Ryan Chase, Kindergartner

Ryan is a kindergartner!  He's been a little nervous and anxious all summer.  He wasn't too keen on kindergarten and told us several times he didn't want to go.  But then we went to Meet & Greet last week and that changed everything.  We left the girls with Grandma & Grandpa so that we could focus on Ryan and getting him excited!  We had a special dinner at Wendy's and then headed to the school.  He saw his room, met his teacher, sat on a school bus, and all sorts of other fun things.  When we got back in the car he lit up, he was ready!  He just needed to see it all and organize it all in his little brain. 

He's a bus rider, against all of my early wishes.  He LOVES it.  And it's so much better for Mommy and the girls.  He gets on at 7:15 and off at 2:36, both when Chloe is asleep [and Abs too in the morning].  Carline is crazy, I've heard anything from 30-40 mins to closer to an hour.  Trying to do that with two sleepy girls twice a day would likely have just pushed me right on over the edge.  He was sooo excited to get on the bus, so we went with it. 

Over the weekend we stocked up on school supplies.  Grandma and Grandpa bought him shoes.  We went to Target to pick out his new backpack.  He got a haircut.  Last night before bed, we read through the note Mrs. Sheffield had sent him, and he put some confetti under his bed to help him sleep better.  I woke him at 6:45 this morning [gulp!].  He put on the new clothes that he and Daddy had picked out at Kohl's and drank some smoothie.  We made him a lunch - peanut butter and jelly cut in a rectangle and two squares per his request, frozen grapes so hopefully they'd be the right temperature by lunch, veggie stix chips, and goldfish.  Since he had to bring all his school supplies in today, his backpack was huge.  He looked pretty small with that thing on his back.  Daddy went in late this morning so he could see him off as well.  The three of us walked outside about 7:10 to wait.  The stop is only three houses up, close enough that we can see him off while leaving the girls inside.  There were four other kids this morning, but there'll be lots more supposedly.  There are two new families across the street, one has six kids, one has four.  According to the mom who's driveway we were standing in, they'll all ride the bus in a couple of weeks.  Ryan did great when the bus came, he crossed the street with the bigger kids and walked right on up.  His friends, Anna Wynn and Sam, were both on the bus already.  We can't piece together exactly what Ryan and Sam were saying, but we think they sat together, maybe with someone in between them.  Ryan said Sam sat next to him but not on his seat and Sam said Ryan sat next to him with someone else. 

Ryan's favorite part was riding the bus.  He told that to everyone today :)  He also ate lunch in the cafeteria, played in the field between the two playgrounds but not on the playground, sang in music class, colored pictures of the school rules.  The only two names he knew were Tripp and Eli.  'A new Eli, not Eli from preschool, although I saw Eli from preschool in the hall and Eli saw me too and we waved, I also saw Claire from preschool but she didn't see me' [paraphrasing Ryan there].  He ate all his food which was good because what he didn't finish would have been thrown away so the bugs didn't get it [what?! not sure about that policy]. 

The bus dropoff is 2:36 so Abby and I headed out about 2:30.  The bus was crazy late today, we walked back inside at 2:58.  Yikes, I hope they figure out that kink tomorrow!  The busdriver, Ms. Darlene I think it is, is supposed to be super nice and really great.  She's driven our neighborhood for years and has a reputation for watching out for the kindergartners.  I caught a glimpse of Ryan's head in the first row before he walked off, so that was good.  And she won't let them off the bus until she sees the parents.  We also found out today that he has to stand on the sidewalk until all the kids are off and the busdriver gives a thumbs-up that it's okay to cross the street. 

Once he was inside, we looked at his papers and he had a quick snack and drink.  I realized that he didn't know how to drink from his new thermos and he hadn't drank anything all day, yikes.  So I showed him where to bite down :)  He called Daddy and filled him in on his day.  He also left messages for his grandmothers and talked to Grandpa.  Then he and Abby relaxed in front of the TV for a few minutes.  When Chloe woke up from her nap, we drove up to the school to take his picture in front of the sign.  My hubby thought that was super goofy, but it made me happy!  Since I didn't drive him in and get all the first day pictures, this made me feel better.  As much as I wanted to walk him in today, I knew it wouldn't have been for the best.  He was so excited about the bus, it would have taken us hours to get into that building, and the girls were still snoring.  Plus there were no meltdowns at the bus stop [I was more worried about me than Ryan!  yes, I did tear up as the bus pulled away]. 

