Back to school for everyone!

School is back in session for all of the Cooper kids! 

Jenna is in 3rd grade and has quite a bit more responsibility this year. Although I've heard 4th grade is when the piles of homework start. She is in the same class as her good friends Abigail and Lauren. Jenna is an amazing reader and top in the class in math. She is constantly amazing me with what she can do!

Sarah is now in the same building as Jenna since she is in Kindergarten. Her schedule is Monday/Thursday/ every other Wednesday. Sarah is also reading pretty well. She's read a few books including the Ear book by Dr. Seuss. On the first day of school I asked Sarah how her day went and her response was "someone at my table was allergic to peanuts so I couldn't eat the reeses peanut butter cup you put in my lunch can I eat it now?"

Today was Matthew's first day of preschool. There are only 3 kids in his class and 3 teachers so he gets a lot of one-on-one time. It should be a great experience. Today when I asked if he wanted to go back to school he said "no". It was the first day though so I'm sure he will like it. He is going to school Tuesday - Friday mornings. So that means I'll have Thursday morning free every week! What will I do with all this time??

Each child on their first day got to pick their favorite meal. Jenna had pancakes, Sarah had shrimp, and Matthew had chichi nana (chicken nuggets).

Now that I have my dream job, Erik has built me a standing desk. I'll be at my computer a lot more so this should be good for me. I'm excited for this new desk.

Some changes

When my mother-in-law offered to babysit the kids while I was working I don't think she realized how much I actually work. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I leave at 4:15 and come home around 11pm. She has been feeding everyone dinner while I've been gone, which has been a big help to Erik. I've had several meetings during the day (I used to get babysitters) and she has babysat for all of them. It has been unbelievably helpful.

Thursday was Sarah's first day of Kindergarten. (more on this in a different post). She is done with school at 3:45 and I have to leave at 4:15. So I saw her for about half an hour on her first day of school. I didn't get to eat dinner with my family. Even so, I love my job that I can be home with the kids during the day. It has really worked out well while the kids were young.

Erik and I have been working this schedule for the past several years and my job is really fantastic for us. But can it get better? Oh yea!

I alluded awhile back to some tough decisions about my job. I've accepted a full time online faculty position in the College of Engineering and will no longer teach onsite. What does this mean?

I'll get to eat dinner every night with my family.

I will still have a full time job and rewarding career.

I can be at the kids activities.

I will be able to attend our small group at our house.

They told me they had been trying to get me for a long time. I assume that means they like me already :).

Let me just say God's timing is perfect. When I worked full time as an engineer I knew we wanted to have kids someday and thought teaching would be a good career for me. So I did a test lecture and was hired as an adjunct instructor. Two years later I was hired full time giving me the opportunity to get my PhD. Shortly after I finished my PhD there was a big push for all faculty to get PhD's (been there, done that). When teaching nights became hard because the kids were in school all day, I was hired full time online. I'll start after my session off. Praise God for his provision for us!

Under the weather warrior

This weekend we headed to Clay's Park for a camping trip and the Warrior Dash. It was the perfect place for the event and I had a fabulous time. Just me though. Erik woke up at 4:30 am Saturday morning vomiting. Then he slept pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday. He didn't get to do the Warrior Dash with us. Poor guy. Amanda and I had a blast though.

Amanda and I post-warrior dash

 Because we camped at the park, we just walked to the race. It wasn't actually a race (especially since I didn't put my timing chip on). There were several obstacles like jumping over fire, climbing barricades, swimming through water and mud, crawling under barbed wire, etc. It was definitely more fun than a traditional 5k. We are planning on doing this next year and hopefully Erik will feel better!

Hanging out by the fire

 One of our friends noted that Sarah's bathing suit, with the pink tutu, animal print, and her bling "S" necklace looked a little "Jersey Shore". I'll let you be the judge of that.

As I was reading the Bible to her the other night, I read the verse Rev. 3:20 where Jesus says "Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and eat with that person." After hearing this verse Sarah remarked "If Jesus was knocking at the door I would say 'Who is it?'" She always has a way to make me smile.

Sarah

 The weeks have really flown by. With my busy semester and a paper I'm trying to get published in a conference time has flown by. The kids start school soon. Jenna will be in third grade, Sarah in Kindergarten, and Matthew starts preschool. It's an exciting time!

Since so many fruits are in season  I've canned quite a bit of jam. I canned peach and blueberry jam the other day. The blueberry jam is perfect (of course I love blueberries) but the peach jam is a little on the sweet side. Next time I'll mix in some raspberries or lemon to cut the sweetness. I also made peach bread. Now this was amazing. We couldn't get enough of the peach bread.

Jam and bread

Here is my recipe for peach bread. It makes 2 9x5 loaves:
Peach bread
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups diced fresh peaches

Cream butter, sugar, extracts together. Then mix in dry ingredients alternating with sour cream. Finally, fold in peaches. Bake in 350°F oven for 50 minutes.

Yum!

Chocolate and Nutella weekend

School starts in a week and a half. Say what?? Yes I don't know how this happened but summer has not just flown by, it has broken the sound barrier with its speed. To jam as much fun in as possible in our remaining time we went to the zoo and Entertrainment junction last week then went camping this weekend to Buckeye Lake. Every year we go for chocolate weekend and this year did not disappoint. 

Matthew and Sarah on the Merry Go Round at the zoo

Entertrainment Junction

 This year we went camping with Joe, Lauren and Jacob. When we went two years ago Lynn was still with us. So this weekend definitely brought back memories. I'm glad Joe, Lauren and Jacob could go. The kids played on the jumping pillow and rode pedal carts. Sarah, as usual is dressed for Christmas. I think she is permanently boycotting summer weather.

Jumping Pillow at Buckeye Lake

Matthew and Mommy jumping. Look at the smile on his face!

Snoozing on the pillow

 As usual we ate chocolate chip pancakes and dipped goodies in the chocolate fountain but we also tried something new. Joe had an idea to put nutella between two pieces of bread and then put it in a pie iron to get the nutella all warm and gooey. Excellent idea Joe! I kicked it up a notch with nutella + peanut butter since you can't have too much peanut butter. It was so good. I ate lots of nutella pb sandwiches and smores with reeses cups. I just wanted to be sure to stay with the chocolate weekend theme.

Riding the pedal carts

 One new thing Buckeye Lake added was gem mining. At every campground we have gone to this summer there has been gem mining and the girls have done gem mining. For $10 you get a bag of dirt that you sift through to find some gemstones. The markup must be huge but the kids love it.

C'mon pedal cart!

Our treasures

In other news:

1. I am halfway through this semester. It is going really well actually and I'm loving all my classes. 
2. Our coo* book club is reading the Path of Stone by Jon Cook. He has published this book on Kindle (super exciting!) so we are reading through it.
3. I picked up the Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I can't remember if I've read this book or not (this happens to me all the time) but if not I'd like to read it. 
4. Our garden has been doing really well. Again we haven't gotten any corn. We have lots of tall corn plants but no corn (just corn silk). Something must be eating it. We've eaten lots of zucchini cakes though and plenty of beans, tomatoes, peppers and herbs. 
5. Next session is my session off. I have a list of about a million things I want to do, but I'm not sure what I'll actually get accomplished. I certainly won't do more cleaning. That is never on my bucket list.
6. 71 points today in Quiddler. Not a great showing.