A new leaf

So, ever gotten to the point that you are so behind with something that it is overwhelming to contemplate starting? Ya. Me too. Well, here I am, ready to re-start the blog. I'm *planning towards* blogging every day in December and hoping that will give me the ol' ooomph I need. I know, you're welcome, (mom) all of one's of readers.

As shameful as it is, I am going to back-blog the fall events that I've missed...there have been quite a few. :) My attempt is to blow up your google readers. Ha! So, here goes life in our house from late summer through the fall...

The boys had their first days of school....

Jack was so excited to go to school that this was the best picture I could get. You can see his feet blurring from moving towards his teacher. No tears, or even "bye mama" from this guy! He goes twice a week (and wishes it was every day!)

Ryan was also excited to go to preschool. He was thankful for Lydia to be in his class. Ryan goes all 5 days, 9-1.

Saying goodbye!

 

Obligatory front door pictures. :)

Favorites, the Pre-school edition

                      Favorites, the Pre-school edition.

                         Ryan Aug. 2012

     1. What is your favorite toy? Spiderman and Capt America

2. What is your favorite color? Blue

3. What is your favorite fruit? Cantelope and watermelon

4. What is your favorite TV show? Batman (old Adam West)

5. What is your favorite movie? Robin Hood

6. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Fish sticks (and Fish tacos)

7. What is your favorite outfit? Turquoise polo shirt (has a rainbow ribbon on the inside of the collar that he is obsessed with)

8. What is your favorite game? Candyland

9. What is your favorite snack? Spiderman cheezits

10. What is your favorite animal? Horses

11. What is your favorite song? Hakuna Matata

12. What is your favorite book? The cookie book

13. What is your favorite vacation place? White Water (or Animal kingdom water)

14. What is your favorite thing to play? Dress up

15. Who is your best friend at school? Lydia

16. Who is your best friend at church? Henry

17. What is your favorite sport? Baseball and basketball

18. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play chase

19. What is your favorite drink? lemonade

20. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween and Christmas

21. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Blanket, Max, lambie, brown bear

22. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  oatmeal

23. What is your favorite restaurant? Pizza

24. What do you want to be when you grow up? Army man

25. What is your favorite thing about school? Playing with friends and the computer

26. What is your favorite school subject? Reading!

27. What is your teacher’s name? Ms. Mary Ann

28. What is your favorite thing you did this summer?  Watching baseball with daddy

29. What is your favorite date to do with mom?  Watching batman shows

30. What is your favorite date to do with dad? baseball games

Just a fun little comparison picture. She looks a lot the same--thinner face and she is almost 3 inches taller than last year. Still my sweet precious Anna-Kate!

First day of kindergarten

First day of first grade

The report is that school is awesome! She came home and had snack yesterday and asked if she could go back to school. I consider that to be a positive statement! :) I told her she has to sleep first. She said, "Ok, I'll go take a nap and then go back!". So, so thankful for our wonderful school, her sweet friends and a teacher who loves her, has prayed for her and has made this re-entry to school so easy and smooth.

First day of first grade

{alternate title: Time Marches On}

We spent the last 5 days soaking up the last minutes of summer--as in, more fun stuff than we've done all summer! Thursday we went to Six Flags, Friday we went to the zoo with Nana, Saturday Anna-Kate and I had our breakfast date with Leigh-Ann and Adam followed by Anna-Kate's back to school party, then a lunch date with Jessica and Marin! Sunday we went to church, attended the promotion Sunday picnic/bounce house extravaganza and went to home group that night. Monday morning we had a playdate here with Marin, followed by a huge Chick-fil-a gathering (15 kids total counting siblings, but 6 going into first grade with Anna-Kate) and then brought Grace home for an afternoon playdate. That afternoon/evening was spent at school to meet her teacher, see the classroom and enjoy the back to school picnic! It began pouring so we ate first (Chris had BBQ, I had Mexican and the kids, shocker, had CFA). I decided to truly be a fun mom and said we could stay and do the bounce houses/carnival games in the rain. All of the kids were soaked (except for Mark who slept peacefully in the sling under my umbrella with me!) and had the.time.of.their.lives. Whew!

