it's been a fun week thus far. Margaret started swim team monday night. we know most everyone as it is almost exclusively Maplewood kids. yesterday i got out first thing around 6:30 and walked 4 and a half miles then went grocery shopping. i felt awfully productive having exercised and finished grocery shopping by 8:45 am. but by the afternoon i was beat, more on that later.

the kids and i had our morning Bible time and other reading  - we're making our way through Anne of Green Gables. we cleaned house and then took a picnic lunch to Big Stacy pool where we swam for about an hour. we came home and made smoothies and popped popcorn and watched Ratatouille once more before we had to return it to the library. i curled up on the couch to watch with the kids, something i rarely as i'm always sure there is something more i need to get done, and i promptly fell asleep. summer afternoon naps are one of life's great pleasures.

oh, and that movie, Ratatouille, well, it makes me really want old wine, crusty bread, and good cheese.

i took Margaret to swim team again last night and stayed and read a book while she swam.

this morning i got out and walked again first thing, well, after breakfast and coffee. the kids and i had devotions, cleaned house and did laundry. we all went and delivered Meals on Wheels together. old people just love seeing kids, and were so happy that i'd brought mine today. we came home and had lunch, then went swimming at the Y. it was way too crowded with the summer camp kids, almost unsafe, so we didn't stay very long.

i wrote all the above yesterday afternoon, but never got around to finishing as we had a BBQ to attend at Brian's office.

now it's Thursday afternoon. i'm developing a great little routine of getting out and walking first thing every morning. it really seems to help me start the day off with a clear head. i took the kids to the main library downtown this morning and then out to lunch. everyone seems a little tired, so now we're home and all having some quiet time in a cool house while it's so hot out.

the process of finding a middle school for Margaret has only grown more frustrating. to begin with, the middle school we're assigned to is terrible and has been on probation for the last few years and is at risk of closure because it is so bad. even though the elementary school in our area is supposedly excellent, we chose to transfer to another one that seemed to be a better fit for us and our family. now that Margaret has graduated from Maplewood, we should be able to automatically track to the middle school that Maplewood feeds into, but we were not informed that we had to request a transfer to do so and now that school is full. she applied for these three special middle schools as i have mentioned before, but did not get accepted into any. from there we decided to apply for another middle school that was not one that was listed as full or even near full. she was denied a place there. we appealed that decision and it was denied again. we have the option of appealing again, which we have done and are just waiting to hear a final judgement. i went to the AISD transfer office this morning to get another transfer form and to ask what other options there are for middle school. the lady basically couldn't give me any. any decent school is frozen to transfers. the only ones that aren't are the failing schools. there must be something they can offer us! we really don't know what to do. it is most likely too late to apply to get into a charter school, even if we knew of a good one. from what i hear those are so hit or miss. you never know which is the one for the kids that were kicked out of the mainstream schools.

we are open to homeschooling Margaret if we have no other option, but i feel woefully unqualified for that. i want to be open to whatever. it is just so frustrating to not have more options.