Roughly translating to "odds and ends", or, Nathaniel informs me, literally translating to "small things", which works as well.
*****
Most of you saw my i/g post the other day about how much I appreciate stragglers, for making me feel less late. You guys, we get later for school every day! I hassle and prod and cajole and rush these kids all morning to get them out the door. Some days half the kids are ready 20 minutes early and sitting with a cup of a tea and a book. BUT STILL! By the time we actually get coats and boots on and make it down the four flights of stairs and out the door... we're late. And later. It's getting ridiculous.
On the up side, they're just missing the start of class here, as opposed to at home where they'd be missing the start of mass, which makes me feel extra guilty. But that's another thing! We don't even have to worry about fasting for mass, and we're still failing. Hmph.
I realize there's an easy answer. I could just wake everyone up earlier. I'm not an idiot - it's pretty basic math. Start sooner and we should, theoretically, leave sooner, and therefore arrive sooner. Two problems with that: First, I love my last 10 minutes of sleep. Love it. The thought of giving it up pains me. Second, that note above about how some days they're ready on time and we're still late... I'm not sure getting up any earlier will solve this. There's something about the final few minutes of getting out the door that we are just horrible at. I should probably try it, though. The getting up early. Maybe I'll make it one of my Lenten penances (that I get to inflict on the whole family).
For now, I just watch that one mom cross paths with me progressively further from school. I used to see her in the school. Then just outside. Then on the stair by the school... Today, she was two full blocks from school getting ready to board her bus when we walked by. I smiled and said good morning sheepishly. Thank heavens there were still a few stragglers coming in even later than us!
*****
We are up to eight and a half hours of daylight per day and it feels pretty amazing! The sun doesn't set till nearly 4:30, which seems so incredibly normal after the bizarro 2 o'clock hour settings a few weeks ago. We've gotten multiple little dustings of snow over the past couple weeks - enough to keep the ground and buildings lightly coated and pretty. Nathaniel was able to take the kids sledding tonight, though the hill was packed and iced and therefore dangerously fast. Winter is trekking along, and we're mostly enjoying it. There's comfort in knowing that our temps are often higher than those in Lincoln, even if that's only because of record lows in Lincoln.
A Swedish news program Nathaniel listens to to practice his language skills noted that earlier this week Sweden experience what they call a "National Ice Day", meaning the entire country was below freezing for a full 24 hours. Apparently that hasn't happened in a couple of years, so was notable. So don't think we've got it totally easy over here. It's cold. And we haven't had the upswings to 50F to thaw us out - it just sits right here around freezing day after day. Peter is so sick of me making him wear long johns under his jeans to school, but a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do (when her kid will have an hour of mandatory outdoor play in freezing, possibly wet weather).
*****
Memory to save: This week, Peter and Meg invented a game that's great for burning energy, less great for being good, quiet neighbors. Peter has been super into folding paper airplanes of late. A couple days ago, Peter and Meg asked me if they could launch a pile of airplanes off our balcony, then retrieve them from the courtyard. I agreed (desperate times - living in a flat with five kids - call for desperate measures). They LOVED it. They ended up launching them, running down for them, launching them again, repeat, till I made them stop for dinner. Last night they changed it up a little. One kid went to the courtyard and attempted to catch the airplanes as the other launched them from the balcony. The catcher would then bring the airplanes back up to the thrower, then run down for more. Halfway through, they swapped roles. (Rachel went down as well to kick around a recently purchased soccer ball. Best $9 I've spent in a while!)
It was a great game, for the most part. The only downside was the noise factor. How can a seven year old boy be expected to launch, or chase and catch, airplanes without yelling and shouting for joy?! Unfortunately, the courtyard is very echo-y. More than once, while I was in the kitchen making dinner, I'd hear through the (closed) kitchen window, the crescendoing voices of my dear children, and have to rush to shush them, either through the balcony door in my bedroom or by actually calling to them in the courtyard from the balcony - classy. I imagine every other dinner chef could hear them just as loudly as I could, without the benefit of knowing who they were or WHY they were whooping and hollering.
I only found one abandoned airplane while passing through the courtyard with my laundry this morning. At least they didn't litter!
Showing posts with label school days. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school days. Show all posts
Friday, February 09, 2018
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
Sidenotes
Before I get back to Paris stories, a couple assorted notes on Stockholm life.
~ There's a little boy in Peter's class that cracks me up because he's so "helpful". We'll call him "A". A is a very confident little guy. He was assigned as Peter's "buddy" on his first day to show him the ropes, and his coat hook is next to Peter's. A always says hello to me, and usually has some tidbit to offer about school policy or life in general. On the few days when Peter's been sad about going to school, in tears as I'm trying to leave him, A has offered small comfort in the form of comments like "What's wrong with him?" Kids are so sensitive.
Today, Peter was taking his coat off as A came in with his dad. A looked at Peter in concern and said, "Did you forget to check your weather app today?" I asked what he meant. A was dressed in a full zip up snowsuit over his school clothes. He replied, "It's supposed to SNOW at 5pm today!" "Oh, well, we'll be home by then," I said. He just looked at me, with total disappointment in my naiveté regarding Swedish weather, I guess, and began to peel off his own layers. For what it's worth, we HAD checked our weather app, and ours shows a small chance of showers in the 4-5pm range. I think A is going to be sorely disappointed in his hopes for a great snowfall today. But if he's not, we'll be toasty warm in our flat, watching out the window.
A's father is always there at school drop off, but never does more than nod at me in greeting. I think he speaks English, because A speaks excellent fluent English with a lovely Indian accent. But he never does anything to tone down A's advice giving. He never even offers the gentle eye roll that would seem infinitely appropriate to me, so I keep my own face straight as well. At first I found it off putting, but now I look forward to finding out what A will offer me each day.
~ Grocery delivery has saved my home-making life. I am so grateful for it. The website is painfully slow when I'm ordering, so I spend hours setting up an order, but that's totally okay. The benefit is very much worth the cost. I have never had any interest in ordering groceries back home, but I may be getting spoiled here. Even as I type that, though, I think the lure of driving my car to the store when I get home will get back on that wagon quickly enough. I miss my van.
~ Thanks for all the sweet comments on instagram about Marianne's new moto jacket. She declared she wanted one a month or so before her birthday, so we knew we'd be shopping around once she had cash in hand. We totally scored when we found the winning jacket at H&M for around $50! There were only a couple of them on the rack in that style, but one was the right size, so, you know what they say, "You don't need scores of jackets. You only need one, if it's the right one." She still hemmed and hawed, and we left and ran some other errands then came back to look at it again. I'm so glad she got it! Clearly you all are, too. She didn't really want me to post a picture of her, because she's 14 which, I think, means if you're not posting a selfie it's not cool to post at all. That's why I slipped it in after all the all the park pics. Less conspicuous so she minds less. But man! That girl! She's getting so grown up and is clearly much chicer than me. Not that THAT's a challenge.
Meg, also, used some birthday money to up her moto-chic. She was desperate for a pair of black booties or boots. After some shopping around, she settled on a super cute pair of boots with a couple fun buckles. They're taller than booties but don't come all the way to her calf. I don't know what you call that height. but she loves them and they're adorable on her. She now wears them with everything (along with her panda earmuffs, of course) so look forward to spotting them in photos to come.
~ There's a little boy in Peter's class that cracks me up because he's so "helpful". We'll call him "A". A is a very confident little guy. He was assigned as Peter's "buddy" on his first day to show him the ropes, and his coat hook is next to Peter's. A always says hello to me, and usually has some tidbit to offer about school policy or life in general. On the few days when Peter's been sad about going to school, in tears as I'm trying to leave him, A has offered small comfort in the form of comments like "What's wrong with him?" Kids are so sensitive.
Today, Peter was taking his coat off as A came in with his dad. A looked at Peter in concern and said, "Did you forget to check your weather app today?" I asked what he meant. A was dressed in a full zip up snowsuit over his school clothes. He replied, "It's supposed to SNOW at 5pm today!" "Oh, well, we'll be home by then," I said. He just looked at me, with total disappointment in my naiveté regarding Swedish weather, I guess, and began to peel off his own layers. For what it's worth, we HAD checked our weather app, and ours shows a small chance of showers in the 4-5pm range. I think A is going to be sorely disappointed in his hopes for a great snowfall today. But if he's not, we'll be toasty warm in our flat, watching out the window.
A's father is always there at school drop off, but never does more than nod at me in greeting. I think he speaks English, because A speaks excellent fluent English with a lovely Indian accent. But he never does anything to tone down A's advice giving. He never even offers the gentle eye roll that would seem infinitely appropriate to me, so I keep my own face straight as well. At first I found it off putting, but now I look forward to finding out what A will offer me each day.
~ Grocery delivery has saved my home-making life. I am so grateful for it. The website is painfully slow when I'm ordering, so I spend hours setting up an order, but that's totally okay. The benefit is very much worth the cost. I have never had any interest in ordering groceries back home, but I may be getting spoiled here. Even as I type that, though, I think the lure of driving my car to the store when I get home will get back on that wagon quickly enough. I miss my van.
~ Thanks for all the sweet comments on instagram about Marianne's new moto jacket. She declared she wanted one a month or so before her birthday, so we knew we'd be shopping around once she had cash in hand. We totally scored when we found the winning jacket at H&M for around $50! There were only a couple of them on the rack in that style, but one was the right size, so, you know what they say, "You don't need scores of jackets. You only need one, if it's the right one." She still hemmed and hawed, and we left and ran some other errands then came back to look at it again. I'm so glad she got it! Clearly you all are, too. She didn't really want me to post a picture of her, because she's 14 which, I think, means if you're not posting a selfie it's not cool to post at all. That's why I slipped it in after all the all the park pics. Less conspicuous so she minds less. But man! That girl! She's getting so grown up and is clearly much chicer than me. Not that THAT's a challenge.
Meg, also, used some birthday money to up her moto-chic. She was desperate for a pair of black booties or boots. After some shopping around, she settled on a super cute pair of boots with a couple fun buckles. They're taller than booties but don't come all the way to her calf. I don't know what you call that height. but she loves them and they're adorable on her. She now wears them with everything (along with her panda earmuffs, of course) so look forward to spotting them in photos to come.
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
The (terrifying) count down is on...
We have just about two and a half months till we leave for Sweden and I really could scarcely feel less prepared. We've had some housing setbacks (or, more accurately housing nothingnesses... it's not like anything we had was taken away from us, we just haven't gotten anywhere) and some set backs on schools, combined with some upswings to counteract them. Overall I'm feeling optimistic but still mostly overwhelmed. Here are my current random thoughts and updates on the 2017-18 Sabbatical Adventure. (Everything sounds more exciting and fun and DOable when you call it an "adventure", no?)
~ We messaged the International School (ISSR) that had accepted three of the four school children to inquire about Marianne's position on the waitlist (despite the clear note on the original message that no questions would be answered regarding students' positions on the waitlists) and were informed that due to lack of turnover, things did not look promising (despite the note in the original message that due to high turnover at the school, they expected all waitlisted students to obtain spots in their classes), and they hoped we had applied at other schools as well. We had not. I quickly researched the other school that I found most appealing, and submitted online applications for all four school aged kids. Part of the reason I had not originally applied to this school - Rödabergsskolen (Red Mountain School) - was that they are a Swedish school taught in English, which means they begin formal education later, and it did not appear that Peter would be old enough to attend. Also, the very helpful relocation folks at KTH had gotten us an "in" at ISSR that made it much more convenient to apply to. After a couple weeks of waiting, a call to a vice principal at Rödabergsskolen, and a brief email exchange, we received notice today that all four school aged kids have been accepted, and that it will be no problem for them to begin a week or two late when we arrive! Praise God! I was hoping that at least Marianne and Ruth would be accepted, so they could attend one school together while the younger kids attended another. I had scarcely hoped that all four might get in! This is a huge relief to me. It also helps that Rödabergsskolen is very near to KTH, so I'm hopeful that Nathaniel can oversee the morning commute for the kids, leaving Rachel and me to enjoy a quieter morning routine before we venture out to explore the city each day!
~ We've been "advertising" our house for rent primarily through word of mouth so far, but we may be coming to the point where we need to actually advertise it on some sort of site - craigslist or the like. I'd much prefer to have a friend of a friend renting it, since, as Nathaniel's realtor-cousin pointed out when he looked around and helped us talk through how much to ask, we want to move back into a house that's in just as great of shape as we're leaving it. And if you find renters without personal connections, you never know how they might treat your home. If you know of anyone in need of a rental, please let me know and I'd be happy to pass along the listing I put together with photos and info! We had one couple come look at the house last week. I loved them. I wish I could have handed them the keys right then! Sadly (for us) they found a house to buy instead of renting. I'm not exactly hoping that horrible things are discovered in their inspection so they have to come running back to us... but maybe just a little.
