Yeah, I know… no real excuses from me. Just to update…
Amy has been taking classes for most of the summer. First, a week-long technology class and then a month-long graduate course for her re-certification. Now that her classes are over(she aced both of them), school is just around the corner. She has been spending the last few days trying to get her room ready for her new class of little munchkins.
Victoria has been doing well. She has already completed all of her summer homework, which is better than I could have done. She also has the oppourtunity to go to Italy in the Spring with a group of AP students. I was all gung-ho for her to go until we saw the cost and with the recent terror upheavals overseas. In my heart, I still believe we should send her if she still wanted to go, but it is a family decision that we have not made as of yet. She hasn’t really had much of a summer break this year as she’s been watching the boys everday while I’m at work and Amy’s in class. I’ve got to find some way to make it up to her… believe me, that many weeks straight having to put up with Will and Brian for that long can sap the life out of even the most dedicated person. Did I mention that she got her Driver’s permit over the summer? So, I’ve been trying to get her in the car at least 3 or 4 times a week. She has improved quite a bit since her first time out.
Will is going to be 5 this Friday. It’s really hard to believe that he is that old already. Of course, if you ask him, he’d probably think differently. Will definitely has a unique personality, and depending on his mood, he can either be quite the charmer – or quite the demon. Right now, Will’s greatest obsession is the xbox. He eats, drinks, and sleeps xbox – or more precisely, anything Star Wars that runs on the xbox. Now don’t get me wrong, this summer has been full of Ty the Tasmanian Tiger(1 and 2), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ultimate Spiderman, and Madagascar (All xbox games). But when it comes down to it, nothing beats Lego Star Wars. Brian and Will are re-playing this game from the beginning(again) to see if they can unlock the 2 pesky characters that they couldn’t get last time.(I think one of them may be Vader)
Brian is turning into a rather tall, rather energetic, health nut. I think he’s eager to get back to school just so he can race the other kids in class again. He doesn’t care for sweets and loves apples and bananas and plums. He claims they make him faster. We all went to the pool at the Maison yesterday, and I was very proud of Brian’s progress when it came to swimming. He must be practicing really hard in the bathtub!
Despite all of the extra work hours I’ve had to put in this summer(another subject entirely), I’ve tried very hard to spend more time with the kids this summer. It hasn’t quite gone the way I wanted, but I can honestly say that I have noticed more growth in all of my children this year more than any other. Not sure what that means… maybe I’m just getting more reflective… or maybe I’m turning into an old sap… heh, wouldn’t that be something?
So my car died this summer. Not quite sure what had happened to it. All we know is that if rained, the check ‘engine light’ would turn on and the car couldn’t go over 45 MPH. When it was dry, it ran as smooth as ever. But no one could find the root problem, so we decided to trade it in(on a clear day) for another. I ended up getting a great deal on a (used)2006 Dodge Stratus. I’ve had the car for a week now and am extremely happy.
On the work front, I’m trying to teach myself python. I figure it will help me with some repetitive sysadmin tasks that I want to automate. The fact that it is cross-platform, fairly easy to learn, powerful and free help with my decision making. I’m hoping I can put it to good use on both my *nix and windows servers. My friend and Co-Worker Vic has come back from his tour of duty overseas. Some of the stories he brought back are truly amazing. I’m just glad he’s home safe.
OK this has gone on long enough. I’ll try to keep the posts more frequent and less lengthy.
Tags: Amy-and-David, Brian, kids, Victoria, Will
Leave a Reply