This morning Anna-Kate came in before I had even gone to wake her up, fully dressed and ready to go! Chris stayed home for a fun family breakfast (and so I could take her and walk her in with a bit less chaos than is bringing all of my munchkins anywhere).

Eggs and muffins...breakfast of champions!

Mark wanted in on the family table action.
Ryan wanted him to sit next to him. :) 

My big 1st grade girl! No more canvas bag--
her own backpack this year!

Silly kids. Jack would not be separated from his muffin,
andevidently wouldn't be joined with his pants. Hmm.

Growing up too fast!

With the Daddy

Sweet friend, Adam (got this same picture last year.)

wWth her teacher, Mrs. Farrar

Saying goodbye to my big girl!

Hard at work already!

First grade, here we come!

Chapters ending...

Here's a quick rundown that I've had most morning and evening with my unborn babe, on why he can't join us in this world until June 1.

1. His sister's birthday is all the party planning I can handle mid-May.
2. By the same token, we already have a family birthday in May, he can take June.
3. I wanted to finish school and be able to attend all of Ryan and Anna-Kate's end of the year things (ballet recitals, soccer games/parties, field days, last day of school stuff etc).

Clearly, we have a good listener on our hands. :) While it still isn't June, the major milestone of school ending, has come and gone. And I now have a pre-K4 and a 1st grader on my hands! Completely boggles my mind how this is possible.

Anyway, Ryan's school ended a week before Anna-Kate's. We had a sweet little party with pizza and icecream sundaes for the kids, their closing program that night and then a family carnival the following morning. So fun, super cute, and just completely re-confirmed the decision we made to move him--precious school, precious director and just an all around good thing. So pleased. 

 They had a luau themed party, complete with soccer plates. :)

Ryan and Lydia

Jack on cloud 9 with his bowl of icecream, sprinkles, gummy bears and "treats" (m&m's which he normally only gets for going potty. Lol).

Ryan with his sweet teachers, Grace and Lori

Jack at the carnival the following morning. Both boys couldn't get over their luck that there was cotton candy. :)

In fact, Ryan couldn't be bothered to stop eating and smile. :)

After our hotdogs, chips, cookies, cotton candy, snow cones, and time on the bounce house, Ryan opted into some face painting. He convinced Ms. Lori to give him a pirate patch. Sad that I felt very cool for not telling him no. He looked like he'd been punched by that evening in the pool for his sisters' birthday party...

With his best buddy at school, (besides Lyd, of course) Graeme. So sad they won't be together next year. Graeme is joining his sister at her school for pre-k. 

In the new format of blogger, I haven't figured out how to move pictures that are uploaded out of order...so these shall remain out of order. :) The Thursday evening show.

 Ryan and Lyd waiting to go on stage.

I love the intensity with which Ryan is pointing to his eyes. Lol.

Smiling and singing...love it.

The following week was Anna-Kate's big week! She had field day on Wednesday followed by a very sweet and special last day of school (chapel and a small party in her class). 

Yep, I got her to wear shorts. We "girled" it up with a pink accented hat and bows on the shoulders to try and keep the humongous shirt on. :) 

Haley, Marin, Anna-Kate and Natalie. So blessed with sweet little girls in her class. :)

 with Grace

Her TA, Mrs. Byrd and teacher, Miss Miller. Such a blessing they were this year. In addition to teaching the kids all of the academics, they helped bring my sweet girl out of her shell, make her comfortable being away from me all day, and frankly, helped me be OK with them having my girl all day. No small feat. :)

The kids stood and recited the whole of Psalm 8 for the parents--complete with energy and hand motions. It was awesome! After, Miss Miller handed out awards to the kids for various character traits, creativity etc. Anna-Kate was given the character award for "her over abounding love, joy and servants heart." I was so proud to hear these words!

To celebrate the end of school we went with our friends to Costco for some pizza (though Anna-Kate opted out, still "not liking sauce"...and got a smoothie) and then to Chuckee Cheese for some game time. Again, sad that I felt like such a rock star Mama for this little gesture. :)

"Ride Seh-dee?" These two are so sweet together and Jack just talks about Sadie all the time. :) 

Happy Easter!

