It Went Really Well!

First day down...it went really well.  As expected, Z was a bit of the wrench in the works at some transition points, but I hope that will work itself out as he gets used to the schedule and expectations.  If anything, the girls were disappointed we didn't do more.  All in good time.

Here are my cuties on their first day of school...totally homeschooling it in their bare feet.

100 Day

We recently celebrated 100 Day at our little homeschool.  I could not be more relieved to have reached this milestone.  We had done "number of the day" activities for every number leading up to this big culmination of the marvelous phenomenon that is 100!  If I ever have to do "number of the day" again, I think I'll move to Mars.

Making necklaces with 100 cheerios

Showing off our hats with 10 groups of 10

How far is 100 steps?  Can you see them waaayy down there?

Did I Tell You the One About...

So I finally got about a bazillion photos off my camera and realized I had failed to tell you about C's fourth birthday party...

She had a hard time deciding on a theme.  See if you can guess it from the photos.

If you didn't get it from that last one, then I may as well just tell you.  It was a "purple party with baby animals and a side of Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon."   Very memorable, to say the least.

And she got her first bicycle, complete with a basketful of ponies.  It was a good day to be the sweetest four-year-old I know.

Today

I confess that I cannot achieve the level of blog posts I aspire to.  Every time I want to sit down to write, my brain begs for downtime if no one else is begging for a piece of me.  But I'd still like to blog.  So I'm taking a cue from Missy over It's Almost Naptime and attempting shorter posts.  (I don't know Missy, but I'd like to.  And I'm not even going to pretend that my plate runneth over like hers does right now.)

Today, A went to her one-day enrichment co-op that we like to call "Wednesday school."  She has classes in art, Spanish, P.E., drama, character building, and music.  It's good exposure to classroom behavior and learning from someone other than mom.

While she's away, I try to have some preschool time at the house, though it is so hard to resist plugging them into a screen so I can accomplish something that appears more productive.  We compromised today.  I de-cluttered the living room while they scattered rice in my kitchen.

When A got home, we turned right around for our first return-to-gymnastics class.  The girls really enjoyed gymnastics last spring, but we chose to drop when money got tight.  When we got the wiggle room in the budget again, the girls were eager to go back.  C couldn't stop hopping through the whole class.  She stayed where she was supposed to and got nice comments about good listening, but she was so excited she could not be still.

Z's got a little tummy bug that made last night interesting.  I'm praying it's short-lived and contained to one host.

That's us.  How are you?

First Day of School

Before our house guests arrived, we had our first day of school.  I got our schoolroom all ready the night before with a fun new sign inspired by a Pinterest find.  I don't think I've ever shown you, loyal reader, our schoolroom.  Ta da...

That's my gumball sign.  We added gumballs with our ideas for making school enjoyable (i.e., being kind, waiting our turn, helping each other, listening, etc.).  I can't put much on my walls this year because Z enjoys ripping it all off too much.  Shouldn't every schoolroom have a baby gate, by the way?

These are my craigslist find cabinets.  J and my dad installed them earlier in the summer.  They are fabulous!!  J also installed our roof flashing turned magnet wall.  He's a handy guy.  I like the magnet wall because I can put independent supplies in a pencil pouch hanging from a hook on the wall.  The girls can get to them anytime.  I've also got a planning calendar up and my own notes for the week.  There's also lots of room for posting their creations and school work.

This is the other end of our schoolroom, but it's really more of a play area.  But I wanted to show off my map wall.  Strictly decorative purposes because the maps are from old National Geographics.  Again, I'll go lower with more maps when I know Z won't tear them off.

I told the girls we would be taking first day photos and I loved the results!  A asked to stay her in pj's all day, including for photos.  Then she took one photo and was done.  So very A.

C asked to put on her fanciest dress, wanted a headband and a bow, then wanted a portrait session for the next 20 minutes with silly faces, serious faces, good smiles, bad smiles.  Every bit C right now.

Getting lice the first week of school has definitely put a damper on things, but I'm so glad we homeschool!  We'll keep going, keep practicing our nice attitudes, getting down routines and figuring out realistic expectations.  Hope your year gets off to a smooth, sweet start!

House Guests

So it's always fun when a blog post generates comments, but when a post generates phone calls....!!  Wow!  The announcement of a foreign exchange student actually ranked a few phone calls!  Sweet!

When we decided to buy this big ol' house, one of the things we looked forward to doing was hosting an exchange student.  Because what better way to share the world with our kids than bringing it to our dinner table?  Sure beats traveling internationally with small children.  We have the space to share and just hope we are good representatives of our culture--both temporal and eternal.

We have been complete novices through this process and are learning as we go (like all parenting).  We chose an exchange agency because we had a friend of a friend who was a local advocate.  We chose our student because she is the oldest of several children in her home and we thought she would be comfortable in our chaos.  Other than that, it was a stab in the dark, and we couldn't be more pleased.

