Dancing With 2 Left Feet

It has been absolutely CRAZY around here lately.  My afternoons are COMPLETELY full (and then some) with picking up, dropping off, encouraging homework, chores, and showers, and trying to get food into my family in a timely manner.  Recently I compared it to a finely choreographed dance.  To really make it flow, however, everyone has to be on their toes.  I am personally genetically predisposed to be a poor dancer, being of Mennonite and Amish heritage.  The rest of my family has similar issues, so typically the After School Activity Dance is stressful.  We're doing ok, but I wouldn't say that we are making any stellar memories at this point in our lives...no time for that!

Sunday afternoon was L's first soccer game.  They did fairly well, for only having 2 practices with their coach ahead of time.  L is the tallest on her team by an inch or two.  She also scored the first goal of the game!  Ok, that was a pretty stellar memory.

L had her first piano lesson of the year on Monday.  Her teacher was impressed that she practiced over the summer.  (Hooray, score one point for good parenting!)  J also had an orthodontist appointment, at which we were informed that the braces come off at the next visit.  She is thrilled.

Yesterday afternoon, J had her first away soccer game.  The bus left their school at 1 PM, meaning that she lost a good segment of classroom time, for which she had make up work to do last evening.  They won their game, but didn't arrive back in town until after 6 PM, which gave her precious little time to do homework, eat dinner and get to bed.  It was after 10 when she got there, and I was already in bed by then!

The garden is winding down, thank goodness.  On Monday, Mom and I dug the root crops:  potatoes, carrots, parsnips and beets.  We still have sweet potatoes to dig.  I have 5 beds ready to cover with leaves to "sleep" for the winter.  The potatoes did not do so well this year.  They were very healthy, but quite small and the quantity was fairly low.  I did plant potatoes from last year, so we actually came out ahead.  Perhaps it's time to buy new seed potatoes for next year?  The carrots did quite well.  This one has 8 "legs", so we've named it the Octopus.

 

We got quite a bit of rain toward the end of last week, so things are greening up again, and my rainwater cistern is filled to the brim.  The nights have been cool since then, and the days are extremely pleasant.  Most mornings look like this:

That's about it for now.  J has another soccer game this week, L has another soccer practice, we have parent/teacher conferences at the Middle School, and JP has another checkup with his Ophthalmologist.  Must.  Keep.  Going.