First Day!!

Summer has ended and school started last week (the day after Labor Day).    I have no kids in public school this year, which feels a little weird, but also very freeing.   If they were in public school they'd be in all different schools, so in that one aspect it's a little easier to have them all in one place.    This picture was of them as they walked into their first math class on Wednesday.  The math class is something new that we're trying this year and I'm actually quite excited to spend less of my day wading through algebraic equations.  Emma's taking geometry, Adam is taking algebra, and Ellie is still doing math at home with mommy. 

Here's a little glimpse of what each of the kids is up to right now:  

Ellie:  5th Grade

Biggest excitement: starting piano lessons again!

Something interesting:  Ellie's seizures seem to be getting a little less frequent.   She still has a lot of them each day, but we are heartened that there is any improvement at all.
Extracurricular activities:  soccer, piano lessons, lego league  

Wants to be a school teacher.

Adam:  7th Grade 

Biggest excitement:  Playing soccer this season after a few years off!

Something interesting: He completed 7 boy scout merit badges this summer--some of them at scout camp and some with friends!
Extracurricular activities:  soccer, piano lessons, lego league

Wants to be a scientist.  

Emma:  9th Grade

Biggest excitement: Starting early morning seminary! 

Something interesting:  She cooks 100% of her own food.   She is not only trying to eat healthier, but she's following some kind of food combining diet, which means that no matter how healthy I cook food for the family she will rarely, if ever, eat it.   I get a little frustrated with it sometimes, especially when we are away from home and options are limited, but I am inspired by her healthy choices and her quickly improving cooking skills.   She's actually quite the chef now!
Extracurricular activities:   seminary, voice lessons
Wants to be a clinical nutritionist or a singer. 

Cami:   College Freshman

Biggest excitement:  living on her own

Something interesting: She spent hours with Katy (her roommate and best friend) planning the decorating scheme of their dorm room before they moved in.    She did NOT get her decorating interest or skills from me!
Extracurricular activities:  skydiving, getting to know lots of new people

Wants to be a nurse. 

Spencer:  Taking year off of school

Biggest excitement:  when mom doesn't blog about him 

Something interesting:  He's working full-time in construction, which means he comes home sweaty, exhausted, and dirty each day!
Extracurricular activities:  sleeping, camping, visiting Harrisonburg

Wants to be  ???   (the main reason why he's taking the year off)

First Day

For the last few weeks I've been admiring all my on-the-ball friends on facebook and instagram who've been faithfully posting their kids' back-to-school photos on their kids' actual first day of school.  Some of the posts are nostalgic, some are gleeful, and still others are just plain factual.   All of them, however, seem to use hashtags like #5thgrade, #bestdayoftheyear, and #wheredidthesummergo.

 I, personally, have never fully grasped the concept of correct hashtag usage, but when I do use them I like to make mine as long and weird as possible, just to see what kind of reaction I can get out of Spencer.  You should have heard him after I used "#dinnerat1030pmtastesbetter" on one of our vacation instagram pics.   I thought he was going to die of embarrassment on the spot.

Luckily he survived and is now doing his best to ignore us completely while he lives up the college life at JMU.   Hopefully the rest of his siblings will fare as well.  They all started school yesterday and while I did actually take pictures of them before school, it took until today to actually transfer the pics from the camera to the computer.

Cami is a junior in high school and is already running a million miles per hour.  She is taking a full academic load including 3 AP classes (AP calculus, AP human geo, and AP lang), going to early morning seminary, running cross country, and is the only National Honor Society officer left that didn't quit over the summer.   I have a hard time keeping up with her and I find myself in the weird position of often encouraging her to slow down, stop studying so hard,  and to breathe occasionally.

Ellie is in 3rd grade and is being homeschooled for the first time this year.  She is still having several absence seizures per hour, a fact which would make attending school a challenge, so I am excited to give her the one-on-one time she needs to thrive academically.  She is still a bundle of ever moving energy and I love to see how her creative mind processes the world around her.  If it were up to her she would cook breakfast, lunch and dinner for us every day and she has grand visions of publishing her own book one day (ideally before turning 9).

Adam is in 5th grade and is also being homeschooled for the first time this year.  Although he loves school and has always done very well in his studies, he was very excited to join Ellie at home this year.  He is naturally very curious and  I think my biggest challenge this year will be to keep him academically challenged and engaged.  He's spent the last two days perusing the Lego catalog in his free time and I sense that he is hoping that I might figure out how to make Lego building a part of his curriculum this year.  

