Little bit of everything

I really am not liking being a 1 car family!  Especially when we all go in different directions.  I guess it is worse for Jared, since he is the one doing all the driving, but I am getting a little stir crazy here. I also need to make a major Target trip and I am tired of shopping at the Half Moon Bay Safeway.  They have the same prices as Pacifica, but the store it much smaller and lacking in selection.  And I miss my drive!  Isn't that crazy?  You would think I would like not having to get up and get out the door by 7:30 and driving for almost an hour to Pacifica and back!  With Jared doing the drive, we all have to get up earlier than if I was doing it.  6:15 feels so much worse than 6:30!  Hopefully this is the last week of one car.  The transmission is supposed to be done on Friday.  Then there is some brake work that needs to be done, and the emissions stuff, but that isn't non-drivable issues!  We could do a car trade and Jared could take the van to work and drop it at the place by his work too.  No school Thursday and Friday also, so that will help.  Kinda wrecks our plans, but it is what it is!

I did get to make my HMB to Pacifica drive this afternoon though.  It was parent teacher conferences.  I only met with Shaddy's teacher today.  She is great!  I am really pleased with the teachers at this school.  They expect a lot out of the kids and know that they can do it.  Shaddy is doing great in school.  His grades are wonderful and he seems to be fitting in and making friends.  He tends to be so quiet and reserved at school that is almost becomes a concern.  He is starting to open up now and interact with the other kids more.  Yay!  I guess his reading is quite advanced, go figure.  His teacher was quite pleased that I am having him read books at his level for the book reports.  I know what he can do, so there is no way I will let him do a picture book for a book report!  She also mentioned that they were discussing evolution vs. creation and he was very knowledgeable and had a lot to say about the subject.  She said most of the other kids didn't really know what she was talking about, but that she and Shaddy had a great almost adult level conversation about evolution!  That is totally Tal influence.  Tal is very into the scientific side of things, guess it has rubbed off on Shaddy.  I also have to say that I love that she prayed for him at the end of our conference.  Love our school!

I didn't have an official meeting with Tal's teacher, though I did stop in and talk to her for a couple of minutes.  So far, she is the only teacher than my kids have had that I could relate to as a friend.  Don't get me wrong, my kids had some great teachers in MN, but it was different relationship.  I have never had a teacher hug me or have cried with my child's teacher before today.  We didn't even talk about Tal while I was there.  She has actually been out of the classroom for 2 weeks now and will be out for a few more. Her son, who is 12 has a spinal cord problem and required surgery. At this point, it is unknown if he will recover fully and be able to walk without a walker. It was even possible that he would be wheelchair bound, so this is a huge deal for their family. God provided a wonderful student teacher, who has taken over the class in his teacher's absence. That was a real blessing for both the teacher and the class.  The student teacher is awesome as well, partly due to the wonderful teachers she has observed at AHCA, and partly because she is great too. 

Speaking of teachers I really like, Kieran's preschool teacher is pretty great too.  He started about 2 weeks ago.  She is this great British lady, about my age, who has kids similar in age to mine as well.  Her husband, who I haven't met yet, is Mexican.  His parents are migrant farm workers that travel all around to wherever the work is.  Talk about a strange combination!  Their daughter, who is in Kieran's class, is absolutely gorgeous!  The preschool is the back side of their home.  The teacher is a former music teacher, so there is lots of music at school.  She even lets them try out different instruments!  There are 6 kids in Kieran's class, ranging in age from 2-5.  He is going twice a week and seems to be loving it.  Of course, if you ask him he says he doesn't like it and that he wants to stay home with me.  Right....that's why when I drop him off he doesn't notice that I am leaving, and that when I pick him up he never wants to come home! 

It was nice to get out of Half Moon Bay for a bit today.  I love HMB, but it was starting to feel a little small!  I have discovered that I really don't care for the "other side of the hill" as the locals call it.  It is the area between the Santa Cruz mountains and the Bay.  I like the area to the North up Highway 1 much better.  Pacifica is nice, and I can tolerate shopping in Daly City, but I would never want to live there.  After almost 2 hours sitting in traffic last week-end trying to go over the mountains on 92, I think would rather drive 30 miles north than 12 miles east!  Although I have to think that after pumpkin season is done that 92 will be a little less insane.  Jared drives it everyday and he says the traffic is never that bad, so I must have just hit it on a bad day.  There are all these really cool nurseries and art studios along 92 that I would like to check out eventually, so hopefully week-end traffic will diminish a bit!

I finally bought a bike lock, one of those long metal ones that you can wrap around stuff, today.  I have been wanting to get one so that we can take the stroller to the beach.  Especially since I have no car this week and boys out of school at noon tomorrow and not having to be back until Monday!  The walk is fine for the older boys, but the stroller can't make it down to the beach.  I figure we load up the stroller, haul our junk down to the beach, and lock the stroller to the fence or something at the top.  I am pretty excited about it.  Now, we can go the beach whenever we want! 

This morning after we dropped Kieran off at preschool, Alric and I walked down to the beach and watched the waves for a bit.  We just sat at the top of the cliff and looked over.  Alric was in the stoller and I sat down beside him on the ground.  He leaned his little head over onto me and just looked out at the water.  After a bit he got out and sat on my lap.  We sat there for a good 10 min, with him just content to be held on my lap.  It was pretty awesome!  He is such a busy little person that is is unusual for him to sit still that long.  He finally is letting me read to him.  We went to the library and I grabbed him a random board book about fish and it has turned out to be his absolute favorite book in the whole world.  We read it at least 5 times a day.  Eventually we will have to return it, so I am trying to get him going on some other books too.  He is partial to Big Red Barn now too.  I think I still have it memorized from Tal...