Jumping in With Both Feet

First day of preschool for the little three. Ellyson is now five (half) days per week, and the twins are four (half) days per week! I am teaching Tuesdays and Thursdays, and have signed up to substitute as needed on my "off" days.

Ellyson was so excited that when Jack walked out of our bedroom at 5:30 this morning, she came bounding out of her room, mostly dressed, asking for help with her buttons. Seriously, this girl loves school.

So as we were standing at the bus stop this morning, and I was wearing my running clothes ... not showered ... all set to get the kids to school, have a therapeutic back-to-school outdoor run by myself, maybe surprise Carter for lunch ... I get a text message asking if I can sub in Grant and Graham's class. I want the sub work, so I try to mentally shift my expectations for the day, and accept. Then we realize the whole neighborhood has missed the bus for elementary school. It came 10 minutes early. Awesome. So I trekked back to the house with all the kids in tow, and the clock ticking. I had one hour to shower, dress for work, finish dressing Grant, pack my lunch, take back-to-preschool pictures of the little three, and get Carter to school. My one hour was the cutoff time for Carter to not be tardy. We had less than a minute to spare.

"A hospital nurse" to be exact ... it just wouldn't fit on the board.

Those blue eyes with that blue shirt ... my heavens!

Mischief, right there ...

Apparently, Jack picked the perfect quote for Grant's lunch note. Always be Batman.

So I subbed in the twins' class. Grant got a little wild at circle time, earning himself a special spot next to the lead teacher. And Graham spent most of the day crying for me to hold him. I do hope tomorrow (without me) will be better. It didn't help that his girlfriend was out sick. But subbing did allow me to snag a few extra pictures of their day.

 

Ms. Kristi had to console the boys during carpool, as they watched me getting other kids from cars ...

But they warmed up.

Ellyson didn't need any warming up.

Centers time. Finally pulled him off my leg.

End of the day - we all survived!

... even if Grant was ready to fall asleep!

Back to Preschool

Last week was Open House for preschool. My kids already knew their teachers, but got a briefing on their new classrooms. Ellyson even showed up matching her new pre-k teacher!

I am teaching the one-year-olds again, and have my same assistant from last year.

Splatalot

I almost missed posting about our Stone Mountain trip with Nana and Papa Jack. After Carter returned to school, I took the little three to meet them at the park. We rode the train, watched the 4-D movie, and helped the kids do the preschooler-sized ropes course.

Ellyson thought the ropes course felt like she was on Splatalot (a kids' version of the game show Wipeout).

Breathing Treatments and Pre-planning

It's back to preschool time around here! I am teaching the one-year-old class at our church preschool again, and my assistant from last year (Graham's girlfriend's mom) is helping me again.

This week was pre-planning. Last week, I attended a training session. And wouldn't you know, the moment I had to be back at work, the kids got sick. During my training session, Jack's mom had to rescue the kids from the preschool-provided childcare after Graham left his unsavory mark ... let's just say I owed the floor a good Lysol scrubbing.

I ended up with one diarrhea, one vomiting, and one who couldn't stay awake. Then Grant developed croup. Carter is all too familiar with croup, and jumped in to help Grant. And then Graham developed it, too. Thankfully the pediatrician wrote therr steroid prescription so that we'd have enough if Graham started barking, too.

We have spent all of this week fighting respiratory crud among the kids, though they are verygradually improving. Hopefully it'll be clear by next week! Thank goodness Nana and Papa Jack have been available to give snuggles.

Sledding Down the Stairs

One night last week, I was bathing Ellyson in the upstairs hall bathroom. I heard the twins (who had long since stripped their daytime clothes) giggling and yelling "push us down the slide!"

I stepped out and found them both sitting in my laundry basket, waiting to be pushed down the stairs ("slide"). I told them no, and to get out. So Graham said "okay! I do it," hopped out, and pulled the basket toward the top of the stairs.

I confiscated their "sled" before it went any further. But seriously, WHAT are we in for with these two???

Skate Party

Sunday, our church's children's department held a back-to-school skating party. They rented out the skating rink, which made it easier for us to keep up with our kids. All of the kids tried skating - though Grant and Graham spent most of their time on the indoor playground. Ellyson and Carter were persistent in their attempts ... falling and getting up again. 20 years since my last time on skates ... I donned skates and raced against some of the other moms, too. Like Carter in his race ... I didn't finish first, but I finished. I think we all had fun!

Apple Pickin'

Last Saturday while Jack spend some time in Atlanta with his brother, I took the kids apple picking. (I had hoped for peach picking, but it seems a late freeze ruined most of the peach crop in Georgia this year.) My favorite apples - honeycrisp - are only harvested in Georgia for 1-2 weeks in August. I scored the very last ones in the pick-your-own section of the orchard.

Apple country is 2-2.5 hours north of us. The first half of that drive is through suburbs, and the second half is backwoods roads. Naturally, 10 minutes after leaving civilization, Ellyson needed to ho potty. We drove another 20 minutes without so much as a church parking lot to pull into. About that time, we did come to Amicalola Falls, though. So we took a very scenic bathroom break. The kids wanted to come back sometime and hike up the trails (we only walked to the lowest deck - the lowest point with a photo op).

From there, we finished our drive to the orchard. It's a different one from the one we've visited in previous years. This one took pickers into the orchard via hay ride, with a brief tour and history of the property. We picked a peck of mostly gala apples, plus Grant and Graham each ate a fresh apple to the core (and ate part of the cores, too). We were able to buy a half-peck of peaches (and of course apple cider donuts) in their market (they just didn't yield enough to allow pick-your-own), and our family ate the half-peck in four days.

When we finally arrived back home, we were exhausted! To think, if we had hiked along the waterfalls!

