What's going on??

Bottom line: Having two kids and working is really, really hard!

It's really, really, really hard!

Honestly, trying it makes me absolutely marvel at how well my mom managed it (by herself for many years), without giving the slightest impression that she might be hard-pressed, even adding all the "finishing touches" like little notes in our lunch boxes and breakfast in bed on special days ... What a saint!

Well, I may not be THAT good, but I have to say I think I've done a pretty awesome job of making time for lots of work AND lots of fun over the past month or so. Of course, I have not managed to find time for work, fun, and blogging about the work/fun ... or sleep. I haven't found much time for that either {sigh} So, I'll try my best to catch every body up our happenings:

First off, Cate has made a HUGE turn around at school since the last post. While there were some times there near the beginning where she almost threw such a fit that I caved, cancelled classes, and stayed home with her, I didn't. I knew we were in a power struggle, and I knew I needed to win it (Thanks, Dr. Phil!). I tell you, that man knows what he is talking about! One day Cate just woke up and decided she would go without throwing a fit. The next time she woke up and decided she would go and be happy about it. And before I knew it, she was racing to the door with her backpack and her princess water bottle, eager to see her new friends. WOOO HOOOOO! She loves going to school now, and I am so happy that her teachers had the patience to work through this with us, and to read "Mommies Always Come Back" over and over again to her until she got the point :)

One funny side note, though: I had planned on leaving Cate at school until about 5 on Tuesdays and Thursdays so that I could stay on campus and get work done. However, a lot of the parents pick up at 3 instead of 5. So, for a while even though Cate was o.k. going to school, she would see the parents picking up their kids at 3 and start panicking. She kept telling her teachers, "My mommys'posed to be here," in this sassy little tone that said she had me on a curfew and I was skating on thin ice. We all decided it would be best if I just didn't break curfew for a while.

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Max continues to be a wonder to behold! I had the pleasure of going and helping out in his class the other day & meeting some of his new friends. It was so fun seeing him "in his element". I also took pictures of all the kids with their 5th grade reading buddies. Max LOVES his reading buddy, Malik! Malik won Max over on the very first day when he told him he liked rap music and announced to all the other kids that he (Malik) had the coolest reading buddy of them all.

Speaking of music, Max has always been really into his music, but he's been having quite the musical awakening lately! He's coming home every day asking me to download new songs for his ipod. He got off the bus the other day and told me he couldn't wait to download Beethoven's symphony 5 and symphony 7 (wow!) I'll have to write a personal thank you note to his music teacher for that one! :D He's so into Guitar Hero and Rock Band, too, that I'm considering starting him in either piano or guitar lessons. Not sure which yet, but I do think he's ready to start something like this and stick with it ... I hope so, anyway.

Jake finally got his long-awaited sound studio down in our basement & has been like a kid with a new toy as far as that goes. He's also been super awesome about taking Max to school every morning, and he and Max are doing Cub Scouts together. I can't wait until their first camp out!! ... Jake can. ;D

Jake also continues to like his job at the Trust Company of Knoxville. We both do, actually. TCK is always sponsoring these swank events around town and asking us to go (and sometimes even fill a table with our friends!). It has gotten even better recently, though, because they are now reimbursing for baby sitting for these events. As you can imagine, Jake and I are ALL OVER that one! We are designating ourselves the official Trust Company representatives for all TCK sponsored events ... we'll even stay late if need be!

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I have a bunch of pics from the last month or so to upload, but no time for that now ... stay tuned!

xoxo

Sarah