Weekly Preview and Review

I decided it would be better for Emily to wait and take the ACT in December, with a lot more preparation. So, she is NOT doing that today.

Saw David a couple times this week - once at karate and once at his work. He is doing very well at work and loves working with customers. Can you believe it?

Emily loved the college night. Talking to the college representatives about their programs really helped her visualize what she might do. She is interested in photography and writing.

10/27 Sunday - Church
Monday - Work 4, Karate
Tuesday - Work 4
Wednesday - Work 4, Church
Thursday - Work 4, Writing Class, Karate, Trick or Treat, Bob off
Friday - Work 4, NaNoWriMo begins, Fall Sports Awards night
Saturday - Bob works

Weekly Preview and Review

Soccer is over, except that James' team has a parent vs. player scrimmage Tuesday night. We aren't sure if we will go to that or not.

Suzy and I have volunteered in the church nursery twice, but we have had no children come in either time. Hope we do soon!

10/20 Sunday - Church
Monday - Work 4, Karate
Tuesday - Work 4, Scrimmage?
Wednesday - Work 4, Church
Thursday - Work 4, Writing Class, Karate, College Fair (E)
Friday - Work 4, Co-op
Saturday - ACT (E)

Emily has a week focused on the future, with a college fair on Thursday and the ACT on Saturday. I expect that the ACT will be difficult for her and this will be a "practice" event for her rather than scores that will get her into college. She will take it again, maybe in December, maybe early next year. And again, if needed.

Weekly Preview and Review

James went away for the weekend for a Royal Rangers campout. Emily had TFC all day on Saturday. Suzy spent the night at a friend's house Saturday and had her last soccer game earlier in the day. Bob had lunch with David on Saturday. I went to dinner with friends and then watched Shakespeare on DVD. Got the kids all back (except David whom we miss!) by early afternoon on Sunday, then Bob and I went to the massage school for therapeutic massage. Nothing like it!

10/13 Sunday - Church, Massage (LB)
Monday - Work 4, Karate
Tuesday - Work 4, Soccer-Away (J)
Wednesday - Work 4, Church
Thursday - Work 4, Writing Class, Karate
Friday - Work 4
Saturday - TFC (E)

This is a fairly empty week for us- just the regular commitments and James' last soccer game.

Weekly Review and Preview

The highlight of last week was our field trip to GVSU Shakespeare Festival and ArtPrize. Wow! The play was really well-acted by most of the characters, which included a couple seasoned actors as well as as large number of college students. Much Ado About Nothing is humorous and entertaining and even our Shakespeare newbies enjoyed it. Afterwards the audience gathered for a box lunch. The actors always come in to mingle with the student attendees. What fun to discuss sword fight choreography and Shakespearean villains with these young people! Then we headed to ArtPrize with only a vague idea of where to go. We started at DeVos Hall and then walked to the B.O.B. We probably saw a couple hundred works of art, probably only 15% of the art on display throughout the city. But we were amazed!

Because of this field trip, I did not have writing class this week and we also missed karate that day.

10/6 Sunday - Church
Monday - Work 4, Karate
Tuesday - Work 4, Soccer (EJS)
Wednesday - Work 4, Church
Thursday - Work 4, Writing Class, Karate
Friday - Work 4, Co-op, Campout (J)
Saturday - Soccer - LAST DAY (ES), Campout (J), TFC (E)

Suzy and I volunteered in the church nursery today for the first time. No kids showed up. I think that's sort of normal, but hopefully more kids will be there next time. We will go in again in two weeks. Suzy really wants to work with kids. Since no one was there but us, we sorted all the toys and tossed out some broken things.

This week is the last week of soccer for the girls and James will be done next week. OH, I am SOO happy about that. Thirteen straight years of fall and spring soccer is wearing me down. Suzy is a soccer whiz, however, so I won't be taking a break anytime soon.

James is going to the fall Royal Rangers campout this weekend, and he invited a friend to go along. He LOVES the campouts. Emily has a TFC concert on Saturday which will take her away for most of the day.

Other than that, it's a week with nothing out of the ordinary - just the regular soccer, karate, writing class, co-op, etc.... No field trips, park days, extra meetings, or anything of that sort. At least not that I know of yet. I do hope to get together with friends one evening.

Weekly Preview and Review

So, somehow I skipped a week! I didn't even notice that until this morning. So, last week was BUSY and the week before not quite as much.

Lots of soccer for all three kids.
Writing classes began and we now have two sessions completed.
David is moved into his dorm and he now has a car and a job. He's almost like a real adult. LOL
I am working steadily 20-25 hours per week.
The house is a wreck most of the time and I just end up walking past anything that isn't on the regular chore rotation.
We got to spend Sunday with Mom and Dad. We helped empty out the den and then convert it to their new bedroom by moving some furniture. James and Suzy did some painting and then we relaxed for a while. What a lovely day it was too!

