<p>Back from vacation and back from page 2. We enjoyed New Orleans and a week in the western Caribbean. this years ship sure beat the SS Indecision that we were on last year. DD and her GF from school had fun and thoroughly enjoyed their spring break. AvonMom definitely enjoyed her break from home, doctors, etc. itâs tough to be back home and start work and school tomorrow. </p>
<p>DS comes home on the 9th which is less than 4 weeks. Where did the year go? It looks like I will need a couple of days to catch up on all the posts over the past week. At least there arenât as many as this time last year. I also have to get FAFSA in this week as its due by May 1st. It never seems to end!</p>
<p>Canât believe that Dâs freshman year is going to be over soon! It seems like just last week she was agonizing over which school to choose out of her acceptances. Where did the time go?</p>
<p>Meanwhile D, whoâs dream is to go into publishing managed to land herself an unpaid internship at a local fashion/lifestyle magazine. Now that was a happy surprise!</p>
<p>I hesitate to mention this to busy parents, but the other day my son mentioned that he thought there were some scholarships out there for current students at his college. He said he was slammed with work, end of year projects, etc. and asked me to look into it. I did and was surprised to find some specifically for students in his technical major. Two of the three were really for rising Juniors, but one was for any enrolled student in a cyber security major. Fortunately, it has a fall deadline so he can do that later - but it is for $5,000 and he meets the basic qualifications, so a good find. My keyword search words were, âtechnical major, current student, scholarshipâ Of course, if your student is in engineering, graphic design, etc, you would use those words. ;)</p>
<p>Iâm picking son up in TWO weeks! So far, no response for the internships he replied to, but he can do his IT business here so weâre not too worried about keeping him busy. Our next big thing is our daughters graduation from her Masters program at Vanderbilt next month. Weâre there for an extra day and are looking forward to exploring Nashville.</p>
<p>Welcome back, Avondad! Iâm glad you had a nice vacation.</p>
<p>Vot: Congrats on your Dâs internship!</p>
<p>Shaw: I agree that living with a young couple and a newborn doesnât sounds like a great choice for a college student. </p>
<p>EAO: Have a great time today at the Boston Marathon. My D doesnât have class today and is excited to see the race . I had no idea that Patriotâs Day was such a big holiday in Boston.</p>
<p>Shaw - would definitely not do the rental with a newborn. We have all been there and know how exhausting those first few months can be. I can just imagine the couple hoping your D offers to watch the baby to give them a break even if they donât ask. I can just see resentment brewing. Heck I resented my H getting to sleep every night when I breastfed out kids when they were infants. </p>
<p>I am in the suburbs of Boston and the going rate for a teenage sitter was about $10 and hour several years ago when I last hired. Adults and nannies were running upwards of $14/hour when 12yo was a toddler and we had one.</p>
<p>Shaw - I agree with the other posters, ShawD is too young to be in that type of living situation. I would suggest that she find a living situation with other college kids in Boston - maybe kids that donât go to her school so that she has the opportunity to extend her social network with minimal effort. My D babysits in the summer and her job is literally to bring young kids to a high-end country club for their swimming, golf and tennis lessons. She then plans activities for the afternoonâŠif it is hot, they stay at the pool or they may go to the mall (girls), library, or play dates. $15-20 is standard around in the affluent Boston suburbs.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. The good news: ShawD saw the condo yesterday and said, âIt is magnificent but it is too nice. Itâs not the right place for me.â Theyâll be happy to have her babysit even if she doesnât live there, so all could work out well. One of my colleagues always use to say, âLet the problem teach them.â It worked this time.</p>
<p>Everybody will be better off. Now to finding a condo for her to live in/rent out rooms in.</p>
<p>Shawâglad your D knows herself and made a good decision. Hopefully the good karma will help her find the right place!</p>
<p>DS has reapplied for a scholarship he got last year. They sent him the application to re-apply. That was a happy thingâwe had no idea he could apply for it again. Weâll see if it pans out!</p>
<p>Iâm heading up to see DS on Thursday. Hopefully he will have identified some âstuffâ for me to take home. I figured since Iâm up there I could start bringing some things home. Iâm also hoping to hear about dorm draw. Itâs sometime this week, although I have no idea when. Heâs not very informative on this stuff.</p>
