New Normal

Okay, I admit it. I was excited for Kate to start back into school and was hoping that we would quickly find a happy routine. That has been a pipe dream, but despite the lack of routine, we have had some good moments lately.

First, Kate has been loving first grade. She is making friends (in fact, she recently reported that a girl and her were friends based on the following observation: "She looked at me like she wanted to be friends.") and enjoying her schoolwork. Her teacher seems very organized and expects a lot of the kids, which I appreciate. Kate brings home a folder full of homework for the week every Monday, and she completes all of it on Monday and Tuesday so she can relax on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I laugh a little because that is exactly how I would do it.

Canning season has begun. Janet and I bottled 18 jars of crushed tomatoes and 34 jars of pears this week, with no end in sight. I have to admit that I am not quite in touch with my "badass pioneer" self this year and am doing the work somewhat begrudgingly. Fortunately Janet is keeping me motivated.

We spent last Friday in Logan: Liza and I ran the Top of Utah half marathon. More on that later since my pictures are out of order.

After the race, we went to see the Murray's. Rose has chickens- really excellent chickens, and my kids were thrilled.

Bruce and Jeff had enough chicken talk and girl gossip and went kayaking instead.

The race was, to put in mildly, not my favorite. I have been nursing a sore ankle for a few weeks, and my training had consisted of one 10-miler and one 5-miler only in the three weeks prior to the race. Toss in a terrible diet and a crappy night's sleep, and it was not the recipe for my fastest race ever. The one bright note was that Liza was running "easy" since she has the Pocatello Marathon tomorrow, so we ran the first 12 miles together. Mile 13 was where I completely ran out of gas and she sprinted easily to the finish line. Kumbaya.

Pre-race with Liza and Susan.

My sub-par performance has really lit a fire under me to have a good race the first week of November, so at least I'm motivated now.

Kate started gymnastics and dance this week, and Kiki starts dance on Tuesday. She is so excited that she refuses to take off her leotard, so she may be kind of stinky by the time dance class actually begins.

I am up to 26 piano students. I am teaching 5 mornings a week and 3 afternoons a week. I am not super thrilled about that, but I see the lack of pianists in the world, and I do feel an obligation to pay it forward a little. I did manage to arrange my schedule so that I have a break every morning to get Kate to school, so hopefully that helps reduce the craziness. When Kate was in kindergarten I had one day where we had nothing- no lessons for either of us- and it was our "play day." That is non-existent this year, and I am trying to accept that this level of busy-ness is just how my life is going to be from now on.