Bein’ Franklin

Posted by mommyfranklin at August 15th, 2008

It’s that time of year that I think parents and children alike are ready for school to start. There have been several times in the last few days that Emily has announced that she is bored. I think this has come on because we are no longer in the throws of moving. Things have slowed down quite a bit around here. I believe it is the calm before the storm of activity begins in the coming weeks. Timothy starts school on the 20th and Emily starts the 25th. We’re delighted to report that she will be attending the same school she attended in 1st Grade. We had to transfer in as we are living in a different zone this time. We were not looking forward to her having to transition into her 4th new school in 4 years. One of my jobs will likely begin the 25th and the other starts the 2nd. The new schedule will definitely take some getting used to.

I had just settled down on the couch for a rest this afternoon when Emily came in to the living room and told me she was bored. I was up way to late last night watching the Olympics, so I was needed a rest. She asked if we could play a bored board game. I have been feeling a bit guilty about the lack of individual attention the kids’ have been getting lately so I (relunctantly) agreed to play with her and she ran off to the game closet (have I mentioned the amount of storage in this house?) to pick out a game. She picked Monopoly. I suggested we play the kid’s version, but she begged.

As Scott walked in from work, she and I were sitting on the living room floor setting up the game. We hadn’t started yet, so we asked if he would like to join us. To our delight, he said yes! He would be the top hat, I the terrier, and Emily the boat. I was the banker. Zachary was napping and Timothy was playing in the playroom, so Emily had one of those rare moments of undivided attention.

The game was soon underway. Emily was doing well, especially for the first time to play. She quickly owned Boardwalk, Park Place, and several other pieces of property. She soon started adding houses where she could, making the last stretch of the lap around the board quite treacherous. Scott and I each owned a few monopolies of our own and started adding houses as well.

It wasn’t long before things started going sour for Emily. Unfortunately, monopoly is not really game you can discretely let somebody win. Scott and I both felt so bad when she would land on one of our spaces and would have to come up with an obscene amount of money. At one point, she had $10 and had to come up with $600. She hung on as long as she could by selling houses and mortgaging properties, but the inevitable happened. She was the first to go bankrupt. She was a good sport about it and cheered us on as we completed the game.

As just so you know, the banker does not always win. It seems that the saying should go that the Daddy always wins. At least that’s the way we remembered it.

Posted by mommyfranklin at August 13th, 2008

We’ve officially lived here for 11 days now.

The first three days were filled with unpacking and making sure we had the essentials needed to sleep, eat, bathe, and change clothes. Through two calls to maintenance, we learned there were roots clogging our sewer line. Nice.

Then we escaped to San Antonio for four days so we’d get our money’s worth for the season tickets to Sea World that we bought in March. The trip had a shaky start with a flat tire on the loop and getting rained out of Sea World the first time we went, but it ended well and we had a wonderful time. The day after we got home, we went to Amarillo to retrieve the dogs and to visit Gran and Granddad.

The process of unpacking continued for three more days. By the end of day 8, most of the boxes had been emptied, cut and folded for storage, and both cars were in the garage. We had even managed to hang some curtains by then too.

The next day, Scott walked to work and I spent the day organizing the boys’ bedroom, the bathrooms, and the master bedroom. The only room that’s not quite done is Emily’s. That one is her responsibility. She’s getting there. Really she is.

Day 10 was a big day. Remember the job opportunities I had mentioned about a month ago? Well, I had meetings about both of them and I was offered both jobs. And, as crazy as this sounds, I think I am going to try to do both jobs. The full time position can be done outside of “normal” work hours and much can be done from home. I’ll be working around Scott’s class and office hour schedule for that one, so Scott can stay with Zachary while I am in the office. The other job is 8 hours a week, and Zachary will be going with me to that one. We have worked out what we think will be a good schedule, and I am really looking forward to getting it all started. I start the part time job on August 25th and the full time job on September 2nd.

Day 11 has been fairly calm. Emily spent the night with a friend last night and had another friend over to play all day.

We’re still in the midst of deciding what church we’ll go to now that we’re back in town, but it really is starting to feel like we have come home. Timothy starts Kindergarten on the 20th and Emily starts 3rd grade the 25th. I guess we better go shopping so they will be ready!

