First Day of School 2014-15: Kinder & 2nd Grade

Well, our first day is already over and was a success! 

The day started bright and early (like 12:30am early) when Sam came into my room crying and upset about the "fort" in his bed falling apart. After much discussion, I finally asked him to crawl in bed with me and go back to sleep. Maddie woke shortly before 6, excited and unable to go back to sleep. She joined us in the bed until we all rolled out about 6:30.

Sam & Maddie with their teachers' flowers. The lightbulbs say, "Can't wait to grow BRIGHTER in Kinder/2nd Grade this year!" It was Maddie's idea to take flowers on the first day. :)

My big girl! All set for her first day of Second Grade, in a 2/3 split with Mrs. Buhler. Maddie is thankful this year to have several friends in class, five or six girls from her Summer softball team!

Sam's first picture pretty much sums up his morning, as well as the attempt at school pictures:

Little Buddy was pretty nervous and was having a hard time channeling all that nervous energy into anything besides whining, asking to stay home repeatedly, and running around like a crazy person.

When we got to school, Maddie gave us the shove-off, letting me know she'd be "fine" and to take Sam to Kindergarten. :) He was pretty unsure about the whole thing:

The parents were able to stay for 20 minutes, and thankfully by the end of our classroom tour and after playing with some unifix cubes, Sam was ready for me to go. He gave me a kiss and headed straight for the carpet when Mrs. Dennis rang the bell.

I'm really grateful for the kids' placements this year. Mrs. Dennis couldn't be any sweeter. She is totally warm and loving and nurturing, just the kind of person Sam needs. She gave him a big hug and talked so sweetly to him at the end of school today. She told him, "Thanks for being such a sweet boy in class!"

Maddie's teacher also told me how "sweet" she was. Couldn't ask for any better compliments about my kiddos! Looking forward to another great year as Sycamore Sharks!

Back to School Eve Feast 2014

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Back to School! And in keeping with tradition, we're kicking off the 2014-2015 school year with a Feast! 

This year's theme: Let Your Light Shine.

I was thinking about how to send my kids off to school and started singing, "this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine," which made me think of the verse:

Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

All the party decor just flowed from there. I found a cute print on etsy that incorporated a lightbulb so we just went with it. I had so much fun planning and preparing for this year's feast.

First, the traditional back-to-school party crowns:

Some of the decorations:

I printed a few instagram photos of moments where their little lights were shining bright:

New this year are fun little "let your light shine" tags (also found on etsy) which will accompany the kids to school each day on their backpack and bookbag as little reminders to shine their best. I can see this becoming a tradition as well. :)

On the menu:

Pineapple Sunbeams

Sun Buns:

Lemon Roasted Chicken

Yellow Squash Sunbeams

Yukon Gold(en)s

It wouldn't be a party without sparkly (lemonade):

 Second Grader 

Kindergartener

And, last but not least, Sunny Lemon Cake with Lemon Curd and Whipping Cream

Bags are packed, folders stowed, lunches ready, outfits laid out, kids in bed, Mama at peace.

The children were nestled, all snug in their beds

while visions of back-to-school danced in their heads

With Mama in her jammies

holding a nightcap

hopinh everyone stays down for a long night's nap

Merry Back-to-School to all, and to all a good night!

XOXO

Lake Almanor

A few weeks ago our friends offered to let us stay at their house on Lake Almanor. It was the perfect vacation for our little family of five. We enjoyed lots of outdoor adventures including fishing, hiking, paddle boarding, kayaking, swimming, dock jumping, rock throwing, stick collecting and sunset watching. We also rested a lot, watched movies, did "dates" with the kiddos, and enjoyed a lot of fresh trout.

Exploring around the river

First day on the river: a success!

Hiking in the Mt. Lassen wilderness to Bumpass Hell

Bumpass Hell steam vent (smells like sulphur)

The best sunset of our trip

Sam swimming around

It was a long dusty road to the Yellow River

Yellow River aquatic plants: there were flowers growing right out of the stream. It was so beautiful!

Exploring around the Yellow River

Swirl cones at the Pine Shack

Somebody loves his Maddie girl

no caption necessary

pretty little stream trout

 honeybee reunion?

me and my hiking buddy

Evan: 15 Months

At fifteen glorious months, you are:

hilariously, side-splittingly funny

gregarious

amazingly easygoing

freakin' adorable

disastrous

temperamental

cah-RAZY!

You love:

Maddie

"tickling" people

eating

dumping things out and turning things over

bathtime

hitting things and people

throwing balls

"running"

playing chase and peekaboo with Maddie & Sam

You say:

Mama

Dada

No No

Bye (on occasion)

and a whole lot of unintelligible babble 

This month you:

travelled over 7 hours in the car two times in three days and were a STAR

threw yourself into the pool a handful of times

put your hand in fresh stain and then put a handprint on the neighbor's white corvette

gave yourself several goose eggs and bruises

hit and bit several family members

fell back asleep in daddy's arms and then slept in our bed with us until 9:30 in the morning

made us laugh *googleplex* times

gave lots of kisses

brightened each day

Maddie: 68 Months

At 7 years, 6 months, you are:

fiercely determined

fiercely devoted

loving, patient & kind

easily frustrated

a very hard worker

Softball season was a mix of:

growing

stretching

crying

getting frustrated

overcoming obstacles

improving

fierce determination

enthusiastic cheering

You love:

Evan kisses

Evan snuggles

playing with Evan

hitting the ball hard

swimming with friends

spending time with Daddy

making Daddy laugh by doing crazy dances

You are NOT a fan of:

talking about your day on the way home from school

striking out

pesky brothers

disappointing others

You spend your days:

drawing

playing with Sam & Evan

working hard at school

diligently applying yourself to your homework without complaining

practicing violin and improving each week

making up songs, dances, & stories

Oregon! My Oregon!

Memorial Day weekend the kids and I drove up to Oregon to meet up with my parents, brothers, sister-in-law, nieces and nephew. It was epic. The kids were AMAZING in the long car rides--3 hour stretches with just one stop each way (7 hours total trip)! We stayed at a hotel right on the Rogue River and enjoyed a handful of adventures in our short weekend.

We enjoyed awesome dinner and drinks at a lodge right on the river, a short walk from our hotel. The kids were kind enough to pose for a picture. Oldest cousin is nearly 13 and Evan is 14 months! In between we have 10, 7, 7, and 5. Grammy & Papa look way too young to have such grown up grandchildren.

Sunday we explored Jacksonville, with its quaint historic buildings and fun little shops. The girls really enjoyed shopping together and the guys didn't seem to mind tagging along.

On Sunday night we enjoyed a long speedboat trip down the river. We did lots of spinning 180s, got really wet, napped (Evan), saw wild osprey and bald eagles, motored through Hell's Gate, and enjoyed an amazing all-you-can-eat dinner on the banks of the river with all our boat friends. 

After dinner the sun was going down and the kids were skipping rocks. We snapped a few more photos as long as the cousins were all together:

It's soooo hard to live far away from our families, whom we love so much. But trips like this are sure to stick in the kids' memories and they love their Oregon family so much.

Thanks, Painters, for an awesome trip! We miss you and can't wait to come up in just a few short weeks.