August Ordinary Days (Part 1)

So with settling into the new house, a baby with a completely unpredictable schedule and a new school year, I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed with life. Add to those things my re-commitment to getting to bed earlier plus trying to be more productive around the house at night plus trying to spend less time on the computer to facilitate my other goals, the blog has been sadly neglected. But I just waded through most of my phone photos so here is a quick peek at life from the past month...

We are still REALLY enjoying our new pool, especially when Daddy gets to swim with us.  We all agree that Daddy is WAY more fun then Mommy in the pool!

Brian had a week of vacation house projects and "honey-do's" earlier in the month.  We did spend one day in the mountains (pictures may or may not be forthcoming), but Nana and Granddad helped us cross one big project crossed off our list: re-contouring the yard, adding topsoil in strategic places and laying sod.

This is at the end of the driveway where the water was heading downhill and collecting around the pool deck.  Brian and David, along with two sporadic helpers, tilled up this section of yard and reshaped to send water through the yard around the end of the pool.

When we bought the house, the drive was lined with decomposing railway ties, so we had those hauled off and filled in the gap with topsoil.  Hey, this might be the first picture of the new house on the blog!

The next day was sod-laying...

Ooooo, how pretty!

Cudding!



Nathan rigged up a "lock" for his bedroom door.

Goofing off with the camera...

And more pool time...

First Day of Preschool 2015!

Another week, another first day of school!

This one was supposed to be her "goofy" though it looks a lot more like "sassy" to me!

After dropping Nathan off at school, we had an hour to fill before Sarah's school started.  Side note - Nathan was so sweet, as he hopped out of the car this morning he said "Sarah I hope you have a great first day of school!"  Anyway, Andrew, Sarah and I ran to Walmart to pick up a few things, then headed to her school.  Unfortunately Andrew fell asleep in the car on the drive (he had woken up sometime between 6 and 6:30 this morning), so as soon as we got to school I wanted to pull him out in hopes of salvaging some of his morning nap when we got home.  Also, I knew Sarah was a little apprehensive about her first day, so I though we would go check out the playground to fill the 10 minutes before the school doors opened.

I was expecting tears from Sarah on her first day of school.  Two weeks ago she moved up to her new Sunday School class and there was hysterical sobbing.  Later I asked her about it and she matter-of-factly said "Yes, I was the only one that cried."  So we had been talking about being brave, and how Mommy always comes back, and (new this year since she's older) how we can be sad and excited and nervous and happy all at the same time, and its ok to have all those feelings.  On Monday there had been an open house to meet her teachers and during that she was really excited about some of the toys and especially the dress-up items that were there for her to play with.  And when we walked to the car she already declared which teacher was her favorite (both seem super sweet and very capable) and then she said "Next school day I'm not going to cry!  I'm not gonna cry!  I'mnotgonnacryI'mnotgonnacryI'mnotgonnacry!"  I gave an affirming yet non-committal "That's a good plan!"

So this morning?  As we hopped out of the van she told me "I'm a little nervous", but when it was time to walk into her classroom, she didn't even turn around to give me a hug goodbye.  And this time I was prepared with a quick kiss on her cheek and I was outta there!  I did have to run out to the car and grab her water bottle that we had left in her cup holder, and as I peeked around the door (so as not to be spotted), one of her teachers gave me a thumbs up and said "No crying!"  Great job baby girl!!  I know you'll have a wonderful year!

First Day of KINDERGARTEN!!

I don't have vivid memories about much in my past (which is why when Nathan remembers something that I'm surprised about, I always tell him that he has a great memory just like his Aunt Karen, not his Mommy!), but there is one that I've been thinking about over and over lately.  It was when Nathan was an infant, not sleeping well, feeding going terribly (we had thrush and it was SO painful to nurse and Nathan WOULD NOT take a bottle), and I had the feeling that having a baby might have been the worst mistake of my life... I remember thinking how is it possible that we will ever make it through this, he will never grow up and NO WAY will he ever be big enough to go to KINDERGARTEN!!

But yep, here we are!

I don't think I've blogged about it, but we enrolled Nathan in a private christian school called Paideia Academy.  I follows a different educational model called "classical christian education", which we are really excited about.  It doesn't use common core, but rather goes back to the basics.  There's lots of memorization and phonics works, math drills, NO technology in the classrooms (there's not even a computer lab in the school), they begin learning Latin in the 4th grade, and as the kids grow there is a strong emphasis on critical thinking and logic and speaking skills.  We are totally pumped about Nathan getting a great education there.  Oh and a big thing in the early grades, they're on a "university schedule" where they go to school M/W/F and are home with "homeschool" lessons on T/Th.  So that will be an adventure for us all I'm sure!

Sarah's enrolled in a new preschool this year which doesn't start for another two weeks.  But she was eager to get her picture taken anyway.  I'm pretty sure she won't be this cheerful when its her turn to go to school - she's pretty anxious about it already. 

We had talked the night before because Nathan said "I think I'm a little bit nervous."  And I told him that was normal, that he could be excited and nervous at the same time.  But in the morning he told me "I'm not nervous anymore" and was excited as he was getting ready and cool as a cucumber on the way to school. 

This is the "smile" he gave me when we hopped out of the car at school. 

All set to go with his new kindergarten backpack.

I don't think I even got a good-bye from him when we got to his classroom.  His teacher was showing him where his desk was and the activity that they were supposed to get started on.  I stood there holding his backpack for a bit (maybe a minute but it felt like a long time) and then it dawned on me that he wasn't going to turn around and give me a hug and that I just needed to make my exit.  So I ruffled his hair (still no eye contact from him) and left.  No tears from either one of us though I did get choked up for a second when we were walking into school together!

When I picked him up in the afternoon I asked him how he was.  "Great!"  And how was his day? "Great!" with two thumbs up.  Hooray for kindergarten!