Pre What?

Sending Anthony off to preschool will probably make me cry (I'm a big baby like that, shut up!). It's probably going to make Anthony cry too. That's why this topic has been difficult for he (and I) to deal with. Is it really time to send him off to preschool? Really? REALLY??

I feel ill equipped to deal with this preschool business. 

Pregnancy, labor, and birth? Been there, done that. Twice. Mastered. 

New born, baby, and toddler stages? Self proclaimed professional. 

Preschool? *Crickets chirping*

First it was the denial that it was indeed time to start looking into preschool. Preschool? What's that? Is that the place you send your angelic child off to and they return home to you with a head cold, chickenpox, paint and glue on their brand new shirt, and the bad attitude and boogers they picked up from their naughty classmates? No thank you. I didn't go to preschool and look at me! I'm smart and pretty dang ok. Awesome if you ask me. 

*sigh*

Once I got over my negative preschool attitude the search began. Then the rejection from the first place. Many curse words followed. Then MONTHS of phone tag with the teacher from the second place (see, preschool IS dumb!). Finally paper work, deposit.....we were accepted. Then it was what days? What times? How many of my arms and legs do I owe you!? When's open house? When does he start? When does school end? Ok, now that we got all that figured out, I change my mind. Switch to a different class. This means different days, same time, less money. 

Finalized. Signed in blood. Not really. 

Anthony will be starting preschool at Learning Ladder Preschool at the Methodist church in town. He'll go Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-11:30am. YAY!

GREAT!......Except this will be harder than I thought. Anthony IS NOT excited about this AT ALL. The mere thought of him going to school and leaving me has him in tears. My children are shy and sensitive. We live out in the boonies and they are around me 24/7 with very few playmates. I can't expect them to be as chill and outgoing as other kids who have had more interaction by living in town 2 feet from 100 other neighbor kids. I've got a lot of sweet talking ahead of me. I've pointed out the school and playground and talked about how much fun he'll have with other kids and snack time and craft time and blablabla. I know the first day or so will be hard on him, but I'm certain he'll love it and have a grand time....eventually. He needs it. But because I know he's unhappy about the whole thing and will cry when I take him, I've got to suck up my own tears and be strong for him so he doesn't see me getting all upset and think he REALLY does have a reason to be upset.

LOL

Ugh. 9 in the morning. I have two children to feed breakfast and get ready in a timely manner (that is NOT easy). A horse to trek out to to feed. From start to finish I take an hour to get ready (not bad, ehh?). We'll have to leave by 8:35. What time does this circus have to start in the morning just so I can get Anthony there on time? Better be up with Sam in the morning on preschool days. Ugh.

Then there's the drive. 20-25 minutes there, 20-25 minutes back. 2x a week. It's only 9-11:30. Do I drive him there, drive home for an hour and a half, then drive back? That's a lot of gas and a lot of money. Or do I stick around in town and find something to do? Have you seen my town? What would Mols and I do? The park? Ok, good idea....until winter. I might have to crash a few friends' homes to kill time. They might get annoyed with me.

Who thought preschool would be a life altering event.....for Anthony and me. :)

Open house, September 7th! First day of class, September 13th! 

With love,

Mama Hauck

Dear Friend,

When all the world casts a shadow over you
Call on me
Together we will shake off the dark

Love,
Me 

Outside Projects/Barn update

Sammy and I created a rock border between the grass and gravel of our driveway. For my birthday I had gotten plants for in front of the house. They don't look like much now, I know, but they will eventually be big and beautiful with time.....if I can keep the damn pesky deer away from them! Sam found two big 'ol wagon wheels on the side of the road and we placed them next to our two large wooden planters. We didn't have the money to get plants for the planters, so we just filled them up with dirt and I put my pretty driftwood and rocks from the coast in them.

Now for the lean-to turned barn! We originally planned for it to be a simple 3 sided lean-to (with the front being open) with an overhang off the side for hay storage. But with more thinking and planning and budgeting, our lean-to has turned into a barn, complete with closed off tack room. YAY! There is still a lot to do, but we have gotten SO MUCH done. Thank goodness for my neighbor Leonard. If not for him helping Sam, we'd still have nothing but a shack frame. It's so much work to do on your own, especially after working a full day at work, and I can only help Sam so much. So we are thankful we have someone like Leonard willing to help out! As you can see the left side is the tack room/hay storage.  We just have to finish the left side wall and door of the tack room. The actual stall is on the right. There will be a door in the back we still have to put in and half the front of the stall will have a wall as well. Slowly but surely we are making progress!

And just for funsies, here's a photo of the porcupine quills I pulled out of Nik's lip last week. Not very big, but still a PAIN to get out. 

With love,

Mama Hauck