Emma is in 7th grade and is just beginning middle school.  She has been counting down the days all summer long and she couldn't be more thrilled to be a "sevvie" this year.  She has been taking voice lessons this year and has decided that she really loves music.  In addition to having a beautiful singing voice, she also has become the first of our children to actually practice her instruments (piano and clarinet) without being asked.  Her music adds a joyful backdrop to our home and we are thrilled that someone appears to have inherited their music ability from Glen's side of the family.

I thought of finishing up this post with some really long, obnoxious hashtags just to see if I could embarrass Spencer enough to actually text or call.  Then I realized that in order for that plan to work he would actually have to lay eyes on the blog first.  He used to read it pretty regularly, so that he could correct/cajole me into fixing any perceived errors, but since he didn't even flinch when I posted this picture of him last week, I feel pretty confident in saying that I can hashtag anything I darn well please now without fear of sonly recrimination (or phone calls).  :(
 #imissspencer #noshame #teasingspencerisfun 

A New Era has Dawned

Today we packed up the car, said our goodbyes....

and drove our baby to JMU for his freshman year of college.

We helped him get settled into his room...

and we laughed when we realized that Spence and his roommate, Anhthy, (who he has been friends with since elementary school) will have to be pretty careful when they leave for campus each day as  their backpacks literally are the exact same brand, size, and color.  

Then we went on one more shopping trip (without Spencer) for a few forgotten items (a laundry basket, trash can, and some school supplies) and met him for a very brief few minutes to pass off the supplies before he headed off to another freshman orientation activity.  

After that we quickly said our goodbyes one last time... 

 and  drove away with an empty space in our car. 

**************************

A {not very} Rough Life

My kids are fascinated with the "rough life" I had as a kid.  They'll watch a funny video on youtube and  ask me if I liked it when I was a kid too.  They can hardly believe when I tell them that not only was there not youtube, but that the internet hadn't even been invented yet. 

Then I tell them how if I wanted to listen to a specific song, I either had to wait for it to randomly come on the radio or spend 10 minutes finding it on my cassette tape.  They're dumbfounded when I tell them about how we actually had to call people on the phone when we wanted to talk to them and that we both had to actually be at home for the conversation to happen, because not only was there no texting, but there weren't even any cell phones. 

It's usually about then that they ask us  whether cars had been invented yet when we were kids.  Or they ask me to tell them what it was like when Abraham Lincoln was president. 

Undeterred by their gross over-estimate of how old they think I am,  I revel in my ability to shock them and I proceed to tell them about how my siblings and I had to walk 3/4 a mile to school every day.... in 3 feet of snow. 

They always think that I exaggerate about the snow part, but then I remind them that three feet of snow is not all that far-fetched in the great state of Minnesota where I grew up.   I foolishly believe that this tidbit of info from my youth should help them appreciate their cushy bus ride to school everyday.  

Instead, they invariably are jealous.  

About the three feet of snow and the walking to school. 

Although we live about a mile and across a busy highway from their school, they beg to walk on an almost daily basis.  Sometimes I'm too busy or the weather's not very nice, but we usually end up walking either to or from school at least 2-3 times a week. 

In the mornings, the temps are a little cooler and I love the brisk pace we walk  to make sure we get there by the time the bell rings.

I enjoy the kids' energy and enthusiasm for their days ahead. 

In the afternoons, we walk more slowly and I get to hear all about their days...

We  laugh together as they retell me  the funny joke their friend told them.  We marvel at the teacher's creativity when we hear all about the cool experiment they did in science class. 
I hear all about who did what at recess.

Morning or evening,   it's invariably a time to reconnect
and I treasure our time together as we walk...

Later on I can't help but wonder what stories about their childhood
they'll end up telling their kids someday.



***********

First Day by the NUMB3RS

12th grade for Spencer!  We are so happy that he is healthy and well enough to go to school!  He is retaking physics, but is otherwise up-to-par with the rest of his classmates.  He missed the ACT and SAT testing dates in the spring, so he will be taking those sometime this fall. 

11 things I tried to accomplish while everyone was at school.    Unfortunately my list proved to be a little more ambitious than my energy.  

10th grade means my Cami Rose is a sophomore this year.  In addition to taking a challenging course load, she's also running cross country and trying to keep up her cupcake business (only for Saturday orders). 

9-years-old and way annoyed about posing for  first day of school pictures.  Despite the scowl though he's excited about 4th grade and hopes that he does not have as much homework as he did last year!