You'll be hearing more about H, our exchange student.  She'll be part of our family through the end of January-ish.  She's from northern Germany and is doing great with her English.  We are really impressed!  She'll turn 16 while she's here.  She arrived Thursday night after more than 24-hours en route.  We had great plans for the weekend, including taking a pic of her to introduce her to my huge readership, as well to show her around and maybe take in a local festival, but....

Friday morning we realized we had even more house guests than we thought.  I made the gruesome discovery that A and C had lice!  I wanted to crawl into the fetal position and deny my own existence for the next 48 hours.  Alas, that was not an option.  Our plans went down the drain and I began the overwhelming task ahead of me.

I started with a trip to the pharmacy for requisite tools.  Then, I made my first-ever trip through the Starbucks drive-thru for my own self-medication.  Chai latte has become my drug of choice and it helped me through the morning.  When I got home, I took each girl to the backyard and lopped off as much hair as I was comfortable with.  They both have decent little bobs now.  Then, I used that tiny little comb to go through A's thick, thick hair.  It took over an hour and a half.  C's was not so bad because her hair is so fine.

Then I gave the Cetaphil solution a try.  It was mid-afternoon by the time they were both "treated."  Next we bagged up all the stuffed animals, extra pillows and blankets.  I vacuumed, sterilized, and laundered for the rest of the day.  J came to the rescue by working from home and keeping Z out of the way.  So far, Z, J and I have been spared.  But just thinking about it makes my head light up with imaginary itches.

I'm going to say the Cetaphil trick was not particularly effective for A.  C seemed clear this morning, but A was still just as bad.  My own particular brand of torture is a contagious condition that keeps your children quarantined but at perfectly good energy levels, then re-occurs at weekly intervals for up to a month.  Yippy skippy.  Add to the equation one six-year-old with incredibly thick hair, a sensitive scalp, and a tendency to make mountains out of mole hills.  SuperMommy kryptonite trifecta!

J wanted to nail down where we had picked it up, but I knew that was futile.  Our best guess is the headphones at the library computer station.  A spent about 15 minutes trying the computer game in the kids' section.  C tried it too, but the headphones kept slipping off her head, so she didn't stay as long.  It could have been anywhere, honestly; we just don't know.  But you can rest assured, we will not ever use those headphones again.

I am so indebted to my sis-in-law, CA, who came to the rescue and whisked H away for a teenage girl shopping trip, dinner, and youth group study on Friday.  Then she came again tonight to take H to her first-ever baseball game.  Thank you, CA and R!!  You salvaged this weekend with flying colors!

A and C will stay home from church with me tomorrow and we will attempt to salvage Friday's schoolwork without Z in the mix.  Monday is a big day as we register H for high school and get a crash course in the public high school education system.

Enough rambling.  Stay tuned.  Our family motto really is "never a dull moment" and we strive to deliver.

This is the Face of a Six-Year-Old

You can tell she's six by that stinkin' cute gap in her smile.  Oh, and the fact that I can't get a non-silly-face picture.

It's also difficult to get a picture of one cutie-pie without the other.

 They do enjoy hamming it up for the camera.

 Not to be outdone by his sisters, ladies and gentleman, the show-stealer...

Summer is Slippin' Away

We made a bucket list of the beginning of summer and I thought it was pretty relaxed.  No problem, I thought, we can do those.  Yikes!  There are three and a half weeks before school starts and we'll be cramming a few things in.

Our summer has been such a welcome break from the last year.  I desperately needed the break from homeschool.  With a new curriculum for a new year, I'm looking forward to it again and getting excited.

I had a whole slew of DIY projects to tackle over the summer, too, but I'm afraid I won't get many of those crammed in before school.  Something about being a ping-pong mom between small children makes it nearly impossible if not unenjoyable to try to get any projects done.

What have we been doing this summer?  The reading club at two libraries, getting more comfortable in the swimming pool, sleepovers with cousins, library story times, dinners with neighbors and friends, birthday parties, watching fireworks, and more screen time than I care to admit.

Early in the summer, J camped in the backyard with the girls.

They zipped up the tent early to keep the mosquitos out and played lots of go fish and read a big stack of books.  We were quite impressed that they made it through the night.  Of course, I took one for the team, and stayed inside with Z.

A has been to VBS and two day camps with a neighborhood church--one week of active, outside rough and tumble camp and another week of inside, creative choir camp.  It's been very interesting to see how differently each child behaves when one is taken out of the mix.  Good practice for fall when A will go once a week to co-op classes.

