School Begins!

Thursday Eldest girl was off to her first day of third grade. She was excited and happy to be headed off to school again. She was anxious to see her friends and maybe a little nervous about meeting her new teacher. We had been able to ascertain ahead of time that at least two very good friends would be in her class. I think that helped to give her some level of confidence in heading off for her first day.

She had a successful day at school and came home with stories to share of her new teacher, what her classroom is like, where and with whom she sits and all the usual first day kind of stuff. She was allowed to choose where to sit and she is at a desk next to her crush best friend, J, and there is another boy whose name begins with a J who sits on her other side. She found out on the first day that the "other J" likes Harry Potter - so they are off to a good start seeing as she is reading the series again for the third time...

Her second day went as well as her first. She has come home with two practice worksheets for cursive writing and has received 100% on both for her efforts which pleased her to no end. She also said that she was nervous about her teacher but has been pleasantly surprised at how great she is. I had heard mixed reviews on this teacher so far from those "in the know" who had kids in her class and she has a reputation as being a yeller. So far, so good though. And Eldest girl is already aware of the fact that if you follow the rules you'll be fine. She told Middle girl as much at dinner the other night. LOL Eldest girl is very much a "stick to the rules" kind of kid and she is very bright so I think she will get along fine with that teacher (who I have also heard works well with the kids who need/want to be challenged academically).

When did she start looking so grown-up?


Traditional 'first day' picture by the brown-eyed susans.


Picking flowers for her teacher.


Off she goes!


Just for comparison...her Kindergarten picture from 2005!

(I am laughing right now as I realize that she *still* has that Jacket!! It's a little too short on the sleeves but she likes enough that she still wants to wear it!)

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Friday was Middle girl's Kindergarten orientation. I drove her to school at 9am to meet for an hour with her teacher, assistant teacher and a few specialists who will spend some time each day in her classroom (primarily the ESL folks since we have a large spanish-speaking population in our elementary school). She got to check out the layout of the classroom and I also took her on a brief tour of the cafeteria, library, and gym. She is very excited and can't wait for her first real day on Tuesday when she will be able to join Eldest girl on the big yellow school bus.

So big...and yet I still one of my babies. She picked flowers for her teacher, too.


Standing in front of the school.


She found her cubby!


I wanted to get a picture of her with her teacher but she adamantly refused! She is not one to be camera shy so perhaps she was thinking - "enough with the pictures, mom...it's embarrassing!" LOL Or maybe it's just not her style to share the limelight.... ;-)

Middle girl has the same teacher that Eldest girl had for Kindergarten which makes me very happy (especially considering the fact that the other two K teachers are brand new to the school this year and both are very young --- in fact, one is a brand-new grad this year from a local college). She has one boy from preschool in her class - but unlike her big sister she is all about the girlfriends. In fact, we were recently spent some time hanging out with a family that had two boys and she told me before we left, "ya know mom...boys are just not my type." She is very sad that one particular little girl from preschool is not in her class but I'm sure she'll make new friends very quickly with whatever girls are in her class. She met two girls and three boys at the orientation but both girls were extremely shy. Hopefully, Middle girl will befriend them quickly and help them feel more at ease! She had become somewhat of a leader and was more than willing to help the younger kids at preschool last year so I'm thinking those skills will be useful in her new classroom. I know she is going to love school this year!

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As for me - I'm back to work as of this week but it was mainly procedural and planning meetings. Next week I will be visiting at least one classroom where I will be providing assistive technology support/consultation. I met the new SLP in that classroom on Monday at the SPED orientation meeting and she seems great. We are both new to the middle school environment so it will be a challenging year for us both but she seems up to the challenge and I think we'll work well together. Phew.

I have yet to completely figure out what the rest of my weeks are going to look like but I will definitely have enough consulting work to do!! My biggest challenge once I have a more or less set schedule will be to figure out childcare coverage for morning and afternoons. In most cases, I have to juggle an early start day at the middle school or high school I'll be working at with the later bus times of my elementary schoolers and the fact that some of the schools are somewhat far away which means I won't be home right at 3:20 to catch them off the bus! Thankfully, my MIL is around the corner and will be available to help out and Rick will try to work his schedule so that he can do some of the morning or afternoon coverage. We just to get a set schedule worked out so that everyone is on the same page! Ah...the life of a working mom. I'm only part-time but I have a feeling it's not going to seem like part-time once things get rolling!

To add to the crazies I'm also doing some volunteering at the school through the Parent/Guardian Organization (PGO), I'm on a committee at church for Christian Education, and I'm hoping to continue with my weekly knitting group that I joined recently. Oh and how could I forget - Middle girl has one gymnastics class a week after school, and the two older girls are signed up for an 8-week swim class which starts in a couple of weeks.

