<p>Wonderful news, Avon!!! </p>
<p>Boychild goes back to school tomorrow. And like most, we won’t be seeing him until April, and that’s only if he decides to come home between winter term and short term. Feb break he’s staying at school. If he doesn’t come home in April we might drive up for a weekend and take him out to dinner in Portland. </p>
<p>He is very ready to go back and we are very ready for him to go back.</p>
<p>Hugs to Pepper, Collage, Fog and anyone else who feels blue as their kids return to school. I also have mixed feelings. I’m thrilled that my D’s are doing well as they navigate out on their own, but sad when I realize that this is the end of an era. Things will be really different once D1 starts working in the fall.</p>
<p>Well mine headed back yesterday and is settled in. She’s happy to head back and we’re sad to see her go but I must admit the house is calmer and quieter when she is gone. She’s such a busy bee and the rest of us are homebodies so it’s nice for us to settle back down. I did have a little crying and melancholy mood a few days before she left and I know it was related to her leaving us again. </p>
<p>Due to her poor GPA she was invited to take a course called something like “effective learning”. It teaches time management, study skills, note taking, etc. I encouraged her to sign up and she did. It’s an actual 3 credit hour class so she is dropping another class to take this but I feel it will really help her a lot and also, I’m assuming it will be a class she can do well in which will help in her efforts to raise the GPA this semester.</p>
<p>Also due to her fabulous GPA she has a mandatory 2 hour weekly study hall with her sorority! How cool is that! So basically every Sunday is busy all day with new member meeting, chapter meeting and now study hall…she’ll be busy from 11:30 am to 8 pm.</p>
<p>She’s also agreed to go to tutoring for statistics no matter how well she may think she is doing, she will attend every week. Hopefully these things will help raise that GPA up into acceptable territory this semester!</p>
<p>Hugs to all that are feeling blue. I also have very mixed feeling about D1 going back. She is ready though…which is a good sign that her adjustment is going well. On one hand, i am pleased that things are going well but on the other I will miss her happy face.</p>
<p>Because she is only an hour a way, I will go see her and take her out for dinner or brunch when I am feeling blue or if she needs a dose of home. This experience is impacting my D’13 HS grad. She is definitely looking at more schools closer to home than she originally thought she would…but I am not sure I will make it through D2’s teen years. She is giving us a run for our money…sigh.</p>
<p>My son is headed back tomorrow. We just finished packing his bag and he was grumbling about how heavy it was, but he’s the one that felt he had to bring t-shirts home AND now wants to take them back to college. One would think that the 20 t-shirts and 10 pairs of socks that stayed right here in his drawer would have been good enough. He insisted he didn’t have room for any granola bars but I snuck in about a dozen bars when he wasn’t looking. Can you believe he LOST ten pounds at college? cyber ((hugs)) to all parents that are missing or just said goodbye to their kids. They will return!</p>
<p>Absolutely wonderful news, Avon! And I’m also happy to hear that the doctor green-lighted the vacation - sounds like exactly what everyone needs!</p>
<p>Like so many of you, I won’t see much of D2 this semester. We might drive down to spend some of her spring break with her, maybe even pick her up and head down to the Austin area to see my folks. Other than that, we won’t see her until mid-May and that seems like a loooonnggg time. She is happy to be going back so at least I’m relieved to know that she’s settled in so well.</p>
<p>She is all set for her summer job - will be nannying the same two boys this year as last. It’s very lucrative and not a hard job at all so she feels blessed to be able to go back to it. Older DD, on the other hand, is still completely up in the air until she hears about grad school and where she’ll be living for that so we’ll have to just keep our fingers crossed!</p>
<p>D2 called from ‘training camp’ and she had a good first day of practice. 3 practices a day for a total of 6 hours on the water per day–glad it’s her and not me! Interesting, 7 girls per cabin and they’re supplied with groceries and need to cook their meals. D is 18 and has never gravitated towards the kitchen so just has the basics (like pancakes and pasta) down so it’ll be a bit of trial by fire for her! </p>
<p>D1 leaves in the morning and, while I am a little sad that she’s heading back across the country, she turns 21 next month and is meeting me in NY to celebrate. We’ve both been many times but I am wondering if there’s anything unique or special anyone can recommend. I did just buy tickets to Spiderman…perhaps a special restaurant or another play although I checked on Book of Mormon and it’s completely sold out.</p>
<p>My D doesn’t return to school until next Sunday, Jan. 15 with classes starting on Jan. 17. She will come home for Easter, they have Friday and Monday with no classes and she doesn’t have any classes on Thursdays, so it is a long enough weekend to make it worth it. She can’t come home for spring break because the rowing team goes on a trip to Georgia for practice and then a regatta.</p>
