Movie Night

Last fall we adopted my sister's tradition of Friday movie night. This means a family-friendly movie, a huge bowl of popcorn with nutritional yeast and butter on top, sliced apples or other nod towards a well-balanced meal and usually some sort of treat. Sometimes small, sometimes kind of the main attraction.

I love movie night. A night off from cooking. A night to snuggle and be cozy. A night to nibble and call it a meal. And now that it's knitting season, I generally knit through most of it.

perfection.

here is the link to these heavenly peanut butter frosting brownies.

November 10 on 10

 

Except for my morning solo outing, we have had a cozy stay at home with our colds day.

Halloween

My kids got their money's worth out of Halloween this year, not that the depressing picture in our front door captures that at all. Sydney's class party was on the Friday before Halloween and she got to wear her cozy owl costume for the whole day. So, of course Elias had to get his monkey outfit on too. They wore them for 3 days straight (yes, they slept in them). This was quite handy on Sunday morning when we were getting ready to go on our family walk. All they needed was boots to go with their cozy outfits.

But, then we took a quick trip to my sister's and they had to take the costumes off for the car ride. Well, when we returned on Halloween afternoon, they were officially over their planned warm costumes and instead dove into the dress up bin. Elias came out with his storm trooper mask, super Elias cape, Captain America sheild and his rain boots. Sydney said she was a princess with her wand and crown, but I'm pretty sure it was a gypsy dress. Whatever the case, they were happy and came home with more candy than any of us should eat.

For the first time ever I stayed in from trick or treating because I was so exhausted from our drive to Wenatchee and back with no sleep while we were there that I could barely stand. And, the dads from our block were going out with the kiddos together. It sounded so cozy to stay home. Instead I ended up folding laundry (blech) and I realized that tired or not, I really should have gone. Oh well, lesson learned. I've been comforting myself with their loot.

Family Retreat!

We ran, swam, canoed, sailed, paddle boated, lay on the dock in the sun, knit, read, chatted with friends in rocking chairs in the late summer sun. It was marvelous. And, as always, one of my favorite parts was the 5 yummy meals that someone else prepared and washed up from. yahoo for it all!

September 10 on 10

 (morning solo walk)

 (Elias and his hippo having a chat.)

 (apple picking in our yard)

 (pears from our friends' yard)

(the exciting walk to school)

(tada! applesauce!)

 (Every day after school, my kids sneak through the hedge to play or sit in the dirt next to the fence with sad puppy eyes, whispering to their friends who are doing the same thing on the other side until the moms relent.)

 (Don't you break out in a jig when you discover that you and your pal have the very same hoodie?)

I wish it could be September for about 3 months. I love the crisp mornings with enough light to see by for a run or a walk. I love the bounty still coming in from the garden. I love new school clothes, new pens, and new schedules. I love the feeling of a fresh start.

The Fair

I have already put in my request to sit next to my nephew Eliot at the rodeo again next year because it is quite fun to sit next to someone who so fully enjoys something and so heartily laughs at every joke.

My favorite moment of the fair was as we walked through the fried foods and Elias said, "I 'mell somepin'. It 'mell good!"

First Day of Pre-School

When it came time for pre-school registration last spring, I did not feel at all like Elias was ready for pre-school. He seemed so small and I was worried he couldn't communicate well enough to be on his own. But, my friend counseled me to sign him up anyway in case he seemed ready in the fall. Good thing, because in the last few weeks he has seemed so ready for something of his own. He's never really cared about what Sydney was up to and was completely content to pal around with me until the past few weeks when he caught a case of the "me too"s. He too wanted a backpack, he too wanted to go to school, he too wanted to sign up for soccer and he too wanted me to sew something special for his first day. He asked for a shirt, but I don't know how to make a little man shirt, so we went with a new hat (that he of course chose not to wear after all).

It's so strange that my baby is already hitting the pre-school mark. It seems like it was just last summer that I was coming to terms with Sydney going to pre-school. My mom told me that the letting go started really early, but I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed by all of these firsts in such a short time. all which point to the fact that my babies are growing up.

