Here they are, heading to the aquatic center for swimming lessons. Must stay dry though. :)
Fun in the rain
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Monthly Archives: May 2010
Towns and cities
In the car one day we were talking about towns and cities. Lex was naming different places and asking if it is a town or city. After answering a few, I explained to him the difference between the two, in terms of size anyway. He thought about it for a minute and then said, “So it’s like cars are towns and vans are cities?” What a great comparison! Then he got silly and started talking about putting towns in cars and cities in vans and the conversation deteriorated quickly :)
Kindergarten Orientation
Lex had his kindergarten orientation today. It was rather uneventful. He was “excited and just a little bit nervous” as we got to school. I told him there would be four kids in his group so he got a little bit more nervous when he saw a parking lot full of cars. I guess I had forgotten to tell him it was a school day and there would be four in his group, but a whole school full of kids as well. He did fine. They brought my into a room to do paperwork and he went away happily with the principal. Afterwards he told me he built a block tower with someone and did some other things, but he couldn’t remember what. His favorite part was that he got an extra snack today! They had graham crackers and apple juice. He told me he said no thank you to the apple juice and they let him get a drink of water from the fountain instead. He was a little sad that they wouldn’t give him another graham cracker (probably didn’t have enough time), but I bought him some at the store today and he was thrilled :) Sometimes it’s the easy things that are the best. Anyway, a non-eventful event, I suppose. He seems to be no more or less excited about kindergarten in the fall. I think he still wants to stay at pre-k. :)
Freckles and fevers
The kids have started getting freckles. They like to count them in the bath and tonight we determined that they each had one for each year (three on her, five on him). They were so excited! Then I ruined the fun by finding three more on the back of his neck. He said, “But I’m not eight!” :) The freckles are so prominent on their otherwise milky white skin. I’m covered in them so I knew it was bound to happen, but every time we see a new freckle I can’t help thinking I must have missed a spot with the sunscreen. Sadly I can’t keep them milky white and baby soft forever.
I think Lex is having his annual spring fever. He was up really late last night complaining that he couldn’t sleep and that his face hurt. It took a lot of effort not to crack jokes every time he said that! Anyway, he finally fell asleep around 11pm, but when he got up this morning he insisted that he didn’t sleep last night. I think he was just tired and felt like he hadn’t slept. He also had a low fever so we kept him home. After a very sweet nap that the three of us took in my bed he woke up with a higher fever and spent the afternoon on the couch. We got out a box of old Golden Books that Alan and Amanda had growing up and the kids spent the afternoon reading through them. Lex seemed ok at bedtime tonight and I’m hoping, hoping he wakes up A-ok and ready for Kindergarten Orientation in the morning!
Hostas!
Like my new garden? After several years of thinking about it (that’s how I work best!) we had the shrubs removed this spring and I finally got around to moving the hostas! There were two very big plants in the backyard, smack in the middle of the yard. I spent a day and half readying the front garden, loosening soil, removing roots (and roots, and roots, and more roots!), and digging holes. This afternoon I dug up the two hostas, split them into five (still goodsized plants!) and replanted them in the front. Only time will tell if it was a successful transplant or a total massacre! Splitting hostas is no easy job and I’m pretty sure I did some serious damage to a few of them. Then I forgot to water them. Oops! It was late and I had to get the kids inside for bath and dinner. Hopefully the hostas survive!
Before - an empty garden
After - hostas!
A Lex in a tree. He still needs help getting into the tree, but he can now climb pretty high up, climb back down again, and get himself out of the tree! At the neighbor's house this afternoon he climbed on top of their baby playhouse thing and got himself into a tree. He was very proud of himself!
Baseball
I signed the kids up for a SmartStart baseball program at Lex’s new school. It’s a town run, parent/child “intro to baseball” program. They do it for soccer too. The age range is 3-5 so I signed them both up and we made it a family thing. We walked to school and got there a few minutes late (of course). Both kids have been super excited about it, but half way there this morning Lex started saying he was nervous and didn’t want to play. We told him he could just watch for a few minutes and that seemed to settle him. We spent the next 45 minutes with me throwing and catching with Eve, and helping her practice aim and batting, while Alan and Lex threw the ball on the other side of the fence, far away from the crowd. Eve lost interest about 45 minutes into the hour long session and started running around with a girl we knew from daycare. At the end they handed out hats and t-shirts. Eve was THRILLED and put hers on right away, over her shirt and sweatshirt. Lex said, “No thanks.” and wouldn’t take one. I may have wasted money on signing him up. Oh well. We took the shirt and hat for him and I’m hoping next week maybe he’ll play catch a little closer to the group. Maybe by the end of the 6wk session he will actually be involved. Or not. We’ll see. The “coach” was a self-proclaimed soccer person and organized the crowd but did very little teachering. We’ll see if that changes in future classes, but I may have signed us up for a designated time to play catch with the kids each weekend.
