, re-write finals, come up with a curriculum for 6th grade choir and 5th grade general music, and track approximately 360 kids a semester, considerably more than the 230 I have now (neither of those numbers include my homeroom, btw). I find this all very discouraging. My favorite things about teaching are 1) the actual *teaching* and 2) getting to know the kids. Both of those will be impacted by this schedule. I am pretty sure that related arts teachers will also be covering lunch duty. The contrast to this is that core teachers (math, language arts, social studies, and science) will be responsible for 120 students a semester and will see their kids every day. I am looking at my options, including what effect leaving after next year will have on my eventual pension vs. waiting a few more years, and I am anxious to see what DS#2's college choice will be! Time will tell, I guess.

DH and I are headed to Turks & Caicos for a week this summer to celebrate our 25th anniversary...it hardly seems possible. Last year was hard for us...something about our oldest leaving the nest threw us into a tailspin....but this year has been much better. We have been very blessed in our relationship and I am so thankful. The two older boys will be on a mission trip to Nicaragua while we are gone, and the youngest will be at camp. We won't be taking a true family vacation due to all of that, but we will go to KS for my FIL's retirement/MIL's 70th bday and maybe do a couple of other weekend things.


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[alotofyarn]

Life has kept me busy! Last month I took a photography course that I absolutely loved! I put together a collage of some of my favorite shots from the month.



We also started swimming lessons on Friday. It's normally MW for 4 weeks, but because both MW were canceled last week due to weather and they do makeups on F, we're ending up with FMWF. E loved the first class though, so it's worth it to stay busy. I've been trying to prep crock pot meals the night before so we can eat as soon as we get home around 5:30. Hubby switches hospitals tomorrow and goes to Q2 call for a month, so that's pretty much going to suck.

[MAPPLEBUM]

Just went for the first time to a conference with DH. At first I thought it was a terrible idea, waiting around for him to be free in an unusual city. But we spent a couple evenings with different attendings and really put me at ease about the coming interview season. I know it's strange but my schedule has never allowed me to go to any resident functions. this was the first time I got to meet and talk with his bosses. It was really good.

Semester is slowing down. I'm looking forward to only teaching a couple days a week. But lots of performances the next couple months so I'm sure that time will be filled quickly.

[Howfunitis]

I've been busy balancing my O2 business with baking and sewing. Hubby has 6 weeks left of school and we are already in the process of starting to move in June. I'm a lite upset we will be moving again on my birthday which is the day before Father's Day. But hubby really only has 2 weeks to really completely chill and relax and spend time with us before studying for the exam at the end of July. M and I stay in Ca while he travels to PA, MI, OK and back to CA. Balancing cooking, baby, hubby and everything has kept me so busy and out of it. I don't post muh but I do read a lot of the posts


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[niener]

Roll Call

Almost-3-week-old newborn. That pretty much covers it

DH has vacation this week so I'm hoping to get caught up on a lot of stuff I haven't yet figured out how to do one handed, plus I'm looking forward to some quality time as a new family this week.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Almost-3-week-old newborn. That pretty much covers it

Which speaking of, PICTURES WOMAN!!!!

[niener]

Which speaking of, PICTURES WOMAN!!!!

It's at the top of my to-do list this week! With DH off I should actually be able to -- on the rare occasions I've been able to put her down during the day (she doesn't nap well unless she's being held) I've prioritized my own nap over pictures