While A was at camp, I took C and Z to a kids' event downtown to see The Biscuit Brothers perform.  C gets really excited about The Biscuit Brothers.  I really think they are so special to her because she saw them perform at a street concert just after we moved and they were heavy on the crowd participation.  Very real, very fun and then she saw them on tv.  So when we had the chance to go see them again, I stretched out of my comfort zone (with the help of my sister) and made her day.

I know she looks a little creeped out, but she was elated.  She even mustered the courage to ask them a question and tell them her name clearly enough to be understood.  When we walked away, she looked up at me and exclaimed, "Mom!  They know my name!"  It was pretty cute.

We have a road trip planned to visit friends and family yet.  Plus a trip to the children's museum and a little party with the girls in A's class at church.  I have a few more items on the get-ready-for-school list.  All in all, it's been a sweet summer.  I know time is going to scream by once school gets going and Christmas will be here before we know it.  Going to make the most of these next few weeks and then grab school by the horns and relish that ride.

Picture Day

I've been wanting to get some professional pictures of the kids.  Unfortunately, I was a bit spoiled by the friends I made who were taking up professional photography and offered me reduced rates.  Sticker shock for big city photographers encouraged me to give it a go myself.

After an hour and a half and about 150 pics taken, here are half of the keepers.  (There were a total of 12 keepers--yes, 12 out of 150.)

Tell you what...those photographers work hard for the money, so hard for ya honey!  I know I earned the few smiles I got!  And I won't have the benefit of all the mad editing skillz to make them look any better than they are right now.  But, I captured this moment and we all left happy (thanks to Grandma's help). That's huge--HUGE, I tell ya.

Related

The girls and I were scrolling down memory lane recently and I wanted to do a side-by-side comparison.

Can you tell we love our booster seat?  Three first birthdays, three different houses, three very different kids.  Can you tell they're related?  

Nature Center

I promised pics from our field trip to the Science and Nature Center.  Here they are (not quite two months late).

A's "giraffe" shell that she admired in the hands-on exploration room

C showing off the rock that caught her fancy.  Yes, this was the pose she chose.

Climbing on the concrete lilypads

Following big sis

My little paleontologists

Their favorite part of the day - throwing pebbles in the pond

Train Ride

About a month ago, J suggested that he take the girls on a daddy-daughter date train ride.  The light rail commuter train runs a limited schedule on the weekends and he thought they could take it downtown, find dinner at a little restaurant, and ride home.  Sounds like fun.  Especially since kids under 6 ride free.

As the day approached, I told him I thought Z would be okay to take along.  We could make it a family event.  The stroller would fit on the train and he'd be fine if we took along enough snacks and toys to keep him busy.

This is how he spent most of the train ride...

We couldn't keep him in the stroller for the train ride because of the way the seats were arranged.  He ran out of care for snacks and toys before the train ever started moving.  He squealed/screamed most of the way, which was very embarrassing to us and irritating to fellow passengers.  And he would not be still for anything!  What was I thinking?!

He looks calm in the next photo, but notice how both my hands are engaged in keeping him from climbing over his sister's head?  And notice her displeasure at having to share her window seat with the baby who keeps kicking her?

We did survive the ride downtown and J led us to a little crepe cafe he had discovered.  We all love crepes!  What a treat!  You have to eat your savory crepe to earn a dessert crepe, which is really why we all love crepes.  Chocolate and whipped cream folded into so much carb yumminess.

C sampled her first Orangina soda, one of J's fond throwbacks to our days in France.  She told him, "Dad that orangina drink stings my tongue, but I'll still drink more for you."  He might have gotten half of it.

It was almost yummy enough to forget that mommy and daddy had to take turns eating so that one of us could pace the sidewalk with our howler monkey.  We were the poster child family for all the urbanites who needed a reason not to propagate.

The train ride back was very similar to the one going, except everyone was tired, it was close to bedtime, and mommy tried to savor the experience by forbidding iPhone play.  I changed my mind, though, after it got dark outside and I couldn't force them to watch the world whizzing by out the window.

Chalk another adventure up to "let's try that again in a year or two."

The Spotted Mystery

Sunday morning I was pulling C's curls into ponytails as requested and noticed her right ear had a significant sore on it.  The outer edge of her ear was blue, purple and pink with dry blood crusting up on the crease.  It was really nasty looking.  She hadn't said anything about hurting her ear.  Daddy hadn't noticed anything earlier that day when she had a bath either.  I cleaned it up and found a little cut inside the crease of her ear, but I was afraid the cut had gotten infected because of the awful color of her ear.  It wasn't any better on Monday, so off to the doctor we went to make sure she wasn't breeding staph.  Nope, just a bruise in a really strange place.  But hey, while we're here, what do you recommend for the sniffles that won't go away for the better part of a month?  Nasonex?  Yes, I'll squirt something into my 3-year-old's nose once a day in the name of good health.

