In a book we have there is a reference to “number one” and “number two” in the bathroom. I had to explain it to her since we use real words around here. She thought it was hysterical and decided to start using numbers instead of words. The real hysterical thing though is that she can’t remember what number means what!! From the bathroom yesterday I hear her yelling, “Mom, what is the number you go poop with?” She cracks me up!
We seem to have a family of yellow jackets living in the compost pile. I was hoping they were just dining there, but there are A LOT of them and they never seem to leave. :/
Sorry for the close up of the compost pile. These are yellow jackets, right?
This is my consequence for neglecting the poor compost pile for so long. I have spent hours today reading about how to get rid of them. I have learned that they swarm when agitated, apparently loud noise like the lawn mower can agitate them, and reading all that makes me itchy and twitchy all over! Ugh. I was painting on the back porch and swatted three of them with the paint brush! Good thing their buddies didn’t swarm!
On another note, the kids found the dirt garden again this evening. They went outside to play tag, wore themselves out, and settled in the dirt.
Dirty birds!
Eve found a worm and was eager to show me.
Playing with trucks in the dirt. Still a little boy.
They both came in covered with bug bites! Maybe not covered, but they each had six or seven swollen bites. I was worried they were stings at first, but neither of them noticed getting bitten and I think they would have noticed if they’d been stung by yellow jackets six times!
Weird afternoon. New neighbors and new stairs… we’re movin’ on… up?
Any advice how to remove yellow jackets?
Like our new stairs?
After our first cub scout meeting, the Valley Quest outing, and a summer to think about it, Lex is still super excited about joining Cub Scouts. So we did. Tonight was the first meeting. It was a bit chaotic, but mostly because the pack leader was trying to talk to the parents for awhile. Now that the details are out of the way, he promises next meeting will be much more controlled. They had a snack, went outside to play soccer for awhile (which Lex LOVED!) and then just ran around while the parents did a little more paperwork. The leader has two boys, one in Lex’s group, and seems really with it. This is his first year in charge. I was told he was an assistant last year. He seemed great. Lex had a great time so I filled out the paperwork and wrote the check. I guess you’ll find us at scout meetings on Wednesday nights for awhile!
I won a photo shoot and 8’x10′ picture in a silent raffle at school last spring. Does it count as “winning” if you have to pay for it? I paid $5 or something. I was excited. Last month I noticed that it expired in September so I called to set up the appointment. After clicking around their website a bit I was less excited. The photo poses were all quite dull. After talking to the woman on the phone and finding out that there is no way to get the digital copies I was even less excited. I told her I was hoping to use one for Christmas cards and she said, “Don’t worry, we sell Christmas cards.” Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about!
I made the appointment for two weeks ago but had to reschedule because Alan was really sick. Rescheduled for today. So my day went like this. Rush the whole family out the door at 7:55. Drop kids off at school. Drop Alan off at work. Bring myself to work. Of course it is cold and raining through all of this. Then I went out of my way to go to the Dunkin Donuts that sells cheap iced tea (this momma needs her caffeine!) only to find that they had raised their prices. Sigh. Made it to work anyway. Busy, but productive day. Home in time to get the kids off the bus. Eve was a mess. She’s so high and low. She ran home, yelling happily, jumping in puddles… then ended up collapsed in the living room in tears. Why? She couldn’t tell me. She said her body just needed to cry. Which, funny enough, was almost the same thing Lex told me in bed tonight as he was in tears. Sigh.
I got her calmed down, we all had snack, then started the effort of finding coordinating clothes for a family photo. Can you see how unexcited I was about this?! :) No fancy shoes or manicures. We just got somewhat matching clothes and headed out. The lady at the (sketchy looking) place asked me a half a dozen times if I needed to use the powder room to freshen up my make-up. I was kind of offended, but mostly just didn’t care. Lex put up a fuss about going, but I bribed encouraged him with the promise of Panera for dinner so he cooperated and overall the photo shoot went well.