<p>EAOâhope your DH does well in the marathon. If itâs anything like here, I fear itâs really hotter than prime marathon weather. We are up to almost 80 today!</p>
<p>VAMom: good luck with bringing stuff home early. We saw D @school yesterday but not a chance that she had packed anything yet. I had asked a few weeks ago if I could at least have her winter clothes and anything she didnât use, but no such luck. She said she should know her summer situation in a week or two (!) - sheâs staying in New Haven to work in her lab and plans to sublet a place with friends. Iâm trying not to push, but it would help me a lot to plan if I could get more info. I know that I canât get everything in the car - it was full going down and she has taken more since, including her desk chair. Even with the pod on the roof, this is a no go. So, if she is just moving across town, we can do 2-3 trips in the car and all will be well. If she needs to get everything out, even for a few days, we have a problem.</p>
<p>EAO: how did your H do in the marathon? I heard that 4300 runners accepted the offer to defer until next year. Sounded like a sensible decision.</p>
<p>Shaw: good for your D making a good decision. Iâm sure you will collectively find her a more comfortable living situation. There is plenty of student housing at all levels of comfort and cost in Boston, as you certainly know.</p>
<p>Talked to DS last night and he seems to have done a good job advocating for himself (yay) re courses for next year as the school agreed to the one request that was most important, and he sounded happy and confident. </p>
<p>First time in over 30 years that I have not been in the Boston area for the marathon - here in AZ no oneâs even heard of Patriotâs Day :)</p>
<p>Hope everyone is well and that your kids are heading into their final freshman classes and exams confidently. So much has changed in the last year.
We have watched them </p>
<p>Pick a school.
Plan a move.
Select classes.
Buy books.
Make new friends.
Survive roommate drama or team drama or bff drama, or internship dramaâŠetc </p>
<p>In a few shorts weeks they will be rising sophmores. Thinking about moving stuff, storing stuff, summer jobs, summer internships, summer trips.</p>
<p>I saw D1 yesterday and also asked if she could give me some things to bring home. She mentioned that her printer wasnât working, but didnât want me to bring anything home. She did bring some winter boots, hats and gloves when she was home for Easter. I have a feeling that we will be making multiple trips home for move out. Luckily, we live close.</p>
<p>She volunteered to be an usher at graduation. Her bf is graduating, and she didnât want him to have to chose who to give his coveted 2 tickets in case of rain. Being an usher also allows her to stay in the dorm for an extra week, which means we can move her out over the weekend instead of 24 hours after her last final.</p>
<p>H and D2 went to PA this weekend. He found out this week that his Dad has lung cancer and he wanted to see him before he got worse. They had a good visit and helped around the house with doing spring time chores. When D1 gets out of school, we will all go down again to see him. My poor H feels helpless, but he is definitely glad that he made the trip.</p>
<p>Pulling an âAvonHSdadâ and rescuing us from page 2. Gsmomma, so sorry to hear about your FIL, an especially grim diagnosis, sending prayers your familyâs way.</p>
<p>EAO- dying for a marathon update, sounds like a bunch of people deferred until next year because of the heat. Hope all went well with your hubby.</p>
<p>I canât believe the year is almost over. I am echoing others who are wondering where it went. As I look at my first year as an empty nester I am proud to say I survived it fairly well! With neither son coming home for the summer just me and DH around the house feels like the new normal. And somehow, life is ten times busier than it was before when the kids were in the house! </p>
<p>Both boys are having great semesters. Yalie has a new girlfriend, so strange to not even have met her yet. S1 is on track to graduate one year from now with a BS/MS in chemE, in 4 yearsâŠthatâs a tuition value! :D. Planning a big tropical vacation for all of us this Christmas- (when everything is top dollar, of course, but it is literally the only week we can all be together, and I donât know when that might happen again, so Iâm going to stop thinking about how much itâs going to cost!)</p>
<p>gsmomma - sorry to read about your FIL. Lung cancer is a horrible illness.</p>
<p>yalemom- The trip wounds wonderful. We are trying to plan our next family vacation. We somehow missed doing one this past year. Hopefully we can get one in this year. My 12yo was invited to go to HI with a friend next March. We will only pay for airfare (expensive enough) and pocket money. I felt bad that S would miss out, but then I remembered <em>I</em> was not going either. LOL. </p>