~ The housing situation in Sweden is no more resolved than the rental situation here. There's a gorgeous and ideal apartment for rent from a KTH professor, but it costs over twice our current mortgage payment and we are hoping not to spend ALL our travel funds on housing. (And by "we", I mean Nathaniel. He is putting his foot down. I would likely have caved by now and taken it just to have this item checked off the to do list.) KTH put us in touch with a house hunting service, but they are incredibly slow to respond and things are plodding along at a snail's pace. I'm sure it will all work out.Happily, the kids getting in to Rödabergsskolen opened up our options some, as they do not require that we live within the Stockholm Municipality to hold our spots. We don't want to live too far out, but there are other municipalities nearby that may have more options in our preferred price range. Or so I've heard and so I hope. Nevermind. The email with additional information I received since posting this makes it clear that we still need to aim for the Stockholm Municipality. Oh, well. It's just money, right?
~ Each day I get up and think, "What can I actually accomplish today toward making this adventure happen?" I feel like there should be a long list of easy answers, but there is not. I can't really begin packing up rooms because we have to live here for a couple more months, and we have to show this house to potential renters. Also, I have kids here constantly looking over my shoulder which makes it difficult to throw all their stuff away. I was discussing this with a friend at the pool the other day and really realized as I said it that "I can accomplish more in five days without the kids home than I can in a month with them here." So I'm biding my time trying to get other things done while I make mental plans for sorting, packing and planning when the kids go to stay with my parents next month.
~ We just received the acceptance letters from Rödabergsskolen this morning, and a few hours later the Lands End school uniform catalog arrived in the mail to taunt me. This will be the kids' first (and only) school year to not have uniforms. I'm dreading it a bit. I suppose part of the potential craziness of them getting to wear "whatever they want" will be mitigated by the fact that they can only bring as many clothes as we can fit in their suitcases, so their clothing choices will be seriously limited. There will be a lot of repeating outfits, without so much caring about whether you just wore that three or four days ago. (Does anyone else remember this very real fear from h.s., college and even when I was working in my 20s... "Did I wear this already this week?! What if someone notices?!" These days I can't remember what I wore yesterday and I certainly can't keep track of what anyone else has worn recently. Plus, there's that whole thing about how the most successful, genius sorts have a whole bunch of one outfit and they wear the same thing every day. I can totally get behind that mindset.) For a brief period while Rachel and I were having lunch and I was paging through the Lands End catalog, I considered whether perhaps I'd order the kids a bunch of khakis and polos and declare them to be our family's uniform! Who cares that the school doesn't mandate what you wear? Your mother has simplified your life by taking it upon herself to set that mandate. You're welcome! I think we can all predict how that would go over.
~ We messaged the International School (ISSR) that had accepted three of the four school children to inquire about Marianne's position on the waitlist (despite the clear note on the original message that no questions would be answered regarding students' positions on the waitlists) and were informed that due to lack of turnover, things did not look promising (despite the note in the original message that due to high turnover at the school, they expected all waitlisted students to obtain spots in their classes), and they hoped we had applied at other schools as well. We had not. I quickly researched the other school that I found most appealing, and submitted online applications for all four school aged kids. Part of the reason I had not originally applied to this school - Rödabergsskolen (Red Mountain School) - was that they are a Swedish school taught in English, which means they begin formal education later, and it did not appear that Peter would be old enough to attend. Also, the very helpful relocation folks at KTH had gotten us an "in" at ISSR that made it much more convenient to apply to. After a couple weeks of waiting, a call to a vice principal at Rödabergsskolen, and a brief email exchange, we received notice today that all four school aged kids have been accepted, and that it will be no problem for them to begin a week or two late when we arrive! Praise God! I was hoping that at least Marianne and Ruth would be accepted, so they could attend one school together while the younger kids attended another. I had scarcely hoped that all four might get in! This is a huge relief to me. It also helps that Rödabergsskolen is very near to KTH, so I'm hopeful that Nathaniel can oversee the morning commute for the kids, leaving Rachel and me to enjoy a quieter morning routine before we venture out to explore the city each day!
~ We've been "advertising" our house for rent primarily through word of mouth so far, but we may be coming to the point where we need to actually advertise it on some sort of site - craigslist or the like. I'd much prefer to have a friend of a friend renting it, since, as Nathaniel's realtor-cousin pointed out when he looked around and helped us talk through how much to ask, we want to move back into a house that's in just as great of shape as we're leaving it. And if you find renters without personal connections, you never know how they might treat your home. If you know of anyone in need of a rental, please let me know and I'd be happy to pass along the listing I put together with photos and info! We had one couple come look at the house last week. I loved them. I wish I could have handed them the keys right then! Sadly (for us) they found a house to buy instead of renting. I'm not exactly hoping that horrible things are discovered in their inspection so they have to come running back to us... but maybe just a little.
~ The housing situation in Sweden is no more resolved than the rental situation here. There's a gorgeous and ideal apartment for rent from a KTH professor, but it costs over twice our current mortgage payment and we are hoping not to spend ALL our travel funds on housing. (And by "we", I mean Nathaniel. He is putting his foot down. I would likely have caved by now and taken it just to have this item checked off the to do list.) KTH put us in touch with a house hunting service, but they are incredibly slow to respond and things are plodding along at a snail's pace. I'm sure it will all work out.
~ Each day I get up and think, "What can I actually accomplish today toward making this adventure happen?" I feel like there should be a long list of easy answers, but there is not. I can't really begin packing up rooms because we have to live here for a couple more months, and we have to show this house to potential renters. Also, I have kids here constantly looking over my shoulder which makes it difficult to throw all their stuff away. I was discussing this with a friend at the pool the other day and really realized as I said it that "I can accomplish more in five days without the kids home than I can in a month with them here." So I'm biding my time trying to get other things done while I make mental plans for sorting, packing and planning when the kids go to stay with my parents next month.
~ We just received the acceptance letters from Rödabergsskolen this morning, and a few hours later the Lands End school uniform catalog arrived in the mail to taunt me. This will be the kids' first (and only) school year to not have uniforms. I'm dreading it a bit. I suppose part of the potential craziness of them getting to wear "whatever they want" will be mitigated by the fact that they can only bring as many clothes as we can fit in their suitcases, so their clothing choices will be seriously limited. There will be a lot of repeating outfits, without so much caring about whether you just wore that three or four days ago. (Does anyone else remember this very real fear from h.s., college and even when I was working in my 20s... "Did I wear this already this week?! What if someone notices?!" These days I can't remember what I wore yesterday and I certainly can't keep track of what anyone else has worn recently. Plus, there's that whole thing about how the most successful, genius sorts have a whole bunch of one outfit and they wear the same thing every day. I can totally get behind that mindset.) For a brief period while Rachel and I were having lunch and I was paging through the Lands End catalog, I considered whether perhaps I'd order the kids a bunch of khakis and polos and declare them to be our family's uniform! Who cares that the school doesn't mandate what you wear? Your mother has simplified your life by taking it upon herself to set that mandate. You're welcome! I think we can all predict how that would go over.
Friday, July 22, 2016
High speed catch up so we can get on with the latest!
Here's the thing. It's been something akin to three months since my last blog post, and as the days ticked by, the weight of all the things I felt like blogging about or felt I ought to blog about piled up and up and at some point, blogging didn't sound fun anymore so I just didn't.
BUT!
We've just returned home from a fifteen day adventure out west, and I can't wait to regale you with my photos and stories.
Before I force you onto the sofa, dim the lights and fire up the slideshow player, though, here's a quick run down of things you didn't get to hear about these past many moons:
~ I turned 39. It was one of the most amazing birthdays of my life, truly! 40 is destined to be a let down, but I'm okay with that. I was overwhelmed by the generosity of my friends, who all chipped in and gifted me a large chunk of change so that I could refresh my living room with new slipcovers, a rug, curtains, fresh paint and, above all, throw pillows to my heart's content! You've likely seen some windows into the brightening up process via instagram, but you haven't seen official before and after pictures yet, because it's not yet done. The paint is still sitting by my kitchen door waiting for the right moment. I foresee that moment coming while the kids are in KC visiting my folks a couple weeks from now. I'll keep you posted.
~ There was a band concert in which both Ruth and Marianne played, on trumpet and trombone, respectively. There was also Ruth's piano recital, at which she performed a solo piece and two duets with our neighbor, Nicole. The duets were a fun treat to hear played, after hearing only Ruth's half of the piece for weeks. I have videos of the piano recital if anyone desperately wants to watch it. Or just ask Ruth to play her solo piece for you sometime. She's generally happy to oblige. She's looking forward to piano again in the fall. Meg will begin taking lessons then. Both the older girls will carry on (slightly against their wills) in band, too. Oh, there was a Spring Program for vocal music in the mix, as well! So many performances as the school year wrapped up.
~ Ruth finished the inaugural year of Chess Club at St. T's in last place, but with full marks for sportsmanship. Nathaniel is convinced, after watching the final tournament, that with a little training in strategy she could beat the majority of the kids in the club next year. We'll see how that plays out. I'm proud of her for sticking with it, enthusiastically even, despite never winning. That's a sign of true character.
~ Marianne and Ruth both played on extraordinarily successful (for any Y teams our kids have ever played on) recreational volleyball teams, and Nathaniel coached Meg's micro-soccer team. Our weekends were hopping for a few weeks, there!
~ Another year of school finished splendidly. Strong grades, happy kids, onward to summer! Peter "graduated" preK and will be in all day, every day Kindergarten next year. (Side note: he's learned to read this spring and summer, and it's such a treat! Just tonight he read his own bedtime story to me. I mean, it was "Bathtime for Biscuit", so he's not reading chapter books to himself like Meg was at this stage, but he's still rocking this whole learning thing!)
~ I almost skipped one! Ruth again! She had a birthday. Crazy kid went and turned 11. She's a joy, truly. Our running joke this summer goes like this - whenever Ruth heads outside to do something (climb a tree, roller skate, etc), I call out, "Be careful!" and she replies, "I always am!" usually just seconds before she tumbles down the stairs or falls from something high or the like. But she does always manage to jump back up and keep moving. I love that kid! For her birthday, we had a "Mario Kart" tournament in which all the cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents participated. It was hilarious! I made Smitten Kitchen's "I want chocolate cake Cake" which was fabulous. And she got a "coupon" (made by me) to take a couple of friends to "Defy Gravity", one of those places where the whole floor is covered in trampolines. She was in heaven.
~ Marianne and Ruth each attended SKY Camp (Catholic Summer (K)Camp for Youth). It was the first sleep-away camp for Ruth, Marianne's second year. They explicitly asked NOT to attend the same session, so I jumped through some hoops to make sure they'd each have a few friends at different camps, but not the same one. Some siblings would want to go together, I suppose... I agreed with them that they'd be better off on their own.
~ Marianne has undergone a series of scoliosis testing, which will culminate in an absurdly long MRI next week to rule out anything the doctors haven't seen yet. What they have seen is some very severe curvature. Her spine is a crazy S shape with major curves that will require her to have surgery in a couple years to have rods installed. {sigh} On the upside, knowing that she'll have the surgery lightens our need to worry about bracing now, because it wouldn't do much good. She will get a brace later this summer that she'll have to wear part time, but we think it'll be mostly at home, rather than all day at school where it would be much more of a battle for us and an embarrassment to her. Keep her in your prayers as we continue in this process!
~ All the kids had eye exams and they've all got 20/20 vision or better. Mostly better. Hooray for that one genetic win that we've handed on to them! Don't ask about how their dental check ups went.
~ June came on strong and hot and we spent the majority of our afternoons at the pool. Peter and Rachel also took a round of morning swim lessons, so double pool time for them! Ruth got her choice of a floaty/innertube as another bday gift, and chose a wildly huge and hilarious pretzel. It's so fun she often chooses NOT to take it to the pool because she doesn't want to have to deal with all the kids there wanting to be on it non-stop.
~ The 4th of July was insane this year! Kids were planning and constructing fireworks-extravaganza-structures weeks in advance. Arthur's fam and Tom and Laura came to join in the craziness, and it was a party for the ages. There are videos that I took on Marianne's phone that I hope to share someday, but she accidentally deleted them while we were on vacation, so Nathaniel's having to research "deleted file recovery" and see what he can do. Poor Marianne. She was heartbroken as she watched the videos delete, when she'd been trying to "protect" them from that exact fate.
Okay! I think that's it! I'm calling myself all caught up. Prepare yourselves... the vacation post is coming!
BUT!
We've just returned home from a fifteen day adventure out west, and I can't wait to regale you with my photos and stories.
Before I force you onto the sofa, dim the lights and fire up the slideshow player, though, here's a quick run down of things you didn't get to hear about these past many moons:
~ I turned 39. It was one of the most amazing birthdays of my life, truly! 40 is destined to be a let down, but I'm okay with that. I was overwhelmed by the generosity of my friends, who all chipped in and gifted me a large chunk of change so that I could refresh my living room with new slipcovers, a rug, curtains, fresh paint and, above all, throw pillows to my heart's content! You've likely seen some windows into the brightening up process via instagram, but you haven't seen official before and after pictures yet, because it's not yet done. The paint is still sitting by my kitchen door waiting for the right moment. I foresee that moment coming while the kids are in KC visiting my folks a couple weeks from now. I'll keep you posted.
