Severely behind

Well, it has been over a month since I posted something.  Pathetic, Kelly, just pathetic.  September was a busy month for us.

Dance started for Morgan on August 29th.  She enrolled in 6 classes this year - ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, hip hop, and lyrical.  Everything started except lyrical which starts in January.  The first week in September she auditioned for the Intensive group at the dance studio.  She was 1 of 7 that made it and are now a part of the Junior Intensive Group.  There is also a Senior Intensive Group.  Morgan was very nervous about auditioning (to the point that she was going to back out).  We are so proud of her for going to the auditioning, doing her best, and accepting the offer to be in the group.  It is a big responsibility and adds to her dance class load.  So that took her up to 7 classes for the year.  Can you tell she loves dance and we LOVE our dance studio??

Alex is still fencing.  His summer session finished and his class is now all considered intermediate, beginner intermediate maybe?  He still loves it, so we placed the order for all his fencing gear.  He has class once a week and has attended open fencing a couple times.

Corey is still busy, busy with work.  He was given very short notice that he would have to start going into the new office that they just built.  *whee*  The commute is an hour or more, depending on traffic.  Apparently the area that his office will be in was messed up & had to be completely redone, so Corey and another employee are in temporary spaces.  We don't think he'll have to go in every day.  We are thankful for his job and are just trying to deal with the upheaval that this has created in our family.  We've set up our lives the way they are because of him working from home.  So not only will this "back into the office" move cost us money but means some creative rearranging on our family, mostly me.  Thank goodness the kids are a little older and that helps with our rearranging.

I currently have 2 doula clients and looking for more.  I'm almost finished with the certification process.  I've been networking with our doulas and midwives in the area.  It seems like it is taking a while but I think this is definitely a case of slow & steady.  I don't want to be slammed with clients and not be able to handle it the way I should.  I'm still getting the hang of the paperwork, networking, etc.  So I am good with the pace up to this point.  I have learned something (many somethings!) from each client and each birth.  I absolutely love being apart of such a special time in their lives.  I will continue networking, getting my name out there and working to support women in having the birth that they want to have and making sure they are aware & educated about their choices.

During the month of September, our whole family was cast in a play through our local theatre group.  It is a play written and directed by Beverly Mitchell (who happens to be a friend of our's).  The play is Pinosio and is basically a red-neck version of Pinocchio.  It is great fun!  If you are in the area, you need to come see it.  We are having a wonderful time being in this play together as a family.  It makes things a little busier...but busy I can do when it is FUN!

School is going well.  The kids aren't fighting me as much this year.  Yeah!  We are making progress in all subjects. I need to get some field trips scheduled.  That is something that we haven't done much yet.  We've tried meeting up with friends but somehow that keeps falling apart.  It is rather frustrating for the 3 of us when we get cancelled on or someone is a no-show.  We keep running into someone that can't or won't make plans, someone that will make plans but cancel or not show up, and/or someone that wants to make plans but won't drive anywhere.  I'm willing to do a lot and get the kids & myself to various places to see friends but I won't be the one doing all of the planning or all of the driving,etc.  There has to be some give & take.

Two weeks ago, we had a surprise visit from my dad.  He was in Ohio for some business meetings (from Saudi Arabia) and he had a small window with no meetings.  He was willing to drive down for a visit if we didn't have plans.  Luckily we didn't so we got to have a nice, albeit, short visit.  We've been in middle TN for 5 years and my dad was our first overnight adult guest.  Morgan was very sweet and let Grandpa have her room for his visit.