First Days of School

Brendan started school on Monday. It was his first day of second grade. It was hard to know how he felt about it. He seemed apprehensive but determined. Open House was good because he saw a few kids he already knew were in his class. And he got to visit his former teacher, which made him happy. We are so grateful for her. He is in Mrs. Powell's class this year and I have a good feeling about her.

He came home in a great mood and reported that his whole class was on a 6 (a behavior/discipline scale in his class). Apparently that was awesome and he was very pleased. He did say he lost his temper at recess, which is common and something we will need to work on. Notice that he had to have his Minecraft guy "saying" the sign contents. That's Bubbs. :)

Because of staggered enrollment for kindergarten and the fact the our last name is towards the back half of the alphabet, Eva started school on Tuesday. She is in Mrs. Trapp's class. She is SO ready and has been dying to "meet new friends" for weeks now. She wouldn't let me walk her into the school and to her classroom. Eva insisted, "Mom, I'm fine. I'll do it myself." Such an independent soul. It was hard to say how she felt about the day when she got home. She just looked worn out. But she did say how awesome art class and outside recess were. :)

Darby and Paige had to have a "Back to School" picture too.  Darbs was kind of lost without Eva but the house was definitely quieter.

Its really nice to just have two at home now but I will admit though that watching the two older kids walking into school made me a bit teary eyed.

Here's to another school year!

Bedtime at my house

There is perhaps no better time at my house than bedtime. Well at least to me. We are experiencing "end-of-summer-itis" and all the rain has meant that the children spend the days orbiting each other, one annoyance away from a fight. And so you can see why bedtime is special to me right now.

Also, now that residency has started, Jason is very busy but he still honors our arrangement that says he does the bedtime routine. It goes like this:

1. Put on kids pajamas. This usually involves a little horseplay.

2. Brush teeth. Some like this more than others. For example, Paige LOVES her toothbrush (tries to sneak it out if the bathroom and run away) so she cries when teeth time is over.

3. Storytime, singing and prayers. Daddy excels at this.

4. The actual putting them in bed part. Eva requests "icy water", Darby always wants a million stuffed animals and "slams" (where Jason bounces her on the bed). I still nurse Paige to sleep.

And that's the girls' routine. Brendan stays up later and gets a little big kid time. Then it's off to bed with scriptures, a song and a prayer and usually an attempt to lock you into a conversation to stall bedtime.

And that's what 7:30 to 8:30 looks like at my house. They are all solar powered and get up before 7am. It's great during the school year but during the summer, not so much. 

Bubbles!!

We go to the library every Wednesday that we can because that is story time. The girls love it (Brendan tolerates it as its mostly preschool books). Sadly, story time does not happen in August. We still go but it is just for checking out movies and books.

So today we went to go pick up a movie Brendan requested and had come in. I expected a quick trip in and out so I didn't put Paige's shoes on since I figured she'd stay in the stroller. When we arrived, the librarian asked if we were here for the program. I must have looked at her oddly because she told me that they were having a special bubbles program and that there were a few more seats in it. So we hopped in. There were several bubble stations outside. The kids thought it was GREAT!

I felt bad for Paige though. She had to stay in the stroller even though she was dying to run around popping bubbles.

Darby and Eva spent most of their time with the multiple bubble wands. Brendan kind of wandered around trying every station.

There was one station that was supposed to use a hula hoop to make giant bubbles around a child. Two library assistants were trying to make it work but the bubbles always popped before they got to the kids' ankles . All the children and parents abandoned it as it wasn't much fun. Well, Brendan went over after everyone had left and made it work. He made a huge bubble as tall as himself. Some parent saw him and alerted the librarian. Soon, he was surrounded by kids and parents watching the huge bubbles he was making. It turns out that you had to pull it up fast and the adults had been slow and careful. 

Brendan told me later, "I felt like I was famous".  Leave it to a kid to succeed at play where adults failed. :)

First Pack Meeting

Brendan's Wolf Den was in charge of the skit for pack meeting this month. His den leader, Sister Sherry McCabe, who knows him well, realized that throwing him last minute into a public performance would mean a meltdown so she got special permission for him to go to a few of the recent den meetings so he could practice with the other boys. I am really grateful for people that take care of Brendan's feelings. He decided he wanted to be the "shop owner" in the skit (the part with the most lines). We practiced every few days for three weeks memorizing the part. He had it down pat.

The skit was about a bike shop and some of the scouts (and Sis McCabe since one boy didn't come at the last minute) were bicycles. Brendan had to push them into the shop.

