Week #1 Down! 35 More to Go!

Ok, we did it. What an accomplishment. We survived our very first week of school! Here are a few highlights of our week and our weekend to come!

1. Blake really likes 2nd grade. His teachers are enjoying him, too! My friend Carrie is one of the 2nd grade teachers, and she is not his teacher because we are friends mainly. She does have him for reading though, and she told me it's a good thing she's not his teacher because she just has a hard time telling him to stop talking! She said his stories are so funny and he gets so excited when he's telling one! (tell me something I don't know - blake talks? what?) He really likes his teacher Miss Howard and student teacher Miss Sauer. (note - student teacher has 5' long legs, is skinny and blond - what's not to like there? Jeff is sure he won't learn a thing in 2nd grade after he saw her this summer!)

2. Brooke is enjoying 4th grade, too! It's so weird to see her carrying her books down the hall to switch classes though! She goes to different teachers for social studies and science. She likes all of her teachers, too! She is so grown up. Next year will be her last year at the grade school and then it's off to junior high! Yikes! Of course her teachers enjoy her, too - what's not to like about her? She's well-behaved and gets her work done! We did have about 2 hours worth of homework on Wednesday night, not so much a highlight of our week.

3. My high school biology teacher and student council leader remembers my birthday? Yes, I got a card in the mail today from "Mr. U". How can he remember MY birthday, let alone know that I will be 35 .... on Monday, by the way.

4. On that note, I don't need a birthday anymore. Last year was hard enough when Mom wasn't here to call me, but at least Dad called to pick up the slack. Now he's not here this year. That really sucks. Mom would have called me 7 or 8 times and not remembered that she had called the previous 6 or 7 times! And everytime she would tell me to come down and get some money and ask me, "Now how old are you this year?" Those simple things that I miss so much! Let's change the subject.....

5. Tonight is our high school's first football game. Nephew Erik is a junior and will be on the starting lineup. He is #66 so I got Blake a United Football tshirt with #66on the back. How cute is that? He loves Erik so he will wear it proudly.

6. Speaking of Erik, he was miserably disappointed last Wednesday when I walked into his 6th hour study hall at the high school. I guess he didn't know that I was coming to the high school everyday for 7th and 8th hour study halls. You should have seen his face when I walked into his English 11 class? I just acted like I didn't know him. I know he was praying to himself that I would disappear. It's gotten better though, today he came in between 7th and 8th hours and told me that he needs some money. I offered him the only $1 that I had, but that wasn't quite enough I don't think. He said he'd have to get his "blue book" from his Mom (that's his savings account book). He needed to fill up his rig with gas.... which by the way, is parked in the back row of the high school parking lot.... backed in to position... with the whip antennas flying in the wind... big, red 98 Dodge Ram! So him!

7. Brooke and Rachel are having their birthday party tomorrow with their girl friends. It's at the YMCA and they are going to swim for a couple hours. They will have lots of fun, and the best part is that I don't have to swim with them! We will have snacks, too. They are excited about it. And I think there are a lot of girls coming.... yikes!

8. Next week is going to be so crazy. It's the Prime Beef Festival and is the kids' last Steer Show. We are "ditching" school, as Blake calls it, on Thursday for the show. We will have to be in there by 6:30 a.m. so it will be a long day. But this is the day we have worked for since the beginning of last January. Then on Saturday is the Auction, the dreaded Auction, the Auction that will make me cry and cry when we have to say goodbye to these damn steers. The kids will cry. I will cry. Jeff will probably just sit in the truck so he doesn't cry. It's going to be bad, I'm just warning you. I have said all along that my goal is for the kids to enjoy this and to not get hurt. Well my goal has unfortunately changed. Yes, I want them to enjoy this and not get hurt, but I want to win! I want my 2 young kids to go in there and place in the top of their classes! Is that too much to ask? Why is it? I have worked my ass off with these animals and I want it to pay off! By the way, Jeff would absolutely KILL me for saying this, but I need to tell someone! Brooke and Blake will be the youngest exhibitors there. There will be one more 4th grader and the rest will be high schoolers. I need to get off of the idea of winning, but I can't help it. I have become competitive. I'll admit it. And the other thing is that I want all 6 steers (2 singles and pen of 4) to sell good. I hope they earn enough money to pay us back for the calves and then have enough left over to buy new ones. Is that asking too much? So.... if you are not busy and you are meat eaters, could you please come to the auction next Saturday, the 6th, at 9 am? If you buy a steer and plan to butcher it, just don't tell me or invite me over for hamburgers, roast, or ribeyes? Deal?

9. I just got a text from our friends Joel and Jenn offering to bring over lasagna and wine tonight for an early birthday celebration (I don't need a birthday, remember). That was so nice of them. I wonder if they could bring it on Sunday? That's the only night we don't have anything to do! We just won't say it's a "birthday" celebration!

10. The Prime Beef Festival Parade is Wednesday. Brooke is riding in the back of the Ethanol truck with some other friends. Blake is riding with Joel in a John Deere tractor for Kleine Equipment. That will be the first time in 10 years that I will watch the parade by myself. But... this will be my 35th year at the fair. My first outing at 5 days old was to the tractor pull at the festival. No wonder there's so much wrong with me. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Well those are just a few highlights. Everyone have a great holiday weekend!