9/29 Sunday - Drive to GR to help Mom and Dad
Monday - Work 5, Karate, Soccer Game (J)
Tuesday - Work 5, Soccer (EJS)
Wednesday - Work 5, Church
Thursday - Field trip at GVSU, karate?
Friday - Work 5, Soccer Game (J), Soccer Bonfire (J)
Saturday - Soccer (EJS), 5K (L), Book Club (L), Teen Bonfire (JE)

I am heading up a field trip to Grand Valley State University to see Much Ado about Nothing. Can't wait! We hope to also see some ArtPrize exhibits afterward.

Otherwise we are settling in to life without David here, doing our normal lessons, soccer, karate, etc...

This upcoming weekend promises to be another very full and enjoyable one - but that has the disadvantage of NO DOWN TIME to speak of. Oh well. Maybe we will have teacher inservice day next Monday the 7th.

Weekly Preview and Review

The Color Run was a blast! I highly recommend it, even if you don't "run". Register early for a good deal. Our tickets were $20 and the final price was $50. We got splattered with color, ran and walked and even danced. What fun!

Emily's first Teens for Christ concert was great. A spaghetti fundraiser dinner preceded it. Bob, James, Suzy, and I all went.

David is test-driving a used Saturn today. We shall see if it works out for him.

Soccer is well underway. Life gets way too busy when it's on, but the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

9/8 Sunday - Church, Outing with Friends
Monday - Work 5, Karate, Soccer Game (J-away)
Tuesday - Work 5, Soccer (ES)
Wednesday - Work 5, Church
Thursday - Work 1, Karate, Writing Classes Begin, Graduation Meeting
Friday - Work 4, Soccer Game (J-away), Park Day
Saturday - Soccer (EJS)

Writing classes begin this week.

Weekly Preview and Review

Somehow posting last week just completely slipped my mind! So, what have the Wagner been doing for 2 weeks?

That last week of summer slid by way too fast. We had hoped to get to Lake Huron one last time, but the weather didn't cooperate. We enjoyed a week with few places to go.

James has been having soccer practice all through August and this past week were his first two games. He, as an 8th grader on a varsity team, did not get much playing time. I hope that increases, but his team is very large. Most of his games are on Monday and Friday evenings with optional practices on Saturday afternoons.

Suzy and Emily both started soccer practices last week. They are playing this year for a "micro" recreational league which means small teams and an "everyone plays" philosophy. I had actually wanted Suzy to play for a more competitive all-girls team this year, but that didn't work out. Since Emily wasn't planning to play soccer in the fall (varsity girls play in the spring), this was an opportunity for her to gain more skill. Their games are all on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings. No AYSO for us this year - the first time in 12 years or so!

We were promoted to a new belt level at karate last week - Red 1Gold. We are on track to test for black belt in February 2015, if we keep on training.

The kids are going back to the same church on Wednesday nights, though we strongly considered the possibility of doing Wednesdays at the same church where we attend on Sundays. James wanted to finish out one more year at Royal Rangers so that's our plan - one more year at Faith Tabernacle.

9/8 Sunday - Church
Monday - Work 4, Karate, Soccer Game (J)
Tuesday - Work 4, Soccer (ES)
Wednesday - Work 4, Church
Thursday - Work 4, Karate
Friday - Work 4, Soccer Game & Pix (J), Co-op
Saturday - Color Run (LS), Concert (E), Benefit Dinner

This week Suzy and I (and possibly Emily) are running in a 5K Color Run with some friends. We wear white and everyone shoots colored powder at us while we run (or walk).

David got a new job at Office Depot and he will be training this week. He is a "customer service specialist" in name and will be known there as "the tech guy" according to my friend who also works there. He is overlapping his last two weeks at Kroger. Of course, THIS week is the first time he has gotten anywhere near his promised 28 hours on the schedule at Kroger. He gave his notice there on Friday. He will move in at college on the 25th. David and I are still sharing a car, but it is now a priority for him to purchase one in the next couple weeks.

Co-op starts this week and my writing classes will start next week. EXCITING!

Weekly Preview and Review

Cousin Camp was a blast! This was also our Mellon "family picnic" but it looked much different than in previous years. Oh well. The family is changing too. David was sadly unable to join Cousin Camp this year as he had to work Sat and Sun. He also worked Wednesday and that was all.

VBS was nice. I was in charge of crafts. Since I only had each group for about 10 minutes, we did easy crafts. Emily and Suzy helped me. By the end of the week, it was a struggle to go out again at night.

We went to karate on Monday, but not Thursday. I wanted to take a couple weeks off karate so my body can rest and my mind too. No class on Monday and we will skip again on Thursday. Then Monday is Labor Day, so we won't go again until September 5th, or maybe even Monday the 9th.

8/25 Sunday - Cousin Camp, Errands at Mall
Monday - Work 4, Soccer Practice (J)
Tuesday - Work 4, Co-op orientation
Wednesday - Work 4
Thursday - Work 4
Friday - Work 4, Soccer Practice (J),
Saturday - Soccer Practice (J)?, Homeschool Picnic?

This is a nice empty week for our last week of summer. Hopefully we can make time to get together with friends, go swimming once or twice and do a few other things that are summery. I also plan to get my first month of lessons planned out as well as work my regular hours.

Suzy and Emily will start soccer next week.