September Chapters

CHAPTER 1: School/Daycare Transitions
Porter is doing great with Kindergarten.  He is writing his name much neater than he did over the summer (speaking of writing... MUST get back into our Pen Pal writing with Saw-Man!  Sorry Heather....).  He thinks Hot Lunch is great (EWW). He's had some frustration with a friend in class (Gill... which he sometimes calls Finn by mistake... oops... different part of the fish!) calling him "Quarter".  Wow.  Its so funny because that was SO not on the "teasing" radar when we decided on his name.  Porker, sure.  But Quarter?  Okay, so Gill isn't really teasing him, but he can't seem to understand his name is "P"orter.  And he's not the first kid to do this.  So I told Porter... just keep correcting him.  And if he keeps calling you Quarter, well... just call him Fill.  Or Jill.  Or Will.  Porter thought that was hilarious.  So the other night we were talking after bedtime story and he told me Gill wasn't calling him Quarter anymore.  I asked what happened and he said he kept calling him Quarter so he said "My name is POR-ter, not QUAR-ter, okay, Fill?"  And Gill said "My name is Gill!"  And Porter tells him, well, MY name is PORTER!"  HAHAHHAA!  And so Gill gets it right now.

Hudson transitioning back to daycare... not going so hot.  I'm not sure if its just the transition thing, his love for Oma or what... but oh my... the past week has been terrible at drop offs.  He's been worse than he's ever been... crying BEFORE even getting to her driveway.  Mind you, he has fun at Miss Marleen's and she's so good to the kids.  I know for her he's (usually) a good boy (minus this past week)... so I'm not sure what is up with his attitude.  He's usually pissed off because its "Not an Oma Day" so I'm thinking that's the main problem and it usually escalates. Yesterday morning (hell of a morning... I'll write more later) he was crying and kicking and screaming from the driveway in and I had to leave him screaming and kicking.  I got at text saying he was dry heaving for 10min and was carrying on for almost an hour.  When I picked him up I asked if he had a rough morning and he said "I just wanted a hug and kiss, Mom."  AAWW.  I swear I gave him a hug and kiss... but maybe in his tantrum of not wanting to stay he didn't realize it and then it escalated because not only was he staying but he didn't get a hug and kiss (so he thought).  I dunno.  Hopefully Friday's drop off will be easier!

CHAPTER 2: Lunch Love
I'm totally loving packing Porter's lunches this year!  I love the idea of Bento Lunches and all the neat Bento/Laptop Lunch containers available but I wasn't about to shell out $20 for one lunch container and have to wash it every night (or spend $20 x's however many to always have one to use!).  I found Ziploc had a 3-section container that is sold in a 2-pack for under $3.  SCORE!  I really enjoy trying to be creative with his lunches and making sure he has lots of fresh fruit, veggies and good "unpackaged" foods for lunch.  He has recently began loving hardboiled eggs (YUMMM) so I often send him a hardboiled egg, a cutout sandwich, some fruit and a couple muffin wrappers in there with goldfish or a cookie.  Perfect!  I also found (on Pinterest) some great (and free!) printable lunch notes.  He can't really read yet, but I hope he enjoys the little notes!


CHAPTER 3: Septembers' Curse
As much as I love September... the lower temperatures, the fresh air, the leafy breeze.... September seems destined to be a downer month for our family.  Particularly this week. Tuesday was Cathy's Day.  And then yesterday morning...we woke up to no power and then found Ramsey had died in the night.  Let me tell you, telling your 3 and 5 year old their dog they've known since birth had died and went to Heaven is not something fun to do.  Ramsey deserves her own post, as she was our "first baby" and was with our family for 10 years.  I'll write more later. 

CHAPTER 4: Photography
I am completely booked for the rest of 2011 for photography. WOO HOO!  I decided to take on 16 mini sessions (8 in September and 8 in October) and 2 full sessions per month in September, October and November.  I'm booked!  I'm excited but oh my... I know I'm going to be busy.  Especially these past two weeks I've been teaching full time (and lesson planning... which I'm lucky I normally don't have to do w/my Lit Coach job) so I've been behind on photography stuff.  I do have Hudson at Marleen's on Friday's for Preschool (M-W-F) so I think after I go back to Lit Coaching/RTI work I'll continue to take him to Marleen's and use Friday's to work on photography stuff.  Fall is always super busy for me and I'm typically booked... but I'm hoping this year I didn't bite off more than I can chew.  I think by splitting up the mini sessions into two months will help!
 
CHAPTER 5: Scrap Weekend!
I am so so looking forward to our bi-annual Girls Weekend at Duck Lake.  We're going a little later this year so I'm really really anxious for the weekend to come!  I know it'll be here before we know it.  It feels like it has been so long since we've had our Scrap Weekend!  I have a ton to catch up on because, sadly, I rarely scrapped over the summer and I've gotten behind on Project Life.  Hopefully sometime this fall (maybe on my Friday's off?) I can make a little time to catch up.  

CHAPTER 6: School Sickness
Oh my... it is only the 2nd week of school and our family is already fighting off sickness.  We've all had stuffy heads, noses, coughs and on and off sore/scratchy throats.  UGH!  Every September for the past 2 years or so I've suffered awful sinus infections.  I'm pretty sure I'm on my way to one now.