Let the crazies begin!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Wait. It is August...isn't it?

Then why am I wearing a jacket to walk in 40 degree weather at 6am? And why is it still only 60 degrees at 10:30am. What happened to the three H's of summer? It's not hot, humid or hazy around here. In fact, it's feeling rather like fall. Crisp and cool.

The first day of school is next week for Eldest girl so fall is right around the corner but it is not usually this cold the week before my birthday. On Monday I brought the girls to Old Navy for some new school clothes and today Middle girl is comfortably wearing a pair of jeans that we bought there. It is seriously too cold for it to be August.

However, the cool weather has not stopped us from enjoying our last days of summer 2008. Yesterday I took the girls - and my in-laws - on a picnic outing to a local state park that has a nice beach. I had never been there before but Rick and his family used to camp there every summer when he was a kid. I have been meaning to get out to visit this park for many years but every year it seems to elude me and I kick myself for not having made the time yet again. I was not going to let that happen this year so even though the temps were not supposed to reach more than 70ish degrees I decided that we would go ahead with the plans we had made earlier in the week. Part of the motivation to go was also the chance to find another geocache. I entered the coordinates in the GPS, packed a lunch and a swim bag (just in case the girls were brave enough to try a bit of swimming on such a cool day) and we were off.

The park is only about 35 minutes away so it seems ridiculous that I hadn't been there before. And the park itself is a gem. Nice clean beach, clean restrooms and changing area, picnic areas with grills, plenty of hiking trails and a beautiful lake which I hope we can take a canoe and/or kayak out on one of these days (We own a not oft-used canoe but we can't all fit in it and I am soooo tempted to buy a kayak. I just can't seem to justify the expense right now even though it would mean we might all be able to get out on the water together and therefore use the canoe - and the kayak - more frequently). We enjoyed a nice picnic, took a 2-ish mile round trip hike to the cache and the girls actually did enjoy swimming in the lake once it got a tad bit warmer in the afternoon sun.








The girls and their grandparents on the trail.








We also recently traveled down to Cape Cod to visit my parents for a few days where we spent some time at the beach, found some geocaches, and visited with various cousins, aunts and uncles. That trip was during the week so Rick had to stay home and work but the girls and I enjoyed that one last jaunt to the beach. I had also hoped to visit with my good friend K and her boys but she ended up in the hospital with a broken ankle the night we arrived on the Cape! Poor dear! (But, I mean really K - if you didn't want to see me you could've just said so...) ;-) I'm hoping to get down to the Cape again in the fall - perhaps she'll be healing nicely by then and we can get together for a few much-needed drinks out on the town. No excuses!








































Next week we are back to the grind - at least partially. I have a meeting Monday morning and will be working on Thursday getting prepped for the new year. And since I agreed to work on my birthday I informed my coworkers that we will be going out after work for a drink or two to drown my sorrows over the passing of another year celebrate. Eldest girl starts school that day and I was so pleased to learn that she will have at least two very good friends in her class this year - both are boys and one in particular she has a HUGE crush on (and which is fully reciprocated! Yikes!). The following week we'll be in full swing with Middle girl starting Kindergarten and Youngest girl starting back to daycare with my neighbor. She had such a rough time of it at the end of last spring that I'm a bit nervous. However, she is a bit older and she will be going more consistently to daycare (twice a week rather than somewhat sporadically). She will also spend one day a week with grandma and grandad which will please her to no end.

I have the older girls signed up for Monday afternoon swim classes and Middle girl is also taking a gymnastics class on Tuesday after school. Youngest girl wants to take dance classes but I have yet to find a class that fits our schedule and I already feel like this fall is going to be packed now that I'm back to work 3 days/week. Oy.

And I was thinking that summer flew by in the blink of an eye? Fall is shaping up to go even faster.

12 of 12 - August 2008

It's time for some 12 of 12 fun again!

I assume you know what I'm talking about (if you don't - click here for more info from dear Chad).

This month we are fortunate to have some visiting family who are making a cameo in this month's 12 of 12. Rick's brother and nephew are visiting here from Virginia. Since it was expected to be a rather drizzly gray day we decided to take the kids to a local science museum. So, most of today's photos are from there.

Home
My morning joe in my Curtains mug. The little white things on the counter behind the mug right next to the sink are two ant baits. We are having significant ant issues this year and they are driving me batty!



My current obssession read. Great book - hard to put down. I'm less than 100 pages from finishing this 1000ish page tome.