Tuesday night, no one slept well at our house.  C was up most of the night with classic ear infection symptoms.  Inner ear infection this time.  Thanks a lot, Nasonex.  Back to the doctor we go Wednesday morning for the predictable diagnosis and prescription.

I gave her the antibiotic around lunchtime--cefdinir.  She'd had it before for an ear infection.  Come quiet time, I knew we all needed a nap, so I did what any good parent would do and brought out the benadryl.  She took a good two-hour nap.  She was pretty puny and just wanted to curl up in my lap most of the afternoon.  I made calls to rearrange our weekend plans, since it was slightly insane to try to proceed with such a sick baby.  After I got off the phone, she came to me complaining her nose hurt.  It looked red and chapped from too much wiping, so I put some vaseline on it.  A few minutes later, she was back, telling me her hands hurt.  Sure enough, they were swollen and red.  Another look and I could tell her lips were swollen with red splotches all around and her nose was one big pink splotch.  The prescription info leaflet said to call your doctor immediately with those symptoms.  The after-hours nurse asked if I could get to an ER within 10 minutes; if not, I should call an ambulance.  After another dose of benadryl, I handed Z off to J who was just walking in the door, and raced to the ER with C.

I was totally unimpressed by this ER experience.  The doctor and nurse contradicted each other several times.  I got several "I don't know's" from the nurse on things that should have been within her realm of knowledge.  Then the doctor said it wasn't an allergic reaction at all, but hand, foot, and mouth disease.  My mommy red flags went flying, but I listened nicely.  In my mind, I was thinking of how I would keep C away from the baby for the next week; who I needed to call and break the awful news to; and how I could rearrange our calendar for the next week or two to be quarantined.

By the time we received our discharge instructions, the redness in her hands was fading.  I asked for the doctor again.  He said, "Yeah, it might do that.  Still looks like HFMD."  "Does she have any sores in her mouth?" I asked.  "No, but they don't always get that or it might take a day or two."  I texted J with the diagnosis and he wanted to start calling folks right away.  I asked him to wait.  I wasn't convinced and didn't want to start an unnecessary panic.

This morning, with all the benadryl out of her system, she was covered in splotches.  I've done hives before with A, and this looked just like hives.  I called our regular doctor to talk to the nurse.  Of course you can't diagnose over the phone.  Here we come.  "Why in the world would you think this is HFMD?" the doctor asks.  I relay the story of the ER.  She came just short of calling the ER doc a fool.  Classic presentation of hives as an allergic reaction to medication.  You're very fortunate it didn't affect her breathing.  Keep up the benadryl for 24 hours, and get this new prescription for the ear infection.

I have never rejoiced more to have one of my children covered in spots!!  We both danced out of the office to the pharmacy to resolve our week's mystery and get my happy-go-lucky baby back on the road to wellness.

Can it please be spring and the end of sniffling, sneezing, ear infection season yet?  We're a smidge done with that winter ritual and would like to try something new.  Healthy family, anyone?  Yes, we'll take two!  Never hurts to have a spare.

Catch Up

Okay, so the water leak is all contained and the ceiling is being patched up in stages as it dries.  Indoor waterfalls are sooooo last week.  Let me catch you up on what we've been doing around here.

In January, everybody in the house but me was sick for three weeks, capped off with Jeremy injuring his foot during a game of racquetball.  He was prescribed a boot for three weeks, wore it for three days, and says he's ready to play again.  I was formulating a more detailed post about all of this in my mind when the whole water leak thing happened and I decided January news was history; live in the now.

We decorated for Valentine's Day while we were sick and the girls went NUTS with the valentines for friends.  Since we were stuck in the house, they colored, taped, glued, folded, and stickered at least one ream of paper.  I have declared plain paper off limits for the rest of the month.  They must consume coloring books until then.

I tackled a couple of pinterest projects for Valentines, a paper heart wreath and a crepe paper flower ball.  Can I just say crepe paper flowers are t.e.d.i.o.u.s!  Entirely too time consuming.  I thought it would be something the girls and I could do together, but they got frustrated that their flowers didn't look like mine and gave up.  Which left me to finish covering the foam ball.  There should be a rule on pinterest that every pin list its time investment.  Sort of like nutrition facts, "Time sink....87% of your free time; mental energy....no significant value."  (FYI, the paper heart wreath was done in one nap time and turned out sort of cute.)

Otherwise, we've been learning together in school, having friends over for dinner, going on dates, and catching up with ourselves.

My mind was working well enough this afternoon to think to grab the camera while we were out enjoying the pretty weather and relative good health of our household.  I tried to ignore their sweaty hair and mismatched outfits, knowing I would take all the joy out of the day if I tried to get us "ready" to take pictures.  And it would take me a month to post them if I tried to edit out the utility box in the background.  So just focus on their smiles and look how big they're getting.