8 hours of back-to-school paperwork to fill out (and at least that long for my hands to uncramp)

7:30am--when we wake up the younger kids

6th grader, Emma and her friends, are excited to be the kings and queens of the elementary school.  Out of all of our kids, she was by far the most excited about going back to school. 

5:00am--our new wake-up time around here! 

4--how many miles I ran/walked with Glen today.  Man oh man, I  am out of shape!!!!!!

3 kids in elementary school this year! 

2 high schoolers up at the crack of dawn for the next 9 months or so. 

1 little second grader who was uncharacteristically nervous about starting school this year.  She'd had her first day outfit picked out for weeks, but spent the last few days so nervous about  having to officially let go of her beloved first grade teacher and have her first ever male teacher.   

Thankfully it seems that it turned out okay....

Last Week of Summer and Spencer Checkup

Backpacks are filled.  Class schedules have arrived.  They've met their teachers. 

The last week of summer is over and school begins bright and early on Tuesday morning and early morning seminary dawns even earlier on Wednesday morning. 

While I will definitely miss the carefree days with little on our schedule, we are good and ready for a semblance of routine around here.   Especially Spencer,  who may not admit it, but after 9 months without attending school is excited for his senior year! 

So other than going to bed way too late, breaking up yet another squabble among the kids, and eating breakfast around lunch time, how did we spend our last few days of summer vacation? 

Here's a glimpse: 

First and foremost, Spencer had another good check-up this past week!!!!!!    He had some more adventures with the Pentamidine infusion, but after 100mg of Benadryl and a very long nap, he was just fine.  His WBC was 4120, ANC 1740, Hgb 16.5, Platelets 117.  The platelet count is still lower than normal and than his last visit, but the doctor seemed unconcerned.  

I also continued experimenting with homemade fruit leather (grape): 

We had a little family get-together to visit with my uncle and aunt while they were in town. 

Much to Ellie's and my delight, that meant that we also got to see baby Jack again...

In fact, I daresay he was the most popular guy in the whole restaurant! 

Ellie also ate up the time to play with her cousins again...

Spencer attended his school's first football game of the year all decked out for Black-Out night!   He also hung out with friends and went on a date. 

Cami made and sold 16-dozen cupcakes in one day. 

It was a lot of hard work, but she was so thrilled with the results and couldn't stop smiling at her own little "bakery" table.  :)

Oh yeah and we worked....

A LOT! 

Besides sweeping the deck and painting Cami's room, we also emptied out and organized the hall closet, are still in process of trying to finish up the kids' room, cleaned up from Cami's cupcake escapades, prepared church lessons (YW for me, children's chorister for Glen), and....

took a picture of a bug on a window at the request of my very cute 2-year-old nephew.  :)

Tomorrow we hope to go raspberry picking (if the remnants of Hurricane Isaac don't rain us out), visit baby Jack and family one more time, go to the fabric store (for Cami and Emma), and have our special back-to-school Family Home Evening night. 

Fleeting Summer Moments

 
It's been a good summer, filled with a whole host of fun activities (swim team, craft club, boys' club, boot camp, cupcake selling, lemonade stands, church camps, high adventures, etc),  but now those summer activities have ended. Our vacation is over.  The school supplies are bought.  Their new shoes and backpacks are tucked away in their closets.

Although there are still a couple of weeks before school begins again,  I can hear the kids' conversations turning more and more school oriented. 

"I wonder who my teacher will be." 
"I hope so-and-so is in my class." 
"I wonder if we'll get to eat the early lunch." 
"What outfit should I wear on the first day?"

No one mentions anything about homework or having to wake up early.  Right now it's all about the fun and social aspects of school. 

As we get closer and closer to the advent of the new school year though,  I am struck with the fact that I have very conflicted feelings about sending the kids out the door to school this year.  On the one hand, I can't wait to get back into a  routine again that involves kids falling asleep before 10:30pm and me accomplishing tasks without getting interrupted 63 times a minute.  But on the other hand, there's no two ways around the fact that I'm really going to miss them when they're at school all day! 

Sure, they keep me up late at night, make gigantic messes, and squabble like no one's business. 

But they also randomly write me sweet notes for no reason, play together for hours on end, try to surprise me with breakfast in bed on an almost weekly basis, and fill our home with a lot of laughter. 

All that with the knowledge that at the end of next summer we'll be dropping off Spencer for his first year of college and I know all too well that happy carefree moments like these are fleeting....

and I intend to embrace every one of them that I can. 

Breaking Olympic News!