~ There was a band concert in which both Ruth and Marianne played, on trumpet and trombone, respectively. There was also Ruth's piano recital, at which she performed a solo piece and two duets with our neighbor, Nicole. The duets were a fun treat to hear played, after hearing only Ruth's half of the piece for weeks. I have videos of the piano recital if anyone desperately wants to watch it. Or just ask Ruth to play her solo piece for you sometime. She's generally happy to oblige. She's looking forward to piano again in the fall. Meg will begin taking lessons then. Both the older girls will carry on (slightly against their wills) in band, too. Oh, there was a Spring Program for vocal music in the mix, as well! So many performances as the school year wrapped up.
~ Ruth finished the inaugural year of Chess Club at St. T's in last place, but with full marks for sportsmanship. Nathaniel is convinced, after watching the final tournament, that with a little training in strategy she could beat the majority of the kids in the club next year. We'll see how that plays out. I'm proud of her for sticking with it, enthusiastically even, despite never winning. That's a sign of true character.
~ Marianne and Ruth both played on extraordinarily successful (for any Y teams our kids have ever played on) recreational volleyball teams, and Nathaniel coached Meg's micro-soccer team. Our weekends were hopping for a few weeks, there!
~ Another year of school finished splendidly. Strong grades, happy kids, onward to summer! Peter "graduated" preK and will be in all day, every day Kindergarten next year. (Side note: he's learned to read this spring and summer, and it's such a treat! Just tonight he read his own bedtime story to me. I mean, it was "Bathtime for Biscuit", so he's not reading chapter books to himself like Meg was at this stage, but he's still rocking this whole learning thing!)
~ I almost skipped one! Ruth again! She had a birthday. Crazy kid went and turned 11. She's a joy, truly. Our running joke this summer goes like this - whenever Ruth heads outside to do something (climb a tree, roller skate, etc), I call out, "Be careful!" and she replies, "I always am!" usually just seconds before she tumbles down the stairs or falls from something high or the like. But she does always manage to jump back up and keep moving. I love that kid! For her birthday, we had a "Mario Kart" tournament in which all the cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents participated. It was hilarious! I made Smitten Kitchen's "I want chocolate cake Cake" which was fabulous. And she got a "coupon" (made by me) to take a couple of friends to "Defy Gravity", one of those places where the whole floor is covered in trampolines. She was in heaven.
~ Marianne and Ruth each attended SKY Camp (Catholic Summer (K)Camp for Youth). It was the first sleep-away camp for Ruth, Marianne's second year. They explicitly asked NOT to attend the same session, so I jumped through some hoops to make sure they'd each have a few friends at different camps, but not the same one. Some siblings would want to go together, I suppose... I agreed with them that they'd be better off on their own.
~ Marianne has undergone a series of scoliosis testing, which will culminate in an absurdly long MRI next week to rule out anything the doctors haven't seen yet. What they have seen is some very severe curvature. Her spine is a crazy S shape with major curves that will require her to have surgery in a couple years to have rods installed. {sigh} On the upside, knowing that she'll have the surgery lightens our need to worry about bracing now, because it wouldn't do much good. She will get a brace later this summer that she'll have to wear part time, but we think it'll be mostly at home, rather than all day at school where it would be much more of a battle for us and an embarrassment to her. Keep her in your prayers as we continue in this process!
~ All the kids had eye exams and they've all got 20/20 vision or better. Mostly better. Hooray for that one genetic win that we've handed on to them! Don't ask about how their dental check ups went.
~ June came on strong and hot and we spent the majority of our afternoons at the pool. Peter and Rachel also took a round of morning swim lessons, so double pool time for them! Ruth got her choice of a floaty/innertube as another bday gift, and chose a wildly huge and hilarious pretzel. It's so fun she often chooses NOT to take it to the pool because she doesn't want to have to deal with all the kids there wanting to be on it non-stop.
~ The 4th of July was insane this year! Kids were planning and constructing fireworks-extravaganza-structures weeks in advance. Arthur's fam and Tom and Laura came to join in the craziness, and it was a party for the ages. There are videos that I took on Marianne's phone that I hope to share someday, but she accidentally deleted them while we were on vacation, so Nathaniel's having to research "deleted file recovery" and see what he can do. Poor Marianne. She was heartbroken as she watched the videos delete, when she'd been trying to "protect" them from that exact fate.
Okay! I think that's it! I'm calling myself all caught up. Prepare yourselves... the vacation post is coming!
Tuesday, November 03, 2015
Playing catch up - Busytown Edition
You know how there are some times of the year or specific months that just seem crazy every single year? May, for instance. My calendar can look reasonable as it approaches, then one day... BOOM! I look at May and realize I won't actually breath for those 31 days.
I've recently come to terms with the fact that my whole life is now like that. I feel like I have some down time approaching, but... it never happens. Things fill in. I updated my calendar a while back for the handful of little clubs and organizations that the kids and Nathaniel are involved in and realized that I am only allowed any semblance of routine on Tuesdays. The other days are booked. Need me? Call me Tuesday.
There's some heavy melodrama in that last paragraph, I'll admit. My family is not heavily scheduled compared to the majority of families I read about in those articles on how children are losing their childhoods and whatnot. There does seem to be a lot going on, though, and it all started happening in late September and early October. There are one off things and weekly things and monthly things. Some days they overlap, some days are quiet. Oh! and there's homework. There's a LOT of homework for my older two girls this year. To be fair, one of them is really not good at focusing and getting it done, so it feels like some days homework goes from 3:30 till 7:30, but I know if I really investigated, only 60-90 minutes of that would have been real work. Still, there's been a big jump this year.
Here's a quick run down of some of the things we have going on:
- Music! Ruth is continuing piano this year, as well beginning trumpet at school. Marianne is carrying on (sometimes against her will, yet with relatively good skill) with the trombone. Nathaniel directs a men's choir once a month for Sunday 8am mass. Nathaniel and two or three of the older girls join a "family choir" once a month at Sunday 8am mass. The instruments require "daily" practice, but the girls are not reliable with it and I get distracted during dinner prep so sometimes they give me the slip to head out to play and we forget till the littles are in bed at which point no way am I asking them to whip out their brass instruments and spend 15 minutes honking away, thank you very much. {sigh} I really do want them to practice regularly, though. I'm working on remedying this.
- Chess! A gentleman has volunteered to start a weekly chess club at school and Ruth jumped on it. She's enjoying learning new moves and strategies even though she has yet to win a game. She once managed not to lose by the time they had to end for the afternoon, while playing against the kid considered the strongest player in the club, so she scored half a point against him in a draw. She's pretty proud of that.
- Math! (Are you feeling the nerdy trend here, yet?) Math Counts has begun for the year, and Nathaniel is once again a volunteer coach. The new twist this year - Marianne is finally old enough to join. This is borderline against her will, but she is so strong in math, and I think if Nathaniel weren't a coach she'd do it voluntarily (so embarrassing, being seen anywhere near your dad in 6th grade!) so we've insisted she give it a go. She oscillates between saying how boring it is, and asking whether I think she has any chance of making the competing team (not likely, as it's generally all 8th graders; these earlier years are for learning/practice, but it shows her secret enthusiasm).
- Little Flowers and Endow Girl Genius! These are monthly girls' clubs that Marianne, Ruth and Meg participate in. Little Flowers I've mentioned before, I'm sure, years ago. It centers on learning about virtues and saints, doing crafts, and there's a tea party at the end of the year. Meg is in heaven. Ruth is doing a slightly older version of Little Flowers specifically for girls preparing for Confirmation. Her group is learning about the Gifts of the Spirit and they skip the cheesy crafts and spend time journaling and in group discussion. The Endow Girl Genius group is a version of Endow written for middle school aged girls (Endow is a program developed based on the teachings of St. Pope JPII regarding the "feminine genius") to help them develop a strong sense of self and better understand the beautiful teachings of the Church regarding women. Should I mention that Marianne is in this group mostly against her will? 6th graders are the most fun. I can't wait for junior high! No, but seriously, she's enjoying it. She wanted to do it when I asked. But every meeting it's "ugh... do I have to?" and then afterward I hear about the fun. Oy.
We've had a couple other fun one-off things in the past month, as well.
- Ruth was cast as Mary in her class's "living rosary". Meg (and all the other 1st graders) stood in as "beads" of the rosary behind the tableaux formed by 5th graders.
- The Glee Club came to town. Yes, the same Glee Club I just wrote about visiting at ND. They passed through Lincoln as part of their fall break tour. There's a Lincoln guy currently in Club, so his parents took on the brunt of the work to line up a concert, arrange for host families for the students and a million other details I had no idea a Glee Club visit could involve. God bless them for their efforts! We agreed to host three boys for the night, and I volunteered to arrange for side dishes to round out the chicken they were providing for the Clubbers' dinner. My amazing friends came through with shining colors and we provided a lovely meal for the guys. They thanked us over and over, as apparently every other stop on tour had ordered pizza, and we laid out a really nice meal.
The concert itself was a bit of a blur. Remember last time I attempted to attend a Glee Club tour concert? I'll refresh your memory - it was in Omaha, Rachel was about six months old, and it was just a couple weeks before our trip to Hawaii. It drove me to test the effects of Benadryl on our child in advance of the flight because I was terrified she'd repeat her concert performance while in the air. Bottom line, it was horrible.
I had high hopes that this concert would be much more manageable. And it was. I only had to leave the building once, briefly. But I was still frazzled nearly to tears by the end. Apparently the Glee Club brings out the crazy in Rachel, and in Peter as well. They both did alright through intermission, then after a trip to the bathroom, they just could. not. sit. still. Rachel shouted once, in between songs, so loudly (and with so much flinging of her body onto the floor) that the whole Glee Club actually started laughing and the director turned and waved at me. Mortifying. Thankfully, tons of my friends were there and I could grab a sympathetic smile as needed. I've officially decided I will not take my children to a Glee Club concert ever again, until they're old enough to be on college visits at least.
Nathaniel had a great time, though, and that's what matters when it comes to Glee Club events. He took the guys we were hosting out for a while after dropping off their luggage. They were incredibly gracious house guests. We saw very little of them since they arrived late and left early, but they were very polite and their moms would be proud, I'm sure. One weird thing, though. At least two of the three guys showered while they were here (the other may have after I had gone to bed), but of the basket of towels I left out in their room, I was only able to find one hand towel that had been used. College boys are weird.
I've recently come to terms with the fact that my whole life is now like that. I feel like I have some down time approaching, but... it never happens. Things fill in. I updated my calendar a while back for the handful of little clubs and organizations that the kids and Nathaniel are involved in and realized that I am only allowed any semblance of routine on Tuesdays. The other days are booked. Need me? Call me Tuesday.
There's some heavy melodrama in that last paragraph, I'll admit. My family is not heavily scheduled compared to the majority of families I read about in those articles on how children are losing their childhoods and whatnot. There does seem to be a lot going on, though, and it all started happening in late September and early October. There are one off things and weekly things and monthly things. Some days they overlap, some days are quiet. Oh! and there's homework. There's a LOT of homework for my older two girls this year. To be fair, one of them is really not good at focusing and getting it done, so it feels like some days homework goes from 3:30 till 7:30, but I know if I really investigated, only 60-90 minutes of that would have been real work. Still, there's been a big jump this year.
Here's a quick run down of some of the things we have going on:
- Music! Ruth is continuing piano this year, as well beginning trumpet at school. Marianne is carrying on (sometimes against her will, yet with relatively good skill) with the trombone. Nathaniel directs a men's choir once a month for Sunday 8am mass. Nathaniel and two or three of the older girls join a "family choir" once a month at Sunday 8am mass. The instruments require "daily" practice, but the girls are not reliable with it and I get distracted during dinner prep so sometimes they give me the slip to head out to play and we forget till the littles are in bed at which point no way am I asking them to whip out their brass instruments and spend 15 minutes honking away, thank you very much. {sigh} I really do want them to practice regularly, though. I'm working on remedying this.
- Chess! A gentleman has volunteered to start a weekly chess club at school and Ruth jumped on it. She's enjoying learning new moves and strategies even though she has yet to win a game. She once managed not to lose by the time they had to end for the afternoon, while playing against the kid considered the strongest player in the club, so she scored half a point against him in a draw. She's pretty proud of that.