 He told me that this is his "exkited face"

When I picked him up today, he came running to the door yelling "Mommy!" with a big smile. On our little walk home he already seemed so much older than when I'd dropped him off, since he was experiencing things without me and reporting back. As soon as we got home, he plopped down on the front steps to open his beloved backpack and unpack his treasures from the day. So, here we go on our next little adventure!

First Day of School

This summer while we were watching the women’s Olympic  gymnastics, Sydney said with a furrowed little brow, “Mom, I don’t think those girls have mommies and daddies.” I guess she was envisioning this as some sad show of orphaned girls performing for audiences. I asked her why she thought they didn’t have parents and she replied, “Because they aren’t there! I don’t see them anywhere!” For Sydney’s first 5 ½ years, her reality was that Mom or Dad was always there. Yes, she went to pre-school two, then three times a week and we left her with Grandma or a babysitter from time to time, but her main reality was our presence. Last spring, she didn’t like ballet because she went into the studio alone, behind closed doors. She said she just wanted to be with her family. So, with starting kindergarten this week, even though it’s only 3 hours a day, her world has shifted to one more like those gymnasts; mommy and daddy aren’t quite as visibly present.

On the big day, she was dressed and ready to go, backpack on, by 8:30, even though we didn’t need to leave until 12:30 or so. Luckily, our good friends came over with first day of school treats for the kids and they had new school supplies, big fun cones and treats to distract them for a few hours.

We were able to walk to school together the first day, just the two of us, and the teacher was kind enough to have parents stay for that first short day. As we walked along hand-in-hand, her little grip getting tighter and tighter as we neared the building, I told her that part of the reason I make her a first day of school dress is so if she feels a little bit scared or sad, she can look down at her dress and remember how much her mommy loves her. She brought our hands to her cheek and said, “awh. Mom, you’re going to make me cry.” Of course, I barely made it through that sentence without my own voice cracking.

A few minutes later, we ran into her little buddy on the walking path beside the school and they literally ran into each other’s arms, backpacks flying behind them and I finally got a first day of school picture with her big, real smile. After that she was fine, even when the parents all went into a different room for info and she played sorting games. (I could write a whole other essay about how much I love her teacher, especially because she answered every little question that had been rolling around in my head, without me ever having to ask and she coached us all on getting through the first drop off. But I’ll save my love note to Mrs. B. for another day.)

We walked home hand in hand again, but she was so excited that as we neared home, she took off running and flying her arms ahead of me. That’s the picture I want to keep in my mind about her first day of school. Her gleefully letting go of my hand and trying to fly.

Last Days of Summer

Everyone says that summer goes too fast every year, but I think this may be the first summer that I didn't feel that. It felt just right, maybe since we had Sydney finish pre-school early, so summer began on May 1st in our house. It's nice to end a season feeling full, like we packed in a lot of fun, a lot of relaxing and a lot of sun.

These last two weeks of summer we were more intentional about it since it was the finale. Every day began with, "So, guys, what should we do today?" We met Heather, Micah and Levi in Moses Lake at the water park for probably my favorite day of summer (mostly because I got to be with my sis all day!); we went bike riding along the path and got hot chocolate since the mornings have already cooled so much; we got together with Willma, Connor and Victoria several days in a row since Victoria will be starting 1st grade in Moscow and will be much harder to get together with during the week; we played down at the "secret fort" and in the creek beside Reaney Park with Beth, Carli Joey, Kiran, Adey and Jyoti; we ran in the sprinklers and invited Nellie to play too; we rode bikes with Scott, Brayden & Bailey in the church parking lot a few blocks away; we ate and baked from the garden almost daily; we walked down to the Lentil Festival for the first time and I ran in the Lentil 5k and was able to walk to the starting point, meet Teal, and run; we went blackberry picking with Teal, Isaac and Caleb and came home to make jam and cobbler; we bbq'd with the Lahmers at the Moscow water park as a final sendoff to summer and swimsuits; we went to a baby shower/potluck/game night and pretended we were part of the History department at WSU for a night and it was all exactly as we'd hoped it would be!



So, farewell summer. Thank you for all the goodness, especially from our garden. We will greet you joyfully next June (or more likely around the 4th of July when the weather is consistently wonderful).

10:10 August 2012 Warm Lake