Then came the time for his opening line. He went blank. Luckily Sis McCabe whipped the script out of her pocket and the skit went on.

At the end, Brendan had to choose a member of the audience to help "fix" a bike. He chose his dad. When Jason was holding the broken "bike" (Justice McCabe) the customer asked what was wrong with it. Brendan landed the punchline, "Oh nothing. It just needed a big NUT to hold it together!" The audience laughed and Jason was a good sport about it.

After the skit the awards were given out. Brendan had earned his Bobcat through much prompting from me. I wanted him to make the connection that if you do things, you get badges and see the fruits of your efforts in Scouts. He got to pin his dad too. I don't know who is more excited for Brendan to be in Scouts, him or Jason?

The night ended with a bike rodeo. The kids all had fun and Jason brought his skateboard so he could show off a little. It was a good night. On the way home, even the girls told me how much they liked pack meeting. "Good," I thought, "because you will be going to a lot of them over the years."

Ending her "internship"

Jason says that Paige has been "interning" in nursery for a while now. Since I am serving in the Primary Presidency and he is now the Elders Quorum president, there are a lot of times when other people have her at church. And often those people end up in the nursery. She is very comfortable there. In fact, one Sunday when she was not taken to the nursery she walked to the door and knocked as if to say, "Let me in to my class!"

Well this week she is finally official. She is 18 months old and I don't have to feel a twinge of guilt that she is in nursery "illegally". :)

Of course, she did just fine. She doesn't cry when we drop her off. She plays nicely, eats the snacks, tries to sing the songs and colors (or eats the crayons). She loves it. However, today she fell and bit her tongue. She was super upset and bleeding a little. They took her to Jason and she got some soothing cuddles. She didn't really want to return but I coaxed her back to nursery. They were having snack at the time so it was easy.

Jason picked her up at the end of church. She had a semi colored/scribbled upon paper and a planted seed (the lesson was about plants). All is good. I am really blessed to have had 4 kids that made extremely smooth entrances into nursery. Now if only they made other transitions as smoothly, that would be fantastic. :)

18 Months

On top of all the exciting things happening for Brendan, we also have a small milestone for Paige. She turned 18 months old today! I still think of her as the cherry on top of our family sundae. Let me tell you a bit about her at 18 months.

 She is an extremely social child. She likes everyone and has a fan club following at church. Paige smiles and waves and squeals with glee when she sees her favorite people and lets most people pick her up. And she is a major cuddlebug.

She has an obsession with shoes. It is even one of the few words she says. Others are "Ma", "Dada", "Bubba", "no", "more", "uh oh", "heh-woe" and "cheese".  The last one is said whenever there's a camera around. She's a ham.

She is a problem solver. We have reached the stage where she moves things around in order to use them as stepping stools to climb upon to get to various, usually dangerous, things. She can also open the dishwasher and I am sure the fridge isn't too far behind. She is the most curious baby we've had yet.

Her latest trick is a crazy running and screaming combo. It really annoying but cute at the same time. She is always on the move and loves wide open spaces.

She dances, tries to sing, gives kisses, plays peek-a-boo and claps, all of which I adore.

Paige is not a great sleeper and fights naps about 50% of the time. Bedtime is trouble too.

She is a great eater, not picky at all, and still nurses to sleep.

Her favorite things are bracelets, shoes, tic-tac containers, her "Mimi" (Mickey doll) and "By-et" (a puppy dog toy named Violet).  She also adores her dad and brother.

Paige likes to play with her sisters but can entertain herself. She thinks she's a big kid too and will try to read and color with her siblings.

One of my favorite things about her is her facial expressions. They always crack me up. She has a quick cheesy smile too.

Jason says that she's feisty "like R2D2". That does sum up her personality pretty well. She is beloved by all who know her and I will be sad to see her grow up because I will miss her baby-ness so much. But I guess that's how moms always feel about their youngest.