- Math! (Are you feeling the nerdy trend here, yet?) Math Counts has begun for the year, and Nathaniel is once again a volunteer coach. The new twist this year - Marianne is finally old enough to join. This is borderline against her will, but she is so strong in math, and I think if Nathaniel weren't a coach she'd do it voluntarily (so embarrassing, being seen anywhere near your dad in 6th grade!) so we've insisted she give it a go. She oscillates between saying how boring it is, and asking whether I think she has any chance of making the competing team (not likely, as it's generally all 8th graders; these earlier years are for learning/practice, but it shows her secret enthusiasm).
- Little Flowers and Endow Girl Genius! These are monthly girls' clubs that Marianne, Ruth and Meg participate in. Little Flowers I've mentioned before, I'm sure, years ago. It centers on learning about virtues and saints, doing crafts, and there's a tea party at the end of the year. Meg is in heaven. Ruth is doing a slightly older version of Little Flowers specifically for girls preparing for Confirmation. Her group is learning about the Gifts of the Spirit and they skip the cheesy crafts and spend time journaling and in group discussion. The Endow Girl Genius group is a version of Endow written for middle school aged girls (Endow is a program developed based on the teachings of St. Pope JPII regarding the "feminine genius") to help them develop a strong sense of self and better understand the beautiful teachings of the Church regarding women. Should I mention that Marianne is in this group mostly against her will? 6th graders are the most fun. I can't wait for junior high! No, but seriously, she's enjoying it. She wanted to do it when I asked. But every meeting it's "ugh... do I have to?" and then afterward I hear about the fun. Oy.
We've had a couple other fun one-off things in the past month, as well.
- Ruth was cast as Mary in her class's "living rosary". Meg (and all the other 1st graders) stood in as "beads" of the rosary behind the tableaux formed by 5th graders.
 |
| The Assumption of Mary (her teacher, Sister Mary Helen, encouraged her to practice her flying for a really dramatic take on it, but Ruth never could quite levitate.) Note Meg, to the left of Ruth, with a red carnation/"bead". |
 |
| The Coronation of Mary |
The concert itself was a bit of a blur. Remember last time I attempted to attend a Glee Club tour concert? I'll refresh your memory - it was in Omaha, Rachel was about six months old, and it was just a couple weeks before our trip to Hawaii. It drove me to test the effects of Benadryl on our child in advance of the flight because I was terrified she'd repeat her concert performance while in the air. Bottom line, it was horrible.
I had high hopes that this concert would be much more manageable. And it was. I only had to leave the building once, briefly. But I was still frazzled nearly to tears by the end. Apparently the Glee Club brings out the crazy in Rachel, and in Peter as well. They both did alright through intermission, then after a trip to the bathroom, they just could. not. sit. still. Rachel shouted once, in between songs, so loudly (and with so much flinging of her body onto the floor) that the whole Glee Club actually started laughing and the director turned and waved at me. Mortifying. Thankfully, tons of my friends were there and I could grab a sympathetic smile as needed. I've officially decided I will not take my children to a Glee Club concert ever again, until they're old enough to be on college visits at least.
Nathaniel had a great time, though, and that's what matters when it comes to Glee Club events. He took the guys we were hosting out for a while after dropping off their luggage. They were incredibly gracious house guests. We saw very little of them since they arrived late and left early, but they were very polite and their moms would be proud, I'm sure. One weird thing, though. At least two of the three guys showered while they were here (the other may have after I had gone to bed), but of the basket of towels I left out in their room, I was only able to find one hand towel that had been used. College boys are weird.
Saturday, August 22, 2015
On my mind
You didn't think these complete posts on (mostly) single topics were going to last, did you? It's time for some bullet points, folks. I'm sure you've missed them while I was busy playing with my kids all summer.
~ As noted in this morning's post (two in one day! it's like the old days when I was working in an office job that left me ample time for blogging), Rachel is potty training. In case it escaped your notice, that's my BABY potty training. That means that I should very likely end up with a period of time in the very near future during which I no longer have to change any diapers. I cannot actually wrap my head around that. A couple weeks ago I bought a new box of diapers at Target. I knew I was about to start this process, but I also knew we had only about 30 diapers left. Since I seldom get a kid out of diapers overnight quickly, and I wasn't even all that committed to getting her out of daytime diapers if things didn't go smoothly, I went ahead and bought a small box (the "super" pack, rather than my usual "giant" pack). I have not yet opened it. I think there's some chance I may actually end up returning it. Mind blown. (After confessing my laziness in the earlier post, I put Rachel down for her nap in her underpants today and she successfully napped for two and a half hours and got up dry!)
~ I am officially done talking about my children's bathroom activity for the foreseeable future. I apologize for what I've put you through today.
~ Nathaniel and the older three girls are on a weekend adventure with Grandpa Andrew to learn about Buffalo Bill and some kind of model trains in North Platte. How cool is it that he volunteered his weekend to take them there, even camping overnight? Nathaniel opted to go along, and bring Meg, but Andrew was willing to take the two oldest on his own! Good grandpa! Nathaniel says he has many childhood memories of his paternal grandparents taking a few of them at a time on excursions like this (they also took each of them, in groups of two or three, to Switzerland, where Nathaniel's grandmother was from) and he loves that his dad is doing that for our kids now.
~ I follow a couple nature photo accounts on instagram that have me antsy to take my kids on excursions of our own. If you're on instagram, follow @usinterior. Every photo they post is a new trip I start planning in my mind to a National Park. It's good for me to have those images reminding me of the beautiful things our country has to offer, mostly within road tripping distance. Did I ever post about my dream of owning an RV? I still have that dream. I mean, not realistically. But if I won the lottery, RV for sure. We'd be cruising the country!
~ I had high hopes for peace and harmony in the house once school started, but alas. I think they're so overtired from this new early-rising and focused-day routine that they're snippy and unkind to one another after school. We're working out the kinks. Things are bound to improve when Marianne and Ruth start practicing their brass instruments over the next couple weeks, right?! Nothing says "peaceful home" like the dulcet tones of the trombone and trumpet. I can't wait to hear which note is Ruth's one to practice that first week.
~ As noted in this morning's post (two in one day! it's like the old days when I was working in an office job that left me ample time for blogging), Rachel is potty training. In case it escaped your notice, that's my BABY potty training. That means that I should very likely end up with a period of time in the very near future during which I no longer have to change any diapers. I cannot actually wrap my head around that. A couple weeks ago I bought a new box of diapers at Target. I knew I was about to start this process, but I also knew we had only about 30 diapers left. Since I seldom get a kid out of diapers overnight quickly, and I wasn't even all that committed to getting her out of daytime diapers if things didn't go smoothly, I went ahead and bought a small box (the "super" pack, rather than my usual "giant" pack). I have not yet opened it. I think there's some chance I may actually end up returning it. Mind blown. (After confessing my laziness in the earlier post, I put Rachel down for her nap in her underpants today and she successfully napped for two and a half hours and got up dry!)
~ I am officially done talking about my children's bathroom activity for the foreseeable future. I apologize for what I've put you through today.
~ Nathaniel and the older three girls are on a weekend adventure with Grandpa Andrew to learn about Buffalo Bill and some kind of model trains in North Platte. How cool is it that he volunteered his weekend to take them there, even camping overnight? Nathaniel opted to go along, and bring Meg, but Andrew was willing to take the two oldest on his own! Good grandpa! Nathaniel says he has many childhood memories of his paternal grandparents taking a few of them at a time on excursions like this (they also took each of them, in groups of two or three, to Switzerland, where Nathaniel's grandmother was from) and he loves that his dad is doing that for our kids now.
~ I follow a couple nature photo accounts on instagram that have me antsy to take my kids on excursions of our own. If you're on instagram, follow @usinterior. Every photo they post is a new trip I start planning in my mind to a National Park. It's good for me to have those images reminding me of the beautiful things our country has to offer, mostly within road tripping distance. Did I ever post about my dream of owning an RV? I still have that dream. I mean, not realistically. But if I won the lottery, RV for sure. We'd be cruising the country!
~ I had high hopes for peace and harmony in the house once school started, but alas. I think they're so overtired from this new early-rising and focused-day routine that they're snippy and unkind to one another after school. We're working out the kinks. Things are bound to improve when Marianne and Ruth start practicing their brass instruments over the next couple weeks, right?! Nothing says "peaceful home" like the dulcet tones of the trombone and trumpet. I can't wait to hear which note is Ruth's one to practice that first week.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Back-to-school, one-on-one outings
I'm sure I've talked about our little back to school tradition of my taking each of the girls out, one-on-one. I started doing it a couple years ago when I needed to have quiet time with Marianne for some girl talk, and to shop for, ahem, undergarments. But Ruth was close enough behind her in age to want a "date night" with mom also. I decided it would be fun for each school aged kid to get that little bit of quality time before the days got crazy packed with school, homework, music practice and what not.
Peter was added to the mix this year, and it struck me that since Nathaniel and I each already get one-on-one nights with the kids of the opposite gender for their half birthdates, it would be fun for him to have the back to school outing with Peter. Down the road, it can serve the same purpose for him that my nights out with the girls do - they can talk about boy things and body changes and maybe I'll even let him do Peter's underwear shopping. (This year, I just picked up some new superhero and ninja turtle underwear for him while I was out, and Nathaniel got to stick with froyo and conversation).
Photos from my three outings were on instagram, but I'll share them here in case you missed them.
Ruth and I went out first, to Starbucks for frappuccinos after dinner, and then to Target to find new socks and underwear. We talked about things she's most excited for in the coming year, or nervous about. We talked about what foods she prefers in a sack lunch. We talked best tic tac flavors. It was deep. You get the idea.
Marianne and I went out the next night. We had to do some actual clothing trying on to restock her on some items and she had money she wanted to spend on new earrings, so we headed to the mall first, then out to Starbucks, and finally to Target. Conversation topics were similar. We talked a lot about friends in her class and worries, and I shared some good insight I'd recently heard from a priest about the concept of "offering up" suffering when life isn't meeting your expectations as well as about how best to love our friends and what that might look like in a school day. Quality talk with Marianne, for sure.
Meg got her night out a couple days later, and wanted frozen yogurt.
(Side note: One of the main reasons we'd been hitting the coffee shop was so that I could get a treat to have with the girls, without breaking the sugar-free kick I've been on for a few weeks now. I can get an iced coffee with sugar free syrup at Starbucks. It's harder at the local yogurt joint. But I didn't want to just sit and watch them eat, because I feel like it sets a bad example of "dieting" and makes it look like I'm avoiding all good things, which I'm not. Luckily, we were headed to the south end of town to shop for a soccer ball, so instead of our usual froyo place, we went to the one right next to a - you guessed it - Starbucks. We popped in for my coffee before going next door for Meg's yogurt, then ate out on the patio. Fun for both of us!)
Meg and I talked mostly about soccer, which she was starting the next day, and about the friends she was looking forward to seeing at school. We talked about making sure to include everyone at recess and in activities, because there's at least one girl in her class who didn't go to Kindergarten with them. Meg knows because she has older sisters in Marianne's and Ruth's classes, so I pointed out that she would be a good person to help make sure this new girl wasn't left out. Meg's class is very girl-heavy, and I worry about all the future cattiness and potential drama. They're a nice group of girls, though. I think they'll do well.
While I'm on the subject of Meg and her classmates, they did indeed kick off the micro soccer season the next day. She loved it and can't wait for the next practice and game!
(Meg is second from the left. There's a lot of long blond hair on the team.)
Peter was added to the mix this year, and it struck me that since Nathaniel and I each already get one-on-one nights with the kids of the opposite gender for their half birthdates, it would be fun for him to have the back to school outing with Peter. Down the road, it can serve the same purpose for him that my nights out with the girls do - they can talk about boy things and body changes and maybe I'll even let him do Peter's underwear shopping. (This year, I just picked up some new superhero and ninja turtle underwear for him while I was out, and Nathaniel got to stick with froyo and conversation).
Photos from my three outings were on instagram, but I'll share them here in case you missed them.
Ruth and I went out first, to Starbucks for frappuccinos after dinner, and then to Target to find new socks and underwear. We talked about things she's most excited for in the coming year, or nervous about. We talked about what foods she prefers in a sack lunch. We talked best tic tac flavors. It was deep. You get the idea.
Marianne and I went out the next night. We had to do some actual clothing trying on to restock her on some items and she had money she wanted to spend on new earrings, so we headed to the mall first, then out to Starbucks, and finally to Target. Conversation topics were similar. We talked a lot about friends in her class and worries, and I shared some good insight I'd recently heard from a priest about the concept of "offering up" suffering when life isn't meeting your expectations as well as about how best to love our friends and what that might look like in a school day. Quality talk with Marianne, for sure.
Meg got her night out a couple days later, and wanted frozen yogurt.
(Side note: One of the main reasons we'd been hitting the coffee shop was so that I could get a treat to have with the girls, without breaking the sugar-free kick I've been on for a few weeks now. I can get an iced coffee with sugar free syrup at Starbucks. It's harder at the local yogurt joint. But I didn't want to just sit and watch them eat, because I feel like it sets a bad example of "dieting" and makes it look like I'm avoiding all good things, which I'm not. Luckily, we were headed to the south end of town to shop for a soccer ball, so instead of our usual froyo place, we went to the one right next to a - you guessed it - Starbucks. We popped in for my coffee before going next door for Meg's yogurt, then ate out on the patio. Fun for both of us!)
