Freedom....

Olivia and Katy had their very first day of Kindergarten today! We were all just a little bit nervous because not only was it their first time to go to a "real" school (as they called it), but it would be their first time to ride the school bus (something Katy has been looking forward to since Ryan's 1st day of Kindergarten!), and most importantly their first day to have different teachers.

Kevin and I went back and forth about the merits of keeping them together another year versus putting them in different classes, and we both feel very comfortable with our decision to split them up this year. Katy has such a strong, nurturing personality that she has a hard time letting Livy do things for herself (including answering questions). And Livy is perfectly happy letting Katy be her little servant and do her tasks for her, and has a tendency to mimic Katy's answers whenever Katy responds first. It's time for them both to learn to be a bit more independent of one another.

I had thought about contacting the principal of the school and asking that they be put with a teaching team (two teachers and two classrooms, but they have lunch, recess and enhancements together). But then I decided that I didn't want to be one of "those" parents--the pushy ones who is constantly intervening on behalf of their children. I prayed about it and put the whole thing in God's hands, and it worked out exactly as I had hoped.

Olivia has Mrs. Rogers who has been teaching Kindergarten for over 25 years. She was the school's Teacher of the Year last year, and she is just so warm, and fun, and nurturing. Exactly who Livy needs, really. Katelyn has Mrs. Wagner who has been teaching Kindergarten for 12 years. She is super friendly, and vivacious and affectionate. Exactly who Katy needs too. And they are one of the four Kindergarten teams--so their classrooms are right across the hall, and the girls will have lunch, recess, PE and field trips together. Thank you, God! And thank you, Mr. Todd!

They were both pretty excited this morning:





















Any pre-bus jitters they may have had were alleviated by their friends Mia (on the right) and Rory (on the left) who are in 1st grade this year. Each of the girls held one of my girls' hands and helped them onto the bus. Ryan helped out with carrying their big bags of school supplies.














They were both looking happy and proud as they got off the bus this afternoon. And one of the perks of Kevin working from home was that he got to be there for their homecoming.















They both had notes from their teachers in their Take Home folders to let us know how they did on their first day at the Rocking K Corral (the whole Kindergarten for the school uses a western theme for the year):




















And they both are looking forward to going back to school tomorrow, although Katy did comment that it was a really long day.

I'm Too Old to be This Smart...

Ryan came home from school with a "getting to know you" worksheet that he had completed for his teacher today. Here are his responses:

1. My favorite school subject is math because I love multiplication.

2. The subject I have the most trouble with is blank because blank. (When asked, he replied that he doesn't have any trouble with any subjects...)

3. The easiest subject for me is spelling because I am always doing well.

4. My favorite activities at school are math, spelling and writing.

5. I need to work on blank because blank. (His response when I asked him why this one was blank was that there wasn't anything he needed to work on, because he was good at all of it. Hmmm. Sounds like perhaps humility might be something to work on?)

6. If I could change one thing about school I'd change that you never had to go to school because I don't like school.

7. I would like to learn more about multiplication this year because it's fun to learn.

8. A goal I have for this school year is I don't have a goal. (Again with the humility).

9. My behavior in school is good because I never got in trouble in second grade.

10. I hope someday to be a baseball player because I love playing baseball and I'm good at it.

So. I'm hoping that his teacher has a good sense of humor and will take all of these responses as a challenge to keep him engaged this year. Or perhaps Ryan should be having a bit of Humble Pie for dessert.

Back to School, Back to Reality

It's hard to believe that summer vacation has passed us by for another year. Our family had a wonderful few months filled with trips to the beach and trips to spend time with our loved ones who live too far away.

But today, it is time to refocus our attention. The first day of a new school year is always kind of exciting. Ryan is starting 3rd grade, and it will be the start of a different kind of scholastic experience for him. The days of school with parties nearly every month are gone, and this is the first year where he will have End of Grade (EOG) tests. His school supply list no longer includes crayons, or scissors, or glue. This year we sent in folders, and looseleaf paper, and spiral notebooks. And in place of the crayons and markers we sent pencils, red pens (for editing), and highlighters. I know he'll do great--he is a bright, engaging, inquisitive kid.

I try to make the first day of school a special day. We start the morning with a "treat" breakfast. This year, Ryan requested Monkey Bread, so I dragged myself out of bed at 5:45 a.m. to make his special treat. I have to say this was the best monkey bread recipe I've ever tried! And I followed the recommendations of one of the reviewers and baked it in 2 round cake pans instead of the bundt pan, and it cooked much more evenly and in just 20 minutes. The "rest" time in the pan wasn't necessary either. I made a few other adjustments, let me know if you want them and I'll e-mail them to you.

