Getting back to normal...

So it is the end of the first week back at school for Aeryn and I. And boy has it been interesting. But all in all I like being back to work at the school. I enjoy the people that I work with both as coworkers and the students that I influence. It is another semester of Math and Latin. Two subjects and three teachers that I feel very comfortable with. So I could not have asked for a better schedule.

Being back at school and having shifts at Tractor Supply is making me appreciate the time that I spend with my children a little bit more. Yesterday, after coming home from work at the school, I got to sit down on the floor with Alex and play with his matchbox cars. It was very enjoyable. Later that evening I got to sit with Aeryn and watch Glee, and Masterchef two shows that the two of us seem to enjoy together. I got to surprise Aeryn with some homemade chickens soup for dinner a couple of nights ago.

Working two jobs certainly puts things into perspective. Sometimes we have to work just a little bit harder and have more appreciation for the fewer minutes that we have together. But in the end I know that this sacrifice of a little less time now will pay off for my little family.

The beginning.....

So school has started once again. So far, on the start of the third day, Aeryn is loving the fifth grade. So far her teacher seems great. He is young and energetic and just what a boisterous class of fifth graders needs. Though our school district is blessed with two amazing fifth grade teachers so I would have been happy had she been placed in either of the classes. Both teachers seem like they would have been a "good fit" for my precocious little girl.

The start of the school year is always fresh and new. I enjoyed it as a child and I still enjoy it as an adult. The staff all started back at school a day before the kids, and it was nice getting a chance to "catch up" with the people I had not seen in a couple of months. With the exception of Jay, I had not had time to make plans with any of my coworkers this summer. And Jay was kind of a given because of the cows.

Alex stays with my sister Nancy during the day. I am fortunate enough to have a wonderful family willing to help out when I am not quite where I need to be. She and Robert do a great job of keeping the little man entertained. He also gets to spend time with Mamaw (Thanks AmberMae for teaching him this gem), and Auntie Ev in the evenings when I have to work at my second job.

Yes once again I am working a second job. However the benefits to this one are way better than my last one. I work at a local farm supply company. Good for me because not only do they pay me to work there, but I get a discount off the price of grain as well. I like this perk. When you can save a couple dollars a bag it makes a huge difference.

I am looking forward to a productive year for myself and my children. I love watching Alex grow and watching Aeryn blossom into herself. I will work harder now to keep everyone updated.

The comfort of technology...

I spend a lot of time in my day thinking about technology. How is has made some things easier and some things more difficult. I have days when I relish the thought of shutting everything off and "unplugging" and also days when I can think of nothing but being online and sharing things with my friends far away.

I have discovered this week one thing that technology has been good for. Last Sunday I sent Aeryn off to camp for the first time with the plan of her being gone for two weeks. This will be the longest span of time my little girl and I have ever been apart. Something we were both excited for and fearful about at the same time.

However, I have found some comfort. Every evening around six o'clock I have been able to log onto Facebook and see the pictures that the camp has posted from the previous day. So far I have seen my little girl swimming, dancing, getting a full body paint job and lot of other things. I am comforted by the fact that I know she is having fun and meeting new people.

During this week I have spent lots of time with Alex. What a precocious little toddler he is! Since we both came home from the fair with nasty colds we have spent a lot of time cuddling watching movies and drinking juice.

He is turning into such an interesting little character. This morning he danced when he saw that I was cooking bacon. He tears the house apart just as fast as I can pick it up while at the same time makes me laugh my tush off. I am sure the poor dog is going to be happy when Aeryn comes home because Aeryn provides a bit of protection from Alex's attentions.

Time flies...

Recently it has hit me that somehow my daughter has grown up and is no longer the little girl that she once was. How did this happen? Of course I know the biology of it. And I know that eventually she had to grow up. But why do I feel so blindsided by it? It seems like only yesterday that she was the size of Alex. Now she is turning into this beautiful young girl that I am very proud of.

She has always acted a bit older for her age. And she can hold a conversation with educated adults without batting an eyelash. I guess I just expected her to depend on me a little bit longer than she has....It won't be long before I will be dealing with the problems involved with having a teenager. This girl is more stubborn and hardheaded than I was at that age and that scares me a bit. It took me a while to grow into my attitude. She was born with hers. 

Summertime and the living is....

