A New Kind of Summer

I think this will be it.  I think this will be the last entry on this blog, and then I'm going to download and print it for keeps for both kids.  It's the closest thing to a memory book I've created for them so far, unless I tackle a big project this summer...

I'm writing this post in the quiet of home while the dishwasher steams and the dryer hums and clicks. Abby is at tennis and Adam is at baseball.  Nine and six.  Put them together and it makes fifteen.

I came home from summer school today at 10:15 to find the laundry drying, dishes done, and fresh-baked banana bread cooling on the counter.  My heart filled up.  I am so lucky to have these two.

I drove Adam to baseball later in the morning, and he worried aloud about whether teams had been chosen in his absence yesterday when we were at an appointment in Fargo.  I offered, "I'll walk in with you and stand by you."  

"No, no, no, Mom," he said quickly.  Standing by Mom was worse than facing uncertainty alone.  I felt a stab of sorrow, but it was accompanied by laughter.  It's been a joy so far to watch both of them grow up to the point of walking into baseball alone and making banana bread.

I don't miss not sleeping and jumping up every minute and a half to wipe up tears and spills.  That was physically and mentally exhausting.  I'm so happy with where we're at.  I just want now to freeze time, I think.  Let's stay in the gap between dependence and independence, in the moment of time where innocence and sweetness remain, where family memories are made.  

Let's stay here.

Three French Men

Last night the four of us drove over to Jamestown to button up our Christmas shopping.  The roads were icy, so on the way home we decided to sing some Christmas carols to keep our minds off the roads (Don't worry; Eric didn't sing).  As we tried out "The Twelve Days of Christmas," Adam sang confidently, "Five gol-den rings, four calling birds, three French men..."

Just tell me when the third day of Christmas is! I'll be watching for it!

Can You Tell Now?

The kids and I went to J-town tonight to meet my dear college roommate Tara and her family for some classic hotel swimming and pizza.  It was so nice to spend time together and admire her little cuties! Abby had the honor of being her flower girl five years ago.

As we were finishing pizza, Adam began hopping around by my side, periodically whispering in my ear his wish to get back into pool.  Tara looked at my sidekick and commented, "He just looks so much like Eric!"

"Does he?" I asked.  "I can't tell.  I'm just too close to him to be able to see it."

We continued our conversation.  Moments later, Adam's voice came to me across the hotel dining room.  He'd backed up into the lobby and was waving and calling to me, back pressed to the check-in desk.  "Can you tell now, Mom?"

My Party Planner

Happy 8th Birthday, Abby!

Abby woke up to find a giant panda from Daddy sitting in her bedroom, keeping guard.  She then received a panda iPod case from Brother and more pandas from aunts & others!  Did I mention her cake was a panda, too?  It was a fun afternoon in Dance Studio 29 topped off with dinner out at Bridges with Nana and Papa and VBS.

I have a very organized little girl in my life!  She loves lists and activities and sorting and dividing and creating.  I love her more than she loves her giant panda!

Goodbye, Preschool!

So I've been pretty clear with everyone I know well that I am not a "little kid person."  I'm afraid that's another way to describe someone who lacks patience, and I know that deep down.  I just don't know how to fix it.

In the last few months, I've fielded quite a few comments about how big Abby and Adam are now. Sometimes these comments are accompanied by a sympathetic tone of voice...how fast time has gone, they insinuate.  100% of the time I have smiled back, unmoved, and replied brightly, "Yes, they are tall.  I'm glad!  Yes, they are old.  I'm glad! Yes, just one drop-off at Jefferson School next year. It will be so nice."

But tonight at preschool graduation the teachers had deviously printed a poem in the program.  In the seven minutes I waited for the program to start, I sat in the bleachers and surprised myself by crying quite out of the blue, swiping at my messy eyes and looking helplessly at Eric.

Oh, here I go again, and this time without public decorum to restrain me.  Eric just asked if the cat died.

Here's to trying to be more of a "little kid person" this summer, one day at a time.

Mother's Day Dance Program

First Dance!

Our local Relay for Life sponsored a Father-Daughter Dance this last weekend.  One very excited little girl got to go with her daddy!  He reported that they sat out very few songs.  Do you see those eyes in the top photo?  That particular look is called Cloud Nine.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hercules Kisses & Separate Bedrooms

I sometimes - okay, most of the time - bring along a little treat from my classroom when I pick up at daycare.  It seems to expedite the getting-the-backpack-boots-hat-gloves-drawings-snowpants and the subsequent transfer of said items into the car.