With child like faith, Anna-Kate chose the words to write for her Easter story at school. I couldn't be more proud of her work and her sensitive heart to the Lord.

Happy Easter! May you know the love of our Lord!

Kindergarten

I went to Anna-Kate's 3rd quarter parent-teacher conference this morning (what??!?!?! This year is flying by!). I am so proud of my girl! She has excellent grades and, so I can remember...

Is reading at a 2nd grade level. Her teacher was "floored" at how well she was reading, (on a first time through a new book status) especially considering where she was when she entered school. She said Anna-Kate was doing "phenomenally" and that I should be very proud (which, of course, I am).

Her math scores are all high. The money section had given her problems, (adding various coins together and determining "fair trades" and then subtracting various coins was hard for her) but it has finally clicked and she got them all perfect on her evaluation.

She got the highest marks possible in Art, (with her teacher commenting that she is a natural) PE, (which is hilarious to me as she hates it) and music. Spanish she is an "S+"--we'll see about "E" by schools' end. :)

Honestly though, the thing I took away most was her writing skills. Her teacher showed me her paper of the alphabet from August, then a paper that she had written during oral dictation. It was unreal. Her teacher was extremely encouraging and commented on Anna-Kate's excellent pencil grip/handwriting and the good job she did with spelling (only 1 mistake in dictation for a whole page of writing!). In addition to dictation, the kids are learning to write short stories. They have learned about rough drafts, ("sloppy copies") which include a main idea, a couple of sentences to describe that idea and a concluding sentence. She shows such creativity, good spelling and the way she illustrates her stories is amazing (I swear, she can draw better than I can!). Next one that comes home I'll take a picture of and post. So great.

I'm just blown away by what she is doing--and to the degree of excellence. We are so thankful for her awesome school and thankful that she chooses to apply herself to it so well.

On the difference between boys and girls

Ryan has started his new school this week, and it's fantastic! Truly, an answer to prayer. He loves it, has a new little buddy and asks to take off his jammies and put on clothes (not normal for him, which means he is raring to go!). In fact, on Tuesday I told him to hurry and get dressed so he would have a few minutes to play with Jack before we left. He said, "I don't think I want to play with Jack this morning. I just want to go to my new school and play with Graham."

Anyway, on Monday when Anna-Kate came home from school she came in and immediately asked Ryan how his first day of school was.

Ryan: "good"
AK: "Oh, I'm so glad! Did you get to play outside? What did you have for snack? Did you make any friends? Here, I'll just sit down here on the couch with you and you can tell me about your whole day from the beginning and then I'll tell you about mine!"
Ryan: "Umm, no thanks. It was good, that's all."

Clearly, that is a nature, not nurture issue for boys. At least it isn't just me he doesn't spout out the info for. This is going to be a hard shift for me as I'm accustomed to getting a minute by minute play by play of the day (who wore what, who said what, who got in trouble, what everyone ate, and her thoughts on all of the above.). Sigh.

I guess I didn't realize I was spoiled. Silly boys. :)

Answered prayer

I believe in the power of prayer.

I also believe in gravity, but I see that happen pretty frequently (my kids, their eating utensils and toys would be exhibit A, B, and C, respectively). I don't often "see" highly unlikely situations perfectly worked out in response to prayer. But on the occasions that I do, it is a humbling and beautiful thing.

We have had a rough preschool year here thus far. There were a few problems we saw in Anna-Kate's transition (based on her preparedness that she learned, or didn't, in preschool) that were troubling and then a few problems in Ryan's class this year. We began by just thinking we'd move him to another Pre-K4 next year, then it turned to "I wonder if we'll last the full year", then "we'll put him out in between semesters" to finally, "we are pulling him out today...two weeks before Christmas."

To say that it's been emotional and hard would be a huge understatement. I wish I could say that Ryan has come out unscathed, but that would not be accurate either.