Meg and I talked mostly about soccer, which she was starting the next day, and about the friends she was looking forward to seeing at school. We talked about making sure to include everyone at recess and in activities, because there's at least one girl in her class who didn't go to Kindergarten with them. Meg knows because she has older sisters in Marianne's and Ruth's classes, so I pointed out that she would be a good person to help make sure this new girl wasn't left out. Meg's class is very girl-heavy, and I worry about all the future cattiness and potential drama. They're a nice group of girls, though. I think they'll do well.
While I'm on the subject of Meg and her classmates, they did indeed kick off the micro soccer season the next day. She loved it and can't wait for the next practice and game!
(Meg is second from the left. There's a lot of long blond hair on the team.)
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Memories - EHS 20 year reunion edition
If you're my FB friend, you definitely cannot have missed the fact that last weekend was my 20th high school reunion. I think I was tagged in more photos this weekend than in any given year on FB previously. Photos like these:
And trust me! There were lots more that I wasn't tagged in, so probably didn't show up in your newsfeed unless you are friends with some of my high school friends. Photos like these:
We had a really fantastic time! Yes, there were more than four of us in attendance. Here's proof:
But old habits die hard, and you hang with the people you're most comfortable with. For those of you who don't know, the three ladies in most of the photos with me are Andy (freckles and glasses), Sara (strawberry blond) and Larissa (perky brunette). They're three of the six ladies (and a couple of guys) I spent the majority of my time with in high school. It was a blast to catch up with them and spend some quality time talking about our own lives of what everyone else has been doing in the past decade or two since we'd seen each other.
We talked, we rode on a float in the parade, we took a tour of the totally changed high school and we saw Freddy Fox and the Hotrods at the Saturday night dance (I'm showing off the Freddy Fox koozie in that one photo, not my cheap beer). Successful reunion weekend. Check.
On Sunday morning, the After Harvest Festival was all wrapped up and things in town were settling down. Nathaniel and I had stayed at a motel in nearby Great Bend, but drove back to Ellinwood to attend mass at my old parish, St. Joseph. I didn't take a picture of the outside - oops - but I did take a few inside after mass, because it's been redone, but the parts that brought back the most tangible memories for me were all still there. It made me smile to be there again.
The blue behind the sanctuary is much brighter than I remember, but the beautiful marble altar and crucifix are the same. I believe they had the same gold paintings of wheat, etc., as well. There are currently no chairs near the altar for the servers - they sit down in the front pews. It's very strange, but I forgot to ask someone why it's like that.
I love the Mary and Joseph statues. They look like wood carvings, as opposed to statues, but I'm not positive.
The number of hours I spent daydreaming while gazing toward the painting of Mary and the angels during junior high and high school is countless. Nathaniel was impressed by the high ceilings and remarked they only lacked some blue paint and stars (think Basilica at ND, or most other classic high arched church ceilings).
The ambo is the same; I remember the carvings well.
After mass I said hello to a couple of old teachers of mine, one of whom played the organ then and still does now (and he directed the church choir I sang in). Then, my old math teacher came up and gave me a hug unexpectedly, which totally made my day and was a nice finish to the weekend. (A lot of people didn't love him, but my friends and I always did).
On the way out of town I snagged this picture of my old house:
It's a little overgrown and in need of paint, but it's still blue! The upper left window was at the end of my long walk-in closet.
And one last picture, of the harvested wheat fields:
I really do prefer the wheat fields to corn. They're beautiful, in all their golden glory. I'd say it's because I'm a Kansan, but Nathaniel conceded that they make for prettier driving scenery.
There's talk already of the 25th reunion, and who's going to organize it. I don't know whether we'll make it back again in just five years, but after the fantastic weekend we had, I'm hopeful we might!
And trust me! There were lots more that I wasn't tagged in, so probably didn't show up in your newsfeed unless you are friends with some of my high school friends. Photos like these:
We had a really fantastic time! Yes, there were more than four of us in attendance. Here's proof:
But old habits die hard, and you hang with the people you're most comfortable with. For those of you who don't know, the three ladies in most of the photos with me are Andy (freckles and glasses), Sara (strawberry blond) and Larissa (perky brunette). They're three of the six ladies (and a couple of guys) I spent the majority of my time with in high school. It was a blast to catch up with them and spend some quality time talking about our own lives of what everyone else has been doing in the past decade or two since we'd seen each other.
We talked, we rode on a float in the parade, we took a tour of the totally changed high school and we saw Freddy Fox and the Hotrods at the Saturday night dance (I'm showing off the Freddy Fox koozie in that one photo, not my cheap beer). Successful reunion weekend. Check.
On Sunday morning, the After Harvest Festival was all wrapped up and things in town were settling down. Nathaniel and I had stayed at a motel in nearby Great Bend, but drove back to Ellinwood to attend mass at my old parish, St. Joseph. I didn't take a picture of the outside - oops - but I did take a few inside after mass, because it's been redone, but the parts that brought back the most tangible memories for me were all still there. It made me smile to be there again.
The blue behind the sanctuary is much brighter than I remember, but the beautiful marble altar and crucifix are the same. I believe they had the same gold paintings of wheat, etc., as well. There are currently no chairs near the altar for the servers - they sit down in the front pews. It's very strange, but I forgot to ask someone why it's like that.
I love the Mary and Joseph statues. They look like wood carvings, as opposed to statues, but I'm not positive.
The number of hours I spent daydreaming while gazing toward the painting of Mary and the angels during junior high and high school is countless. Nathaniel was impressed by the high ceilings and remarked they only lacked some blue paint and stars (think Basilica at ND, or most other classic high arched church ceilings).
The ambo is the same; I remember the carvings well.
After mass I said hello to a couple of old teachers of mine, one of whom played the organ then and still does now (and he directed the church choir I sang in). Then, my old math teacher came up and gave me a hug unexpectedly, which totally made my day and was a nice finish to the weekend. (A lot of people didn't love him, but my friends and I always did).
On the way out of town I snagged this picture of my old house:
It's a little overgrown and in need of paint, but it's still blue! The upper left window was at the end of my long walk-in closet.
And one last picture, of the harvested wheat fields:
I really do prefer the wheat fields to corn. They're beautiful, in all their golden glory. I'd say it's because I'm a Kansan, but Nathaniel conceded that they make for prettier driving scenery.
There's talk already of the 25th reunion, and who's going to organize it. I don't know whether we'll make it back again in just five years, but after the fantastic weekend we had, I'm hopeful we might!
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Etcetera
The weather turned crazy cold a couple weeks ago, and that means I broke out the old electric blanket. That's not just a term of endearment I use for it, either. It really is old. I have no idea when/where I got it, but it's made for a full size bed, which makes no sense because I've never owned a full size bed. We have a queen bed, which means the heating elements don't totally reach the edges of the bed, so when I crawl in at night, I avoid the freezing edges of the bed like the plague. Also, no matter how high you turn it up, or how long you let it preheat, it never gets above "warm". It takes the edge off the cold, for sure, and I'm thankful for it, but every once in a while, I wish it would get hot. I have vivid memories of having to turn it down at night because it was just too hot. Clearly it's no longer functioning up to potential. I should probably replace it, but it's on the list of things I think of needing, but never actually buy.
*****
I was discussing Peter with some friends a couple days ago, and it makes me smile, still, every time I think of it. I was trying to describe him, and how crazy he is, but how truly thoughtful and polite and kind at the same time. He's like a little paradox rolled up in a adorable, four year old body. His natural speed is barreling-forward-so-quickly-he's-pretty-much-falling. And then typically he does fall, but he bounces back like a champ. Speaking of bouncing, he bounces off of ev-er-y-thing. Sometimes he looks like a pinball in the living room, flinging himself around, and rebounding off the sofa to the loveseat to the coffee table till he eventually ends up on the floor. Don't get me wrong - I don't encourage this kind of wild indoor play (at least not in my living room - we have space for rough-housing). But he can NOT contain his energy some days (minutes). Renee said that even she - the professional mother of boys that she is - has not had a boy with the same... um... energy level (for lack of a better way of describing it) as Peter. That sort of gives me comfort, and sort of freaks me out.
BUT! What gives me the most wonderful comfort is other side of the Peter-paradox. He may be non-stop crazy boy action, but he is also my snuggliest, sweetest child. He says please and thank you and may I and I love you. When I tell him to "have a good rest" before nap time, he replies "have a good rest for you, too," and my "sweet dreams" at bedtime is always followed by "sweet dreams, Mom." He melts my heart. This morning at mass, where I had just Peter and Meg to escort me (Nathaniel, Marianne and Ruth had sung with a choir at an earlier service), he spent almost the entire mass sitting on my lap, resting against my chest, or sitting next to me, leaning onto my arm. Sure, he remarked, "Mom, mass is pretty boring" once, and he "sang" a little loudly at some of the wrong times, but the cuddles and the big toothless grin made it totally worth having taken him along.
*****
Rachel has recently discovered books. Another way to read that might be: I finally started reading books to Rachel, and it turns out she really likes them. Parent fail. I know. She's number five, y'all.
She really, really loves books. Now that I started reading to her, she will not let me get away with putting her down for nap or to bed at night without her story. She gets hooked on one book, and no other will do for days at a time. "Olivia" had her day a couple weeks ago. Last week was "The Little Blue Truck Leads the Way". I couldn't even talk her into "The Little Blue Truck" with the farm animals, which I prefer. The girl knows her mind. Tonight the see-through pages of "Mr. Seahorse" got me off the hook for reading the Truck book again, but I don't like Mr. Seahorse well enough to encourage that again. I keep pulling out Sandra Boynton's "The Going to Bed Book" which was an early favorite and is short and sweet, but she flings it aside every time.
For the past few days, she insists on taking a book to bed with her. I love this phase of "reading". A few of the board books are bound to get torn up in the process (one already did, and it's a good enough one - "Who is Coming to Our House" - that I might have to replace it) but it's absolutely worth it to me. I love coming in in the morning to find her lying on her back, holding up a book and paging through it. I love having her get so excited about her books that she's finding and pointing out the truck in every picture. I love that she's finally making animal sounds and naming the animals. I'm not sure if this is way later than our other kids, but it feels like it, and while that doesn't worry me, it's still good to hear the familiar moos and cock-a-doodle-doos.
*****
Today, Marianne and Ruth wrapped up their season in a running club called Girls on the Run (GOTR). We didn't have any fall sports planned, and it seemed like a fun option. They met on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, after school till nearly 5pm. The timing was ideal, since Meg only has Kindergarten on Mon/Wed/Fri, so I didn't have to worry about how she'd get home from school. The only problem we ran into was that Marianne's homework load is much heavier this year (plus trombone practice) so those evenings could get stressful.
Both girls enjoyed it overall, though Marianne was never as enthusiastic as Ruth. Funny, since there were several girls from Marianne's class in the club, and Ruth was the only 4th grade girl (I think it was 3rd-6th grades). Ruth has always had a natural physical ability, though, so I'm not totally shocked. The meetings included some self-esteem building activities and a lot of running and exercise. Notably, one of the girl-empowerment lessons involved "blowing away" sad feelings or bad attitudes or something, so when the girls came home from school that day, anytime someone would get grumpy, one of us would lean over and blow in the person's face. I have no idea what the real point of the lesson was, but I tell you what - you can get a lot of laughs from the non-grumpy people nearby that way, but it doesn't always alleviate the grumpy person's bad mood. Ha! Actually, usually within a few minutes, the grouch would be laughing too, and we'd all be doing our "carebear stares" (a natural progression from blowing away bad moods, I thought) and everyone is cracking up. So I guess it totally works.
You may have had to be here.
Back to today - well, sort of. First, last weekend. The season was supposed to end with a GOTR 5K. Like a legit, paid sign up, free t-shirts and pinned on bibs and the whole bit kind of 5K. It was scheduled for last Sunday, though, which was shortly after the temps had dropped below freezing for a week and the snow came on hard and fast, so the race was canceled. We have the most awesome community. Moms jumped all over it and it planned an easy path for a 5K within our parish neighborhood, and then we just had to wait for the weather to improve, as it did this weekend. Everyone brought the sorts of snacks you'd get at the end of a half-marathon - orange slices, banana halves, juice boxes, granola bars, etc - and the girls took off with their run buddies to run the course. It was three loops on a circuit just over a mile long. It did involve waiting to cross one busier street, but it worked well.
For the real 5K, the girls were required to have "run buddies", an adult to run with them. Nathaniel was signed up to run with Ruth. Marianne had asked to sit out the race, and we agreed as long as she finished the season with the club. When the race got less professional, she said she'd do it, so Nathaniel was set to "buddy" them both. That didn't really work, though, as Ruth was ready to jet ahead and run almost the whole way, while Marianne is more of a walk/jogger. Nathaniel remarked this evening that she and I would probably do well running together. I think he meant it earnestly and not as a remark.
