Autumn closing in

I had my annual back to school dream last night, so I guess it's official. It was fourth block, the first day of school and I had a College Prep class. It was a basement classroom with no windows. There were posts and a cabinet between the front of the room and the desks, so I couldn't see several of the seats from where ever I was standing. I hadn't assigned seats, kids were coming and going, and I had to scrounge around the room for well-worn materials.

The reality is that I have two low level classes with 20 and 25 students each. I usually have between ten and fifteen students in a class like that. My dream refers to my fourth block CP class because after those two Standards classes, I'll be worn down and not as on top of things as I should be. I also refers to the fact that I change classrooms throughout the day adds to my fatigue and confusion. It's going to be a long year.

Anna finally got her senior portraits done today. I don't think they were great, but they're done. I can't say I'm looking forward to seniors at school and a senior at home. Again, it's going to be a long year.

I guess it could be worse. I could have freshmen.

Twere with a defeated joy

I survived a day of back to school shopping with all three of my kids today. Everybody got shoes, and the boys got most of their clothes. Of course Anna didn't find anything she liked. There is a trip to American Eagle in our future for her. Then we hit Staples for the school supplies, McDonalds for lunch and then we headed home. It pretty much wiped me out physically and financially. I just realized, however, that this may well be our last en masse back to school shopping trip. I'm not sure if I should celebrate or cry.

...."Twere with a defeated joy-
with an auspicious and one dropping eye...
In equal scale weighing delight and dole..."

Sorry, I can never resist a little Hamlet.

The Salem County Fair

Last night George, Conor, Sean and I went to the Salem County Fair. Anna stayed home to veg on the computer. I think it has been five or six years since we last went to the fair. It's good to see that some things haven't yet changed. George won the boys prizes with his basketball skills. Sean fed the goats and is apparently the next horse whisperer. Two horses came up to him and paid him all kinds of attention. We saw cows, horses, bunnies and sheep. There were restored tractors and cars. Afterwards we had burgers and ice cream at Richmonds. It was a real Salem County experience.

Luckily, George's business trip to California that was scheduled for today was cancelled. George has some real airplane issues and I can only imagine what would happen if he had gone to the airport this morning to find the mess created by these terrorist threats. His trip has been rescheduled for next week in Atlanta.

I would have posted more in July, but the entire month was taken up with doctor, dental, etc appointments. It was very boring to say the least. So far August has been relaxing. I have been logging lots of "on the bank" time watching Sean swim and take the raft in the river. I'm trying to resist the back to school crush/rush and focus on enjoying these last couple of weeks.

On the mend

Lilly went to se Dr. Rider last night and he put her on two weeks of antibiotics to ward off infection. Her nose still looks a little angry, but no surgery necessary. Whew!

We had a storm on Tuesday and it brought a huge limb down on my new Mazda 5. :( The hood is crushed. I couldn't post pictures, too sad. George is taking it in for an estimate today.

Oh my Goodness!

Lilly's last week has not been so good. Last Sunday I noticed a bump on her nose. Monday we went to see Dr. Rider and he said it was probably a bug/spider bite or bee sting. Since Lilly pokes her nose just everywhere, this didn't suprise me. He said they can be quite serious and prescribed an antibiotic and something for the swelling. By Friday, it had started to swell more. On Saturday we were back to Dr. Rider. It had abscessed. He said to put hot compresses on it and it would drain. Well, that is how we spent our weekend. She was a good girl about the whole thing. Today she seems to be back to her sprightly self and the swelling is almost gone. This is good because Dr. said that if it swelled back up he would have to operate to find whatever it was in there that was causing the abscess. So we are hoping for the best.

Chloe was very concerned and kept a close check on her. She has finally decided to let Lilly cuddle with her.

Getting in the Groove

It seems with vacation and the fourth, I haven't had time to decompress and ease into a summertime groove. Anna is catching up with friends with sleepovers. Conor is out with his friends, skateboarding and sleeping over. Sean is keeping busy with his various projects such as taking pictures like the one above of our July 4th fireworks display. George is busy trying to round up as much business as he can for Dragonfly before he starts his new job. He is very excited about that.
July is busy with doctor and dentist appointments, etc.. So I'm busy shuffling everyone to where they need to be and keeping track of it all. Hopefully after the next two weeks, things will slow down.

The Fourth of July

Happy 4th everybody! We are having a barbeque with Ginny and Bill to celebrate and possibly some fireworks later if the weather cooperates. The boys got an early start last night. The river is still a mess from the floods last week. We had a brief but severe storm Sunday night that did a lot of tree damage. It is a hot and steamy fourth here, hope yours is a good one.

Vacation Pictures

I wish I could have posted some pictures of the older kids, but they would have no part of it.

The Manogue Family Vacation

We spent the last week in Salvo, NC. The weather was cloudy, but since the rest of the east coast got pounded we were in a good spot. Anna took her friend, Sarah, and Conor took his friend, Damien, so we had 5 kids total. They all got along and had a good time. Sean spent almost the whole time in the pool.
George went fishing on the beach and at a spot he found sound-side. Few fish were caught, but many were fed. He enjoyed himself anyway. The highlight of my trip was spending an entire afternoon on the beach ALONE. I finished the book I was reading and stared out at the waves.
Hatteras Island is a little piece of heaven on earth.