Turns out the owners/photographers are the parents of the one kid in school Lex doesn’t like. Luckily for all of us Lex chose to keep his opinions to himself when they told us who their kid was.
Panera for dinner turned out to be exhausting. The kids were uber silly and loud. Wore me right out. Home for a late bedtime. Back at it tomorrow!
We go back next week to look through the photos and pick one for our 8’x10′. I’ll post a picture of it when we get it. :)
Another little quince tree is growing in the side yard by the mowed garden. This year it grew fruit!
Reconstruction work has begun on the mudroom, courtesy of these fine fellows.
I realize today is the last day of August and not quite yet fall, but the kids had the day off (after a tiring three days of school!) and we took a field trip to the apple orchard. It was the best part of our otherwise rocky, cranky day.
I was all excited to go but when I called to make sure they were open I found out they weren’t doing wagon rides yet or making the donuts everyone loves so much. That all starts tomorrow. So we decided not to go. The kids were playing nicely so I sat down on the couch to do a few minutes of work. You can guess where that went. FIGHTING! Yelling, pushing, shoving… all over that ONE Hot Wheels they both absolutely NEEDED. I yelled, they yelled, life was NOT good. I tried to get them to the playground but they fought that too. I went outside for a breath of fresh air. Cleaned up all their outdoor toys that I had asked them a hundred times to clean up. I am in such a PURGING mood lately, but that is for another post.
I came back in, we had snack, and then I decided we were going to the apple orchard. I explained how nice and calm it would be today and how tomorrow would be crowded and loud and packed. All true. They decided to cooperate (snack ALWAYS helps!) and we had a lovely mid-day at the orchard.
First things first, petting the animals.
Hello bunnies, are you in there?!
The goats like to be fed. They are eager eaters!
Lex loved all the bunny houses. They have a whole bunny village there.
The peacocks are so beautiful and a little scary. The kids wanted to pet one, but none of the birds were interested in being petted.
This was a bully sheep. She kept trying to push the kids over whenever they got near the food machine. Then she followed Eve for awhile. Here Eve is trying to pet that bunny (finally a bunny that stayed still long enough to be touched!) and the sheep kept getting in her face. I took a quick picture and then rescued her. :)
I like this pig. How long to they live? I wonder if it’s the same pig we see every year. Last year the piglets were feeding and that was cute. This year they were all snuggled into the hay and sound asleep.
The requisite face-through-sign-board photos.
Silly little apple.
This year we decided to pick some plums too. They were abundant. However, they are at their peak and many were squashed on the ground. It was tough for any of us to reach the high ones without slipping on the squishy plumy ground.
Eve liked the plums.
The Cortlands were HUGE and tart.
The apples were abundant!
Lex was a rockin’ apple picker! I think he picked 90% of what we brought home!
Eve got tuckered out. We were there at lunch time. She ended up relaxing in the wagon for awhile.
Lex took a picture for me! He was super proud that he got it before Eve stuck out her tongue. :)
The weather was warm and breezy, not too hot, not too sunny, not too anything. Just right. Then we bought some cider and maple sugar candies and headed to the paint store.
When we got home we managed to only have one or two more arguments before bedtime. I’m hoping tomorrow goes a little smoother. Maybe we’ll bake an apple pie to celebrate September! (or an apple spice cake like at the end of this post!)
What a great first day of school! The bus came at the time I expected it, like two years ago, not the time the school said it would come. I went out for the earlier time and spent 20 minutes standing by the side of the road. Good thing it was a beautiful day! (and I have a smart phone to keep me entertained)
When they got off the bus they were both bouncing and happy. Lex walked with me down the street, holding my hand and telling me about his day. Eve dropped her backpack and ran like a crazy woman back to the house.