Happy Friday
How do you start your Friday morning? With Cinderella shoes and a 4th of July sparkly headband? Of course! The kids had a long discussion about Cinderella and if she is still a princess when she dances at the ball or does she become a ballerina then? And does she wear socks with her glass slippers? I also got the opportunity to make a new family rule, on the fly. It is now official that a dress must reach your knees. Anything shorter is called a shirt and requires something underneath. We’ll see how long this rule lasts. :) Eve argued hard that this cute blue thing is a dress, but I eventually won and she put on pants. Crazy girl!
6:30am, Friday morning.
I’ve been working on a big project the past few days and I’m almost done now. I took 17+ boxes and bags of kids clothes, sorted them by gender, then size, folded them neatly and put them in plastic tubs. I did the gender neutral stuff first (yellows, greens, and blue jeans in the older years), then the girl stuff and lastly the boy stuff. I was amazed at all the clothes Lex has had! I think it’s most striking at this point in life because he only wears 3 shirts, 2 pair of pjs, and a few pants. I know he used to have a much bigger variety to his wardrobe, but now it makes me laugh to see all of these clothes. It also makes me a little sad because this was a project I was planning on doing in June after we found out if baby was a boy or girl. Sigh. Oh well, I decided to do it now and just save the clothes for the future. Now at least it’s done (almost!) and will be easy when the time comes. These piles don’t even include all the yellow and green stuff or the two boxes of 2T clothes I gave to a friend awhile ago!
Lex was nice enough to pose for this picture. When I showed him the preview on the camera he said, “Wow, that’s a really nice smile!” He cracks me up. :)
Lex and four years of clothes
One more of Eve, at dinner tonight.
Alan brought me wine and flowers tonight. He’s a good hubby. I’m off to pour myself a(nother) glass of wine, fire up Hulu, and watch Matt Damon as Astronaut Mike Dexter on 30 Rock. Happy Friday!
Planting
We did some planting this afternoon. Just a small dip into the massive gardening pool. :) Last week was Arbor Day and the kids in Lex’s school all came home with a tiny White Spruce seedling. Lex wanted to put it in the backyard and so we did. The kids dug a hole (with help from Parrish), planted the tree, filled in the hole, and made a little pine cone circle around it so (hopefully) it doesn’t get mowed over. I have no idea how well it will grow, but we’ll see :)
This looks like a good spot.
Digging a hole. The dirt did fly!
Wish our tiny seedling luck please. I suspect it will need it.
Since we were playing in dirt anyway I had them repot a little plant that Lex brought home from school as a Mother’s Day gift. It was in a cute little cup that he painted, but it already needed a bigger pot. So we gave that little guy a new home too.
My Mother's Day plant in its new home.
While the kids played a bored game I took a few minutes to start weeding the gardens too. So much I want to do, so little time (ok, so little motivation is usually the problem!) I was thinking of building two new, bigger raised bed gardens in the side lawn, but that’s not looking likely at this point, so now I’m thinking about container gardens on the back porch. Somewhere to put the tomato and basil seedlings I have growing on the counter! I’ll have to do some research on that.
The boy likes to climb!
The boys wanted to play a game in Parrish's room (in their basement!) so I suggested playing on the porch instead. It was a bit crazy, but I think it would have been equally crazy (and dark and chilly) in his room. I also got to do a bit of work in the garden.
Happy Anniversary!
I realize this is a week late. I wanted to write a nice Happy Anniversary post, but on our actual 10 year anniversary I was in a less than celebratory mood. However, I do want to write the post.
Last Tuesday Alan and I celebrated our 10th anniversary and my parents celebrated their 30th! Happy Anniversary!! Marriage is such a complex thing, it truly feels like an accomplishment to be together, and happy!, after 10+ years and still wanting more. I have lots of deep, sappy thoughts flitting through my head but sadly I’m not eloquent enough to capture them. Sigh. So instead I will say thank you to my parents for modeling a strong marriage, through the good and the bad, and to my husband for standing by my side. Always. I am a very fortunate woman to have such love and strength all around me. Happy Anniversary and here’s to many, many more!!
A goofy picture on a super windy day at Syracuse University... where it all began!
My lovely parents after a busy weekend chasing the kids. Thank you!!!!
A mini-vacation
To celebrate our anniversary, Alan and I took the kids to Franklin and then left them! We left the kids with Mema and Grandpa Tom and headed to Syracuse, our old stomping grounds. It was fun. The weather was crazy, of course, but we got a nice break of sunshine for a few hours for us to explore the campus. Syracuse University is a mass of old and new buildings all mixed together. It was fun. Then we hit the mall and after an hour or so we decided that was enough mall for us for the next few years :) It was great. Rumor has it the kids and grandparents had fun too. Yay! Here are a few pictures…
Saying goodbye. They were happy, really.
Newhouse III - built after we graduated.
Syracuse University
Hot wings from Cosmos. This is one happy man!
Bag of crocs. We got three pair for $4 each! One for each of the kids and one for a friend whose dad is also an SU alum.