Summertime's over

That time of year is here. School buses start traveling, school supplies are on sale, and the parks and beaches begin to empty. Tomorrow is the first day of school for all of us. Claire starts preschool at her daycare, Justin begins his senior (HALLELUJAH!) year of college, and I have my students for the first day. I have been extremely busy with buying school supplies for all of us, getting my room at school ready, as well as getting last minute cleaning done here at the house. I know that I don't get the time to clean it as well during school, so I really try to make it look presentable during the summers. I am teaching at a new high school this year, so I am a little more nervous than usual, but I know that it will all work out. I am excited for Claire to learn all the things that she likes to already. She already knows most of her letters and can count to 15 most of the time. She knows numbers 15 through 20, but not in order. I suppose that's kind of important. Here are some pictures of the last days of summer for us. There is a park closeby that has sprinklers and she had a blast once she figured out that it was fun. For a while, she just stood on the side and watched. But once she got into it, she didn't want to leave! Her favorite thing in the whole wide world to play with is bubbles. I must get asked about 10 times per day to go play bubbles outside. We found a new bubble contraption where the wand stays in the bottle and you simply squeeze the bottle (gently) and the wand pops up with the bubble solution inside. Then you simply blow and release the squeeze to fill the wand with more solution. This is much better for her age where she can do this herself and not make a big mess. We took them to the park with us yesterday and she got to play for a while with them. How much fun we have as a family! Thank you Lord for my precious family and all the memories we share!

Something Fun

Type your name in my blog comments.
Once you do that, this is what I'll do for you...

1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll tell you which song or movie you remind me of.
3. I'll pick a flavor of jello to wrestle you in.
4. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me.
(If possible. If not, I'll say something that only makes sense to me.)
5. I'll tell you my first memory of you.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll ask you something I've always wondered about you.
8. I'll tell you my favorite thing about you.
9. I'll tell you my least favorite thing about you.

If you play, you MUST post this on yours. You MUST.

Healthiness: Is It Really Worth It?

For my most loyal readers, you may remember a couple posts ago where I talked about starting to run. Well, perhaps that was not the smartest idea I've ever had. I ran for about 2 weeks when my knees began to hurt. I kept running for 2 days until I decided that going through the pain was probably not the best. I stopped running but continued on normal everyday activities. At night, my knees were killer. I don't usually respond well to pain since I think I have a pretty high pain tolerance (no epidural with Claire's delivery). After a week now, I decided it was probably time to go see someone who knows more about this stuff than I do. So I've been icing it, elevating it, resting it, etc. All the right things. I just got back from an orthopedist and he says that I have stress "reactions" in both tibias. The tibia is your shinbone. It's a pretty big bone and not that easy to break, at least I don't think. Anyway, he took X-rays and they didn't show a "macrofracture" but that doesn't mean they're not broken. He told me to stay off of my legs as much as possible for 6 weeks! He actually gave me a script for a wheelchair! WHAT!?!?!?! I have a 2 year old and I teach high school science where we do labs and I can't trust a group of high school chemistry students in lab with me in a wheelchair! Oh Lord, what am I supposed to do?? Trust in Him. I am thankful that they are not completely broken and he says that if I do really well the next couple weeks, that they may heal on their own and I may not have to stay in a wheelchair for the full 6 weeks. I am praying that they will heal quickly and trust me, I'm staying off of these babies as much as possible. After they heal, he did say I can go back to exercising, but he suggested something other than running. So I'll be looking into those options in a few weeks. So please remember me in your prayers so that I can get to work quickly and efficiently. I do think that healthiness is worth it, but I probably should have been a little smarter about becoming healthier. One day, just not today or for the next 6 weeks. =(