We spent the week after Daddy's birthday getting the kids stuff all ready for school. We bought supplies and clothes - can I tell you how much I am loving the uniforms for Big sister and Big brother? Big brother doesn't care, he usually puts on whatever he's told to put on. Big sister has always struggled with comfort when it comes to clothes. We've had many a tear-filled morning because suddenly jeans that she loves are equivalent to wearing fiberglass. We went to a few different stores so she could try on every kind of khaki there was. We hit the jackpot at Old Navy. She kept remarking that her uniform clothes were SO comfortable! Win! She doesn't have to come up with an outfit every day and I don't have to argue with her about appropriate school clothing. Tada. They get to dress in regular clothes on Friday, and big sister typically still wears the khaki pants. Anyway. We were going to end the week by visiting my sister at their new home in Boise. The day before we left was the big cleaning day - I knew we'd need to be right into the swing of school when we got back, so I wanted the house clean. The kids were being pretty cooperative (motivated, of course, by the bribe of getting to go on a trip to Aunt Shaye's house). My other sister needed me to watch her boys while she went to a training. All was going along just fine until I heard crying from the basement. I should clarify - when we have the cousins over, we basically have triplet 6-year-olds and twin 4-year-olds. Crying coming from the general area of the basement is very common. I typically can't tell the difference between "He's breathing my air!" screams and "Something is really wrong!" screams. So I sent big sister and her cute friend down to see if they could solve whatever silly thing had brought on the crying. The girls went downstairs and immediately called back up that I would need to come solve this one myself. Little cousin J was bleeding. It took me a minute - the girls thought his hands were bleeding, but I could tell that they just had blood on them. I did a quick investigation to find the source of the blood - tada! J had split the back of his skull open. We have a beanbag chair sitting under one of the windows. The kids love to jump from the couch to the beanbag chair. Can't blame them, I would've loved doing that as a kid! But I constantly tell them not to because they can hit their head on the window sill that sits on the same level as the bean bag. Little brother has a permanent bump in his forehead from doing that on a couple of occasions. J must have jumped backward, therefore not being able to see where he was landing. It was bleeding pretty good, and I could tell right away that stitches were in order. I told Big sister she and her friend were in charge (how great is it that big sister is such a good babysitter now?), and tried to find some flip flops. Usually I trip over these stupid things all day long, but when I just need a pair - I don't care whose they are, just a pair of flipflops! - nobody can find any. Extra frustrating to me was that the night before, there was a pile of flip flops in the family room and I had instructed the kids to put them away. Nobody could remember what they'd done with them. GAH! Heaven forbid you just put them away, right? Anyway. We finally found a pair and were off to the ER. I called and left my sister a message, then called her husband to have him meet us at the hospital so that someone could give them insurance information. J kept telling me that he didn't like the hospital and he didn't want stitches. He also kept saying "I wish I'd never played that game!" You and me, both, kiddo! We got to the hospital and they took us right back. J's daddy got there pretty soon after. I hung out for a bit longer, then left J with daddy so that I could go back home and at least get dinner going for all of us. I think J ended up with about 6 stitches. The very next day my boys were back to jumping on the bean bag chair. Oy. But they had at least pulled it away from the window, so that's something, right?
The next morning we headed up to Boise. The kids were happy to immediately jump into the pool and go swimming with Gabe. They also loved my sister's new puppy, who was very excited to meet them. That night we went with them to a ward dinner. There was swimming, but our littles were struggling to stay awake. So we left big sister with them and headed back to their house. Big sister had a blast! The next day, Shaye and I went and did a little grocery shopping so we'd have food to take to the lake later. We went to lunch, just the adults. That's always nice! When we got back after lunch, we loaded up and headed to the lake. We had to make a stop to buy a new tube - their old one was dead. And then we had to get gas. It was probably around 5 by the time we actually got to the lake, but the water was perfect. And it had been coldish all day, so by 5 pm it was finally about 80 degrees outside. After a somewhat over-zealous cop inspected us, our lifejackets, our boats, and made some claim about every person in our boat being the equivalent of 150 pounds (which was hilarious - husband doesn't even break 150, let alone little brother!!!), we were finally out on the water. So we put kids on the tube and went for a ride! Big sister and little sister went with Ashley first, and then little brother wanted to try. So he got on with Daddy and big sister. Unfortunately, the tube wasn't quite inflated enough. So when the boat started going faster than an idle, the tube just dove underwater. Little brother did NOT appreciate that. Big sister didn't, either. Husband was fast as lightning pulling little brother out of the water in about 2 seconds. He was, of course, wearing his life jacket, but he hadn't let go of the tube so he was still under. Poor little guy! He was pretty traumatized! After that, husband and I got on the tube just to test things out. We discovered that it was fine as long as we leaned back on the tube. So some of the other kids went after that. When the kids were done, we just turned the boat off and ate our food. My friends, this is what a perfect summer day is to me! Listening to some music, eating sandwiches, chips and grapes, and everyone diving off the boat into the lake. I hurt my neck a bit on the tube, and I didn't feel up to skiing, but I didn't even care. Just being with everyone out on the lake was perfect! It started to get cold as the sun was starting to go down, so we headed back. We helped get everything unloaded and then it was off to bed. We had to get up very early in the morning because we needed to back for our church at 1pm. It was the perfect last hurrah of summer before school started!
Little sister loves to cuddle - Aunt Shaye doesn't seem to mind!
Big sister, Ashley and little sister
Daddy, little brother and big sister - this is before the tube went under!
What we get when we ask little brother to smile.
Big brother, mommy and big sister swimming in the lake
Big sister and Gabe - fun cousins!
