Juggling Act

All too quickly, we've gotten back into the busy routine of the school year. Wildchild started ballet today. I don't have a picture yet, but that's okay. She wanted a skirt to wear with her leotard, but I told her to wait and see if any of the other girls had them. They do, so next week she will have her skirt too, plus a bag to carry her shoes and clothes in. At the moment, she is taking the class in the morning. There are mostly children a few years younger, as the children her age are largely in "regular school," but there is another homeschooled girl in there for now. This may change later as this girl has four older siblings at home who are also involved in activities, and the mom juggles the schedule around! We may change Wildchild's classtime then too, although I love having it in the morning and getting it done with, not to mention avoiding the heavier traffic later in the day! Plus working dinner around, say, an activity that starts before 5 or ends after 6.

The Scientist started gymnastics on Saturday. I hate having a Saturday class, but she is in the beginner's level class, and that was the only time there were several other girls her age, and not just a bunch of much younger children (the Scientist is ten.) At least classes at this gym run on something like an eight-week schedule, so we may be able to get a different class next time. I like to leave Saturday completely open for family fun and relaxation.

Then the Scientist has Latin once a week, and Wildchild goes to Brownies twice a month. This isn't really a lot, and I think these activities are useful for the girls, but sometimes it all seems like too much! Of course, part of that is my personality, I suppose. I do need to get out, but mostly I like being at home. I hate it when my time is regulated outside of my own control as well. Yeah, I'm just a control freak. :) There are also some other places we need to go this week in addition to the regular set, which adds to my feeling that we'll be living in the car! :) I'm glad gas prices have gone down, at least!

Run Run Run!

Yesterday the Scientist had her first Latin class of the 2006-2007 school year. We also needed groceries desperately and the Scientist needed shoes desperately. So we took care of those tasks. I also signed the Scientist up for gymnastics classes. She starts Saturday.

Then today, my sister-in-law and her husband came up to Cleveland for a medical visit. When she was done, I picked up my husband from work and we met for lunch at Don Pablo's. And especially since my in-laws grew up in Youngstown, what could be better for dessert than some yummy Handel's! My brother-in-law was familiar with the store, as he has worked on installing the air conditioning and refrigeration system in every Handel's. As franchises out of Youngstown, I guess they use the same Youngstown firm every time. Here's my great sister-in-law with her loving nieces! Oh, and Lutheran Lucy, this is the sister-in-law who also Loves Lucy. Notice the red hair color!

Then I had to buy tights and ballet shoes for Wildchild, who is taking ballet this year. We had to drive to downtown Craphole Elyria, which I am going to try to never, ever, do again. The traffic is aggravating, the lights are annoying; it was just a pain. But aren't these ballet shoes so cuuuuuuute?

And speaking of ballet, after reading my post about the book Ballet Shoes, a (currently) anonymous blog reader and member of my church loaned me these three books to read to my daughters. I'm looking forward to it, and very thankful for the loan!

Fortunately, I have no place to go tomorrow, so we can really dive into the schoolwork. Not that I haven't been taking advantage of all the time in the car. The Scientist read all of Island of the Blue Dolphins today during our trips around town!

Family Doings

Saturday evening was the first of my youngest daughter's interclass "meets" in gymnastics. She did well and had fun. They were "judged" based on their own performance, not ranked against others. She got red ribbons (second best) in bars, balance beam and floor, and a blue ribbon (best) in "vault," which for her skill group actually consists of running up to a little trampoline at full speed and jumping off of it. Guess they have to start somewhere! I'm throwing in some pictures, one of which was taken after the event. She'll have another "meet" again near the end of May.

The gym where she takes classes is also where many of the high-level gymnasts in the area train. One of the owners of the gym coaches the Magnificat High School girls' gymnastic team, which did very well again this year. Sometimes when my daughter is taking classes, some of the older girls are practicing as well, and it is fun to watch the more complicated moves!

My husband and I were not feeling our best yesterday, but Gino did build a fire last night in our fire bowl/dish/pit. It was our first one this year. I look forward to making lots of yummy hot dogs and s'mores! Last night we had delivery pizza around the fire. Like I said, we weren't feeling our best! :) We're cooking hot dogs tonight. I can't wait! It's been such a beautiful day!

Wrapping Things Up

We have some end-of-school-year stuff to take care of. I'm re-registering my youngest daughter with Brownies and I'm doing it differently this year. They have an "optional" section at the bottom for ethnicity, and in the case of adult registrants (leaders and such) highest education received as well. I left it blank last year, since it says it is optional and I object to ethnic "quotas." Well, being the leader of my other daughter's troop, I was very irked when I got copies of our registration forms back for troop records and found that the area registrar had filled that section out for us! Hmmm. Not very optional then, is it? So this year I'm writing across the whole box in big letters "I Choose Not to Fill Out This Section." I can't see how checking a box stops discrimination, which I presume is the reasoning behind this. And I would like to know how someone who doesn't know me from Adam can ascertain my ethnic background and education level.

As far as my older daughter's troop, of which I am the leader, I have no idea how that is going to go. It was a difficult year for me. I became a leader by default, in mid-September or so, because what was supposed to happen troop-wise fell through and if my daughter was going to be in a troop, I was going to have to lead it. This year we had few girls and little money. I also had to deal at times with some modern girl attitude, which basically seems to be "It's all about me." I'm sure a lot of you have seen these shirts in stores with slogans like "It's funny how you think I'm listening." Uh-huh, that makes me real enthusiastic to share and teach things. Not that I didn't honestly try my best. It just made it discouraging at times, wondering if it made a difference.

My youngest daughter is also in gymnastics, and this year for the first time, she's learned simple "routines" and will participate in end-of-year "competitions" with other girls her level. No judging yet, just award certificates. She's only seven. I'll post some pictures after the events. She enjoys gymnastics, and I'm glad she's getting the opportunity to take classes. She's very active and she'd rather be climbing and jumping and moving around than anything else. I'd like to try to get her into ballet also, if not this summer than next fall.

Ironically, whilst I was complaining above about people filling things out for me that I don't want filled out, my husband IM'd me a personality test: Machiavelli personality test. I scored as a high Machiavelli, not surprising for an Evil Genius, although I was not overwhelmingly high. It was interesting how a Christian worldview slants the test both ways. On the one hand, we know we are not to lie and cut corners to get ahead. On the other hand, we know that people are not naturally good and kind!