Ruth ended up running mostly with Emma, a girl from Marianne's class, who's very pregnant mom wasn't able to run the whole way with her (though she ran a heck of a lot more than I ever would have done, pregnant or not! You rock, Melissa!). They made a good team, and finished 2nd/3rd, not that it was a RACE-race, with places, you know. Just sayin'. There were medals for all the finishers and it was all about the awesomeness of completing your first distance run, which I think is incredible. But seriously - they came in 2nd and 3rd! I was so impressed!
Marianne needed a lot more coaching and coaxing, but she finished, and I'm super proud of her for it. She walked a lot of it, but Nathaniel had her running intervals right to the end. At the very end, the rest of the girls who had finished went back about a block and joined up and all ran in together. It was really sweet and cool. It reminded me of the junior high track meets that Sara participated in when she was here (ages ago, now!), and how the parents in the stands and the other runners all cheered like crazy for every kid to cross the finish line, even the very last kid coming around on the half mile or mile, even if he or she was a full lap behind the other runners. I love that level of support!
Cocoa in the front yard of a friends' home while we wait to cheer on the girls. The parents who organized the run let the other school families around the race's path know so they could come out and cheer.
The whole GOTR crew together, just a couple blocks into the run.
Nathaniel and Marianne, most of the way through mile 1.
Emma and Ruth, pulling up to the finish line. Like a boss.
Marianne, surrounded by most of the rest of the team, running for the final half block, still smiling.
Nathaniel said she asked at one point if she was last and he told her, yes, of the people who are finishing (one of the youngest girls had cut her run short by a lap), but that she was DOING IT, and that was what mattered. He said her third lap was actually her strongest mile.
I didn't stick around for the party after because Peter and Rachel were way overdue for naps, but the girls came home grinning from ear to ear, wearing their race medals. Ruth didn't take hers off till she put her pajamas on tonight.
*****
I was discussing Peter with some friends a couple days ago, and it makes me smile, still, every time I think of it. I was trying to describe him, and how crazy he is, but how truly thoughtful and polite and kind at the same time. He's like a little paradox rolled up in a adorable, four year old body. His natural speed is barreling-forward-so-quickly-he's-pretty-much-falling. And then typically he does fall, but he bounces back like a champ. Speaking of bouncing, he bounces off of ev-er-y-thing. Sometimes he looks like a pinball in the living room, flinging himself around, and rebounding off the sofa to the loveseat to the coffee table till he eventually ends up on the floor. Don't get me wrong - I don't encourage this kind of wild indoor play (at least not in my living room - we have space for rough-housing). But he can NOT contain his energy some days (minutes). Renee said that even she - the professional mother of boys that she is - has not had a boy with the same... um... energy level (for lack of a better way of describing it) as Peter. That sort of gives me comfort, and sort of freaks me out.
BUT! What gives me the most wonderful comfort is other side of the Peter-paradox. He may be non-stop crazy boy action, but he is also my snuggliest, sweetest child. He says please and thank you and may I and I love you. When I tell him to "have a good rest" before nap time, he replies "have a good rest for you, too," and my "sweet dreams" at bedtime is always followed by "sweet dreams, Mom." He melts my heart. This morning at mass, where I had just Peter and Meg to escort me (Nathaniel, Marianne and Ruth had sung with a choir at an earlier service), he spent almost the entire mass sitting on my lap, resting against my chest, or sitting next to me, leaning onto my arm. Sure, he remarked, "Mom, mass is pretty boring" once, and he "sang" a little loudly at some of the wrong times, but the cuddles and the big toothless grin made it totally worth having taken him along.
*****
Rachel has recently discovered books. Another way to read that might be: I finally started reading books to Rachel, and it turns out she really likes them. Parent fail. I know. She's number five, y'all.
She really, really loves books. Now that I started reading to her, she will not let me get away with putting her down for nap or to bed at night without her story. She gets hooked on one book, and no other will do for days at a time. "Olivia" had her day a couple weeks ago. Last week was "The Little Blue Truck Leads the Way". I couldn't even talk her into "The Little Blue Truck" with the farm animals, which I prefer. The girl knows her mind. Tonight the see-through pages of "Mr. Seahorse" got me off the hook for reading the Truck book again, but I don't like Mr. Seahorse well enough to encourage that again. I keep pulling out Sandra Boynton's "The Going to Bed Book" which was an early favorite and is short and sweet, but she flings it aside every time.
For the past few days, she insists on taking a book to bed with her. I love this phase of "reading". A few of the board books are bound to get torn up in the process (one already did, and it's a good enough one - "Who is Coming to Our House" - that I might have to replace it) but it's absolutely worth it to me. I love coming in in the morning to find her lying on her back, holding up a book and paging through it. I love having her get so excited about her books that she's finding and pointing out the truck in every picture. I love that she's finally making animal sounds and naming the animals. I'm not sure if this is way later than our other kids, but it feels like it, and while that doesn't worry me, it's still good to hear the familiar moos and cock-a-doodle-doos.
*****
Today, Marianne and Ruth wrapped up their season in a running club called Girls on the Run (GOTR). We didn't have any fall sports planned, and it seemed like a fun option. They met on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, after school till nearly 5pm. The timing was ideal, since Meg only has Kindergarten on Mon/Wed/Fri, so I didn't have to worry about how she'd get home from school. The only problem we ran into was that Marianne's homework load is much heavier this year (plus trombone practice) so those evenings could get stressful.
Both girls enjoyed it overall, though Marianne was never as enthusiastic as Ruth. Funny, since there were several girls from Marianne's class in the club, and Ruth was the only 4th grade girl (I think it was 3rd-6th grades). Ruth has always had a natural physical ability, though, so I'm not totally shocked. The meetings included some self-esteem building activities and a lot of running and exercise. Notably, one of the girl-empowerment lessons involved "blowing away" sad feelings or bad attitudes or something, so when the girls came home from school that day, anytime someone would get grumpy, one of us would lean over and blow in the person's face. I have no idea what the real point of the lesson was, but I tell you what - you can get a lot of laughs from the non-grumpy people nearby that way, but it doesn't always alleviate the grumpy person's bad mood. Ha! Actually, usually within a few minutes, the grouch would be laughing too, and we'd all be doing our "carebear stares" (a natural progression from blowing away bad moods, I thought) and everyone is cracking up. So I guess it totally works.
You may have had to be here.
Back to today - well, sort of. First, last weekend. The season was supposed to end with a GOTR 5K. Like a legit, paid sign up, free t-shirts and pinned on bibs and the whole bit kind of 5K. It was scheduled for last Sunday, though, which was shortly after the temps had dropped below freezing for a week and the snow came on hard and fast, so the race was canceled. We have the most awesome community. Moms jumped all over it and it planned an easy path for a 5K within our parish neighborhood, and then we just had to wait for the weather to improve, as it did this weekend. Everyone brought the sorts of snacks you'd get at the end of a half-marathon - orange slices, banana halves, juice boxes, granola bars, etc - and the girls took off with their run buddies to run the course. It was three loops on a circuit just over a mile long. It did involve waiting to cross one busier street, but it worked well.
For the real 5K, the girls were required to have "run buddies", an adult to run with them. Nathaniel was signed up to run with Ruth. Marianne had asked to sit out the race, and we agreed as long as she finished the season with the club. When the race got less professional, she said she'd do it, so Nathaniel was set to "buddy" them both. That didn't really work, though, as Ruth was ready to jet ahead and run almost the whole way, while Marianne is more of a walk/jogger. Nathaniel remarked this evening that she and I would probably do well running together. I think he meant it earnestly and not as a remark.
Ruth ended up running mostly with Emma, a girl from Marianne's class, who's very pregnant mom wasn't able to run the whole way with her (though she ran a heck of a lot more than I ever would have done, pregnant or not! You rock, Melissa!). They made a good team, and finished 2nd/3rd, not that it was a RACE-race, with places, you know. Just sayin'. There were medals for all the finishers and it was all about the awesomeness of completing your first distance run, which I think is incredible. But seriously - they came in 2nd and 3rd! I was so impressed!
Marianne needed a lot more coaching and coaxing, but she finished, and I'm super proud of her for it. She walked a lot of it, but Nathaniel had her running intervals right to the end. At the very end, the rest of the girls who had finished went back about a block and joined up and all ran in together. It was really sweet and cool. It reminded me of the junior high track meets that Sara participated in when she was here (ages ago, now!), and how the parents in the stands and the other runners all cheered like crazy for every kid to cross the finish line, even the very last kid coming around on the half mile or mile, even if he or she was a full lap behind the other runners. I love that level of support!
Cocoa in the front yard of a friends' home while we wait to cheer on the girls. The parents who organized the run let the other school families around the race's path know so they could come out and cheer.
The whole GOTR crew together, just a couple blocks into the run.
Nathaniel and Marianne, most of the way through mile 1.
Emma and Ruth, pulling up to the finish line. Like a boss.
Marianne, surrounded by most of the rest of the team, running for the final half block, still smiling.
Nathaniel said she asked at one point if she was last and he told her, yes, of the people who are finishing (one of the youngest girls had cut her run short by a lap), but that she was DOING IT, and that was what mattered. He said her third lap was actually her strongest mile.
I didn't stick around for the party after because Peter and Rachel were way overdue for naps, but the girls came home grinning from ear to ear, wearing their race medals. Ruth didn't take hers off till she put her pajamas on tonight.
Wednesday, October 08, 2014
This is probably how your day started, too.
5:19am
"Pssst. Hey. The girls and I are going outside to look at the lunar eclipse, if you want to come."
I seriously considered not coming, but it's one of those things that makes me feel like a bad mom, and a bad wife-of-an-astronomer, if I pass it up.
I rolled out of bed, and joined Nathaniel, Marianne and Ruth on the driveway of our next door neighbor, where the moon, in nearly full eclipse, was visible and cool. While they gazed intently at it, my mind spun with thoughts like, "if anyone sees us they'll think we're crazy," and "I hope their talking doesn't wake anyone up." Because that's how my mind works. I like to think of it as "concern for others", but really it's "concern with appearances" or vanity, but that's a whole conversation for another day. All the time, Nathaniel's loving answering the girls' questions about the earth's rotation and the moon's cycle, yada yada yada, and when a women walked past with her dog, he enthusiastically pointed out the eclipse to her.
5:30am
Back in bed, hoping to get a good hour's sleep before the alarm goes off.
One big upside to the early morning science lab - the girls were all up and ready for school earlier and quicker than usual. They can't wait to tell their friends about their adventure. Good job, Dad.
"Pssst. Hey. The girls and I are going outside to look at the lunar eclipse, if you want to come."
I seriously considered not coming, but it's one of those things that makes me feel like a bad mom, and a bad wife-of-an-astronomer, if I pass it up.
I rolled out of bed, and joined Nathaniel, Marianne and Ruth on the driveway of our next door neighbor, where the moon, in nearly full eclipse, was visible and cool. While they gazed intently at it, my mind spun with thoughts like, "if anyone sees us they'll think we're crazy," and "I hope their talking doesn't wake anyone up." Because that's how my mind works. I like to think of it as "concern for others", but really it's "concern with appearances" or vanity, but that's a whole conversation for another day. All the time, Nathaniel's loving answering the girls' questions about the earth's rotation and the moon's cycle, yada yada yada, and when a women walked past with her dog, he enthusiastically pointed out the eclipse to her.
5:30am
Back in bed, hoping to get a good hour's sleep before the alarm goes off.
One big upside to the early morning science lab - the girls were all up and ready for school earlier and quicker than usual. They can't wait to tell their friends about their adventure. Good job, Dad.
Friday, August 01, 2014
Girls and horses. And ballet.
It's an undeniable truth that girls love horses. And tutus. Not necessarily at the same time.
*****
Last week was the long-awaited "horse camp". Marianne and Ruth heard about it last summer and begged to go. I looked into it and informed them that, given the exorbitant price tag, they'd have to commit to saving all their birthday and Christmas money this year to help pay for it. They instantly agreed to my terms. Did they regret that decision ever so slightly when birthday money came and went directly into savings? And then Christmas money? Maybe, but not much. They were SERIOUS about this.
Then summer rolled around, and fun was being had, and I swear they'd all but forgotten it. Or maybe it was that they'd been thinking about it in the abstract for so long they couldn't quite switch to thinking about it as real. As it approached, they started getting sort of nervous and unsure about all this. They weren't backing out now, though.
The week began with highs breaking 100 for the first time all summer. The week prior had had highs in the upper 70s, no joke. But horse camp week, when the girls had to wear jeans and be outside all day long? 95 or above, every day.
