—1—
We are officially back in school and everyone is exhausted. Next week my teenager starts a before-school scripture study class so starting Monday, we'll have to get up even earlier. I don't want to think about it.
But on to the good news.
I get a "first day of school" picture like this almost every year and love it. |
If you've been following this blog for long you know that social expectations to helicopter over my kids drive me crazy, so I hated the rule last year that kindergartners had to be accompanied by a parent at the bus stop.
As if my 5-year-old would become so disoriented without me 6 inches from her at all times that she'd wander off into the woods and be lost forever.
Anyway, she starts 1st grade this year and the first thing the bus driver said when he pulled up was, "You don't have to wait with her, you can just drop her off."
Thanks, and I fully intend to.
—2—
Just days before school started, we squeezed in our annual summer camping trip with friends.
Our friends have 6 kids like we do and it's so much fun, but I wasn't sure they'd be able to make it this year because their 8-month-old has special needs and a lot of health concerns.
Our friends are troopers, though, and came anyway.
The forecast called for rain and they were worried about keeping the baby dry, so they called the campground ahead of time to see if there were some kind of indoor accommodations for him.
After looking up our reservation, the people on the phone were like, "Wait a minute, this can't be right. You have a family reservation for... sixteen people??"
—3—
Luckily, it all worked out beautifully. They let us use a campsite next to an administrative building that had electricity, A/C, and even a mini-fridge for the baby's milk. So everyone except the baby had a quintessential tent-camping experience, which was exactly the goal.
We had a great time but somehow, between our families we had a total of two non-working camping stoves. We had to improvise, cooking all our meals over the fire.
We made it work.
After packing up the tents and all our gear we headed to a beach on the ocean before going home.
Despite Phillip freaking out about sharks, thus freaking me out, we made it the whole afternoon without anyone getting eaten so we can relax until we do this again next year.
And then on the way back to the parking lot my flip flop broke, which seemed like a very appropriate (and slightly sad) symbol for the end of our vacation and for summer in general.
Bring on the pumpkin-flavored everything.
—4—
My 14-year-old has been the "only" one not to have a cell phone in her school for the last three years (although I do know of at least one other girl who also doesn't have one.)
She's always gotten along just fine without a phone in the past, but in the last few months she's been starting to need one.
Her friends are all allergic to picking up a landline phone and speaking on it, and most of her after-school activities use text updates about games and practices. Plus I do a lot of taxiing and it's helpful for her to be able to tell me about schedule changes when they happen.
Over the summer we gave her some projects and her reward for successfully completing them was having access to a phone (it's "hers" for all intents and purposes, but since we pay the bill we own it and can taketh or giveth away if necessary.)
I was going to engrave these on stone tablets but I ran out of time. |
I kind of miss the old times, but it's fun to watch her texting and I guess joining the rest of the 21st century.
—5—
My preschooler has been mishearing us when we tell him to "behave."
He hears it as "be have," like you would say "be good" or "be nice." So in his mind, we are telling him to be "have."
So when his little brother is acting up, we sometimes hear him indignantly shout, "Mom! He's not being have!"
—6—
My three youngest kids sequestered themselves in my room playing house the other day. When I came in with a load of clean laundry, the 2-year-old was sucking on a baby doll's bottle and being tucked in to my bed by my 4- and 6-year-old, who were apparently the mommy and the daddy.
"Get out! Get out!" shrieked the 4-year-old, not happy I was ruining their game by flicking the lights on to put away my socks.
"No, it's okay!" the 6-year-old reassured him. "That's just the maid."
Not sure if I should be happy she's adaptable and creative enough to incorporate me into her pretend play on the fly, or whether I should go on strike until someone starts paying the housekeeper.
—7—
I recently got a new calling at church teaching a room full of 2-year-olds in a nursery class after the service.
We play toys, have snacks, and try our best to teach a 3-minute lesson on Jesus while one of the kids tries to turn off the lights and run around screaming.
It's a lot like home, actually.
On Sunday one of the kids had a toy he brought from home, so I suggested he put it in his pocket so he didn't lose it.
He started searching his pants, which only had decorative "pockets" that weren't really pockets. Then he noticed his fly was open and happily announced "I found one!" and stuck the toy inside.
I love little kids.
6 comments:
Clearly they need to be giving you a salary as their housekeeper!
That sounds like such a great camping trip! But noooo! I don't think I'm ready for "pumpkin everything." As much as I love pumpkin, I'm just not prepared for Falltime (though I AM prepared for temperatures below 90!). The "new pocket" thing is hilarious. Little kids are so funny! (but seriously, what's up with decorative pockets? One time, we got our 2 year old to behave during Mass by showing him how to put his hands in his pockets, so he just experimented with that the whole time. But he soon discovered that most of his pants only have decorative pockets, so that trick hasn't worked most of the time).
Your kids are funny! And camping... jealous! We used to camp every year growing up but now that I am married we don't. We use up vacation visiting family. I miss it. It always rains a camping weekend. Gotta have mud to drag into the tent or van and worry about a change of clothes!
We've bought many an hour in church showing our 2-year-old how to drive matchbox cars into his own shirt pockets.
It works unless one gets stuck and then he throws himself screaming on the floor right in the middle of the service.
I always dreamed of being a "camping family," but the reality is that it takes so long to get packed and unpacked I only have it in me to do it once a year. We have fun, though.
Cooking over the fire is hardcore roughing it. Also, food is generally more delicious that way. :P My sister finally got her first phone for her 16th birthday this year (as a gift from our siblings in America who want her to stay in touch with them better) but I'm not sure she's any easier to contact with it than she was before, my parents still usually end up calling me or whatever friend she's out with if they want to get ahold of her because she doesn't hear the phone ring, it's on silent, she forgot to bring it, etc. Safe to say she hasn't yet turned into a screen addict. I had to show her how to put email on her phone so that she can check her SAT prep classes schedule--and I knew her password but she had to look it up. Kids, man, don't even know how to use email these days.
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