For perspective, in our town, preschools (well, schools in general) are extremely competitive. Registration happens in early February and if you aren't in a school already (by having a sibling there, or church affiliation) you are extremely lucky to get in at that point. Most often, you go on a waiting list (which can help you get in the following year). Anyway. As the situation deteriorated at Ryan's school I began looking around at our options. The various schools I called either put me on the list (we were number 17) or refused to put me on a list because it was too long that I wouldn't get in. Or, it was in town (far away) and really expensive (which would lead me to put Jack somewhere else, resulting in me driving to three schools next fall, with an infant, which is just not a sustainable/healthy family decision for us). I was extremely worried and stressed out, but, was confident that we were following the Lord and doing the best thing for Ryan.

So, last week I called a school I had not particularly heard of before, on a complete (desperate) whim. I spoke to her for close to an hour and had every question perfectly answered (no TV! No child ever alone! Two teachers in each room! The same writing curriculum that Anna-Kate's school uses! Zero tolerance for physical behavior from children! Fantastic playground! They stay until 1!). I could keep going, but those are a couple of high points. :) She said she'd had a couple of families move over Christmas and had space, but needed to call through her waiting list. So we waited, for a week.

She called yesterday and told us that not only had Ryan been accepted, but that his best buddy, Lydia, would be accepted and they would be in the same class together! I was overwhelmed at the goodness of God. What has been months of worry and heartache has been perfectly fixed. Had I called a month ago, she would have turned me away as she didn't know of anyone leaving and her wait list was long. The Lord gave me that school name at the perfect time. And He provided Ryan's little friend, Lyd to go with him.

We visited today to meet his teachers and see his new friends. We hadn't been in the classroom 2 minutes when a little boy walked up to Ryan, introduced himself, held Ryan's hand and asked him to come play with him. The boys played trucks, computer and I heard them talking about their love of soccer and hatred of shots--all in the span of 15 minutes. Ryan went from terrified of a new school this morning (which, I honestly can't blame him) to excited to start his new school and play with his new friends next Monday. My heart is overflowing with joy and with thankfulness for the provision from the Lord...for answering the deep desire and prayer of my heart.

Starting over in the new year

Well now. Happy 2012. :)

I don't do resolutions, so starting over for us is more in regards to school. I've been very worried and stressed about a preschool for Ryan for next year. It's just so competitive and/or expensive, yet necessary to be accepted to kindergarten! Ryan is determined to read--begs to learn and has even cried in frustration as he doesn't know how yet. We are working on it. :) I am not particularly worried about that aspect of his education. He does, however, have zero interest in handwriting, or even holding a pencil.

Anyway, in an extremely random conversation I heard the name of a school I hadn't yet considered (or frankly, heard much of). Turns out, they do the same writing curriculum as Anna-Kate's school. (perfect!). Every one of my concerns were addressed and answered as if I had been giving the answer. Bonus, it is ballpark the same price we were paying--so not a complete hit to the budget, were he to get in. And that is the big question.

Per usual, in our area, there is a huge wait list. Thankfully, 3 kids moved at Christmas, so she is calling through her wait list and will get back to me. We are definitely praying towards this being the answer for the boys and hopeful that this is the Lord's provision for us. Either way, it's been an encouraging day for me to feel peace about the situation and to wait. I know He will provide!

For the sake of documentation

As this blog is ultimately a journal for me to be able to look back on life, I feel I must make short mention of the following...

We have withdrawn Ryan from his school. The situation has consumed a good bit of my time and thought life this semester, culminating in an emotional climax mid-December. Chris and I are both extremely comfortable with the decision and believe it to be in the best interest of Ryan and our family. This is definitely us trusting the Lord and stepping out in faith that He will provide.

Carpool

It's weird having my child picked up and taken to school and then delivered back home. I have always driven my own kids to school both ways (obviously had help in a bind and helped others, but generally I drove). Even though school is pretty close, the pick up is 2:05-right in Jack's nap (and regrettably, my monitor wouldn't reach. If I still had my monitor?? :) ). We were SO blessed that two of Anna-Kate's dear friends are in her class and that our schedules work together for a perfect carpool situation. Leigh-Ann and I are splitting mornings and late pick up (3) for an after school activity once a week and Jessica brings them home 4 days a week as her son is a little older and naps a bit later. It is absolutely the little things that the Lord just reassures that He is in this whole decision, process and that He works all things for good!

