Giong Out

We are not the people to sit by if you want to eat a calm, relaxing dinner. We go out for dinner two or three times a week. Not because I am working now, but because I don't like to cook. So we go out to eat and keep hoping that it will get easier. Ray says almost every time that he is never going to go out to eat with the kids again because it isn't very enjoyable at all. Most of the time it is Colton and I taking the kids out anyway since Ray works late. It used to be that Brayden wasn't very well behaved and couldn't keep still. Now he is usually well-behaved, but Brookelyn is loud and dramatic. For example, she ran out of apple juice so she started crying. Within seconds she had slid to the ground under the table to cry loudly because of the apple juice tragedy. Moments later she had recovered, but Daddy left the table and didn't bring her with him. She followed him a short distance and then fell to the ground and cried. Sasha is usually very well-behaved, but she is loud. She has no sense of using an indoor voice when she needs to tell us something. There is no question that people look at us when we are out to dinner. I usually don't make contact with anyone in the restaurant and pretend they don't notice us. Even if I can feel their stares. My poor older son does not enjoy going out with us. Ever. He goes because he wants to eat and knows I don't want to bring them out on my own for dinner. I don't mind doing it unless I have been at work all day. Then I am tired and love when he comes. So I decide every time we eat out whether I am going to eat or whether I am going to do the million tricks moms do to keep them quiet so others can enjoy their dinners. I always used to try to keep them quiet. Lately I am tired and hungry and figure people should not go to a family restaurant if they don't want to hear kids be kids. So be warned. If you see us in a restaurant, keep moving.

I have a job

A couple of months ago the owner of the Mont#ssori school that Brayden, Brookelyn and Sasha attend asked me if I wanted to come back to work as the director of the school. I had worked there for almost nine years when Dakota and Colton were younger and both had gone through eighth grade there. It is a great school. I had been volunteering there and had been the PTO president for five years, but hadn't thought about going back. She offered to let me work three or four days a week. How great is that?! It is the perfect job for me. I drop off my kids in each of their classes and then start working and pick them up as soon as I get off. I was actually told I could work much shorter hours then I am working now, but I have a hard time leaving every day because there is so much to do all of the time. The hours fly by every day. I really, really like the job. I repainted my office and added a ton of art work all over, which I love. I get to spend time with the teachers and parents and I see my kids all of the time. Brayden walks by my desk on his way to cooking class or computer class and I stop in to see Brookelyn fairly often. I can't let Sasha see me yet during the day or she will want me to take her. It will be easier when she gets older. All three really like school.
I am exhausted though. I still have all of the errands and chores I used to have, but none of the time to get it done. My house is usually a mess and I never sit down. Really. I go to bed really late and get up early. I practically lived at the school the weekend before school started getting it ready and have spent many evenings there for Back to School Nights for elementary students or my kids. I have also had to go to Colton's school a few times for Back to School Night, College Night and a meeting with his high school counselor about colleges. I have a crazy schedule. I started a few days before I brought Dakota to Chicago to college. Did I say I am tired? I am tired.
I am happy though, and so far, if I let go of being upset about the way the house looks, things are really good. I am posting less, which is a bummer. I am really happy that my little ones get to go to a private school that I am at since right now the public schools around here are really struggling because of all of the cuts. I am trying to make sure I am still paying attention to my kids in the morning and after I pick them up in the afternoon. I just started taking lunch breaks last week because I was trying to get things organized at work. Now that I am taking lunchbreaks, I try to run errands during them. My refrigerator is pretty bare right now. Ray has been doing most of the packing of lunches, which is great. I do not like making lunches. Speaking of lunches, I better go make tomorrow's. Ray is out and it looks like it is my turn...