Snack. This is one part of the day I missed very much last year with our after school pick-up routine. I love having a healthy snack on a cleared table. Sitting down with them after school. Looking through their backpack papers. Hearing about their days. <3 [/caption]
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The big moment arrives… 23 minutes later than I was told it would. :)
Lex sat with Eve on the ride home. She’s been looking forward to that for months! When the bus stopped he was packed and ready to hop off. He has clearly had some experience with this.
Eve took a few minutes to gather her things. She dropped her bus tag a few times. She barely made it down the big stairs. Fortunately the bus driver is great and patient and gave her plenty of time. I was glad to see he’s still driving our route.
I scooped Eve up halfway down the bus steps. I couldn’t wait any longer to hug her! I half expected her to take a nap this afternoon, but she held it together through to the end.
We played a few games, had pancakes for dinner, and off to bed. Easy day! Not to sound too greedy, but here’s hoping for another one tomorrow!
It’s 8:10pm now and the kids are in bed but wide awake! Over excited from the day… maybe… or maybe pancakes for dinner wasn’t the best idea. :) Oh well!
I know you are all waiting with baited breath to hear about the first day of school. Here’s the morning update.
I could not have asked for a nicer first day of school morning. Alan and I got up at 6:15 and found the kids cuddled on Lex’s bed chatting with each other. I don’t know what about. It took a little convincing to get them downstairs, not because they were unhappy but because they were so happy together up there. They came down eventually, got dressed, and ate a little breakfast. They gushed over their lunches (“Oh mom, it’s exactly what I wanted!”) and eagerly posed for pictures. Someday Eve may smile in photos again, but for now we just get the silly face.
Mini blueberry bagels with cream cheese, “cracker snack,” honeydew melon, and pirates booty. Water on the side and a love note taped on top. Eve even requested it “just like Lex always got last year.” I was planning to write them anyway, even before she requested it!
Lex helped me pick photos from the first day of school last year and we printed and framed them for photos this morning. I love the idea of doing this each year. Like the Flotsam book, for you literary type out there.
Lex was eager to pose while we waited for Eve to get her shoes on.
Second grade and kindergarten. These babies sure do grow up fast!
We took advantage of a break in the rain for a few quick porch shots. Do you think he looks much different from last year?
She looks totally insane here! She was eager, but also nervous.
They are both so silly I couldn’t decide which was the better picture.
They both got in the car happily and got out again at school! A big improvement from last year! All morning he kept saying, “I can’t believe I’m in second grade! I just can’t believe it.”
When we got to Eve’s classroom it was crowded with parents but she snuck through, hung up her hat and backpack, declared the “sign in” process to be very easy (they have to find their name on a card and put the card in the bucket), and then went to play. I had to ask for a hug goodbye!! I could tell she was a bit nervous though because she was very quiet and actively chewing her nails. She found her friend, picked an activity table, and started playing. Lex too had to request a goodbye hug. :)
Saying goodbye in Eve’s classroom.
Then down the hall to his classroom. He almost cried, but after a few sniffles he talked himself out of it. He found his cubby, studied them for awhile because they have first names on them but are arranged by last name so he had to figure that out, then found his desk. They have desks in 2nd grade instead of tables. They are currently pushed together into groups so they’re similar to tables. He found his desk and was excited to see a bookmark on it. He likes bookmarks. :)
He gave me a few goodbye hugs and that was that.
I didn’t take too many pictures in his classroom because I think he’s getting a little too old to have his mommy following him around taking pictures… in front of his friends anyway! No restrictions at home though! :)
Then I did a little paparazzi move and snuck a picture of Eve on my way back down the hall. She had moved on to a new activity table and was happily playing with her friend still. I think it helps a lot that her friend is in the class.
Goodbye sweet Eve. Have fun on your first day of kindergarten!
Then I left. All by myself. I managed to not cry, which makes it a no-tears morning all around! It did take some effort though! Now I’m going to attempt a run (most likely a walk ’cause it’s been awhile!) and then have lunch with my friend. I’m sure the bus will be here before I know it!