2 Pirates and a Princess

The Buddy Walk was great. It seems like people get there earlier every year, as we realize that there is so much fun before the walk too. We all arrived around 11:20 - Laura and N parked behind us, and my parents of course parked somewhere else. Met up, got our t-shirts and put on our bandanas. Then it was time to wander the festivities and say hi to friends.



I took Sofia to watch the show: Rachel Coleman from Signing Time was the special guest. Sofia had a blast watching and signing along:

 The walk itself was fine. We did bring the wheelchair (Sofia scream "Yeah! Purple Chair!" when I took it out of the garage), so she rode most of the time. Travis pulled the wagon along, but Lilie actually walked a lot. The wagon was mostly used for lugging the backpacks and snacks.

My parents kind of kept to themselves, but we had a nice time. We missed having the Burg family with us; hopefully they will be back again next year (they had other commitments this time).

After the walk, we relaxed and had our picnic and listened to the Ayla Brown concert. We were sitting near the snack table, and David knew one of the organizers, from the Learning Program (Sofia's "reading school"). So when it was time to clean up, somehow we managed to walk away with 3 boxes of 50 snack packs of potato chips and 2 boxes of popcorn! (Boy, the wagon was REALLY useful for that!).













I fell asleep in the car on the way home, and then back to sleep until 7pm! David said he tried to wake me and couldn't.

So it was a late evening, but productive. David and I booked our December vacation!

We're going to Six Flags Great Escape in Lake George NY for 3 nights. Then down to my uncle's house for Christmas day, and then into New York city for a few days.

We had thought that Sam would be going to Israel with Prozdor, but when I told him about the trip, he said he'd rather come with us! As long as he wants to travel with us, I want him with us.

Monday was Columbus Day, and the public schools were closed, but MWJDS not only had school, but had "Bring a Friend To School Day" and Open House. It was really successful, even with very little advance planning. We had 7 families come look at the school.

Micah had to go to school in the morning. Sam was supposed to volunteer all day in the kindergarten class, earning some of his Community Service hours for high school. Of course, he decided to sleep late, so he went in with me and Sofia at 1:00.

Work has been busy but good. I have so many different roles I play at school: I'm the WebMaster, technologist, office support, Torah reading teacher, Tefillah helper. It's fun. We're working hard to get ready for the Gala in December. We're also upgrading our main database; I had a couple of conference calls about it this week. It's gonna be really cool. (I'm such a geek). And we've had some problems with the internet connectivity in many of the classrooms, so I've been trying to work on that, too.

Monday after school, Micah was supposed to have a soccer game. Unfortunately, he had his finger in a metal brace (because it was injured on Friday), and the ref wouldn't let him play. The metal was apparently a possible danger. Poor kid was bummed, but too afraid of getting the finger hurt to take off the brace.

Tuesday I took Micah for an x-ray at lunchtime. Fortunately, the finger does not appear to be broken. But he still couldn't play baseball on Tuesday afternoon. Which, for me, was lovely and relaxing, but was a bummer for him.

Wednesday was a long day. Work, I was supposed to have Mazal Tots (the preschool program I run), but no kids showed up. Oh well ;) After school, Sofia had swimming. Micah couldn't do gymnastics, so at least he got to soccer practice a little earlier (usually he's late on Wednesdays). I found him a ride home, and took Sofia home for Sam to feed her dinner and put her to bed.

Then I raced to Sam's high school for Open House. Whew! That was wild. I was a little late, so I missed the introduction, and instead went directly to the Learning Center. His LC teacher printed me a schedule, and then I had to go to each of his classes, in order. They even rang the bell between "periods".

His history teacher is great, apparently one of the best in the school, super nice and glad to have him in class. Sam loves history, and has a 98 average. Then I went to Math. Not thrilled. And Sam is not managing to advocate well for himself yet. He's struggling, and needs help. We're working on it.

Then I had the most lovely conversation with his science teacher. Older gentleman, totally overwhelmed with his workload. He said he's only got about 75 students, but at least 50 of them are on IEPs. And as much as he likes Sam, he thinks Sam should move up to a different class. Sam has a 92 average, and that's with missing two assignments (which he still has the option of making up).  So we're in discussion with the science teacher, the guidance counselor, and the Learning Center teacher, trying to find the best class to move him to.

English was good, too. The students were supposed to write a 4 paragraph paper; Sam instead wrote 3 pages! Both English and History think Sam will not need the supported classes next year. Whew!

Anyway, when I left the Open House, then I headed over to the Gala meeting (which fortunately was at a lovely Mexican restaurant that served margaritas).

Thursday was cool. Micah gets picked up at 6:15 on Thursdays to go to Minyan, but I still had to srive three other girls to school. Acupuncture, then work. And since Micah did not have baseball, I had my new babysitter come pick up Sofia from MWJDS and take her to swimming, and Micah and I went home early! My student came early, too, so he was done by the time Micah's guitar teacher arrived, which was good. I think I should probably make that time change permanent. The whole evening felt so much more relaxed!

Friday, I drove Micah to school, ran some errands, and went to the gym. Shower and then got some decent time in recording Torah and Haftarah tracks for my students. Then the cleaning ladies arrived.

I went upstairs to tell them something about about the bathroom... and slipped.

I landed on the bathroom floor. Fortunately, nothing cracked, but I landed kind of with my underarm and back on the edge of the tub. Ouch.

I'm SO sore now. I think I bruised a rib.

Friday afternoon, babysitter took Sofia to ballet and I took Micah to his soccer game. This time we wrapped his finger with tape, so he could play. Then home for Shabbat and quiet night at home. The boys fell asleep before Sofia!

Today, Reading School for Sofia. Then in the afternoon, Micah had another soccer game. I LOVE his coaches, who are willing to drive him home! Which meant I had an hour to myself. I went to the Natick Open Studios and wandered around the art studios.

Unfortunately, my whole body aches so badly. Ugh.

I got home at the same time as Micah. And now he's out again. His coach took him (along with coach's son and another teammate) to the NE Revolutions game at Gillette Stadium. (He just called and asked if he could sleep over his friend's house!) So I'm home with Sam and Sofia, watchin an Adam Sandler movie... oh joy...