Brendan's baptism

It is a big step and we have been preparing Brendan for a while. It is more crucial to prep him than most kids. He really needs to know exactly what he's expected to do or he gets very anxious. We arrived at the church early to set up/let him warm up to things. There was another girl in his class being baptized that day too. We were lucky though, as her mom is a very good friend of mine and we split the baptism prep duties.
Things went very smoothly the whole time, for which I was grateful. We were expecting a small group of people but were so blessed to have the room overflowing with friends. It was wonderful to know that so many people were there to support Brendan and Ellie.
Jason gave the baptismal talk and then the kids were taken to the font. Brendan went first and everything went just fine. We watched The Mediator while they got dried and dressed and then Ellie's mom, Melissa Grieve, talked about the Holy Ghost. Then the kids were confirmed. I felt a very strong spirit and a sense of peace as Jason was confirming Brendan. It was a feeling I have been needing since I have been worrying about him lately. Then there were the welcomes to Primary and to the ward. My friend, Kendra Hiatt, was able to welcome him to Primary and that made it extra special. We had some friends (the McNays) who came from two hours away to be there so we went out to lunch with them afterwards.
It was a wonderful, peaceful ordinance and a great afternoon. I had been so stressed about how it would all go but, looking back, I see that I needn't have worried. The Lord knows what we need, even for my special little Brendan.

8 year interview

 My oldest, Brendan, turned 8 on Thursday. I decided it would be fun to get his perspective on things, a snapshot in his life, if you will. Here are his answers.

1. Favorite color: Blue, black and green
2. Favorite food: Pizza, hot dogs and mac n cheese
3. Favorite things to do:  Legos!!
4. Favorite season: I don't think really any
5. Favorite subject: Computer lab
6. Favorite books: Goosebumps and Ninjago comic books
7. Favorite toys: Every toy I have
8. Favorite game: The Lego website games and Minecraft
9. Favorite TV show: Any ones that I like
10. Some words to describe you: Smart, forgetful and creative
11. Best friends: Harrison, Parker and my cousins
12. How do you feel about homework?: Not very good. I don't want to do it unless its ScootPad (a computerized homework program)
13. What do you want to be when you grow up?: A video game designer or biologist
14. What the best thing about being 8?: I don't know. I haven't really experienced it much yet.
15.  Anything else to say in the blog?: I really love Legos!

Swim lessons

I signed the kids up for swim lessons these past 2 weeks. Darby and Eva are in the preschool class and Brendan is in the Level 1 class. Luckily they both started at 9am so I was able to just come once per day. Paigey and I sat in the shade and watched them.

Eva was a most excellent student. She listened and did whatever the teacher said. She loved jumping in the deep end with a floatie. She will probably be a good swimmer someday.

Darby was not a good listener and I kept hearing her name being called. She would always wander off the edge of the pool when the teacher would take another student for a practice lap. Darby had to sit on the side a few times. Her favorite part was doing bobs under the water.

Brendan tried hard but had a rough time. His class was large and he had a hard time understanding that he needed to be more efficient with the teacher's time when it was his turn (i.e. wanting to start over every time he made a mistake). His teacher was very patient.  At first he was scared to jump into the deep end but by the beginning of the second week, he did it with no problems. He has made great improvements but we are still working on the breathing pattern of the front crawl, not stopping and standing every time you need to breathe. The backstroke has him baffled but that just takes more practice.

We will take lessons again next summer and maybe if Daddy Jason can get away from his studying, he can take them one at a time to a pool and instruct them. He swims like a fish. Mommy does not. :)

My Big Kid

A little after midnight 8 years ago I was holding my first child in my arms and wondering how I could do this. Now, I still have that feeling on some days. Brendan is the oldest and therefore the guinea pig. But he is an amazing kid and a trooper. He has taught me much about myself, my limits, my communication skills, my knowledge of the world and how much I take for granted. I know he was sent to me for a reason and I am grateful.

Brendan spent part of the morning playing on the Lego website. Then we had to leave for swim lessons where he got his completion certificate, as it was the last day. Then we went to the local scout shop and bought his uniform, patches, book and other supplies. His first pack meeting is next week.

At home I let him pick one of his presents to open. He picked the one form the Waltons (his aunt, uncle and cousins). He liked his shirt and thought it was funny but he loved his Ninjago flashlight. His cousin, Hailey, even made him a card.

Later those cousins called on Facetime so he got to talk to them. Oh the things he and Hailey talk about! They are silly kids.

We met Jason at Red Robin (Brendan's choice) for dinner. He got the complimentary sundae with balloon and song from the waiters.

Back at home, he opened his cards and his present from us. He got two Minecraft shirts and a set of scripture with his name engraved on them. He was less excited about the scriptures than the shirts but I am sure that they will grow in importance to him.

 

He stayed up late and played a Lego game on the Xbox with Jason. I think he enjoyed his birthday. We didn't have a big party since I planned his baptism instead. That happens on Saturday. More on that later.

Lots of sisterly love. Happy Birthday Brendan!