Kindergarten Orientation

Wow, what a month! We just got back from our summer place on Sunday night and it's been a whirlwind ever since. It's been insanely busy and I've had no time to post. Plus my laptop still has no wireless internet service unless plugged in down in our basement and I just don't have many opportunities to sneak down there (it's nearly midnight now and I should be asleep!).

I am hoping to catch up with what's been going on for the last few weeks, but the days have been full as we gear up for all of the fall transitions. Since we arrived home, we have been shopping to get all of Hillary's dorm and college stuff as well as back-to-school clothes and supplies for Hannah, Chris and Matt. Hannah was the first to go to school. She had kindergarten orientation on Tuesday and then will start her normal schedule next Tuesday, the 2nd. Matt started 11th grade on Wednesday, August 27th, but now gets Friday-Monday off. We will drop Hillary at Harvard on Sunday (after traveling to visit my dad on Saturday). She's working for a week before her actual move-in day, next Saturday the 6th so we will be going back to deliver all of her things next weekend. I start school on the 3rd (Yup, somehow I have to try and fit it in between the five kids, the two dogs, soccer, ballet, violin, gymnastics, swimming, housework, a husband who works too much, etc. Please wish me luck...I'm very nervous ;^). It seems insane to me but I'll try it for a semester. Oh and as soon as I registered our agency emailed and asked if we'd be ready for a match NOW. What?? You've got to be kidding!?? I thought we had about 6-9 more months at least. Oh, well...we shall see what happens. Just kind of wished I hadn't chose now to overbook our schedules, but we can change that if/when we need to. Anyway, Christopher goes back and starts 7th grade on the 4th. I'm also working on the fall schedule and sign-ups for sports, ballet, SAT prep, etc. I think I signed Hannah up for too much. Actually, I know I did. She's enthusiastic and loves everything just like Hillary did so it's hard to resist. So, she'll be going to 1/2 day kindergarten and taking violin lessons, ballet, gymnastics, and soccer. Sometime later in the fall, she wants to add scouts and swimming. Phew! We shall see. She is the kind of kid who has colored, painted, read books and done collages by 9 am and is bored. She has so much energy, but mine is limited which is an unfortunate part getting older (and having a two year old who still won't sleep through the night).

This time of year is always a bit overwhelming and I can't wait until we get settled and into a groove (and I get a master calendar done so I know what to do and where to be when). Only then will I know if we can keep a healthy balance. If not, I'm not afraid of chopping things out of the schedule. I am looking forward to having a bit of time just with Emma. She'll have her own little gym class and we will have time to go to the library for story time or to the park. She loves to just go out for a walk and look for rocks and acorns and wildlife. It's going to be nice to have time where she can set the pace and agenda without any competition from the bigger, faster, louder kids. I'm going to cherish this time.

The photo above is one I took of Hannah on our front porch as we headed out for her kindergarten orientation. I think she's been nervous about this new phase in her life. She's worried that she will miss me and be homesick. She's worried that she can't be away from me that long. She's been struggling with mood and behavior a bit and I think she's feeling stressed. At the same time, she's been very sweet and a bit vulnerable and it's actually kind of nice to to see this very thoughtful side of her personality. It's given us the opportunity to have some really great conversations which give me a greater glimpse into what is going on inside of her. She is an extremely outgoing child, full of energy and spunk (a little too much spunk sometimes!). She's feisty and funny and usually very confident and I hope she will feel more like herself once the first week of school is over and she adjusts. I think she'll give her teacher, who seems like a perfect match...warm, kind, with a great reputation, a run for her money...in a good way. She's was so engaged during orientation and answered and asked a ton of questions. She is very bright, inquisitive and misses nothing. It will be interesting to see how this goes. I, on the other hand, having homeschooled 2 of my 3 older kids through kindergarten and beyond wasn't sure I'd ever do public kindergarten again. I'll be watching pretty closely, but I think for Hannah, as far as I can tell now, this will be a good thing for a number reasons that seem too complicated to explain. It should be a fun learning experience for all of us and, if not, we'll bring her back home again. I wouldn't mind a bit because I'm going to miss her, too! I just think this may be the right thing for her right now. We'll see.

Happy Birthday Christopher!