Crazy. Mr Gershwin certainly lived in a completely different time period because there is nothing "easy" about summertime. Granted I don't have to report into the high school in the morning. But I do have to report in for full time mommy duty. Which turns out to be both a blessing and a curse.

Summer is just jam packed with all of the amazing things that we do not have time to do during the rest of the year. There will be cattle shows, and summer camp, swimming lessons, horseback riding lesson....The list is endless. And these are just activities for Aeryn! I don't know what I would do if I had to balance in activities for Alex as well. Not that he will be getting left out. Oh no. There will be plenty of mommy and Alex time this summer as well.

This year is the first year that I will be considering letting my child go off to over night camp by herself. It's a bit scary. In the past ten years there have not been many times when Aeryn and I have been apart. And during the times we have been apart she has been with Evelyn and Paul or with my mother. Sending her off to camp seems like such a HUGE step! But I know she can handle it. Somehow, wonder of wonders, I have raised this bright, funny, bubbly, friendly little girl. She will be able to go out and conquer whatever Summer Camp has to offer.

But will I be able to conquer being without her? It is times like these that make me think that my little girl is a wee bit stronger than her mommy. And it makes me smile.

New Experience...Old Style....(Part 3 of 3)

 We worked until almost dark that first day. The moon was just a sliver in the fading daylight sky. One of the most beautiful sights that I have ever seen was the sunlight fading behind Mt. Ascutney as I sat next to the pool and watched Aeryn frolic in the water. It was the part of the day that she had been most looking forward to. Well that and s'mores cooked at the bon fire that evening. I couldn't help, but laugh at the aquatic antics of my friends as they had a good time at the end of a long day.





Hundreds of years ago people did what we did, on a larger scale out of necessity. There was simply no machinery available to make the barn building process any easier. Farmers needed barns, so the neighbors helped to build then. More farmers needed wood and neighbors would come help out. The word community actually had a meant something to people. These days I kind of wonder. I also wonder about the reasons why our society has gotten to be the way that it is today.

Why are we afraid to help our neighbor? And if we are not afraid, why do we just refuse to do it? Have we lost  touch with that part of humanity?

For the weekend of the barn raising Jay raised an invitation and we answered. Kira came from Colorado to be a participant in this event. The rest of us came from parts of New Hampshire, and Vermont. The weekend of the Wood Bee an invitation was made, and answered. Now I am not sure where every one came from, but I do know that the 4-Hers that I spent the day with all came from a drive that was over an hour away. 

Strangers coming together for a common goal....

New Experiences...Old Style...(Part 2 of 3)

The whole crew sitting in the loft at the end of the first day. I chose to stay on the ground. One of the advantages to being the one holding the camera. 

As I look through the literally hundreds of pictures that I took the first day of the barn raising the thing that jumps out at me the most is the amount of fun that everyone is having. There is no doubt about the amount of work being done and yet the atmosphere is so relaxed an happy that everyone was able to have a good time. 

Aeryn and Mo ended up popping two can's of soda....

 The week before the barn raising had been crazy for me personally. And I know that it was probably the same for a few other people involved as well. The majority of us work in the education field and there are only a couple of more weeks before the school year ends. So basically every one gets to rush around like a chicken with their head cut off. At one point I had mentioned on Facebook that "to relax on the weekend I would be at a  barn raising." A few of my friends scoffed at the idea that a day of hard work would be in any way relaxing. Boy were they wrong.

Kira helped to make one of Aeryn's dreams come true ...

Unfortunately one of the down falls of my job is that I work in an environment where the atmosphere can change from positive to negative pretty quickly. It is more emotionally and mentally exhausting than physically exhausting. Sometimes that can wear on a person more than the physical and it makes things rough at times. I know that after a long day at work going to the gym, or working with the cows, is a great release for me. So it turns out that this was exactly what my children and I needed to just let go and be happy for a weekend.

Lilly is easily one of Aeryn's favorite people!

 There are so many things going on everybody's lives right now. This provided us with a way to just forget everything else that was going on and just enjoy being alive. I met some really cool people. Three of which are amazing women that my daughter can learn many things from. As much as I encourage her to be her own person I want her to also be able to see good examples of strong, independent, women. I don't always feel that I am displaying the best example. So it is nice to have a few others.

 Some how it all leads back to the fact that "...It takes a village..."