Fun Week!

Last week we had our summer sitter come and watch Colby for three days. I think she's doing a good job so far. And Colby loves her because she pretty much lets him do whatever (within reason of course, no tearing up the house!) They go on lots of bike rides and spent a lot of quality time playing with cars. She does a good job getting him to eat his lunch and getting him down for a nap.

One good thing about having a sitter is that Brandon and I can go out on a date from time to time. Thursday was date day. We loaded up Brandon's rifle and hand gun and rode out to the shooting range in the national forest outside of Blacksburg (across from Pandapas Pond if you're familiar with the area). There were some older gentlemen there who seemed to know each other and had lots of spiffy looking weapons. After we started shooting, a small group of twenty-something showed up too, so it was a pretty full shooting range. I was afraid to use Brandon's rifle at first and to be honest the recoil hurt the first few times, but after that I got used to it and did a pretty decent job hitting what I wanted to hit. I got a pretty awesome video of Brandon shooting a bottle full of water up into the air :-) I was just okay with the hand gun. His gun is heavier than I would prefer and I would anticipate the recoil and go higher or lower than my target a lot of the time. All in all, it was pretty fun. After that we got lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings in Blacksburg and went to see X-men: First Class.

It's been a pretty good week all in all. Today we worked on cleaning up the spare bedroom so that it looks like somewhere a foster kid can sleep. We put a ton of baby supplies in the attic - I didn't realize there was so much stuff hiding in the closet in there - it's not a very big closet! We figured if we needed it getting it down was a lot easier than putting it up and if we didn't need it, then it was out of the way. Our last home visit is tomorrow, so we just wanted our case worker to think we really ARE interested in fostering. We also got our fingerprints done this week so...but come to think of it, we never got the doctor to fill out our physical forms so I guess we'll have to do that before we get our final approval.

Summer Adventures in Cleaning

So I'm almost two weeks into my summer vacation, but I'm definately not bored. Brandon has been off for most of the two weeks so we've been hanging out and doing things as a family that we don't normally get to do during the school year. We've started cleaning up the extra bedroom so that it looks like a place where a foster child could live instead of an extra storage closet. I've cleaned out my half of our closet so that I can store my sewing stuff. I had no idea there were so many clothes up there that I didn't like/were too small. I started a pile of clothes to take to goodwill too.

I think we're getting pretty excited about the prospects of being a foster parent. We bought another car seat just in case we need it, plus it's just good to have an extra car seat because you never know when you're going to need one. Our last home visit is next Monday so hopefully after that we'll be ready to go.

Today I made some crab cakes and hush puppies. It made me miss home :-( But I'm excited because I will be coming to visit in July :-) The 22-24 to be exact.

One Step Closter to Becoming a Foster Parent

Today we finished our fostering classes. We basically spent three Saturdays learning about the issues we might face by taking in foster kids but also thinking about our strengths and what we bring to the table as far as our family is concerned. I think it will be hard at first, but once we get into the swing of it, it will be fine. A foster mom came in today and answered our questions. She brought an adorable 11 month old boy she was fostering. He was a shaken baby and had really bad acid reflux. There's been an influx of small children lately so I'm hopeful that when we're finally certified, we'll get a small child or sibling group of small children. I think we'll have to go shopping soon for some bunk beds or a crib.

I've been having an excellent summer so far. We went to the pool, park, library and Roanoke this week. We saw Colby's UVA doctors while in Roanoke and checked out some old haunts and ate at an old favorite restaurant. Next week our summer babysitter, Kim, will be starting so I can get serious about my school work that I've only been piddling with. I'm looking forward to July when we go camping, when Colby and I go visit Hampton and when get to take a look at the new locker banks at school :-) My school was built in the 60's and still had the original lockers that were beat up and only worked halfway. The powers that be finally decided they needed to be replaced so I'm looking forward to a spiffy new locker bank area.

Summer!!

Okay, so last time I wrote I was stressed about Colby being expelled from daycare. Well, the good thing is, we've figured things out and it's going to be okay. We decided to enroll him at the high school in fall. It's a small class and the high school students taking childcare class come up with lessons and teach the kids. The price is reasonable and it will be very convenient for me because he's right there! This summer we're going to be getting a sitter to come to the house and watch him and basically be his personal entourage. That way I can do the work for my classes and have someone to watch him during summer school this July and teacher workdays in August. We interviewed people on Monday and we have a few more interviews later this week. I think we have met a lot of great girls and I think we know who we're going to pick, but we'll see.

So, school is over for me. I spent the last three days cleaning up my room and putting things away. Colby came yesterday and helped clean desks and we had a lot of fun with the other teachers. I'm excited about next school year. I am going to have three classes of English 9 Honors in the Fall and I'll be splitting classes with the reading specialist in the Spring - I'll teaching writing, she'll teach reading and then we'll switch. At any rate, I'm glad to be relaxing for the summer...well until summer school!

Daycare Issues Abound

I'm super stressed out about Colby's daycare situation. We got a call today that Colby will not be allowed to come back to daycare so we're left trying to figure things out. I think we decided to find an in-home daycare for the summer and then enroll him at the high school in the fall. Many people have said what a great program we have at the high school and that the classes are small and there's lots of supervision. I think Colby will do well there and it will keep things pretty simple for me.

I don't know why I keep taking this whole situation so personally. Colby did something really bad, but he's three. He's not going to make good decisions. We try are damnedest to make him understand that there are things that he shouldn't do and praising him when he does things he should do. That's all we can do and hope that somehow it sinks in. I've been feeling like an awful parent though. I know in my head that we're working hard at home, but my feelings don't understand that.