All in all, great first day.  Ryan loved it and is super excited to go back tomorrow.  I am so proud of my little kindergartner!!!  He's going to do great and learn so much.  I love you Buddy, I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful first year of school!!

 

Abby's first haircut

Abby finally got a haircut!  I've known she needed it for awhile, but it's a big step and I was terrified of her curls being cut out.  We'd talked about it a week or so ago, and then when Grandpa asked a few days ago when she was going to get a haircut, we figured that meant it was time!  Thanks for giving us the push we needed :)  I took her to Ms. Krista's house - she lives in our neighborhood and did my last haircut.  She's great and has a wonderful salon in her home, it's pretty impressive. 

Abby wasn't totally sure about her haircut.  I tried to play it up as girly time with just Abby and Mommy.  And sitting in a big princess chair with a mirror, but she still wasn't sure.  When we got there, she hesitated big time so to avoid meltdown we had her sit in my lap.  She had a super cute apron thingy and did a pretty good job of holding still.  She didn't say a word the whole time we were there, which of course was totally un-Abby-like.  But she did say later that she enjoyed it and we could do it again sometime.  Krista kept going on about how adorable she was and she doesn't think her curls will cut out.  She said at minimum she'll have pretty waves as she gets older, but there's so much curl that she really thinks it will stay, yay, I hope she's right!! 

It was a great experience and Mommy didn't even cry or anything.  It was definitely time and it was a fun Mommy/Abby date.  My big girl! 



how to make your own dimple

Did you know you could make your own dimples?  It's true!  After a couple months, I am convinced that that's just what our Abby has done.  A dimple appeared on her right cheek earlier this summer.  I've never noticed it before; how could I have not known my own daughter had a dimple?  A handful of other people began to comment on it, and so I became convinced it really was new.  At some point I realized it was in the same spot that she had hit and bruised earlier in the summer while attempting to jump off a water table [welcome to my life, mother to Abby :)].  So I mentioned jokingly to a few people that her bruise had turned into a dimple.  But you know what?  I think it's true.  Dimples, while seen as attractive and beautiful in our culture, really are a muscle deformity [I wikipedia'ed it].  I have looked at it closely and when she's not smiling, there is the tiny littlest bit of purple bruise still there.  And then when I have her smile, the dimple appears in that same spot.  Thus I fully believe that she fell, bruised her cheek, and created her own dimple.  While it's certainly a cute outcome, don't try this at home.

Goodnight, sleep tight

Abby's bedtime routine is always a wee bit interesting and entertaining.  She rarely falls asleep quickly and she likes to keep busy until sleep arrives.  Fortunately this doesn't bother Chloe, although I don't really understand why not.  If I try to put away laundry, Chloe wakes up.  If I adjust their fan setting, Chloe wakes up.  But if Abby runs around the room singing, she sleeps right through it.  While confusing, I am certainly grateful.  I guess she's already figured out her free-spirited, happy-go-lucky big sister.  Life would be a whole lot harder if Chloe couldn't sleep through Abby.

I always check on my babies as I go to bed.  And it's always anyone's guess as to what I'll find when I get to Abby's bedside.  I am sure you've seen some of the funny pictures of her in odd positions with crazy getups.  Or covered in stuffed animals and babies.  Just now when I went in, I noticed that her feet looked a little odd, almost like she had socks on.  Weird.  Oh, nope, not socks, tinker bell slippers.  As I am taking those off, she rolls over and her talking dog starts talking.  Remove talking dog from bed.  Anything else in here that needs to go?  Princess crown on head, yep, that's probably not a great thing to sleep in.  Oh, my dear sweet Abby-Girl, what are we going to do with you??  We'll love you forever and ever, silly goose, that's what :)

L's & Q's

So this is old news, but seeing as I think about it everytime I fold socks and I don't think it's ever made the blog, I figured I should share. 