Posted by DaddyFranklin at July 31st, 2008

Very cute compilation.  I remember torturing all three of my kids and seeing similar reactions:

Video:

Posted by DaddyFranklin at July 28th, 2008

I had to share:

Posted by DaddyFranklin at July 24th, 2008

I love my daughter.  I really do. But why does she have to be such a strong influence on my boys.  Why, oh, why?  Why is it that they so envy her and her friend for getting to dress up in all of Lori’s old ballet outfits?

Before half of you comment on how it didn’t scar me to be tortured as a child by my own sister, mother and grandmother, let me tell you that it is no consolation.  It is just painful to watch them both stroll in here dressed up as…  Even the words are hard to type.  They look like a miniature cabaret act. But even more painful is to watch the look on their faces when they are told not to do it or to take it off.  Even attempting to convince them to dress up as a fireman or a superhero solicits a response as though I had kicked them in the behind.

And no, you don’t get pictures.  I just had to pout a little.  You can all poke fun now.

Posted by DaddyFranklin at July 24th, 2008

We haven’t taken a vacation, per se, this summer.  So far we have just had a holiday and a couple of family visits.  We just got back from an extended stay with Lori’s parents in Granbury.  We almost did everything we had planned for the weekend.
 
  Last Friday we made the trip down just after the kids finished their swimming lessons.  By the way, everyone passed their lessons.  Technically, Zachary didn’t pass but that’s because he’s not old enough to promote to the next level.  He’s still just as competent of a "swimmer" as anyone else in his class.  That doesn’t mean he can swim but it does mean that he’s confident in the water and that he’s able to get around fairly well while wearing a flotation device.
 
  We left Lubbock around 2 and made it to Granbury around 7:30.  On Saturday, we headed to Keller to see Lori’s brother and, in particular, his 2 month old little girl.  She’s very cute.  Of course, the older brother is also a fun little guy and our kids had a good time playing with his toys, watching his videos and listening to him screech.  He’s a very gifted screecher, if there is such a thing.  Lori’s brother lives near a large Cabela store and we all went there just to look around and I was significantly impressed.  There were several "exhibits" of stuffed (as in taxidermy) animals.  They ranged from an African elephant to dozens of deer and elk.  A big swath of that store is more like a museum than a sporting goods store.  I also saw one of the biggest catfish I have ever seen in their aquarium.  By the way, the kids enjoyed it too.
 
  Next day, we went to church with Joel and Clare and got to hear their new pastor.  I enjoyed the sermon and with the lack of sleep I got the night before, any lessor preacher would have put me to sleep.  He preached on God’s immutability, that He is the same God in the Old and New Testament despite an apparent change in character.
 
  Monday, we had a hot dog cookout at "Sandy Beach" in Pecan Plantation.  The name is certainly a misnomer.  I think the beach there is at least a couple thousand years away from sandy.  Right now it should be called pebble beach, or even gravel beach.  I also now know the benefits of swim shoes over sandals.  Wearing sandals through a beach of gravel is painful to say the least.  Taking them off and wading through a section of the Brazos river where the river bottom is all rock and no sand, that proved to be even more painful.  It was nice to just sit down and float in the warm water of the Brazos, and even though the kids only played for a little while, I think they enjoyed it as well.  After the dip in the river, we ate our hot dogs and played on the playground.
 
  Tuesday was another swim day but this time it was more my speed.  We visited the Country Club at Pecan Plantation and swam in their pool.  It was a very nice pool because a good half of the large pool was no more than three feet deep.  This gave the kids a lot of play room.  Of course they had to spend plenty of time jumping off the diving board.  The boys wear their life jackets and have no problem at all.  Zachary developed the habit of counting before jumping but instead of "one, two, three, jump", he would go with "one, two, three, six, seven, eight, nine, uh, uh, one, two, uh, three…."  All the while, with the line backing up at the diving board, we’re yelling "JUMP JUMP JUMP".  Finally he would and then just float in the way for a little while longer.  So, Lori and I still had to take turns pushing or pulling him out of the way each time he jumped.  Timothy’s life jacket saved him a lot of pain.  He attempted to dive a few times, after watching Emily learn how at her swim lessons.  He’d stick those hands together and just fall off.  Belly flop!!  Fortunately, the life jacket kept him from feeling anything so he enjoyed it.  I like to watch Zachary attempt the dive too.  Emily’s got a great dive, putting hands together, diving forward, away from the wall or board instead of trying to go straight down.  Zachary starts the same way, almost.  Instead of putting his hands together, he just makes an "X" with them over his head.  I don’t know why.  Then he jumps feet first.
 
