As we prepare to enter a new school year (Jill'll be in second grade, Beth in kindergarten, and I'm doing some preschool books with Kate), I've been thinking. I'd love to be more organized this year. So far, I've already got lesson plans done for the first six weeks; I'd like to get more done, maybe even the entire school year. That'll take time, yes, but it'd be nice to not have to scurry around every day and wonder what's coming.

I'd also like to get on a cleaning schedule (bathrooms certain days, sweeping/vacuuming/mopping certain days, etc), so that I don't feel overwhelmed and try to get it all done at once.

I also want to do field trips with the girls. I'm planning to call around to different places and see what I can manage. There's nothing like hands-on learning to make the things you're learning real and stay in your brain.

I'm hoping the coming year is a good one.

Back when it was time for me to get a better phone, I wanted one with a good camera, and I wanted it to slide up. I'd had a flip phone, and I didn't want one of those, nor the kind that opened to reveal a qwerty keyboard (I have a qwerty keyboard, I just didn't want the kind that snapped open--I like it sliding). In December, I could get an upgrade, and we found me one, the Kin 2 (it had bad reviews, but mostly for its data plan, which I wouldn't be getting). I have been SO pleased with it. Yeah, the button for taking pictures could have been put in a better place, but I really have no complaints with it. And it takes really good quality pictures, so I don't even use my digital camera anymore.

Anyway, as much as I love taking pictures, I'm by no means a professional. The only reason I get as many good pictures as I do is that I've learned to take about a million just to get the two or three good ones.

Ginny's planted marigolds out front, and I've been wanting to get pictures of the bees that alight on them, but I kept not having time or not having my phone when I was out there. The other day, though, I had my phone and the time to get some pictures. I'm really pleased with the ones that I got.



The second one is my favorite. :)

Glasses!

I forgot to update and show you guys my girls' new glasses!

These are Jill's, and they have lightning bolts on the earpieces and in the front. :)





Here's Beth. They were supposed to glow in the dark (they don't) and have jellyfish on the earpieces. She's finally adjusting to them and remembers to put them on most mornings. :)





And here's a bonus pic of them. :)

Question.

Does anyone know any good Sunday School websites? I'd love to put up some nice bulletin boards in my classroom (I have the 2- and 3-year-olds). I want my class with them to be more hands-on, and I just recently took inventory of all that I have, but I'd love for it to be more organized and want to get the kids even more excited about coming to Sunday School.

(copied directly from my other online journal)

For it being so hot, I'm in a pretty good mood (I have a tendency for crabbiness when it's too hot). Part of that, I think, is because I just downed a cold coffee (I plan to stay up late; more on that later), and the other part is due to the water sitting beside me. I really need to drink more, and if it's right next to me, I tend to do just that. I poured about 20 oz. about five minutes ago, and it's almost all gone.

I'm pretty happy with what I've done today. All the laundry from yesterday is folded, though I still need to put Jon's and my stuff away. I've washed and hung out two loads today, and plan on doing one more load this evening (though I'll have to use the dryer for it). I also vacuumed all of upstairs, mostly because we have fleas. Again. Whenever we neglect to put that stuff on the kitties, they come back. Especially since the weather's been so dry for so long. Anyway, we put it on our kitties today (not Tom; Ginny can do him if she wishes) and they've been scraggly looking all day, especially Bunny (aka Simon). He's been extra funny looking because right after we applied the stuff, he kept trying to get in my laundry basket (he's just like Pickles in that way; if there's fresh laundry, he likes nothing better than sleeping in it) and I kept squirting him with my water bottle to get him out.

I cleaned the bathroom yesterday (though not the floor), and I'm hoping to sweep downstairs tonight once it gets a tad cooler. Probably not till the girls are eating supper, though. I'll hold off on mopping, though. It's just too hot for that. And I probably won't vacuum the stairs till tomorrow, either. Like I said, it's too hot.

When we moved to this house, Jon had three organs. Two stayed upstairs; one went to the basement. Later, we moved another to the basement. The heaviest one has always been upstairs, though. Just this past week, Jon put one of them on craigslist for free; the only stipulation was that the interested party come get it. I told Jon I was excited that I wouldn't have to get it out of the basement, but of course wouldn't you know it, the guy complained he didn't think he'd be able to do it. Seriously? Not to brag (though I am), but Jon and I did it. And then we took the super-heavy one downstairs (what an adventure that was! We ended up tipping it by accident, then had to somehow get it back upright!). I've always been thankful for the strength God gave me; back when I was a teen, my brother and I had to constantly help move heavy antiques; since marrying Jon, I've lifted and moved many a heavy organ and piano (and various other furniture) up stairs and through tiny doorways; I've lifted entire sheets of drywall onto ceilings and walls. Obviously, none of that was by myself; I had help. But I'm thankful for the strength that God's given me, and I hope to pass that on to my girls, the willingness to keep trying, to not give up, even when something's harder than they think they can handle.

Wow, this has gotten longer than I thought it would (and braggier :P). Didn't realize I had so much to say.

Here soon, I'm going to go make supper for girls. I told them they could have a picnic outside (Jon got chips today!) at their little table. And I'm going to join them in the pool after supper, maybe even set up the slip 'n slide and slide with them. :)

I think that's everything I had to say. Try to stay cool!

ETA: I never explained why I want to stay up late! I had a goal of finishing Jill's story by the end of the month. Though I worked on it earlier this week, it's not really that close to being done. Jon gets home late tonight (well, 10), but I can't work on it when the girls go to bed because I'll be watching You've God Mail. So I'm going to stay up late and get as close to finishing it as I can tonight. I think it's going to be a lot longer than I first envisioned it, though!

Edited again: Wow, I used the word "though" a lot!

This summer has been so much better than last year's. I worked from April through August of last year, so feel that I missed too much of the summer with my girls. It's almost the end of July, true, but I feel I've had more time with them, and I've enjoyed it. It's gotten too warm to play outside for long periods, so they've been watching too much TV, but even that's okay. The warm weather will pass, and pretty soon school will start up again.

Jill will be in second grade this year, and Bethie starts kindergarten. I hope she does well. She's smart, but she was in preschool last year (because of her speech therapy) and she'd have been in k4 otherwise. I'm starting her in k5 anyway, and I hope she does well. I'll be doing a preschool book with Kate and I'm excited about that, as well.

I don't want to leave you picture-less, so here's one at the beach with the girls. :)

Glasses.

I have horrid vision. I've had glasses since I was five (I picked out my first pair with my dad; they were a light blue, and I picked them because they matched my dinosaur dress I had on that day), and Jon since he was...seven? He was young, anyway. I also have an astigmatism and a lazy eye (which I had surgery for at the age of seven, and though it's not as noticeable as it once was, when I'm tired, it tends to drift), and both of us have really strong prescriptions. Jon's parents have glasses, as do my own. So basically, our kids are determined to have glasses. It's just a fact of life. Jill got her first pair when she was three. Beth's about to get her first pair. We went to the eye doctor yesterday and he determined she needs them.



I was worried that she might have a lazy eye, so the doctor checked her for that. Here she's looking at 3-D images to test her depth perception. She's fine, thank goodness.



And instead of looking through those lenses that adults do, she just had to wear a tiny pair of glasses to determine how nearsighted she was.

And when she gets her glasses in a few day, I'll be sure to put up pictures!