And as further testament to the passing of time, he actually cooperated (for the most part) with my picture taking! Although when I asked him to stand by the tree for an outdoor shot, a bit of his silliness shined through--I love the way the picture turned out, though.





















Thursday is the girls' first day of Kindergarten. Our school does a 'staggered start' for Kindergarteners where the first four days only 4-5 children go to school. It gives the kids and the teachers a chance to ease into the year and get a bit more comfortable before all the kids show up on Friday. So I'll be up bright and early again on Thursday to make their first day special too. Be looking for the photos...

Home Improvement

We've been working on a fairly sizeable project around the house over the summer. We've extended our driveway to give our guests a place to park while allowing us to still be able to use our garage. It also gives us a nice level pad for playing basketball. The hoop should be installed in the next month or so.

And then we put in a patio. We knew that we wanted to do a patio at some point, but hadn't planned to do it this summer. But the savings of pouring the patio at the same time that the driveway extension was done was fairly significant, so we now have a patio. And a brick wall. And a hot tub. And Kevin has put in a bunch of landscaping beds which await a variety of plant material that we'll be installing once the weather cools down a bit in September.

It's been a fairly large endeavor, but the results are really nice so far. Unfortunately we didn't do our outdoor furniture shopping in time--everything that we liked (that was in our budget) was already gone thanks to the clearance sales. So for now we're making due with some chairs that were on the deck, and we'll be sure to hit the sales bright and early next year! And let's face it, when there's a hot tub, do you really need anywhere else to sit?!

Old Friends can be the Best Friends

Ryan and Samantha were born one day apart, and thanks to Stephanie and my friendship their lives have been entertwined from the beginning. Watching their friendship develop, and grow, and evolve has been such a special thing for us.

When we moved to NC 2 years ago, it was very hard on Sam--she was a little lost for a while without her best bud around. She has since made a new circle of friends, as has Ryan, which is a healthy thing for both of them. That said, they are both always happy to slip back into their special friendship--the easy kind that you hardly have to work at because both parties know each other so well--whenever we get to visit.

This weekend was no different. They spent their time working on building a fort using bricks left over from our patio project and a variety of boxes and scraps of wood scavenged (with permission) from the garage. They worked at it, in the heat, for h--o--u--r--s. It was so interesting to watch their creative process. They are able to communicate almost wordlessly--almost instinctively knowing what needed to be done to help each other complete an idea.

They were so excited to show off their finished project (complete with a set of 'whacking sticks' to keep intruders at bay...) Notice the white perimeter border designed to show the little kids and other neighborhood kids where they needed to stop or beware the whacking sticks...

I can't wait to see how their friendship will continue throughout the years. I hope that their special bond will last the rest of their lives!

We've been left breathless....

I had every intention of buying a certain book on Saturday morning as soon as I got up and out the door. But then Stephanie surprised me with a visit this weekend, and since she is equally hooked on said book, we decided to be silly little school girls and go to the midnight release party at Barnes & Noble...

We left feeling every single one of our years as we were completely surrounded by pre-pubescents and teens who were prone to screaming shrilly as the countdown was announced. We fit in with their moms. Who had to bring them to the party because they were too young to drive themselves there. Ah well, we also left with our books!

Now, if only we hadn't made a pact that we would spend this weekend together scrapbooking. And not reading. So, don't accidentally slip and mention anything, K? And I'll be sure to keep my lips sealed if I talk to Steph while she's driving since I will be tearing through it on Monday (or Tuesday) as she's heading back up the road... Maybe with 6 hours head start I'll actually be able to finish it around the same time as her since she is a super-human reader!

Overheard...

Katy and Livvy are having a sleepover tonight with their friend Sydney. They are currently watching 'The Wizard of Oz' in the next room. Judy Garland began singing 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' and I heard them each sort of singing along. Olivia commented that Katy didn't sound quite right, to which Katy replied in the sweetest little voice:

"I actually sound exactly like her when I'm singing in my head."

In Memory of a Friend

On Wednesday, July 16, 2008 our sweet little Oreo passed away. He's been a part of Kevin's and my life since May of 2003, and in those 15 years he has made an imprint on our hearts. He was a mild-tempered, affectionate, obedient, quiet and milk-loving little kitty. Kevin's nightly bowl of cereal will never be the same. He will be sorely and surely missed.

Tea Time and Tee Times

While visiting my parents (Gram and Grandad) in Maryland last week, we had a special day planned for everyone on Friday. Ryan and Grandad had a tee time at the golf course that morning and had a great time together. Dad was really impressed by how much Ryan's golfing has improved over the past year as he continues to mature. They had lunch together at the clubhouse and were still chipping in the front yard when we girls got back from our tea time at 4 in the afternoon!