Wordless Wednesday

Tractor Day at the Rail Museum

One day last week, while Ellyson was spending some girl time with Nana, I took the twins to a monthly preschool program at the Southeast Rail Museum. The topic this month was tractors. Trains and tractors  ... what three-year-old boy wouldn't love that?

Mine certainly did! We saw trains, climbed in a few, sat on a tractor, and rode a hay ride. It was packed. They do the program once a month, featuring a different non-train vehicle each time ... but the volunteers were amazed (and overwhelmed) by the turnout this time. They offer train rides as an add-on, but we skipped those since we ride trains a couple times a month at the zoo and Stone Mountain.

Back to School, Back to School

Yesterday was Carter's first day of second grade. I remember second grade. It was a difficult year for our family, involving a lot of hospital time for mom. The part of me who fears following her footsteps, celebrates a little with each year that I don't. I see moms around me battling some of those demons, and I see their kids, and it hits close to home.

But that's enough of the deep discussion.

Carter is in second grade! His best friend since birth (his betrothed) is in his class. After spending all of preschool together ... and then kindergarten together ... their kindergarten teacher had them separated for first grade. Lo and behold - they landed back in the same class for second grade! It must be destiny. Thankfully, they both have other friends in class now, so hopefully they won't spend all their energy on each other this time.

Carter's teacher seems great. She is not having a baby this school year (unlike kindergarten and first grade), which is a good start. Our school system allows teachers to choose their kids' teachers if they are at the same school. And this teacher gets a lot of the "teacher kids" - a sign of peer approval.

Carter's first day went well. He was all smiles when he got on the bus, and again when he got off the bus.

His current career aspiration? A police officer.

Brushing Teeth

Completely unsolicited. Is this girl a little mommy, or what?

Superhero Birthday Party

We celebrated Grant and Graham's birthday with a family party last weekend.

The day got off to a stressful start ... peaking during the cake decorating process. I had made the cakes, cut and frosted Grant's cake, and was starting on Graham's. Then this happened.

Grant saddles up to the kitchen table, and inspects the cake sitting out.

Grant: Where's my Batman cake?
Me: In the refrigerator.
Grant: I want my Batman cake.
Me: Honey, I finished it. It's all decorated, so I put it in the refrigerator.
Grant: What's this cake?
Me: This is Graham's Superman cake.
Grant: But it's MY birthday.
Me: Well, it's your birthday, but it's ALSO Graham's birthday. You get a Batman cake, and he gets a Superman cake.
Grant: No, it's MY birthday! (And he goes into Hulk mode, smashing his fist into Graham's cake.)

Thankfully, Graham's cake wasn't frosted yet, and it pretty much bounced back into place. Remaining bumps were easily covered when I frosted it. No real harm done.

They were both very excited to blow out their candles. Grant sang "happy birthday to me" when we sang to him. And Graham started blowing out his candle about half-way through his song.

Both also were super excited about all their presents. Even the one that was a duplicate of something we already have, was still a hit (with our crew, it never hurts to have a second of a toy). And they were really excited to sleep under their new superhero comforters that very night.

Stone Mountain

Today I took the kids to Stone Mountain one final time before school starts. Normally, we ride to the top, see the skyline, ride back down; do another activity; eat lunch; ride the train; go home. And normally, by the time we get to the train ride, I have one kid falling asleep, one kid whining about tired legs, and one kid who just always wants to be carried. I'll let you guess who is who.

So I didn't even intend to go up the mountain today. I thought we'd ride the train, see the 4D movie (which we never make it to), and that'd be it. But they were heartbroken at the thought of not going to the top. So I told them a million times before we left home, no tired legs would be tolerated.

And they did great. We caught the second skylift to the top (while temps were still a cool 90 degrees). A very complimentary lady offered to take a picture with all five of us in it. She marveled at how well-behaved the kids were, and how patient I was with them. I thought to myself that we should probably leave while we were ahead. ;-)

Back at the bottom, we hopped into the 4D theater for the Rio short film. Three of the kids thought it was awesome. The one who doesn't like noises, dark spaces or being separated from me, stayed glued to my lap.

After the movie, we hustled to the train platform and scored a ride on the first departure of the day. (We were on fire!)

After the train, we got in the van to eat lunch and drove to the plantation in the park. I haven't been to the plantation since college, when Jack and I took their ghost tour with some friends. So the kids enjoyed seeing the cool buildings, and learning a little about plantations. Thankfully, the 200+ year-old buildings survived our kids. And they all were interested (I didn't know if the little two would be). In fact, Carter enjoyed it so much (thank you, Harriet Tubman unit at school), he wanted to walk it again. We did not. Once was enough for one day, for everyone else.

Juggling

Jack is teaching himself to juggle. You know, diversifying his resume. Grant - ever the clown - has to be in the middle of the action.

Old Friends

We recently visited some old friends of ours. As in, the four of us have been friends longer than we've *not* been friends. They started dating in fall 1997, and then he suggested I should date his best friend (Jack). The rest, as they say, is history.

They live more than an hour away from us, so we normally see each other once - maybe twice - a year, usually at birthdays. They have four children in the same sequence and approximate ages as ours (their only girl falling second in line). However, their fifth (second girl) is due this fall, and so the parallel streak will end. But it was wonderful to see all our little ones running around together.

Fort Yargo, Take Two

Last week, the kids and I joined Jack's parents for another trip to the lake at Fort Yargo park. Grant mostly liked snacking and napping on the beach.

We also did a boat ride. Grant and Graham were SO excited to get on the boat. Carter was a little disappointed that he couldn't ride in front and "drive."

Carter did have fun showing off his underwater handstands ... and Graham is just a fish. That kid would swim all the time if he could.