Springfield Science Museum
10:30am
My three girls and their cousin in front of the huge dino that greets us near the front entrance.


A huge and beautiful Josh Simpson blown glass planet. I have a small one of these that a former boss gave me when I was leaving my job to start graduate school. This one is much bigger! I think mine could be compared to a golf ball and this one is more like a beach ball. They are so amazing - this picture does not do it justice.


The kids putting coins in the big black hole/vortex thing. (Middle girl is not actually picking her nose...).


Grandma was with us on this outing. Here she and Middle Girl are examining part of the dinosaur egg exhibit that was currently on display.


Uncle W, cousin T, Middle girl and Youngest girl checking out the "shake table" that was part of the earthquake exhibit.


Resident Rock Collector (Eldest girl) next to a large amethyst geode. She has had a particular affection for amethyst since finding out it is her birthstone.


A replica wigwam is a great pace for goofing off.


Teapot restaurant - Northampton
The museum was fun but it was time for some food. We went to a great little Japanese/Chinese restaurant where Eldest girl thoroughly enjoyed a plate of beef lo mein.


Youngest girl enjoyed a bit of this and a bit of that (mostly rice, dumplings and scallion pancakes). I'm most including this picture to show her boo-boo chin from Sundays stitches incident (per Tuxbaby's request). It's not much to see because I'm keeping it well protected with a bandage. She's healing quite nicely and by the end of the week they will take out the stitches.


Home again
I'm taking the girls to visit my parents for a few days this week. We are hoping for some good beach weather so we can get one last beach fling in before the weather turns. So, this evening aside from doing my 12 of 12 job I'm also packing up so we can hit the road bright and early tomorrow!

A stitch in time...

It was only a matter of time.

We have been parenting for nearly eight and a half years and not a stitch to be had on any of our kids.

That is - until yesterday when Youngest Girl achieved the distinction of becoming the first to injure herself to the point of needing a quick trip to the doctor's for stitches. Five, to be exact.
(She just had to be first at something, I guess...)

She had been outside with Rick, her two older sisters, her cousin and her uncle and they were playing a variety of games requiring a ball. At one point the girls decided to start throwing the ball onto the play structure platform. However, there were a lot of rocks (collected by Eldest Girl/resident rock collector) sitting in precarious positions along the edges of the platform. Rick suggested that all the rocks be moved into a nearby wagon and the girl complied. Youngest Girl was interested by the assortment of rocks and apparently found a piece of slate in the wagon and then decided to climb back up to the platform by way of the rope ladder. Climbing one-handed while hanging onto the largish piece of slate did not go well and she slipped and fell, catching her chin on the sharp edge of the rock. Rick carried her in screaming and I saw the amount of blood and immediately ran for a wet towel. She calmed down rather quickly and we were able to assess the damage which looked very much in need of a few stitches to my completely untrained (and uninitiated-in-the-ways-of-huge-gashes-to-my-baby's-face!) eye.

We were fortunate to have an uncle and two grandparents in close proximity at the moment so Rick and I left the older two in their capable hands and rushed off to the doctor's office . I had called seeking advice (having never dealt with huge gashes in my baby's face in 8 years of parenting as I may have already mentioned...) and they told us to bring her right in. I was thankful that we were not going to have to go to the ER and sit and wait interminably for help.

Rick sat in the back of the car and held some gauze to her chin while I drove. I was feeling pretty high strung and concerned about what was to come - as was Rick. Youngest Girl was either completely exhausted from lack of nap or so shocked and traumatized by the experience that she promptly fell asleep. Perhaps it was a combination of the two. She slept for about 15 of the 20 minutes it took to get to the office. Once there she woke up but was rather groggy - which may have helped with what came next.

The nurse checked us in and shortly thereafter the doctor arrived to assess the wound. One of the nurses in the office suggested that they might be able to use a kind of wound super glue to repair the gash but we were soon to learn that due to the angle and location of the wound stitches were going to be necessary. Youngest girl sat very still and quiet while the doc prodded and probed around the site of the wound (which was too much for me to watch and I was thankful that Rick was the one holding her). Once the proclamation of stitches was made the doctor and nurse got to work prepping the room and Youngest girl was laid on the table and restrained by a straitjacket-like device that was slyly referred to as a "papoose." I thought for sure she would kick up a fuss at being removed from Rick's lap and restrained but she remained amazingly calm. The nurse was stationed at her head to keep it steady while the doctor worked so I sat by her feet and held on to her legs to let her know I was close. Rick stayed near her head and she was able to see him.