They rallied, though! They loved every minute of it. They were a little disappointed as some of the riding time got cut short for the safety of the horses, who were also having to be "on" in the 100 degree temps. But spending five days, six hours a day, with horses? A little girl's dream come true.
On the final day, the families were invited out to see the girls exhibit their new talents.
Ruth, Marianne and another friend from Ruth's class were all assigned (based on height, they said) to share the same horse, Cash. They loved Cash, although both girls had others horses they'd want. You know, if they were getting horses of their own.
Learning the love early. At least, she loved them at a distance. When she was near enough to touch one, then NO WAY, man. She wanted nothing to do with the animals. Horses are BIG in person. I can hardly blame her.
Cash with his team of girls for the week.
Half the campers were girls from our school, so we were able to car pool and only have to drive out to the ranch a few times each.
*****
Last week was also the final class in Meg's rec center ballet lessons. She had a lot of fun, but was ready to be done (glad we didn't sign up for a year contract somewhere just yet - although real lessons might have been more motivating).
The teacher had the girls do a little dance routine and showed us a few of their skill during the last 10 minutes of class. It was a bit of a joke. Almost half the class wasn't there, and the ones that were were being goofy. I have a video of it, but decided to spare you for the most part. I just learned how to crop videos down on youtube; here's a brief part so you can get the general vibe.
We're talking about some serious ballerinas here. Oy.
You may think I'm the worst mom ever for sharing the part of the dance where Meg fell down, but she got back up gracefully enough that I don't mind. In fact, it makes me smile. We made all the kids come to watch, and Marianne lamented before the class, "I don't want to go watch a bunch of little girls falling down!" During the video, if you listen carefully, you can hear me chuckle and then Marianne say something like "I told you they'd be falling down."
Meg with three of her friends. The other two friends in her class couldn't make the last session. Again, though, I'm so grateful to have friends to do these things with - both for my kids and myself. I love carpools, and I love having mom-friends to visit with while we wait on lessons. And of course I love my children having the comfort of knowing they'll have friends in their activities. Pretty much if I don't have friends signing their kids up for things, I don't bother signing mine up. I hope they don't miss out on any great activities because of that.
Rachel is considering whether she perhaps prefers this hobby to the one with large animals. This one has pretty mirrors, and involves spinning in circles... huge points in its favor.
*****
Last week was the long-awaited "horse camp". Marianne and Ruth heard about it last summer and begged to go. I looked into it and informed them that, given the exorbitant price tag, they'd have to commit to saving all their birthday and Christmas money this year to help pay for it. They instantly agreed to my terms. Did they regret that decision ever so slightly when birthday money came and went directly into savings? And then Christmas money? Maybe, but not much. They were SERIOUS about this.
Then summer rolled around, and fun was being had, and I swear they'd all but forgotten it. Or maybe it was that they'd been thinking about it in the abstract for so long they couldn't quite switch to thinking about it as real. As it approached, they started getting sort of nervous and unsure about all this. They weren't backing out now, though.
The week began with highs breaking 100 for the first time all summer. The week prior had had highs in the upper 70s, no joke. But horse camp week, when the girls had to wear jeans and be outside all day long? 95 or above, every day.
They rallied, though! They loved every minute of it. They were a little disappointed as some of the riding time got cut short for the safety of the horses, who were also having to be "on" in the 100 degree temps. But spending five days, six hours a day, with horses? A little girl's dream come true.
On the final day, the families were invited out to see the girls exhibit their new talents.
Ruth, Marianne and another friend from Ruth's class were all assigned (based on height, they said) to share the same horse, Cash. They loved Cash, although both girls had others horses they'd want. You know, if they were getting horses of their own.
Learning the love early. At least, she loved them at a distance. When she was near enough to touch one, then NO WAY, man. She wanted nothing to do with the animals. Horses are BIG in person. I can hardly blame her.
Cash with his team of girls for the week.
*****
Last week was also the final class in Meg's rec center ballet lessons. She had a lot of fun, but was ready to be done (glad we didn't sign up for a year contract somewhere just yet - although real lessons might have been more motivating).
The teacher had the girls do a little dance routine and showed us a few of their skill during the last 10 minutes of class. It was a bit of a joke. Almost half the class wasn't there, and the ones that were were being goofy. I have a video of it, but decided to spare you for the most part. I just learned how to crop videos down on youtube; here's a brief part so you can get the general vibe.
We're talking about some serious ballerinas here. Oy.
You may think I'm the worst mom ever for sharing the part of the dance where Meg fell down, but she got back up gracefully enough that I don't mind. In fact, it makes me smile. We made all the kids come to watch, and Marianne lamented before the class, "I don't want to go watch a bunch of little girls falling down!" During the video, if you listen carefully, you can hear me chuckle and then Marianne say something like "I told you they'd be falling down."
Meg with three of her friends. The other two friends in her class couldn't make the last session. Again, though, I'm so grateful to have friends to do these things with - both for my kids and myself. I love carpools, and I love having mom-friends to visit with while we wait on lessons. And of course I love my children having the comfort of knowing they'll have friends in their activities. Pretty much if I don't have friends signing their kids up for things, I don't bother signing mine up. I hope they don't miss out on any great activities because of that.
Rachel is considering whether she perhaps prefers this hobby to the one with large animals. This one has pretty mirrors, and involves spinning in circles... huge points in its favor.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Game on
I was ON my summer-mom-game today. It may never happen again this summer, but today was smooth.
Okay, in all honesty, it started a little slow and with probably a little more screen time than I'd have liked. I had to run a "quick" errand before Nathaniel left for work and it didn't end up being so quick. But once I was home, we were golden.
I gave the kids the run down on our new summer routine. They got their chore assignments for the summer, the jobs they'll be expected to do before screen time in the future. They also got to do the first pages in their summer math workbooks. Each of the older three have two workbooks - math and language arts. I calculated that if they do one page each day, alternating between the two, the books should nicely fill our summer and hopefully keep them up on their mad skillz going into their next grades. I also got a preK level workbook for Peter, just for fun, and maybe I'll print up some coloring pages for him every other day, or maybe I'll just let him escape to a cartoon a little early. I ordered the books for recent kindergarten graduates for Meg, because she was well beyond the preK content, and I'm so glad! She loved the math lesson for today and it was just her speed.
With the girls' new chores and Marianne's offer to make lunch today, I had a few minutes of confusingly free time midday. The floor was swept, the dishes were done, someone else was prepping food... bizarre! I could get used to this! (Where were the bonbons when I needed them?!)
As soon as quiet time got started - with older siblings reading stories to the younger ones, freeing up even more of my time - I started a lasagna. I wanted it made ahead so I could put it in the oven on a timer to be ready at dinner time. After that prep work, I had just enough time during naps to get the last couple loads of laundry folded for the kids to put away.
Everyone was up by three. (I was a little grumpy about that, as Peter never actually fell asleep today. That's very rare!) We headed to the pool about 3:30 and had a great couple hours of fun in the sun. The older two girls did a great job of keeping watch over Meg and Peter when they wanted to be in the big pool, and I'm very grateful for it! Rachel loved the water, but she's a high maintenance age. I've tried a couple flotation options, but so far everything leaves her floating face down if she tips over, so she's safer with nothing on, but with my constant attention. By the end of today she was tipping over in the baby pool less; I'm hoping within a couple weeks she'll threaten her own life only occasionally. At least she's not quite as fearless as Peter at her age... she lowers herself slowly into the pool from the side rather than running headlong at top speed.
We arrived home from the pool about two minutes after the oven timer announced the lasagna was done, so perfectly timed! In went the garlic bread, and I chopped a salad, wine in hand, while the kids put laundry away. Nathaniel got home just as dinner was set on the table. Even better, after dinner, he took all the kids but Rachel on a long walk. Once I tucked her into bed, I was able to sit on the patio, reading a book.
It was only the first real day of summer break, but it was a very good one! Even if others don't go so smoothly, I hope we can keep them running in this general direction.
Happy summer!
Okay, in all honesty, it started a little slow and with probably a little more screen time than I'd have liked. I had to run a "quick" errand before Nathaniel left for work and it didn't end up being so quick. But once I was home, we were golden.
I gave the kids the run down on our new summer routine. They got their chore assignments for the summer, the jobs they'll be expected to do before screen time in the future. They also got to do the first pages in their summer math workbooks. Each of the older three have two workbooks - math and language arts. I calculated that if they do one page each day, alternating between the two, the books should nicely fill our summer and hopefully keep them up on their mad skillz going into their next grades. I also got a preK level workbook for Peter, just for fun, and maybe I'll print up some coloring pages for him every other day, or maybe I'll just let him escape to a cartoon a little early. I ordered the books for recent kindergarten graduates for Meg, because she was well beyond the preK content, and I'm so glad! She loved the math lesson for today and it was just her speed.
With the girls' new chores and Marianne's offer to make lunch today, I had a few minutes of confusingly free time midday. The floor was swept, the dishes were done, someone else was prepping food... bizarre! I could get used to this! (Where were the bonbons when I needed them?!)
As soon as quiet time got started - with older siblings reading stories to the younger ones, freeing up even more of my time - I started a lasagna. I wanted it made ahead so I could put it in the oven on a timer to be ready at dinner time. After that prep work, I had just enough time during naps to get the last couple loads of laundry folded for the kids to put away.
Everyone was up by three. (I was a little grumpy about that, as Peter never actually fell asleep today. That's very rare!) We headed to the pool about 3:30 and had a great couple hours of fun in the sun. The older two girls did a great job of keeping watch over Meg and Peter when they wanted to be in the big pool, and I'm very grateful for it! Rachel loved the water, but she's a high maintenance age. I've tried a couple flotation options, but so far everything leaves her floating face down if she tips over, so she's safer with nothing on, but with my constant attention. By the end of today she was tipping over in the baby pool less; I'm hoping within a couple weeks she'll threaten her own life only occasionally. At least she's not quite as fearless as Peter at her age... she lowers herself slowly into the pool from the side rather than running headlong at top speed.
We arrived home from the pool about two minutes after the oven timer announced the lasagna was done, so perfectly timed! In went the garlic bread, and I chopped a salad, wine in hand, while the kids put laundry away. Nathaniel got home just as dinner was set on the table. Even better, after dinner, he took all the kids but Rachel on a long walk. Once I tucked her into bed, I was able to sit on the patio, reading a book.
It was only the first real day of summer break, but it was a very good one! Even if others don't go so smoothly, I hope we can keep them running in this general direction.
Happy summer!
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Piano Recital 2014
The girls had their annual recital last weekend. They've been working on their pieces since March and had them memorized weeks ago. The challenge was to get to them to slow down and make them musical instead of just plowing through the notes. They both did a really nice job, with a few little hang ups, but overall good show.
For the grandparents and other family who'd like to watch, here are the videos. Don't feel like you have to watch these if you're not immediate family. Trust me, I know it's not that exciting!
Ruth played a jazzy little piece called "Don't Wanna Leave You Blues".
The recital was at a rehabilitation center for elderly people, and many of the residents came to watch. It was very sweet. The girls were more excited to play for the residents than they were for family and friends, I think. One sweet little lady next to Nathaniel clearly loved music, and hummed along to all the performances. On songs like Ruth's, that were new to most people, she would anticipate the next couple notes during the pauses. On songs she knew, she'd just go right ahead at a bit louder volume. It made me giggle a couple times. You can't hear her much on Marianne's piece, but trust me, she was humming through it all. Then again, who can resist humming along to this piece?
Marianne played "Memory" from Cats. I've been joking with her teacher since the piece came home about how very, very (sarcastically) grateful I am to get to hear this song daily. What a treat! Marianne loved it, though, and just like her song from "Prince of Egypt" last year, when she loves a piece she works much, much harder at it.
This was Marianne's final recital. She hasn't wanted to play piano for the past two years, but we insisted. This year we told her that she could "retire" from piano as long as she chose an instrument to play in the school's band next year. We're still working on what she's going to play, but she's been approved for either clarinet or trombone. This should be an interesting new adventure, either way! (Speaking of that, if any of my reader-friends have a good quality clarinet they'd like to loan us for a couple of years, send me a message. We'd love to take you up on it.)
For the grandparents and other family who'd like to watch, here are the videos. Don't feel like you have to watch these if you're not immediate family. Trust me, I know it's not that exciting!
Ruth played a jazzy little piece called "Don't Wanna Leave You Blues".
The recital was at a rehabilitation center for elderly people, and many of the residents came to watch. It was very sweet. The girls were more excited to play for the residents than they were for family and friends, I think. One sweet little lady next to Nathaniel clearly loved music, and hummed along to all the performances. On songs like Ruth's, that were new to most people, she would anticipate the next couple notes during the pauses. On songs she knew, she'd just go right ahead at a bit louder volume. It made me giggle a couple times. You can't hear her much on Marianne's piece, but trust me, she was humming through it all. Then again, who can resist humming along to this piece?