Today Adam snapped his buckle and inquired about a snack.  I said I had chocolate kisses.  "Oh!" he said.  "I'll have a Hercules kiss!" It seems millions of dollars of advertising money loses out to one very strong and legendary figure.

A few tacos and potato oles later, we moved Abby downstairs!  I was too tired to take pics tonight.  She has her own walls, closet, and leftover carpet pieces from our living room!  She's delighted.

I had some mixed emotions at bedtime - and so did my love bugs.  It was strange to tuck kids in on two levels of the house!  I climbed in bed with each one for awhile and savored not hitting my head on the top bunk of a bunk bed.

Winter Show with Best Bud Katelyn

#1 Lego Fan

How It's Going to Be

I had decided to stop blogging and print this out as a book for both kids.  I guess until that actually happens, though, this serves as a really handy place to journal!

At bedtime, we've been getting into chapter books at our house - The Boxcar Children, The Bailey School Kids, the I Survived series.  It's fun, I must say, to actually look forward to the next chapter!  Pajama Time and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom only satisfy a small slice of one's literary appetite.

Adam has taken a sudden interest in naming letters.  He wishes for me to stop reading so he can painstakingly name each letter in a row of text.  This interruption nearly sends Abby over the top.  She was frantically waving her arms tonight and pantomiming her distress when he paused with his finger on a letter, looked up, and said firmly, "Abby, this - this is 'jes how it's going to be."

State of the Basement

Merry Christmas!

Dance Performance at HAC

Halloween Party 2014

We had so much fun packing our home with colorful kids and costumes!  

This was our second annual Halloween party, and we'd love to do it again!

Adam is Five!

Happy Birthday to our little Buzz Lightyear!  We love you to infinity and beyond!

A Trip Home

Friends

To be honest, it hasn't been the easiest start to a new school year.  Abby is doing the best of all of us in 2nd grade, filling in the gaps with a multitude of playdates (good friend Katelyn below).  

Adam loves preschool but is having a difficult transition adjusting to the accompanying daycare that shares building space nearby.  He misses his Megan and definitely Brynn (below).  

I'm battling the hourglass and can't see a way out:  I gave up my last hour prep to supervise a study hall, and Abby shows up promptly at 3:30 every day.  I'm not able to get my work done.

Eric would rather not talk about harvest this year.  :)

I'm sitting here feeling thankful, though, because we love living here (football games, walks, parks, DQ, repeat), and our hearts are full of people who matter to us, near & far away.  In the end, I think we're all here for relationship.  That's it.  That's the meaning of life.  Love Christ and love others.  Now help me to remember that in the cafeteria study hall 7th hour Monday!

Times, They Are A'Changin'

We are navigating through some firsts here in our household!  

First, we are now a cat family - my allergy test was negative, and we couldn't think of any more excuses, so we drove to the J-town shelter and fell in love.  Meet Elsie.

Second, we said goodbye to our lovely and loving home daycare, as Adam has moved on to preschool.  A few days before Abby and Adam's last day, Megan biked all the way across town, uphill, to our home toting her own little cutie behind her.  It has been a big adjustment these last few days, and we miss her very much.

Finally, three of us started a new school year this week, and one of us started harvest.  Here is a first-day pic for a very grown-up second grader and a stylin' preschooler who decided to comb his hair to the side for the first time that day.

Adam Stories to Tack On:

My adventure this week has been managing a study hall that exceeds 100 students every other day (only 75 or so on the opposite day).  I told Adam this was hard for me to help him feel better about how switching daycares/preschool is hard for him.  He said seriously, "But, Mom, you don't have that many eyes-ez."  He's right.

Today Jeanne kept the kids for the afternoon so I could catch up at school (all I do during my prep hour is hyperventilate about study hall).  Thanks, Jeanne!  I went out to pick them up and Adam attempted to ride his bike across the lawn to the apple tree in the back yard.  On the way there, he commented, "I am like The Little Engine That Could."  On the way back from the tree, he amended, "I sink - I sink instead I am The Little Engine that Can't."

Love literary allusions.