A million years ago [okay, maybe only two-ish], I bought Ryan some new socks.  They were basic white socks, except for that they had a little blue "L" stitched on the inside of the socks.  I have no idea why.  But Ryan did not like these L's in his socks and was on the verge of being really upset about it.  My husband, who believes in little white lies, told Ryan that it was all good because Daddy has Q's on the inside of his socks.  It worked.  Ryan latched on to that and has happily worn the socks for years.  Many are now missing or thrown away due to numerous holes, but there are a few floating around that he manages to stretch enough to still wear.  And he almost always tells us that he has L's on his socks just like Daddy has Q's.  I finally broke the news to him earlier in the summer that Daddy really didn't have Q's, and he had just made that up.  I think it rocked his world a little.  I told him that Daddy had just said something silly to try to make him feel better.  But he still sometimes mentions the L's, and I think about Q's everytime I fold Little Man's socks.  Bet you didn't think that little white lie would have stuck for years Dearie Dear!  You gotta be careful what you tell these kiddos, especially Ryan :) 

finally, the lazy days of summer are here

My blogging weakness: overdue and overwhelming posts.  I haven't blogged about the beach yet, so I feel like until I do that, I can't really post anything since I'll get all out of order.

So perhaps if I just do a few bullet points about exciting things, it won't be like a real post and I can still blog about the beach later.  And hey, I did finish posting the beach pictures last night, so I'm halfway done commemorating the trip :) 

- We were so super busy leading up to our OBX trip.  It was all good stuff, it was just a lot of stuff.  Destin, Savannah, PA, OBX, lots of playdates.  Mommy was a little stressed for awhile there.  In fact, I don't think I mentioned it on here, but we had one of the best playdates ever during that time period.  Since Alicia and Christa and I haven't been able to coordinate a GNO in forever, they surprised me with a GNO at lunch with eight kids in tow.  It was amazing, I love these ladies!  We had guacamole and margaritas and great conversation while the big kids ran around my safe and confined backyard and little ones napped in various rooms upstairs.  It was the best [or at least the best it can be with kids! here's hoping for a real GNO soon!].

- Like I said, all our early summer plans were great, there were just a lot of them.  I felt like we'd get back from a trip, spend a couple days recovering and doing laundry, only to get ready to do it all over again.  So since we got home from the beach about ten days ago, we have done nothing.  literally nothing.  Alright, Ms. Tara came over once.  The kids had a blast playing in the backyard and slip 'n sliding.  And Ms. Valerie came over once with Baby Milo.  But other than that, nothing.  Hanging out with the grands some and lots of neighborhood bike rides.  We finally made it to the Canton farmer's market.  And Coleson and I had a date night to the Painted Pig [Delicious!!].  But mostly, we've just played at home.  And an awesome thing has happened: the Big Two are playing together sooo well.  How do you think I'm typing this in the middle of the day?  They are playing together in the office.  And have been all morning.  I guess it's just because life has slowed down and there's not been the competition of friends and activities.  Sure they still have the occasional spat, mostly fighting over toys, but overall, it's been wonderful.  There have been a couple of times I've thought that I should plan something or I feel guilty not playing with them, but I truly believe that playing together like this is exactly what they've needed.  We want very much to raise siblings who actually like each other, it's very important to me that they are friends, so I'm going to ride this train as long as I can. 

- Chloe is a crawling fiend.  She's army crawling and rolling everywhere.  And she's finally starting to pull her stomach off the ground.  She still doesn't go anywhere, but she's gotten up on her hands and knees several times and rocked back and forth.  Any day now!  She's started to get a little picky about her food and I don't push enough since she's number three and quite frankly, I just feel like I don't have the time.  Meals are not one of my favorite parts of the day.  I feel like we eat all day long.  Oh wait, that's just Abby still sitting at the table from the last meal.  Anyways, I digress.  So last night I got Chloe to eat one of my homemade creations and I was super excited.  I had boiled some potatoes to mash up for her, but she wouldn't touch them.  So last night I combined them with a jar of mango [which she hasn't thrown up!] and then I put chunks of fresh peach in it too.  The same peaches that she wouldn't pick up off her tray.  She ate every bite very willing and probably would have eaten more if I had made more.  Point Mommy!