In her chapel uniform this morning. So cute!!



All three big kids in the back of the van--Anna-Kate, Marin, Adam



Anyway, it's been hard for me (yet again) to let go of driving her and not being the first to hear all of the little tidbits of her day. But, it's good. Since we are moving to earlier bed time (7:30 to accommodate 7 am wake up for the first time in her life!!) I put Jack down for his nap 1-4. I get to read and play with Ryan individually until 2, then send him to his room for quiet play time. Jessica drops Anna-Kate off a little after 2 and I have a snack waiting for her and we sit at the table and chat about her day. She has been a little tired, so we will move to the couch and read a book, then talk about her day more, then read another book before she goes to her room around 3 for 45 minutes or so to play alone and unwind a little. The look on little Ryan's face when he sees his sister is priceless--he is PUMPED! He misses her so much! :)

These days are surely precious and I am beyond thankful for them (and that my girl will spill all of the details of her day!).

Just for kicks...

A comparison to last year...

Ryan, 2010



Ryan, 2011



Anna-Kate, 2010



Anna-Kate, 2011



My, how quickly time flies!

First day of school {kindergarten version}

Last night our school hosted its annual meet the teacher night followed by the back to school picnic. Anna-Kate was very excited to meet her teacher and we enjoyed getting her acclimated to where her cubby was etc. After, we hit the playground while Chris gathered our picnic blanket/chairs then headed down to the football field where there were various food options, (yet we still ended up with Chikc-fil-a!) bounce houses, ride on toys for the littles and carnival games. My kids were in paradise!









The first day of school has a late start so I decided to make a big family breakfast. As I was just putting muffins in the oven I turned around to Anna-Kate (at 7:30 am) standing in the kitchen, fully dressed in her uniform with a huge grin on her face. She said, "do I look beautiful, Mama?" {that would be cry #1 of the day, if you wanted to keep track}. We enjoyed a slower breakfast then began the photo shoot. :) She came up to me as I stood there watching my kids play together in the last minutes before we left for school and was overwhelmed with joy and the blessings I have been given. I had a few tears in my eyes, and Anna-Kate ran up to me, threw her arms around me and said, "Mama, I am just so excited to go to my new school!" (this would be huge as I usually have to drag her/pry her off me the first few days).



Sad Daddy! He is not happy about her growing up!



Precious siblings. I am blessed by them!



As we drove to school I looked in the rear view mirror and saw her sitting there in her big girl booster, and in the foreground, Jack in her old infant seat. I kept willing myself to pull it together (this would be cry #3, the second happened as I prayed for breakfast :) ). We walked up the ramp at the exact same time as her friend Adam and his family, so of course, I began snapping their first day together at school. Jonathan mocked my scrapbook efforts. Ha!

Adam and Anna-Kate...sweet friends. :)



After I snapped pictures with her teachers and got a quick picture with us and her, (dismal as it is...) Chris left for work and the boys and I headed to the annual kindergarten "tissues and tears" party. Aptly named. They boys had a hay day with the food and I must have looked fragile as I received numerous hugs {from strangers} and "oh honeys".

Last picture before getting shooed away.



Her TA, Ms. Byrd



Her teacher, Ms. Miller



I came home and began cleaning while the boys played, surprisingly well together. Other surprise of the day? Being one kid down, the noise level in my house rose significantly. Boys! :)

We headed to school for early pick up at 1:30 and to attend a popsicle party to celebrate the first day of school. It was fun to see her walking out with her class, put her bag away, and then my heart melted as she saw me, shouted "mama" and came running to a big hug. (this would be cry 12 or so of the day...). My heart is full. Even as I miss her, I know the Lord has guided this decision and this is the school He planned for her. We are so blessed to be a part of this school, and even more blessed to call her our daughter.

She saw me and came running...I LOVE this picture!



I missed her so much! What a happy reunion! :)



Class picture



Her and Marin