<p>S ('16) has spring break a week after D’s. We are planning on catching up with her for the regatta on his first weekend of spring break, have him see her college campus, then tour some Civil War places on the way back home. We have never had a family vacation, this will be the closest we will probably ever get, and it will mostly be without D, oh well.</p>
<p>S heads back on Tuesday afternoon. Today he is helping his GF pack her car as she is driving back to her school today, and then he will come into our office to work for a few hours before going home for laundry, pre-packing and today’s playoff games. We are then taking him out for a family dinner for his early birthday and back to school celebration.</p>
<p>Both kids were out last night so I took AvonMom and her sister out for a nice dinner. There was a delay in getting us seated and the owner felt bad so he comped all of our wine, coffees and desserts! Turned out to be a very nice evening! :D</p>
<p>It’s sunny and mid 40’s here so I am hoping to get some of the outside decorations down and put away later today. I guess that means the holidays are over for another year. :(</p>
<p>Now I have to focus on a family countdown for our spring break trip. Just 13 weeks to go!</p>
<p>H & S made it to campus in the wee hours of the am. They crashed in his suite. I told H to make sure the sheets were changed into the new set as I’m sure they weren’t. He said it would have been good to know before he slept in them, but I bet he wouldn’t have done anything about it at 4 am. On to NOLA this aft for the big game tomorrow.</p>
<p>I spent yesterday at S1’s cleaning out his apt. It was horrendous, he has serious EF issues and you couldn’t walk into either of the BR’s. He’s apparently been sleeping on the sofa for at least 6 mos. We made huge progress & I started staging stuff for him to pack in his suitcase. He felt such relief about getting so much done. Then we stopped at the dept store to get all new socks, boxers, khaki’s etc. So he should be all set for his big move. Hopefully he will get all the stuff to the dry cleaners this week, but I’m not counting on it. I wish he had been living closer.</p>
<p>Feeling quite melancholy about all the departures. H was offered couple of BR’s in a house in Italy with 2 other families in April. It is out for S2 as it is right before exams but I was hoping S1 & D/bf could make it. We can’t buy tickets for everyone and D said she was getting Lasix this month so it is probably out since tickets from LA are quite pricey. Now I don’t want to go if everyone else has their kids & we don’t. H doesn’t really understand & says its a great chance to get away. We never go away alone, maybe 1 or twice. I’d rather plan a family trip later, or take a long weekend to the bahamas or something.</p>
<p>AvonDad, your talking about it being in the 40’s and warm enough to take down Christmas decorations made me chuckle.</p>
<p>We lived in Illinois and then Iowa for my kids growing up years. Winter in the midwest can be brutal. My D has been a long distance runner since 7th grade, so almost 7 years. She ran outside in the winter time. </p>
<p>Now that she has been at Tulane in New Orleans for a semester and we have those same 40s (and some 50’s and 60’s in the past week) it is too cold to run outside and she is going to use the treadmill. Go figure. Most of us are happy with 40 degree days in early to mid January.</p>
<p>I am joining the end of the holidays blues party. Took DS 1 to the airport to go back to college this morning. I am wondering when the day will come that I don’t cry as soon as he leaves. At least I’m not crying in front of him. DS 2 was grumpy all last week- I think he felt a little slighted by attention paid to his older brother. Today he was pretty chipper. Brother is gone and attention is back on him…</p>
<p>Weather here in Nor Cal is absolutely spring like. Highs in low 60’s, but it is dry as a bone. Leaves that fell in November are still on the ground, some people are watering their lawns for goodness sakes!</p>
<p>Drove DS back to school today and dropped him off at his dorm around noon. He said he was “glad to be home” (!) and I’m simultaneously happy and sad about that. He also displayed to me his new 2012 planner (!), an item the likes of which I have tried to no avail since third grade to get him to use. “Are you going to use that?” I asked. “That’s why I bought it,” he said, rolling his eyes just a little.</p>
<p>Oh, my. I love that boy.</p>
<p>:D CHS2011Mom. I almost passed out last summer when DS told me he was setting up a Google calendar so he could keep track of his own stuff! They do grow up :)</p>
<p>Hugs to all those feeling sad and teary. Sending some chocolate and ice cream your way.</p>
<p>Bravo to those whose kids are finally understanding the value of calendars and organizers.</p>
<p>Great News Avon Dad!</p>
<p>Took D3 to train station for a 1pm train. Feel surprisingly numb, no tears but still have two college kids at home for at least another week. Husband was really sad so it was a switch for us, I am usually the one crying! Figure it will hit me later. </p>
<p>Hugs to all who are feeling blue! </p>