Sunday night we enjoyed a quiet meal as a family and then Husband gave each of the kids and mom a start of school blessing. I love this. I write down what is said for each of them and they can refer back to it throughout the year. It brings such a peace into our home and is the perfect way to start a new school year.
Big sister was off to Junior High Monday morning. They just had the 6th graders come, and they just did 20 minute classes. It's normally a block schedule, but they had them do all 8 classes the first day. The idea being that they can figure out where their classes are, lockers, lunch, and all that stuff without the pressure of the older kids being in the school. Everyone there is new at all of it, which makes it feel much more okay to not be sure what's going on. We picked her up at 12:30 and she'd had a GREAT day. She loves all her teachers. We're 3 weeks in now, and she is still very happy we switched to the charter school and that she gets go to junior high. She is thriving with the added responsibility.
She's getting so grown up!!!!
Little sister was pretty excited for 3rd grade. She's still on the waiting list for the charter school, but she's far enough down the list that I think she'll probably make it in next year. Which I am totally ok with, I'm actually really glad that she didn't get in this year. There are a bunch of kids in our ward that are in her class, and her bestest friend from 2nd grade is in the same class. She was thrilled to actually know some people when she walked in the first day. I don't think that's ever been the case for her. We are loving her new teacher, too. She is just energetic, enthusiastic and on top of it. After the 2nd day, the teacher was already emailing me with concerns about little sister. She still struggles with being able to focus and finish her work. Just like last year - her grades were either close to an A or a complete F. If she does her work, she knows what she's doing and does a great job. If she gets distracted, she simply doesn't finish. A funny little sisterism that came out of this was the following conversation:
Me - Little sister, your teacher says the math worksheet you handed in today was completely blank. Why?
Little sister - Mom, it wasn't completely blank!
Me - Oh, no?
Little sister - It had my name on it.
Me - Ah.
Oh, my girl. LOL Her teacher has been fantastic - she noticed the first couple days and was already making modifications. I love that! It's been a bit of a process, but I think we've found the right motivation system for her. She is learning that she can consistently finish her work in class, which is fantastic! It's going to be a great year for her, I just know it!
Of course she had to start the school year wearing yellow!
And then there's big brother. I feel like we've been preparing for this forever, probably because we've discussed the decision about when to send him to kindergarten for such a long time. He is at the charter school, as well. They are trying out a new all day program. So he basically goes every other day. I met with the special ed team and his teacher about a week before school started. I'm glad they did that - we needed to get his IEP stuff going, since his last one was from May of 2014 and was not updated/expired. I expressed some of my concerns for the first day for him. I knew this transition could be really hard for him, but I also knew that if those around him were aware of his challenges before he ever even walked into the classroom, we'd be set. They listened and each of them took notes, especially his teacher. Another great teacher this year, YAY! I explained about his meltdowns and what typically can set him off, and how to avoid that. The teacher took us back and showed us her classroom. That was great for big brother - when he can visualize where he's going and what he'll be doing, he does so much better. He walked out of the school saying "I like this school!" HUGE my friends! Just huge! I have a sweet friend who lives around the corner from us. She works at the charter school and offered to take big brother to and from school. This is perfect for him. I knew if I had to drop him off, he would have a meltdown. But if I put him into a friend's truck, and her girls walk him in, he'll love every second. We had a moment the night before when I was tucking him in that he said he didn't want to go. I reassured him, but I was worried. Fortunately, when my friend arrived, he was all smiles and giggles! He climbed right into the truck and was off to school! I'm told he did great, and he tells me he loves that her girls walk him to class. He came home smiling and saying he had a good day. I'll tell you, my friends. I don't get sentimental about sending the kids to school. I'm not a hoverer, I'm pretty happy to just send them off to take on the world. This kiddo makes me feel differently. It was really hard to send him and to wonder how it would go, knowing that he may not really be able to tell me very much at the end of it. So much harder than sending the girls. I'm so glad he came home happy. Our funny story for the day, though. I had determined that school lunch wasn't an option for him - he has a hard time getting his plate from the table to the sink without a disaster sometimes. I also wasn't sure if he'd struggle with the whole lunch number thing, or if he'd have a hard time communicating what food he wanted on his tray. So I made him a lunch. I was careful to put stuff in that I knew he could open on his own, and he watched me while I made it. He watched me while I put it in his backpack. Then when I asked him where his lunch was, he said "in my backpack." So I was mystified when I opened his backpack after he came home and discovered his entire lunch was still sitting there. He immediately gasped "My lunch!!" and grabbed it from me. He sat down at the table and ate the entire thing. I was, of course, confused! I asked him if he ate lunch that day, and he said yes. I asked him what he ate and he said lunch. I finally got out of him that he ate turkey and chocolate milk. His teacher emailed a while later and told me that she didn't see his home lunch until they were packing up at the end of the day. She said he'd gotten in the school lunch line, so they just assumed he was getting school lunch. They helped him figure it out, and he did just fine! LOL The teacher felt bad, but I told her I just found it amusing. He got his lunch and was thrilled with it, and then was double thrilled when he came home and still got to eat a 2nd lunch! (Seriously, I'm going to need a bigger fridge!) I'm kind of glad for the mix-up. How great that he really can do that on his own! He's pretty proud of himself, and I love anything that builds his confidence! So far he's doing great and still loves school!
Big brother - such a big boy!
Little brother will start his preschool next week. And the debate for kindergarten continues. He will be old enough to start kindergarten next year, but his July birthday will make him the youngest in his class. His latest doctor visit revealed that he basically hasn't grown in the last 6 months or so. He was already tiny. *sigh* So the debate begins for little brother! We'll have to see how this year of preschool goes for him!
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