- Ryan is becoming super witty - a mini me of his Daddy.  Can we say sarcasm?!  He said something the other day that was so random and funny.  I really wish I had written it down, Coleson asked me again yesterday what it was he said and I couldn't remember!  I'll try to jot down his next funny something.  He is also a biking champ.  He loves it and is getting really good.  He's been without training wheels all summer and is up to a 16" bike.  He has great balance, there's been more then once I've seen his tire hit the curb or sidewalk funny, and I've thought he was going down.  But he doesn't!  He can stand up while pedaling and jump off curbs and he's worked up to taking one hand off so he can high-five me.  I can't convince him yet to try to lift both hands at the same time.  Future BMX biker?! 

- Abs is her normal, beautiful self.  Oh, okay, so you know how you have that one baby friend that the whole family remembers and talks about?  Mine was Jon Ryan and Coleson's was Ramona.  Ryan has Madeleine.  Not sure who's Abby's is, maybe Andrew, but we found out who has her as his.  We went to her friend Max's house for his birthday party on Saturday.  Max was in her preschool class this past year and he lives four houses down.  Abby does talk about Max a good bit and I know Max talks about Abby too.  We've gotten them together a few times, although they still play next to each other more than together.  We met Max's grandparents a couple of weeks ago and all we had to say was "this is Abby" and it was like we were in the presence of a rockstar.  They already knew about and loved Abby.  But we still didn't quite get it until the party.  More of the "oh, this is Abby" and then Erin posed Max and Abby for several pictures [she was the only one who got a posed picture which was then posted on facebook amidst all the family pictures].  So, pretty cool!  Abby, you will forever be famous in Max's family and his childhood memories! 

super cute cows

coming someday ... OBX beach vacation 2013! and 4th of July! 

But until then, here's a couple pictures of today's cow appreciation day.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

storms mean cuddles!

I love a good storm.  And we sure had one tonight.  I had mowed the lawn, took a quick shower, and then gone to sit out back and enjoy the last few minutes of sun- it's probably my favorite time of day.  It was so beautiful watching the clouds, but they quickly got dark and within five minutes I was chased back inside by lightning.  And sure enough, as soon as the thunder started, Abby was up crying.  Never fails.  My poor sweet girl just cannot handle thunder.  It doesn't even phase the other two. 

So I ran upstairs and met her in the hallway.  We went into my room and she sat on my lap as I hugged her and tried to comfort her.  It was one crazy storm, non-stop thunder and lightning for about ten minutes.  The lightning lit up the whole house.  Sitting there calming Abby and playing with her hair in the midst of the storm was very peaceful to me; I doubt Abby would have agreed!  The storm passed as quick as it came, and it wasn't long at all before Abs was fast asleep on me.  Oh, what a wonderful feeling.  I love cuddles and I don't get them often.  Just one more reason to love storms :) 

clap your hands!

Today we went to the movies with Ms. Christa and Ms. Alicia and all the kiddos.  We saw Rio during one of those summer kids' movies [translation: dollar movies with lots of crying babies, perfect for us and our eight kids].  It was a good time though.  The movie was cute and the kids were super well behaved and seemed to really enjoy it.  This was both Abby and Chloe's first movie theater experience.  Abby sat next to me and had very minimal wiggles and stayed in her seat.  I wore Chloe in her snugli so she wouldn't try to throw herself out of my lap repeatedly.  The snugli worked great, along with a large supply of cheerios. 

Super cool moment:  at some point in the middle of the movie, the birds are all singing and dancing and one of the birds says something along the lines of clap your hands.  So Chloe, in her snugli on my lap, lights up and goes crazy clapping :)  Yup, she one hundred percent knows what she's doing when she's clapping.