  Wednesday, we left to go home.  Joel is lending me their 5′x8′ flat bed trailer to help move some of the boxes in the next couple of weeks to our new house in Plainview.  It was an ordeal getting it hooked up to the Trailblazer, but after two different trips to Home Depot on Tuesday evening and one to AutoZone on Wednesday morning, we were all ready to go.
 
  Overall, the weekend was a great success and a lot of fun!! 

Posted by DaddyFranklin at July 23rd, 2008

NOTE: This post is not by Lori.  I (Scott) am moving in.

I have decided to shut down my blog called Zone Defense and move all my posts to this blog, making it the central location for all things related to our little crew of five Franklins.

From now on my posts are going to be here and only here.  I posted a notice over at Zone Defense.  I am assuming, hopefully not too much, that if you are interested in what Lori has to blog about our family, you’ll be able to put up with what I blog about this family as well.

I have already moved my posts from Zone Defense so if you happen to read through the old stuff here, you’ll find all my junk mixed in.

We’ll be making a few collaborative adjustments to this blog to reflect this change (like adding author pictures, etc.) so bear with us during the adjustment phase.

By the way, if you happened to be following Lori on Facebook or Twitter, you may have accidentally been inundated with post notices.  For that I am sorry.  I take full responsibility for the mishap.

Posted by mommyfranklin at July 15th, 2008

No matter how you say it, it’s goodbye. Tonight a bunch of the ladies and I from the preschool got together for a night out. They said it was farewell (NOT GOODBYE!) for me and welcome baby for another of the ladies who worked there, but honestly it was just a chance to get together. I hadn’t seen many of these ladies since school got out, so it was a wonderful opportunity to catch up on what everyone had been up to. I am quite proud of the fact that I made it through the evening without crying, despite all the wonderful cards and gifts.

Timothy’s teacher wasn’t able to make it. She’s a very enthusiastic person, so she came up in the conversation several times. The stories about her brought to mind when Scott had asked me if we would ever get the “Robertson” out of Timothy, as we’ve seen many of her mannerisms come across in some of his expessions over the last few weeks. I told the other ladies about Scott saying that, and they remarked that Mrs. Robertson has a lasting effect on her kiddos so it would be a while before it wore off. This year has had an effect on me as well, and I don’t plan on letting it wear off anytime soon.

In preparation for the evening, I got to do something that I never do. I went shopping for a new outfit. And I even got to paint my nails. As I was painting my toenails, Zachary came to see me. Little visits like this are the main reason I usually don’t paint my nails. He came in and, in true three year old fashion, asked me if I was painting my fingernails. I told him I was painting my toenails, and would do my fingernails in a minute. He proceded to try to touch the nails, at which point I reminded him that they were wet. So, he asked if I was going to dry them. Once he understood that I was going to let them dry, he asked me why Emily had painted her nails. As I was explaining to him that sometimes girls like to paint their nails so they can look pretty, he lost interest and told me he was hungry. Yep, he’s a boy alright. Playing with his sister’s Barbies hasn’t messed him up too much.

Posted by mommyfranklin at July 14th, 2008

It was a long day.

We woke up to rain. The kids are in swimming lessons, and the registration form stated that lessons would continue even in bad weather. So, we all piled into the car and headed over there. The weather wouldn’t allow the kids to get it, so they had safety day. The boys got to learn some pool safety rules (swim with a buddy, use lifejacket if you can’t swim, don’t swim when there’s lightning) and Emily learned how to throw a life preserver. Important stuff.

After the lesson, we scooted on over to Plainview. We got Timothy signed up for Kindergarten at PCA. The administrator and I showed him his classroom, the cafeteria, and the library. He is very excited to be going where Emily went for Kindergarten. He has it all planned out. He wants to go to PCA for Kindergarten, LaMesa Elementary (Plainview public school) for 1st grade, Crestview (Frenship school) for 2nd grade, and then back to Plainview for 3rd grade. In other words, he wants to follow in Emily’s path. We’ve encouraged him to take his own path. Hopefully he’ll forget about these plans by 2nd grade.