Friday, August 8th, was Christopher's 12 birthday. I took the kids out for lunch at their favorite pizza place, Zoe's. After lunch, Christopher, Matt and Hannah went to the movies to see WALL-E while Hillary, Emma and I did a little birthday shopping for some back to school clothes and groceries for dinner. I always have the kids choose their birthday dinner and Christopher wanted to have a cookout to celebrate. Cracked me up that his exotic request for dinner was to have hot dogs. He didn't want just any hot dogs, he wanted REAL beef hot dogs and not those organic turkey ones I usually buy (we don't eat beef usually and I don't buy meats with nitrates so he was feeling deprived ;^)). That was the easiest birthday dinner I've had to make in a long time. We also had lots of other grilled food, like eggplant, potatoes, summer veggies, etc. He got some new books, some legos and a nerf gun (which has been pre-order and he is anxious for it to arrive). I had to laugh when shopping for his gifts. He gave me a list of toys and I couldn't find many of them at the store. Turns out that most were new toys not yet released. Kind of scary that he knows all the legos and nerf stuff before they even hits the shelves. The people at ToysRus knew the release dates for this stuff off the top of their heads, too. Wow! I had no idea that he even kept track of this stuff. It's not like we buy them more than twice a year (just his birthday and Christmas). The marketing must be working : ( After dinner, we watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. It was a great way to celebrate his special day. It's hard to believe that Christopher is now 12 and heading to 7th grade in a few weeks. He still seems so sweet, innocent and young...soon he'll be a teenager. He's going back to the same school he's been at since 4th grade (it's a wonderful all boys school) and he loves it there. He's getting ready to join a swim team and the US Men's swim team has him pretty pumped up (Thank you Michael Phelps!). He wants to start guitar lessons, too. He used to play the cello and is very musical, so it will be great to see him enjoying an instrument again. I think he's going to have a wonderful year.

Someone got a haircut....

and we think it is very cute!

Before:

After:

For some reason, I'm having trouble getting into my blog. Internet Explorer aborts the operation allowing me to access my blog and others. For some reason, I was just able to log in so I'm going to post a quick update.

Hannah and Christopher participated in a town wide swimmeet yesterday (Friday, Aug. 1st). It's an annual event and includes all the kids who take lessons at any of the beaches at the various villages in our town. All the beaches compete against each other and our little beach, with the BEST lifeguards, won! Hannah just wanted to swim and get a ribbon. She got two...one for participation in the kickboard race and another for taking 6th place in the front crawl for girls ages 5-6. Not bad for a kid whose just learned to swim a couple of weeks ago. Christopher took 3rd place in three events for 11-12 year old boys; front crawl, breast stroke and back stroke. Though these are not the most competitive races...more for fun, they both enjoyed the day and seemed very proud of their accomplishments.

On Wednesday night, I took Hannah, Emma and Chris to see Circus Smirkus. It's a circus of young performers age 10-18. It was fabulous and the kids LOVED it. Even the original music was great and Emma danced through the whole evening. Now, Hannah wants to attend their camp and join the circus! Actually, I'm hoping that her aspirations will change when we watch the olympics together....I'd rather she go that route! She wants to go to the Olympics but can't understand why she has to pick just one sport...she wants to complete in several and she is so strong and athletic, she probably could.

We spent most of last week at the beach. It was beautiful...some of the most beautiful days I've spent at the beach. The humdity was low, the sky was clear and the sun sparkled off the water...it was gorgeous. We are taking a few days away to get Hillary from camp and I was sad to leave but I'm thankful for all the days we've had by the ocean and thrilled to have Hillary home again (it won't be long...she'll be off to college by month's end). The kids have been swimming, relaxing, fishing, crabbing, playing pickle on the beach, biking, reading, visiting Grandma and making lots of new friends. It's just like summer is supposed to be.

Over last weekend we continued to celebrate my birthday and my big gift was a new bicycle. It's great, upright and comfortable with lots of suspension to protect my aging back. My old bike was a gift for my 17th birthday and it was very hard on my back. It was time for a new one! I cannot wait to get some time to ride. If Emma would only start to sleep through the night so I could jump out of bed in the morning feeling rested (I can't even remember what this feels like) and head out for a spin before the little ones are up, it would be heaven. Unfortunately, she's been up most of the last two nights and it makes it tough to eek out time to myself.

Anyway, we are off to get Hillary later today. There are two concerts today and dinner, then another two events tomorrow. It's great to get the opportunity to see all the music (chamber, orchestra and choral) that they've worked on for the last 5 weeks. They are out in the mountains, barefoot, dressed all in white...and incredibly gifted. It's an amazing weekend and I'd better go get packed!!!