<p>Our neighborhood had an interesting annual bonfire on the beach tonite. Tomorrow is Christmas tree collection Day and the Neighborhood goes around with a big trailer and collects the trees and dumps them on the beach. Then the neighbors all gather with drinks etc. and at 6:30 they light the first tree then continue to dump the trees into the fire until they are all done. I am telling you, it should have been a commercial for make sure you water your Christmas Tree. Those trees went up like a match. Flames shot up about 40 feet and then the sparks etc went another 40 feet. They had collected about 100 trees and it was all over in about 30 minutes. So moral of the story is if you haven’t gotten your tree out of the house yet, you might want to think about it!</p>
<p>Have a great night!</p>
<p>I take D1 back to school tomorrow. It was really great having her home, since the last time she was home for this long was before graduation last year. She will also be away for Spring break, and will be away for most of the summer working at camp. </p>
<p>She plans to talk to her roomies about some issues they are having when they all return tomorrow. She texted them to see when they were coming back to school. One responded right away, and it took the other one a few days to respond. The first one (the one she has no issue with) asked what she wanted to discuss, the other one responded “k”. She is concerned that the second roomie will not even grasp that there are any issues. She plans to write down in advance the issues so that she is prepared. I did tell her to be prepared that they may have some issues with her. I am proud that she isn’t letting the issues fester for another term.</p>
<p>Regarding calendars. D1 has kept her own calendar, complete with all appointments since freshman year in HS. She has such a busy calendar than there is no way I could even imagine trying to keep track of it.</p>
<p>She did get 2 plain white dresses on-line. They arrived the other day. One is much nicer than the other, and she will wear it for initiation. She will keep the second one, and can wear it as a casual summer dress.</p>
<p>S was using his phone as his planner, not sure what he uses anymore. Weather is unusually warm in the Boston area too. No complaints if it keeps my heating bill low. S got a letter from the local Boy Scout council over the weekend,. There will be a dinner for all the Eagle Scouts this June and they would like to pair him up at the dinner with a mentor who works in the field he intends to major in. I thought that was such a great idea and made sure S returned the card indicating he plans on attending. He goes back to school next Monday, will be home in March for spring break and then possibly over Easter. </p>
<p>gsmomma - I think it is great that your D is mature enough to approach her roommates about the issues. Many just let stuff fester and become miserable. </p>
<p>cruisn- Sounds like your D has a plan and is motivated to do well. Wish i could say the same for my low performing S. Well he gets one more semester and he either gets it or he doesn’t. </p>
<p>idinct - that sounds like it would be a nice trip to Italy. Unless you are sure all the kids will be available for a family vacation anytime soon, I say go!</p>
<p>collage1- I took my 11yo D to NYC last Feb. We had a blast. There have been quite a few NYC threads posted on CC the past year asking about places to see, things to do, etc. You might want to search for them.</p>
<p>kathie- my S came home with a huge bag full of clothes too. Then he got a lot of clothes for xmas. No idea how he plans to bring everything back to school. He also lost weight last semester which surprised me because I know he is not consuming the healthiest diet. </p>
<p>AK- so cool for your S to be participating in a bowl game. And after all the stories in the news lately about concusions and such with kids playing contact sports I am glad your S doesn’t have to worry about that. :)</p>
<p>Hi all!</p>
<p>Well he left yesterday and I did cry in front of him. 
I didn’t do this when he left in August and am figuring it is either hormones or other issues that are on my mind or a combination. He was very sweet though after I said I was sorry-he told me never to apologize for my feelings-he was very touched!</p>
<p>So he left with a lot of nice new clothes that I would classify as business casual-his roommate who came last fall with his iron has had a positive impact! He is excited about his schedule and pretty sure he will soon select a major-it’s a miracle!</p>
<p>He is pretty upset though that he did in fact gain the freshman 15! He looks great to me but he is on a mission to get it all off ASAP!</p>
<p>Good morning everyone -</p>
<p>Hugs to all that are feeling blue with the holidays now over and the kids returning to school. My D also purchased business casual clothes over the break…we had quite a few laughs trying to educate her what business casual is and what she would actually wear! Navigating business casual is complicated for women. </p>
<p>D has lost weight last semester and she looked a bit too thin before Christmas. She did put on a few pounds over the holidays but it was just enough to make her look healthy again. We reduced her meal plan this semester and put more dollars on her “acct” so that she could purchase food at the local places around campus. She had digestive issues last semester…claimed it was the food…she did not have the same problems at home. So, we are trying something new. There is a whole foods nearby and I told her to buy fresh fruit every week regardless of the cost. The cafeteria is really limited to tree fruits which she can’t eat due to allergies…</p>