August Shenanigans

I am still working on editing some older blog posts and on my new pages. I'm giving myself another week to work on the blog (and maybe another week after that, if I so choose), but I decided that I can still continue to post.

Moose started speech therapy this month. He really enjoys it. His biggest problem is closing his mouth correctly for "m," "b," and "p" sounds. She suspects that his teeth are a bit big for his mouth. He CAN close it properly (as he says MA-MEEE loud and clear), so it might just be a bit of sheer laziness. Who knows. I do know that he naps like a champ when he gets home from speech.

Bean started karate. Similar to soccer, I don't think there's a lot of natural ability there. He often whines about practicing and has trouble paying attention, but I think all that is pretty age-appropriate. Tonight is his first class lesson, which is earlier in the evening. I'm hoping the earlier time will help a little bit. His private lessons were at 6:30, which is pretty late for him.

Bean has kindergarten testing next Thursday, I guess just to evaluate where he's at. I'm not sure if they mix the kids up or separate the higher- and lower-scoring kids. My school teacher friends tell me it depends on the school, and the school will never admit which way it goes. He starts classes the following Monday, August 23. Thank goodness, there's been A LOT of togetherness this summer!

Moose starts Mother's Day Out on September 1 from 9 a.m. till 1 p.m. twice a week. Can you imagine eight hours a week of NO KIDS. Oh, how blissful. We visited the class last week and liked what we saw. He didn't want to leave.

Both boys got haircuts today (nothing major). We have family pictures scheduled for Saturday morning. It's our fifth wedding anniversary, so we have a sitter for the afternoon and evening. We're going to Painting with a Twist and to dinner (still undecided, we have a free meal at Outback, but we're really craving Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro - it's a tough call, but I'm guessing FREE will win out).

I also submitted a personal essay to a contest. I'm not sure when they announce the winners. I have my eye on two more writing contests by the end of the month. It's good for me.

I'm in the middle of several books, most notably Barbra Ueland's If You Want to Write. I have another on urban gardening (still) and another on Unitarian Universalism (very insightful - I become more and more convinced we're in the right place there). I went to the downtown library branch last week - what a wonderful place. It's not kid-friendly like the one I usually go to, but it feels so smart and urban with all its levels and such.

The boys and I are headed over the church to work on one of the gardens (of course, we don't have medians in the parking lot, we have GARDENS) this afternoon. Will probably come home with a nice selection of tomatoes, peppers, and whatever else is hiding amongst the weeds (we are going there to clean it up, not to pick ... but pick we shall).