She was so very brave during the whole process. Much braver than I felt. The hardest part was the novocain when her eyes welled up and she whimpered but she stayed very still and let the doctor do what needed to be done. It was very quiet in the room during the procedure and I was so tense that I realized I was not just holding her legs but actually griping them to the point that I was probably restricting blood flow. I would not make a very good nurse.

Once it was all done the doctor put a bandage over her FIVE stitches and gave her a special sticker just for kids who had gotten stitches! She was also allowed to pick five stickers - one for each stitch - from the general sticker bin which made her very happy. She walked out with two princesses, two SpongeBob, and a Big Bird and with big plans to share her loot with her sisters and cousin.

She was given extremely high marks from both nurses we encountered as well as the doctor. They all said she was by far the bravest kid they have ever encountered who needed stitches! In fact, the nurse who was not in the room during the procedure could not figure out what was taking so long because she figured she'd been hearing howls and screams coming from the room if there were stitches involved. She could not believe that Youngest Girl got five stitches and there was not a peep to be heard!

Way to go, Brave Youngest Girl! But, for mom's sake please avoid the need to be so brave in the future! No more stitches, please.

Home Again.

We've been home for almost a week actually. Just have not had the inclination to write about the vacation. I think I've been enjoying the lingering feelings and not really ready to share them just yet. We had a wonderful and relaxing time. I promise I will post some choice pictures soon. As soon as the mood strikes.

I had dinner with a good friend last night. It was a lovely dinner and I enjoyed getting back in touch. We haven't had time to get together in many months. She shared with me some stuff she is going through right now and my heart aches for her. If you want to say a prayer for "Jeanne's friend" I'm sure she would appreciate it. I know God is keeping her close right now and will know she is the one who needs the extra prayers.

We are getting yet another insane thunderstorm this evening. The sky has been rumbling on and off all day and the skies are randomly letting loose in torrents of rain. This has been the Summer of the Thunderstorms. Somehow we lucked out last week and had fair skies for most of our vacation and very little rain. But, now that we are home again, the rain seems to be making up for lost time. And if you believe the weathermen there is plenty more rain in our future.
Geesh - enough!

This morning I went to work for an organizational meeting to get ready for the upcoming school year. I can't say we got incredibly more organized but it was fun catching up with everyone and getting a slightly clearer picture of what my schedule is going to look like for the new year. I will be starting the year off doing two days a week, but the understanding is that I will increase to three days once the schedule begins to fill in. I also found out that I will be getting (hopefully sooner rather than later) my very own brand-new laptop. Talk about feeling officially official! I nearly bought myself a laptop last spring but really couldn't justify the expense since most of my hours were on-site in our office where I had access to a desktop. Any other computer needs were easily met here at home on my desktop. But, starting next month I will be out in the field most of my work days and a laptop is going to be a necessity, not a luxury. Thankfully, I did not have to plead my case too strongly. The SPED director does have to justify the purchase but I didn't have to go into much detail because she realizes that a traveling "assistive technology specialist" needs to have a portable computer. Apparently, the organization is in general trying to move away from laptop purchases because they don't last very long and many of the other specialists do not have laptops. But, in our area of expertise the technology really needs to travel with us wherever we go. Period.

We have a few more weeks left before school begins. My brother-in-law and nephew are arriving on Saturday from Virginia for a week's visit and at the tail end of that visit I have plans to drive to the Cape with the girls for a mid-week visit with my parents. I am sorely missing the water and the smell of the ocean so I'm trying to fit one last beach visit in this month. Rick has to work so he's going to be staying home (and probably enjoying the peace and quiet of an empty house...I think I may have to figure out a way to work out a deal like that for myself some day!! I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to be alone in the house for a few days...and how I would make use of all that free time!).

My birthday is coming up at the end of the month and although Rick has asked what I would like to do I have no really great ideas. In fact, at today's staff meeting I found out that orientation is three days before my birthday and we ended up scheduling a planning day ON my birthday. It just so happens that my birthday is also Eldest girl's first day of school (which seems way too early for me because school always started the Tuesday after Labor Day when I was growing up). So, I'll be busy getting her on the bus, getting the other two off to some kind of yet-to-be-arranged childcare situation (Middle girl's first day of Kindergarten is not until the following Tuesday!!), and spending the day getting prepped for our first full week of work. I also made plans to out for a quick drink with my coworkers to celebrate my birthday!

Life is flying by. Summer has been great so far and I can't believe that the need to go shopping for school supplies and clothing is essentially upon us. But, as much as I'm enjoying summer I have to say that autumn is my favorite season and I am looking forward to it. I love crisp blue skies in the morning, apple-picking followed by warm apple pies, walks in the woods with leaves crunching underfoot, and all the goodness that is autumn in New England.