Saturday, September 02, 2006

Happy Ash, House stuff and a break

Ashley is feeling much better. I think she was just having a few off days. She has come home from school happy and excited to talk about what she did all day and all the friends that she's made. We made birthday invitations on Thursday evening and I was just thrilled to hear her beg me to allow her to invite more friends. I let her invite 8 from her new school and she has 3 from her old school that HAVE to be there. 8 wasn't enough, she wanted more! That made me feel so much better about how she's adjusting. Yesterday, a girl from school called her and invited Ash to come swim at her house, they had just got a new slide for their pool. We were actually on the road to Nana and Big Daddy's, so we had to pass this time. I'm sure there will be plenty more opportunities.

We're getting more and more settled in to our new home everyday, but that doesn't go without ups and downs. The wall paper in the kids bathroom is down, I've textured the wall with a sort of venitian plaster look, and Thursday I primed it. Now all that's left is paint and a wipe of tinted glaze. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't forget the toilet and flooring. lol We're getting there!

Yesterday, I decided to tackle the master shower. The tile looked awful, the caulking and some of the grout needed to be redone so I thought it would be a good idea to get started on it before our trip to Seguin to allow for drying time. Boy did I bite off more than I could chew. I was able to scrape most of the caulking off and then started in on the yucky grout. The dremel worked pretty well, but the more grout I got off, the more trouble I revealed. There is mold and standing water underneath the tile. I ended up getting after it with a hammer. Fun stuff! I knocked out the lower three tiles all the way around and revealed rotting wood, gooey mold and standing water. What a MESS. When I get it all cleaned up, we'll have to call out some professionals, there is no way I can do all this on my own. Our bathroom is a disater area right now. Actually all 4 of the bathrooms are disaster areas. Ugh. I keep reminding myself how fortunate we are to have this place and it makes it all seem so worth while. I really need to keep it all in perspective.

We're spending the weekend at the lake for a MUCH needed break from all the work. When we get home Monday we'll start back in. We'll remove the range top and counter to prepare for the new silestone counter and rangetop that will be installed Tuesday. If we have time (and energy), we'll go ahead and take out the oven/micro. wall unit and install the new one. So many things to do, but for now, I will kick back and enjoy the down time with the fam.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

We're finally moved in!!

So much has happened since my last update! We're all moved in to the new house, and trying to get settled. Today I finished cleaning up the old house, thank GOODNESS! I'm so glad to be done with that, now I can focus on our new home and getting it organized. We have so much to do! The cooktop and counter are going in next Tuesday, and hopefully within the next few weeks we'll get the kitchen floors in, the oven/micro unit in, and the stairs for the deck built. Those are the items at the top of our to do list...and that list is growing everyday!

Alex started school last Monday, he's adjusting fine. He has 6 kids in his class 2 boys and 4 girls. :( Today when I picked him up his teacher told me that he is very advanced and way ahead of the other kids. She says he finishes his work VERY quickly and gets bored easily. She says he should be in Kindergarten. While I'm so proud to hear this, I'm also a little concerned. The whole reason for him being at preschool half days is to be stimulated. It sounds like I might be able to do a better job of stimulating him. I have plenty of learning materials, and social opportunities for him...so why is he at school? I think I've answered my own questions. I think either he needs to be at home, or I need to see about bumping him to private Kinder at the same school (if they will even allow that). Poor guy, so many changes in such a short period of time, I hope I don't screw him up too bad.

Ashley started her 3rd week of school this week and is doing very well. Her GT records were finally transfered over from her old school, which means now they will need to put her in the GT class. Unfortunately, that means she'll have to have another big change. She'll have to leave her new friens in her current class and start all over in a brand new class with a new teacher. I just feel so bad for her. Part of me wants to just forget about the GT class and let her stay put, but on the other hand I know that she will adjust and that this is for the best. She seems a little down lately, which is understandable, but I'm worried about her. She has always been such a people pleaser that I'm afraid she's dealing with too much on her own. She doesn't talk about it, probably because she doesn't want Mark and I to feel bad for the choices we've made for her regarding school. That's my girl, always thinking of everyone but herself. Tomorrow I'm going to speak with the school counselor and see if she can talk to Ash. Maybe it will be easier for her to talk to another adult about what she's feeling, an adult that's a neutral party. I'm going try to get her to talk to me some this afternoon. I just hate that I don't know what my own daughter is feeling.