222-- missed it!

Last post was my 222nd post!

We're wrapping up our last week of camp, and boy is it a doozy! Our enrollment is slightly lower than we expected, which is fine because it's less work for me in the office side of things which leaves me with the chance to wrap up some after school stuff that needs to get done. Right now we have almost 120 kids registered for after school, which is amazing! That's up 30 from last year's enrollment, and almost all through word of mouth! There's nothing that can convince me that I'm doing a good job better than that!

Anyway, it'll be kinda crazy for the next couple weeks, so I'll talk to y'all then!

Ciao.

This is Halloween, everybody SCREAM!

Wednesday before Halloween: After School Costume Contest!

Kristen (mouse), Me (Nancy Drew), Katie (kitty), and Brandy (Ginny Weasley)

have a War Head face contest. We're still not sure who won.

Louis showing off the costume I made for him-- Hershey's bar was a big hit!

All the counselors decked out; from closest to farthest:

Richard (Max from Where the Wild Things Are), Sam (African Princess), Kristen (mouse),

Brandy (Ginny Weasley), Jenny Lind (Dorothy), Sharon (M.I.A. or Lady Gaga),

Louis (Hershey's Special Dark Bar), Me (Nancy Drew)

My friend Octavia's boys-- Jacorey (Buzz Light Year), Jordan (Lion), and Trevon (Transformer)

Our finalists for the costume contest: Nailah (old lady), Juliana (magician), Lyle (Indiana Jones),

Bryce (someone who's actually a football player), Eli (policeman), Kanyisile (cowgirl),

Henry (wolfman), and Sydney (Gryffyndor student)

Jenny Lind (one of my oldest friends) and I with Juliana

Friday before Halloween: We all just dressed up for the fun of it again!

Brandy (vampire) bites me! Oh no!

Well, at least she didn't get blood on my sweater. I did feel a little under the weather, though...

Halloween Day! We went and helped the Kelly family with their Haunted House and handed out candy.

The chandelier in the entry way

Daddums, master of his domain

Staircase with lighting

Spider!

The overactive fog machine

Spooooky even in the daylight

And they mean it!

Cool shot by Jeremy

Jeremy and Daddums, creators of the outside scariness

Me and Bobcat protecting the candy from grabby kids

All in all, it was a good Halloween! We had a lot of fun at the Kelly's, even if some of the kids were a little rude about "only" getting two pieces of candy! We hung out afterwards and watched the original Halloween, which I'd never seen so that was a lot of fun. We also had the best little munchies from TJ's thanks to Shannon! Halloween is the best holiday ever :) I was pretty proud of coming up with three different costumes (even if they were gimmies) in one week, too!

At least

At least Friday wasn't a total loss-- I finished sorting paperwork for afterschool, put the finishing touches on the database, cleaned out ALL THE OLD PAPERWORK! since we were drowning in paperwork for kids who hadn't been there in two years, organized the immunization forms and created a binder for immunization compliance, and then balanced out the ledgers and started working on a new program which will send out weekly invoices to notify people of balances and credits.

Woohoo!

Last night, I went over and hung out with the K's and was happy to see Violet doing much better than last week and playing in the coolest toy ever that Michael bought yesterday morning. It's big and clunky as far as toys go, but she looooves that thing-- it's bouncy and has lights and sounds and things she can spin, it's her new favorite thing! Julian had his usual Friday night meltdown, but it's pretty much expected at this point, so we just wait for it to happen, toss him in the bath, and put him to bed; usually about half an hour to an hour before his actual bed time. This week, the fit was about a) wanting the cherry Meg had and b) wanting a new napkin since Sarah had taken his to clean up the Mac'n'Cheese he accidentally threw at her. Sarah and I try not to laugh, obviously it's a behavioural issue and we know it would be really irritating if we had to live with it, but when Meg tells him not to splash in the bath and he goes, "Mommy noooooooo, it hurts my feeeeeeelings!" we can't help but crack up! We also hope that he grows out of it, because otherwise he's gonna get beat up a lot on the playground...

Today I'm hoping to get some stuff cleaned up and put away so that there's less stuff in my room for when Jeremy gets here (which is ironic since I spent the rest of my summer trying to get things out of the garage and up here!) so he can fit in. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about my closet-- I have so many clothes!! I may have to hit up Target for some cheap storage bins to stick some stuff in the garage. I'm not sure how much he's keeping here or sending back to Southaven, so we'll see. I know we made some room for him down there, too.

Tomorrow, Richard and I are going shopping for snacks, office supplies, and some small games stuff, and then Monday morning we're working through the day to get ready for Monday afternoon. Wheee....

Why so serious?

The last week has been... exhausting.

The K's had to take Violet to the ER on Sunday because of her cough, the poor baby. She's OK, but they were there just about all night. They left Iggy and Wade's at 9, so I'm guessing they got to CHA at around 920, and they didn't leave until well after 3a!

We got the apartment, but Jeremy won't sign. I understand, but for other reasons I'm a little upset. Among them is that I now have to start the process all over again. I am not looking forward to it. Jeremy's also talking about going back to Mississippi and I really don't want him to. I'm sick and tired of living long distance. I'm also sick and tired of living with my mother and working part time like a high schooler. I'm also, ironically enough, just plain old sick and tired. Basically, I guess it's the right time of year for me to be stressed and worried, it seems to happen in August-ish, perhaps left over from when I had to do enrollment clearance!

I got sick a couple weeks ago and even though I've had a round of antibiotics, I still feel awful! My ears are better, at least, but I'm still coughing and had kinda forgotten how crappy a sinus infection can make me feel.

The work week has been draining on its part because I've been going in at 8 and staying until 6, chasing after more kids than we've had all summer, lugging them around Lake Lanier (which was actually loads of fun-- I'd never been on a waterslide before!), and trying to help Richard organize the afterschool paperwork for Monday so we're on par with legal compliance stuff. Yargh.

Anyway, sorry I don't have a more positive update for you all, and I'll try to come up with something better. How about this?

TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY OF SUMMER CAMP!!!!

And my favorite quote from tonight's TV:

"Lots of people lie to their parents about what they do-- hitmen, strippers, AIG executives." -Royal Pains