<p>Talked to S yesterday about his summer job. He was planning on taking a week off to ârelaxâ when he finished school til I told him I would not be giving him spending money those first few weeks until he gets his first check unless he is working. Getting ready to order the largest wheeled duffle airlines will allow without imposing a surcharge to have delivered to son for him to carry all his âstuffâ. He already has one big rolling duffle, but I know all his clothes are not going to fit in one bag.</p>
<p>Could use a little input here. My son ended up getting the dorm he wanted but found out that the cluster (suite) that he and his roommate were assigned to will house the RA and a few students with special needs. My concern is with the RA sharing the suite and how thatâs going to affect my son. They had the number one housing pick of the rising sophomores but the dorm they picked did not allow students to pick their cluster mates and they were filled in order of the draw, with the RA and the special needs students getting a pre-first spot and then the rest of the students in order of credits. So, with the best pick they arguably got the worst room since the RA will probably be busy with people coming to him at all times of the day and night with problems. </p>
<p>Do you think he has any recourse? Iâve suggested he and his roommate meet with Res life to talk it over.</p>
<p>Hi all. Between spring break and Easter, I have been gone a while. I missed a lot. One month from today, D will be home. Like others have stated, itâs hard to believe. </p>
<p>I get to visit her later this month to see her spring concert (and solo) and will be hauling a large duffel bag back with the winter stuff she does not intend to store at school for whatever reason. H will help her on move out date (moving stuff to storage, getting her to airport with her bags, providing emotional support as I am sure it will be tough leaving her friends and they will all be exhausted after finals and packing up). H needs to be nearby for another event at the same time, so she gets an assist with her first move home. Probably wonât happen again until 2015! It is so much more complicated and expensive when they are a plane ride away. </p>
<p>D has two unpaid internship offers in hand and is waiting to hear on the third (her top choice) before she decides. They are all of the resume building variety and are going to be perfect for her. She will get great experience and a class credit, but no pay. She will be babysitting, tutoring, and doing odd jobs like pet care and mowing lawns with the little brother on weekends to make some cash. It will be the first summer without double sessions in her sport (she is a club athlete now) which will really be strange.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear of the housing trouble, kathiep. I understand your concern. </p>
<p>Hope all goes will with finals, job stuff, and moves back home for all of our kids.</p>
<p>So if he had enough roommates to fill the suite would he have to live with the RA and other spec need students? I would not be happy in the that suite, as you say it is apt to be busy all hours of the day and night. It canât hurt to have your S contact residential services and request another room.</p>
<p>No, none of the students chose suite mates, just roommates. The suite mates were assigned by res life. the RA and the other students had pre-first priority picks.</p>
<p>A quick hello to join in on the âWhere did the year go?â chorus, even D1 is shocked that in about a month she will be home! Of course, all the fun of finals before that but still, it all goes soooo fast.</p>
<p>kathiep, I think it canât hurt to ask for a switch but suspect this will lead to a much less attractive spot. But, it is useful to develop the skill of asking. </p>
<p>Weâve been seeing ShawD a lot. She stayed at home last night because a friend from Calgary had flown in to run the Boston Marathon. So, he and wife and daughter came over for dinner after the Marathon. I picked them up from another friendâs house. While I was doing this (and ShawWife was at the Norton Lectures), ShawD asked, âWhat can I do while Iâm waiting?â She had already cleaned the kitchen and set the table. So, I suggested she make salad and she made one, in the artistic manner of her mother. On the 2013 thread, we call this emerging displays of maturity, I think. Very gratifying.</p>
DD and her GF from school had fun and thoroughly enjoyed their spring break. AvonMom definitely enjoyed her break from home, doctors, etc. itâs tough to be back home and start work and school tomorrow. </p>
Getting ready to order the largest wheeled duffle airlines will allow without imposing a surcharge to have delivered to son for him to carry all his âstuffâ. He already has one big rolling duffle, but I know all his clothes are not going to fit in one bag.</p>