After registering Timothy, we went to get the keys to the house we will be renting from Wayland. We had brought a load of things from the garage with us. We headed to the house and unloaded our things before we headed for a quick lunch. Then I changed in my “interview” clothes and headed across the street for my interview.

My interview went well. The virtual campus team and I discussed where they see the virtual campus going and how I could fit in with that vision. I left feeling pretty good about it. I feel like I could fit in fine with the group and that the schedule would be flexible enough that I would not have to sacrifice family / mommy time.

In the meantime, I still need to get Emily registered for school. We have made arrangements for all the utilities to be switched over, but need to make some decisions regarding our phone and internet. Those decisions can probably wait until the move. After the day, I am actually starting to look forward to being back in Plainview. I’ve moved enough times to know that any real friendships that I’ve made this year will survive me being 45 minutes away. Everything’s going to be fine.

Posted by mommyfranklin at July 13th, 2008

Now that I’ve gotten used to the idea that we are moving, I have started trying to find my place in Plainview. I know it seems that we weren’t gone long enough for me to have lost my place, but the truth is that I have changed a lot in the last year and don’t really want to be in the same place I was in when we left Plainview last year. While I was sad about leaving some people behind, I was also very excited about being able to make a break from some things. Our time here has been a wonderful time of rest from the various activities and jobs I had committed myself to. I’ve learned a lot about how I want to spend my time and the kind of people I want to spend my time with. I want to make better decisions this time around.

#1
In my search, I came across a posting from the Virtual Campus at Wayland. The job is for an Instructional Design Specialist . To be honest, it is the job that I was born to do. My background in computers and education would fit nicely in this job. I would absolutely love to be able to do this job. It would look great on a resume if I decide to head back to teaching in a couple years. There is one flaw though. It’s full-time. I still have Zachary home for a couple more years, so I really don’t want anything full-time yet. At least not full-time away from home. So, I’ve visited with the Assistant Director of the Virtual Campus (she took an Access class from me a few years ago at the Community Classroom) and learned that the director is open to the idea of the job being done at least part-time away from the office. That was enough to get me to apply. I have an interview tomorrow afternoon at 2:00. Hopefully I will leave there tomorrow knowing how this will work for our family. If I am hired for this job, it wouldn’t be long at all before we would be able to buy a home. Plus, I think it would be fun to work at the same place as Scott. Wayland means a lot to both of us.

#2
If the aforementioned job doesn’t work out, there are some other options to explore. I spoke with a friend and former employer of mine this week. She told me of a possibility of a 10 hour / week job working with her. While it wouldn’t be my dream job, it has many plusses. It’s a ministry-type position, the schedule is fairly flexible, Zachary would be able to come with me most of the time, I would get to work with my friend again, and I would get to do some creative design work with a computer. It probably wouldn’t get us into buying a house as quickly as #1, but every little bit helps.

#3
There is always the possibility that I could go back to tutoring. This would allow me to stretch my teaching muscles a little more. I really enjoyed tutoring when we lived in Plainview before, except for the fact that the only place that I could tutor was at our kitchen table or in the living room. This meant that Scott and the kids had to be confined to the back of the house for an hour as I worked with these students. Well, the house we are going to be renting from Wayland actually has a bonus room that could be a fourth bedroom / office / playroom. The boys love having a bunkbed and still like sharing a room, so we had planned to use the room as a playroom. It’s located away from the living room and bedrooms, so it would also make a really nice office for tutoring. When one of my previous students heard that Scott had returned to Wayland, she asked if I was returning as well. She was looking for a tutor. I am sure there are others who need tutoring as well. Combining this with option #2 would work pretty well too.

So, that’s three possibilities that have popped up in the last couple weeks. Part of me wants to just wait until we get settled so I can see what comes my way, as I’ve gotten in trouble before for planning my life too far ahead. But another part of me thinks that this is God’s way of getting me through the move, and that I need to grasp the opportunities before they slip away. I’m not handling the idea of leaving very well, so maybe this is something to get me looking forward instead of focusing on what I’m leaving behind.

I would appreciate your prayers tomorrow afternoon. I don’t know what I want you to pray for. Just for direction and an understanding of what God wants for me in Plainview this time.