Team USA took home another gold medal earlier this week when long-time Virginia resident, Lara G., set a new world record in the uber competitive Olympic sport of school supply shopping for five kids.  

Lara has spent the last decade or so dabbling in the sport, but upped her training regimen significantly two years ago when she volunteered to school supply shop for her school's PTA fundraiser. 

"Two years in a row of shopping for hundreds of kids was hard work, but it was just the preparation I needed to get me here on the medal stand today.  Before this year I never thought it was possible that I could complete school supply shopping for five kids in two hours at one store...but I did it!  And here I am today...my family is so proud." 

"It means so much," Lara said. "All the hard work, the intense training in crowded Walmart aisles, jockeying for the last glue stick... If you push through the hard days, then you can get through anything."

When asked what her secret was, Lara replied, "Leave the kids at home, wait until everything's on sale, then go in the days BEFORE the tax-free weekend.  In past years I've made the mistake of trying to save a few bucks by going during the tax-free weekend, but invariably the over-crowded aisles and picked-over shelves make me lose my focus. " 

It was the first-ever Olympic medal  for the beaming star, but she hopes it won't be the last. 

Go Team USA! 

**********************

For detailed accounts of Lara's intense training regimen that got her where she is today, click here, here, or here. 

Battletime Strategy

1.  Asking nicely
2.  Lovingly sitting down with him at the table so as to be totally available to help
3.  Lightheartedly asking
3. Strongly encouraging
4.  Gently cajoling
5.  Canceling play dates
6.  Bribery with sugary snacks
7.  Telling him in a loud voice (aka yelling) that it's important for him to finish before bedtime
8.  Weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth
9.  Throwing in the towel and encouraging him not to do it
10.  Earplugs

Heaven help me....

the homework battle has begun and it's not looking good for the grown ups in this house.    

Does anyone else find it ironic that some kids spend far more time and energy in their homework resistance efforts than in the time and effort it actually takes them to finish the homework? 

Then again, I've been told that I am a pretty gifted housework avoider myself.   

Homework, housework. 

At least he comes by it honestly.   


*******************

A New Vision

It's here. 

It may be cold and rainy outside, but it is a day we've I've been waiting for with mixed emotions for many years. 

The first day that ALL of my kids are in school all day.    Don't get me wrong---I love my kids fiercely and think that they're pretty fun to spend time with....most of the time.  But the day is here and I am ready for this step....kind of. 



There weren't any tears (that's not really my style), but as I sit here a little lonely in the empty, quiet house,   I wonder what my days are going to be like now.   I know myself too well to know that it won't take long for the busyness to creep back in again, but still I wonder what it will feel like not to have any kids around here for 6 hours a day.      

At Glen's behest, I didn't sign up to be in the PTA presidency again, but I do envision helping in the kids' classes more regularly again. 

I envision being a better friend--being more aware of other people's needs and participating in and planning more social activities.  (This does not come naturally to me and it will be a challenge.) 

I envision blogging a little more meaningfully again. 

I envision exercising more regularly in hopes that I will eventually look a little more like this photoshopped version of me....

I envision answering people's emails within 24 hours of receiving them. 

I envision going to Institute every week for the first time in my life. 

I envision spending more time decorating my house and making it look cute. 

I envision making sure that my bathroom floors never again look like this for very long.    (By the way, this photo was taken approximately one hour after this bathroom had been scrubbed top to bottom as part of our Saturday chores.) 

I envision being better at planning fun/meaningful activities for my children. 

I envision at least starting the prep for dinner before the kids come home from school. 

I would also write about how I envision reading lots of books, getting my house perfectly organized,  submitting articles to be published, and always staying caught up on laundry, but that would be a stretch into the realm of wishful thinking and I am only trying to be real here. 


**********
 
If any of you other school-day empty nesters have any advice for me in my transition to relatively quiet days/chaotic evenings, please feel free to shower me with all the helpful tidbits you can think of. :)


*********

World Record Receipt

I bet you had no idea that you could max out on numbers of items purchased in an order at Walmart, but I am living proof that it is true. 

After hitting 481 items, the cash register just froze and said,

"Max number of items exceeded" 

and we had ring up the rest of the items on another order. 

  On the bright side, that record breaking trip to Walmart marked the end of my school supply shopping for 170 !!!!

 Now everything is stashed away in a classroom at school and I am completely thrilled not to have any shopping hanging over my head while we are on vacation.  Now I just need to relax, read, play games every night, go on lots of hikes, laugh with family, and not think about the fact that I still need to compile them all into kits when I get back.