Last year Mom took me to her local tea room called Tea by Two for a girls afternoon. While we were there we noticed that tea was available for little girls once they turned 5 years old, so this year we brought Olivia and Katelyn with us. We had a lovely time together, and the girls used their best manners the whole time we were there (nearly 2 hours!). They may not have enjoyed drinking the tea as much as Mom and I, but they sure enjoyed putting the sugar cubes in for all of us! And the food was quite yummy, especially the scones with clotted cream and lemon curd. Mom and I were both so proud of our little ladies!

BFFs

When we first moved to North Carolina, Ryan became fast friends with one of our neighbor's sons, Brandon, who was a year older. They have so much in common and the friendship has blossomed over the past 2 years. I think they are both equally comfortable at either of our houses.

Brandon has a sister, Sydney, who is currently 7 1/2. She just finished first grade. She's a really sweet kid, but we never foresaw the way that our girls would bond with her! Their friendship has developed more slowly, but as Livy and Katy have gotten older, the gap between their ages has grown smaller. They idolize and adore her, and she is just great with them.

The path between our houses (through our side yard and just across the cul de sac) has become thoroughly worn by those five pairs of feet. And time in the mornings is monitored closely as they all wait for 9 a.m. when they're finally allowed to go out and see who's ready to play.

Independence can be a good thing...

There are times that Katy's fierce independence drives me absolutely crazy. It can result in HUGE messes. It can lead to our butting heads. It can turn into tantrums of monstrous proportions. It can give me a true headache.

But then there are days like today when I can see some benefits to that independence. She had mentioned that she was ready for lunch, but I was in the middle of doing laundry and getting ready for our trip to Maryland. I told her I'd be right down to make it. But when I got downstairs to the kitchen, about 20 minutes later, this is what I found:















Katy had prepared her own peanut butter sandwich (and had even put away the peanut butter and bread), gotten some snap pea crisps, apple juice and milk. A nice, fairly well-balanced lunch. All by herself.

Independence might not be so bad after all.

She IS Mine!

Olivia does not look one bit like me, and I am forever hearing how "she's Kevin's daughter." I really don't mind, but sometimes I find myself looking for evidence of myself in her.

A few days ago as I was putting clothes in her closet, I noticed something that made me smile. Something that showed me that she has at least a little bit of me somewhere in her.

Now, for those of you who knew me as a child, I freely admit to having been a major slob. But as I have matured, I have become quite neat and very organized. My closets (and my family's closets) are organized very precisely into various categories: sweaters, sweatshirts, long sleeved shirts, short sleeved shirts, (and in Kevin's case, work long sleeved shirts, casual long sleeved shirts, etc.). Oh, and each of the categories is hanging in rainbow order. White comes first, black is at the back of each category. Oh, and all hangers MUST face the same direction and all clothes are hung so that the fronts are in the same direction. It's pretty bad. I admit it.

Anyway, back to Olivia. As I was in her closet, I noticed that she had separated all of her empty hangers and moved them to the other side of the rod. On her own. It was totally her idea. I don't even do that! I asked her about it, and she said "It just looks neater that way, Mommy." Sigh.

Photo Shoot

Stephanie and I share a love of photography and our favorite subjects tend to be our children. Once again, we got coordinating outfits for the kids to take some fun photos at the beach. Our original plan was to get Christmas card pictures, but things didn't work out with getting Pat and Kevin in on the action.

We headed to Hatteras lighthouse with the kids all decked out on Wednesday evening. The sun was bright, but low, so the lighting was just amazing. We started out trying to pose the kids ourselves, and we got some pretty good shots, but then the kids started arranging and posing themselves and we got some amazing ones (the 'family feud' pose was created by Samantha).

When a professional photographer showed up about 15 minutes after we arrived with a bridal party, we knew we had picked a great time and site. You be the judge of how we did:

Behind the Scenes...

So I think you'd agree that the kids cleaned up pretty well for the photos at the lighthouse, but here's a glimpse of what was going on behind the scenes...























Nice. Real nice. And classy... What's up with the nose, anyway?!

Just keep swimming...

One of the down sides to staying where we were on the island is that the ocean was much more rough than the past few years. We were really quite a bit further out into the ocean! The only times that were really safe to take the kids out to the beach were a few hours after the high tide had started to turn. As a result, we didn't spend as much time on the beach as other years. Fortunately, the house we were in had a swimming pool, and I think the kids actually preferred it to the ocean!

I can remember when I was growing up, once I'd conquered my fear of water, spending hours at our neighbor's house making up jumps into their pool. Ryan and Samantha had so much fun doing the same thing this year! Katy continued to work on swimming without her vest and is really doing well with it. Olivia is still doing great with her vest, and even put her face in the water a few times--so she's already doing better than I did at age 5!