October 2023: Transitioning Into Fall
Happy October! Only a week late…
I am nothing if not consistent in not following through on promises to blog regularly, so get used to some slight delays, I guess? I mean this is coming from the person who sent her Christmas cards out literally in February of this year, wheeee. In any case, it’s November, life is crazy as per usual, and here is how the past month of seminary livin’ went!
Autumn has really hit us here New York, and my pumpkin spice-loving self is enjoying it. Jarrod and I have spent the past 13 years of marriage living in places that don’t get a true Midwest-style fall (read: the Southwest, the Deep South…India…) and to say I am relishing the change in weather is an understatement. I am breathing it in — truly. The smell of the leaves as I walk across the campus mixed with the chill in the air brings me right back to the yearly October church retreats at Camp Friedenswald of my youth.
And oh my goodness, the rain we’ve been getting! I understand that this year has been quite abnormally rainy, and other than the inconvenience of it always hitting on the weekends (why, Mr. Weather? Why?) I’m loving it. When my last post hit the webnetz, I was in Canada for my grandfather’s funeral — we had actually barely made it out of Yonkers that morning because of the rain. The kids’ school canceled midway through the day because of the flooding! I’d had to drop off some packages for return at UPS on our way out of the city; just moving from the car to the awning by the store soaked the boxes. It was rough driving for a few hours before we finally reached clearer skies.
So, what have we been up to this month? Mostly surviving. Jarrod has reached new levels of busy-ness and school stress. He always seems to be upstairs studying, or in the library…studying. And when he’s not studying, he’s at a service or in class! It is honestly very hard not having him around to help with the parenting in the mornings and evenings, but I’m taking it a day at a time, and somehow we’ve found ourselves at what feels like the tail end of the semester. I mean, sure — Jarrod’s Christmas break is still 6 weeks out (slightly less but WHO’S COUNTING), but Thanksgiving break is in 2 weeks (or, a week from Friday evening if I’m really feeling optimistic), and then Christmas break will arrive just 3ish weeks after that. So we! Can! Do it!
In the meantime, I’m keeping very busy with work and with kids. Work-wise, I’ve been mired in a project I volunteered myself for that turned out to be bigger than expected and Would Not End. Luckily it did end, finally, as of last Thursday, and I’ve been enjoying some slower work days and the chance to breathe/not feel the need to take Despair Naps since then. We do our work in two-week chunks called sprints, and the next sprint starts on Wednesday, so I’m sure I’ll pick up something juicy to work on then. But hopefully not quite so all-encompassing. The great thing about working for AS is that there is not a shortage of tasks that need to be done. In addition to updating some outdated technology and fixing the never-ending stream of bugs, we’re working on getting our FDA 510k certification, which comes with its own set of must-do tasks. And then there are the users who are asking for features like the one I just spent the past 6 weeks working on adding. Good times!
Weekends with the kids have been very busy too — which is probably partly why I’ve been feeling a little wibbly-wobbly. Between Halloween festivities, birthday parties, a school movie night, and a Fire Safety Fair that Ambrose insisted on going to, our much-needed sense of weekend rhythm has been a bit out of whack.
But I will say, we’re really starting to establish some good weekend routines in spite of all the extra activities. On Saturday I take the kids to Trader Joe’s before it has a chance to get ridiculously busy, and then we stop by a bakery for a donut treat on the way back. Unload the groceries, rest for a bit, visit the library, have some fun, eat dinner, go to Vespers, head to bed. Sundays we wake up, get ourselves off to church, race off to church school once that’s done, and then have rest time for a couple hours. I get a nice nap in and then spend about an hour prepping meals for the week — this has helped tremendously in taking the burden of needing to immediately go from work mode into kitchen mode during the week. Then soon enough we’re in evening mode. We eat dinner, take baths, and head to bed.
Speaking of the kids, they’re doing great. Ambrose crushed his mid-semester progress report, along with his MAP assessment (a standardized test that measures growth). He’s somehow gotten into the really good habit of coming home and immediately doing his homework — can’t complain! Theda, meanwhile, is really enjoying PreK4. Each week they focus on a letter and a number, and her learning has taken off, which is fun to see. She always asks if her teacher gave her homework — usually it’s always a no, so I print her a coloring page or get out a PreK-to-K transition workbook that managed to make it here to New York with the rest of our things. Liesl still enjoys her time with Rose, and always seems to be bringing home a fun craft they’ve done together.
So, we are making it! And this is where I should probably wrap up, or else I’ll manage to get this out another week late. Stay tuned for my November update in a week…just kidding. Hopefully. Below are some more photos from our month.
Comments are closed.
mins
read
It is so good to see the whole Shantz family together in a little less harried state than at the funeral. I admire you so much for making the long trip with the kids, in the rain. It was a beautiful remembrance of my big brother and your great- grandpa Shantz. I think I was able to name most of the folks who were there.
By the way, we (my niece, and your grandpa’s cousin Sara Rydall, her husband John and their 2 dogs, with whom I live) moved in the middle of October to a farm – 10 acres – close to Hamilton, ON. Address is 223 Weirs Lane, Flamborough, ON L9H 5E1. Due to John’s allergy to cats, we had to find a new home for our 2 cats, one 14 years old and one 5 years old. A sad day but they were both purring before we took them into the office of the animal shelter. We had a serenade by Pumpkin all the way to Guelph and JJ was still only because I was holding her and petting her.
I was so happy I finally got to make it out! The last time I got up there was when Ambrose was my only one…and didn’t have any teeth! (Sarah’s wedding) Thanks for sharing the new address, I’ll update it in my book and send you our annual Christmas card 🙂