On the Road

Well the big day is here.  The day two of my kids have actually started driving.  They have almost completed the book course.  Now they have started driving in an actual car.  I took this picture right before Kyle's first drive ever.  Kristina had her first one a few days earlier. They will be driving several times in July with an instructor. Once they have completed the book class and six drives, they will be able to get their permit. Then they will be driving with mom.  At first I was nervous, now I am kind of excited.  Kyle has not been a lot of fun while taking the class. He now thinks he is the "driving police", and likes to correct every little thing I do in the car.  It started on the very first day of class.  As you can imagine, it is very annoying!  I am hoping he stops once he is behind the wheel, and no longer a back seat driver.  

Another  reason why I think I am now excited is how my day went a few days ago.  This was my view most of the day.   My older two had to go to Drivers Ed in the morning.  I ran them to class. passing a girl in a dancing hot dog suit at a nearby business.   My youngest had a yoga class with girls from her scout troop thirty minutes after Drivers Ed started. Since she was not ready when we had to leave, I had to go all the way back home and pick her up.  I drove her to another part of town for her class.  Since my mom friends could not stay that day, and I did not feel like waiting an hour, I ran home again  I got a few things done at home, but then just 40 minutes later had to go back and pick up Kara.  I passed the dancing hot dog for the fifth time in two hours.   I picked up Kara, and talked to one of the other moms for a few minutes.  It was then  time to go over to the school and pick up my other two kids who were now done with class.   During the afternoon I had to run out and run a quick errand at the store. I passed the dancing hot dog (who was now a different girl in the hot dog suit) for the 7th and 8th time. A few hours later, I had to run Kristina back to Driver's Ed for a make up class, because she had been too sick to go the day before.  This time I did not see the dancing hot dog. The business was closed for the day.  I got in and out of the car TEN TIMES that day. Having a kid or two with a drivers license would have it's advantages! 

Now to survive the next few weeks! 

Our Summer so Far...

It has been two weeks since school has ended.  We have been busy surviving our very busy schedule the last few weeks. Here is just a peek of what we have been up to.  

My oldest daughter had until June 13, to finish the classes she was taking online; Algebra 2, British Lit,  Economics and Physics.  She is not the best at time management, so that first week out of regular school was spent online. At 11:53, six minutes before the 11:59 p.m. deadline, she was done with all she could do.  She made it though, and got decent grades.  This was her hardest year, because she had four hard classes at the same time.  Next year should be a lot less stressful.  She has only three classes online fall semester, and only two spring semester.   

The very next day was Kara's dance recital.   This was her 10th dance recital, and 2nd ballet production. Leading up to this day we had several rehearsals, and a dance banquet.  In this picture she is one of the sun beams of summer in the Seasons of the Earth ballet.  

We had a quiet Father's Day, and then bright and early Monday  my two oldest kids started Driver's Ed.  They have 24 hours of class time, and 12 hours of car time.  Over the next few weeks, my kids will be on the road learning how to drive a car.. Eeek! 

We were preparing for the neighborhood garage sale when we dealt with another round of nasty storms on Wednesday.  The scariest storm was early in the morning when a bolt of lightning struck very near our house.  I was laying in bed facing the window. I saw a bright orange light, and heard an extremely loud boom at the same time. It was so loud the house shook, and the sound woke up the entire house.  I looked outside, because I thought for sure our neighbor's house must have been hit.  Their outdoor lights near their garage are orangish in color,and without my contacts it looked a little bit like a fire.  After a minute or so, I realized all was fine, so I went back to bed. I took this picture as another storm was rolling in during the afternoon.  Do you see the angry face in the sky like I do? 

We had all kinds of weather during the garage sale.  On Thursday it was pretty nice, which was good since it was the first day.  Friday, however, was not so great.  It rained for several hours. We sat under and awning wearing sweatshirts because it was so chilly.  I think it was better than last year though when the temps were in the 90's.  My oldest daughter, Kristina, has a gift of Art.  She loves to draw, and will most likely do something with it when she is done with High School.  Kyle sat for her, and in this picture is posing with the sketch she drew. 

This week our schedule slows down considerably.  We might even get to do some of the things on our summer fun challenge list.  Tonight Kara and I went strawberry picking.  We are really looking forward to all the  yummy strawberry treats we hope to make this week.   

How is your summer going so far?  

School's Out For the Summer!!

Friday was the last day of school.   While some parents may be sad to see that day arrive, I am not one of them.  Life is much easier when we are out for the summer.  We are all night owls who have a hard time with the super early mornings during the school year. Also as you know from my last few posts, homework is definitely not one of my favorite things in our house.Even with all the stress he caused, Mr.Homework  Avoider finished strong, and got As on all of his finals. We should be finding out his semester grades soon.   Kristina still has this week to finish up her online classes, while her classes at school are over.  Her vacation officially begins on June 13 at midnight.    Kara did very well in all of her classes, and then ended up not feeling well on her last day of school.   

We have a tradition on the last day of school. We go downtown to our local Dairy Queen and get ice cream.  We started this tradition when Kristina had finished the 1st grade, Kyle was in preschool, and Kara was not quite 3.   They sure have grown up!  Kristina is now going to be a Senior is in high school, Kyle a sophomore, and Kara an 8th grader. 

This summer they are not going to just lay around all day, and then wonder where summer went. Since all three would like to earn money, I came up with a job board, where they can make money doing projects around the house.   The more they help, the more money they can make. We are also going to do another Summer Fun Challenge since they do not have many more childhood summers left.  The "plan" is to work a few hours a day, and then do something fun.  Hopefully this will be a summer to remember.   

Super Smart or Totally Crazy?!

Here in our state you can start taking Driver's Ed when you are 14 years 9 months. I personally think that is a bit too young.  For the last few months, we knew that our oldest was going to take her class this June.  She is 17.   She was one of those kids who just was not in any hurry.  She did not feel ready, and that was fine with us.  For insurance and other reasons, you really should take phase 1 (book class with 6 hours of driving) before you turn 18.  Until this weekend, the plan was Kyle would wait a few more months or so, and then take it when it  was his turn.   He turned 15 in April.  

On Friday while we were at his Robotics Awards banquet, Kyle told us that he wanted to learn how to drive as soon as possible. Over the  last few months he would say he didn't care, so this news  kind of came as a surprise.   After talking it over, we decided maybe he should take the class with his sister if there was an opening for him.  On the plus side, they would be able to be each others driving partner during their driving time.   Another plus to them learning to drive  at the same time, is we would only have to worry about one session of driver's ed during summer break instead of two. (Book class is two hours a day, 4 days a week, over 3 weeks)  I guess the only down side would be I will have double the worry as they both drive me around for the next several months.   I called this morning, and they had an opening.  I guess it is was meant to be. This decision is either super smart or totally crazy!   By the time I will recover from this, it will be time for child number three to take her turn. 

I truly think this is one of the scariest things about raising teenagers! 

Kyle gives his approval while sitting in the driver's seat for the first time. I was actually surprised at how natural he looked behind the wheel.  Today was not quite so scary as the car was sitting in the driveway. We will see how I feel in a few weeks, when he is actually driving!