First Day of First Grade

Not much to report, Kyle seemed the usual combination of nervous, excited, apprehensive, hopeful that tends to arise with the first day of school. His nerves seem to be manifesting in major silliness and I have been working hard on patience. I didn’t go to the school, he was confident he could get off the bus and find his classroom and I was sure this would. He also had our neighbor Owen in his class. He was upset about some friends that ended up in different classes, but had enough friendly faces not dwell on it for too long. I have gotten few details as to the goings on in first grade, other then he had a corn dog for lunch and they get two recesses. I am excited about how the logistics have worked out this year. Mom takes everyone to her house early and I have all day to work (on my work days) until Kyle gets off the bus at 3:30. Since I don’t have to pick G and R until 5, Kyle and I have a stretch of time with no interruptions that we can work on his homework, get ready for the next day or practice reading. I think we have gotten more accomplished in these precious slivers of time then we did in the entire year last year. I hate making him keep at it after being at school all day and he frequently gets mad because he wants to play with Owen, but uninterrupted time is just to precious not to grab and hold on to.

I have not been in a deep state of despair over my sudden realization that I will have kids in elementary school for the next 13 years. I always look on the bright side of everything and have a positive attitude. Also, I don't harbor any secret annimosity towards my seemingly endless array of friends who now have all of the kids in school all day.

Catching Up

I have decided the my blogging fiscal year will coincide with the start of school and since that was TODAY, I need to make one final post to wrap up 08-09. After vacation, the big event of the summer was Kyle’s 7^th birthday. There was a great deal on Royals tickets this year, so we decided to take him and some of his buddies to the game. Whether or not that was wise depends on who and when you ask, but I do think the boys ended up having a good time, it was just a little stressful for me keeping track of everyone wanting to go to different places and it was pretty late when we got back. Some parents were already in pjs when I dropped the kiddos off. Kyle watched most of the game even though he informed us that he is now a St. Louis Cardinals fan (we watched one great Cardinals game on vacation). On the way home, the conversation in the back seat of the van seemed to center around “jokes” involving different combinations of people on an airplane and things coming out of their butts. Apparently to 7 year olds, this is the height of humor.

Our other big event was hosting a back to school party for our friends and collecting items to donate to the Ronald McDonald House. Kyle had been wanting to do something for “Ryan’s Hospital” for some time. We had originally planned on having a party mid July to celebrate Ryan being home for one year, but it never materialized, so we came up with this idea and did it during the day and invited our friends. It turned out to be great fun, the kids played on the waterslides for hours and the moms got to enjoy some time to relax. Kyle had a party at the pool directly after, so him and Grant were basically wet and playing from 1 – 7 on Friday. You would have thought they would be exhausted and to bed early, but not really. I think they both have my sleep genes (or lack of sleep genes). In addition to being water bugs, Grant has taken to proclaiming at random times “I’m a good boy”, sometimes followed by “and Kyle is a bad boy”. It’s really quite cute. Ryan continues to imitate his brothers non-stop. He loves carrying around their big plastic bats. One time, he actually dug a ball out of the garage, brought it to me and toddled a few steps away and turned around to look at me. We also witnessed him trying so hard to put a small ball on the tee while holding the aforementioned big bat. I think he would have stood there for an hours trying to get the ball on the little tee had I not intervened.

I have not been neglecting this post (along with numerous other household tasks) because I have gotten hopelessly, shamefully sucked into the Twilight series which I just learned was written for teenagers. Had I gotten sucked into these books, I would at least draw the line at reading the books and not stay up until 2 Saturday night watching not only the movie, but the deleted scenes and interview with the author.

There's no place like away from home

We have been talking for some time about a family vacation and we finally did it last week.  I got my act together and found a place on Table Rock close to Silver Dollar City.  After what is quite possibly the worst start ever, we had a really good time.  The week preceding vacation was not ideal.  Most weeks I feel very lucky to be a work at home mom with lots of flexibility; however, this was not one of those weeks.  I was busy with work, not swamped, but busy enough and it was registration week for school which meant lots of PTA stuff.  I got to the point where I felt like I couldn’t breathe.  I finally broke down and asked my step mom to come up and help with the boys.  I was glad I did, but it was still a tough week.  I didn’t start packing until the morning we were due to leave and I didn’t relax until, well, it never really seemed like I relaxed, but like I said, the boys (at least the older 2) had a really good time.  We went to SDC the first day and Kyle got to experience his first “real” roller coaster.  Grant was pretty meek, which surprised me, he usually seems so daring (as evidenced by his head first descent of the water slide in the picture above).  I guess if it involves wearing a seat belt, he would just prefer to pass.  Kyle also enjoyed the magic show, something he has been into for some time now.  We didn’t stay all day, choosing to go back to the hotel for some swim time and dinner.  Tuesday was spent on the lake, renting a boat in the morning and then just hanging out in the afternoon.  Grant opted out of the boat ride, but at least it gave Ryan a chance to get his only decent nap of the trip.  I forgot how much fun it can be just hanging out by the lake, the kids spent lots of time piloting the kayaks, jumping off the docks and just floating around.  Poor Ryan is just not a big fan of the water and looked miserable most of the time, the only bright spot being a brief game of pushing Grant off the dock.  We grilled again and watched a baseball game on tv, which I think was my favorite part, just sitting together, no distractions of home, no feeling like I should be cleaning or sorting or all of the other millions of things on my at home to do list.  Wednesday we left after spending another morning at SDC and headed home, just one day before Kyle turned 7.  Will post later about that because it is indeed a story deserving of its own post.

 

I did not forget to pack my swimsuit of all things.  I did not, the week before vacation eat ¾ of a peach crisp I made.  Had I done that, I would not have said that I gave ½ of it to my step dad.