Marianne played "Memory" from Cats. I've been joking with her teacher since the piece came home about how very, very (sarcastically) grateful I am to get to hear this song daily. What a treat! Marianne loved it, though, and just like her song from "Prince of Egypt" last year, when she loves a piece she works much, much harder at it.
This was Marianne's final recital. She hasn't wanted to play piano for the past two years, but we insisted. This year we told her that she could "retire" from piano as long as she chose an instrument to play in the school's band next year. We're still working on what she's going to play, but she's been approved for either clarinet or trombone. This should be an interesting new adventure, either way! (Speaking of that, if any of my reader-friends have a good quality clarinet they'd like to loan us for a couple of years, send me a message. We'd love to take you up on it.)
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Notes on teen safety talk
Tonight at our PTA-type meeting, we had a wonderful speaker. He's the Public Safety Director for the city, and happens to also be the father-in-law of a friend of mine. He shared little bits of info on a slew of topics and I could have listened to him for hours, so he could have gone into more detail. He's been on the police force for 30 years, I think he said, so has had more experience with kids doing really stupid things than any of us want to consider. That gives him a wealth of knowledge to share with us on how to help our own kids avoid making similar mistakes.
I thought I'd jot down a few things that I took away. Most of it is extremely common sense stuff, but it never hurts to be reminded, or prodded to actually act on those common sense ideas.
~ He said the number one best way to protect your children is to stay connected with them as they enter middle school and high school. The kids who have good, well-connected relationships with their parents are seldom the ones getting into trouble. Maybe it's just dinner two or three times a week as a family, maybe it's more. But stay connected to their lives. (I have high hopes that we'll still be doing family dinners most nights when our kids are older, but I realize that's easier said than done in our age of crazy extracurriculars).
~ He said we, as parents, must set clear expectations for our children. He said he's amazed by how often parents are disappointed in kids not meeting their expectations when those expectations were never laid out. Things as simple as "I expect you to go to school every day and attend your classes" and "show respect to your parents, teachers, police officers, etc", to things as complicated as "I expect you to save intimacy for marriage, and then only for the person you're married to" should be expressed to your kids. But not as a bullet point list, per se. He suggested using daily experiences to broach topics. For instance, discuss local news with your children and use these examples (like a sixth grader, who just today brought a batch of marijuana laced cookies to school to share with friends, no joke!) to tell them how disappointed you'd be if they were involved in a situation like that, or to discuss the right way to handle those situations.
~ Another key is consistent consequences. He said it's imperative that we are consistent in how we discipline our kids, that sporadic punishment won't teach anything well, and we'll end up with curfew breaking kids (or much worse). He also said that severity matters less than consistency. You don't have to ground kids for a month (and you don't want to, because that's as punishing to parents as kids) but graduated consequences are good. So first curfew break, they lose x, second time, they lose x+y, and so on. The tricky party here for me is determining appropriate consequences for each age. Our older kids are outgrowing "time outs" but it's hard when you're in the moment to come up with a good consequence. Nathaniel and I need to discuss this and have a game plan.
~ He encouraged us to teach our kids about the longevity of electronic records. He talked briefly about the fact that a spring break picture posted this year by a college student will come back to haunt that same person when he's 40 and running for public office. Nothing posted online is private, and nothing ever really goes away.
~ He suggested that parents should not be overly-concerned with teenagers' privacy. He said that teenagers who push for more privacy and are frustrated by intrusive parents are more often than not the ones with things to hide. He said that no child still living in your home (especially teenagers) should have things padlocked away that you cannot access, and he said that he considers it the duty of mothers and fathers everywhere to make sure their kids' sock drawers are well organized and their spare tires are inflated and ready in case they're needed. (I had to give my friend Sarah a quizzical look on the second bit and have her explain that people often stash drugs or alcohol in the spare tire area of the trunk. How little I know!) His response to a child who accuses you of not trusting her is, "It's not that I don't trust you, but that I love you and want to protect you."
Other bits of practical advice he offered during the talk:
~ If there is a gun in the house, it MUST be kept under lock and key in a gun safe. He has seen countless kids shot accidentally and teens taking unlocked guns from their parents home.
~ He recommends that all kids have curfews. He suggests no later than 10pm on school nights, and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays for high school Juniors and Seniors. He abides by the "nothing good happens after midnight" rule, and has enough experience on the street that I believe him.
~ With respect to dating, if you allow it all, he says that kids should not go outside their age range, meaning no middle school kids dating high school kids, or high school kids dating college kids. He related that every Monday morning, reports cross his desk of young girls who put themselves into bad situations with older crowds (and usually alcohol) over the prior weekend. It's not worth the risk.
So much good information! It's slightly terrifying to think of shepherding our children through the teenage years, but good to be thinking about it and planning for it well ahead of time. Then when it gets here and is nothing like we expected, at least we can say we tried to prepare ourselves. At the beginning of the talk, he assured us that he believes most of a person's true character has formed by the time she's 12. So that sweet 6th grader you know and love is always there, somewhere deep inside the crazy teenager. And by the time she's 24 or 25, she'll have resurfaced and you'll be able to enjoy one another again.
I thought I'd jot down a few things that I took away. Most of it is extremely common sense stuff, but it never hurts to be reminded, or prodded to actually act on those common sense ideas.
~ He said the number one best way to protect your children is to stay connected with them as they enter middle school and high school. The kids who have good, well-connected relationships with their parents are seldom the ones getting into trouble. Maybe it's just dinner two or three times a week as a family, maybe it's more. But stay connected to their lives. (I have high hopes that we'll still be doing family dinners most nights when our kids are older, but I realize that's easier said than done in our age of crazy extracurriculars).
~ He said we, as parents, must set clear expectations for our children. He said he's amazed by how often parents are disappointed in kids not meeting their expectations when those expectations were never laid out. Things as simple as "I expect you to go to school every day and attend your classes" and "show respect to your parents, teachers, police officers, etc", to things as complicated as "I expect you to save intimacy for marriage, and then only for the person you're married to" should be expressed to your kids. But not as a bullet point list, per se. He suggested using daily experiences to broach topics. For instance, discuss local news with your children and use these examples (like a sixth grader, who just today brought a batch of marijuana laced cookies to school to share with friends, no joke!) to tell them how disappointed you'd be if they were involved in a situation like that, or to discuss the right way to handle those situations.
~ Another key is consistent consequences. He said it's imperative that we are consistent in how we discipline our kids, that sporadic punishment won't teach anything well, and we'll end up with curfew breaking kids (or much worse). He also said that severity matters less than consistency. You don't have to ground kids for a month (and you don't want to, because that's as punishing to parents as kids) but graduated consequences are good. So first curfew break, they lose x, second time, they lose x+y, and so on. The tricky party here for me is determining appropriate consequences for each age. Our older kids are outgrowing "time outs" but it's hard when you're in the moment to come up with a good consequence. Nathaniel and I need to discuss this and have a game plan.
~ He encouraged us to teach our kids about the longevity of electronic records. He talked briefly about the fact that a spring break picture posted this year by a college student will come back to haunt that same person when he's 40 and running for public office. Nothing posted online is private, and nothing ever really goes away.
~ He suggested that parents should not be overly-concerned with teenagers' privacy. He said that teenagers who push for more privacy and are frustrated by intrusive parents are more often than not the ones with things to hide. He said that no child still living in your home (especially teenagers) should have things padlocked away that you cannot access, and he said that he considers it the duty of mothers and fathers everywhere to make sure their kids' sock drawers are well organized and their spare tires are inflated and ready in case they're needed. (I had to give my friend Sarah a quizzical look on the second bit and have her explain that people often stash drugs or alcohol in the spare tire area of the trunk. How little I know!) His response to a child who accuses you of not trusting her is, "It's not that I don't trust you, but that I love you and want to protect you."
Other bits of practical advice he offered during the talk:
~ If there is a gun in the house, it MUST be kept under lock and key in a gun safe. He has seen countless kids shot accidentally and teens taking unlocked guns from their parents home.
~ He recommends that all kids have curfews. He suggests no later than 10pm on school nights, and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays for high school Juniors and Seniors. He abides by the "nothing good happens after midnight" rule, and has enough experience on the street that I believe him.
~ With respect to dating, if you allow it all, he says that kids should not go outside their age range, meaning no middle school kids dating high school kids, or high school kids dating college kids. He related that every Monday morning, reports cross his desk of young girls who put themselves into bad situations with older crowds (and usually alcohol) over the prior weekend. It's not worth the risk.
So much good information! It's slightly terrifying to think of shepherding our children through the teenage years, but good to be thinking about it and planning for it well ahead of time. Then when it gets here and is nothing like we expected, at least we can say we tried to prepare ourselves. At the beginning of the talk, he assured us that he believes most of a person's true character has formed by the time she's 12. So that sweet 6th grader you know and love is always there, somewhere deep inside the crazy teenager. And by the time she's 24 or 25, she'll have resurfaced and you'll be able to enjoy one another again.
Friday, September 13, 2013
How old is she?
Four! But not for many hours more...
We kicked off Meg's birthday weekend with the answer to all her pleas and begging from the last several months - a play date with a few friends from preschool. She would have given anything to invite them ALL (except maybe the one boy in the class, she's undecided on whether she'd want to invite a boy...) but I wasn't up for quite that large a shindig.
A girl after my own heart, she agreed to sprinkle donuts and strawberry milk for a treat, and otherwise she wanted nothing more than to have friends come to her home. (Donut cakes - my new favorite thing!)
I borrowed the super cute milk bottles that Renee got for the First Communion reception, because it seemed the perfect opportunity to use them. If she didn't have a set right across the street, I think I'd have to buy my own. So darn adorable!
Meg knew she'd want to play dress up, and play with princess dolls and My Little Ponies (horses and princesses, her two favorite things at the moment). We invited the other girls to wear a favorite princess dress over, and I ordered these color-in, tie-on crowns. They were a huge hit, and a perfect time filler for a two hour play date. In fact, I had to request that Meg and her friend Emma set their sparkle crayons down for a few minutes in order to have our snack. They were so dedicated to detailed coloring that they'd have spent the whole morning on it!
Meg is so sweet and easy to please at this age. She has her moments of freaking out and throwing fits, but she has always been one of the most self-possessed, loving children I've known. I hope and pray that she'll continue on that path this year.
The countdown to FIVE is on!
Monday, August 26, 2013
Update on the happenings
We're a week into school and the routine is getting a little more routine. Meg had a crying fit last night over what to wear, and I thanked my lucky stars it was happening last night, and not this morning. Having her lay out her clothes ahead of time will be one of the keys to maintaining sanity until she's wearing a uniform jumper. I do not know how parents manage without uniforms; I'm so spoiled!
Nathaniel started teaching classes today, including an 8am class three days a week, so he's out the door early. I have to keep the morning as streamlined as possible. I told Meg I'd walk her to school this week, but starting next week I'll send her out the door with her sisters. I could probably not bother this week, even, as she jumps right in with the other kids and barely glances my way again, but she said she'd like me to come along, and I'm happy to do it for a couple days more.
Peter's potty training is coming along. No success with poo yet (tmi - you're welcome), but he stays dry for most of the day if we remind him to go once in a while. That's awesome given how badly it always went with the girls! He's not telling us when he needs to go, though, so we're far from finished.
In more exciting news (at least to me), I nearly have the coloring room all reorganized and tidy and lovely. I already am so much happier with the space. I'm waiting on one small piece of furniture to arrive and then I'll post some before and after shots and pretend like I have any skill in interior decorating (I don't) and you're all interested (doubtful). The ironic part is that I ordered a bunch of bins from The Container Store to help clean up the space, and now the big boxes the bins arrived in are what is making the space look like a crazy mess. The kids are having too much fun with them for me to toss them out quite yet, but I'm thinking when the recycling truck comes on Wednesday, the boxes will have to go.
Nathaniel started teaching classes today, including an 8am class three days a week, so he's out the door early. I have to keep the morning as streamlined as possible. I told Meg I'd walk her to school this week, but starting next week I'll send her out the door with her sisters. I could probably not bother this week, even, as she jumps right in with the other kids and barely glances my way again, but she said she'd like me to come along, and I'm happy to do it for a couple days more.
Peter's potty training is coming along. No success with poo yet (tmi - you're welcome), but he stays dry for most of the day if we remind him to go once in a while. That's awesome given how badly it always went with the girls! He's not telling us when he needs to go, though, so we're far from finished.
In more exciting news (at least to me), I nearly have the coloring room all reorganized and tidy and lovely. I already am so much happier with the space. I'm waiting on one small piece of furniture to arrive and then I'll post some before and after shots and pretend like I have any skill in interior decorating (I don't) and you're all interested (doubtful). The ironic part is that I ordered a bunch of bins from The Container Store to help clean up the space, and now the big boxes the bins arrived in are what is making the space look like a crazy mess. The kids are having too much fun with them for me to toss them out quite yet, but I'm thinking when the recycling truck comes on Wednesday, the boxes will have to go.
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