Another Year Begins

This morning we ventured back into the familiar...

but not quite as familiar as previous years. A new school (building) meant a later start date. A darker morning coupled with rainy skies required inside pictures for our crew instead of the front porch pictures we've done in the past.

Today the kids started their first day of 5th grade,

3rd grade,

2nd grade,

and another year of preschool.

Clearly there was a lot of energy as we headed out the door.

Because of all the changes at school, I got the privilege of helping students get to their classes in the morning. That meant the start of preschool would have to wait a couple hours. To my surprise, Miss Evie was ready and waiting when I got home to dive right back into her preschool routine. After an introduction to the calendar and a quick review of the letter sounds she learned last year, we're ready to tackle the last half of her reading book. Once we got started, there was no stopping her. This girl LOVES to learn.

As is our first day of school tradition, we headed out for ice cream after dinner. Normally the newest student gets to choose where we go for ice cream, but since this first day of school happens to land on Sean's birthday, he had the honor of choosing. Rita's didn't know what hit 'em. We took up over half the little shop. Really...there were only two chairs left for the many other customers.

Happy birthday, daddy!

So. Much. Energy.

Another Beginning

Today marked the fifth first day of school for our family. Three years ago I took this picture.

The next year I took a similar picture, it's just that the kids were older.

It only seemed appropriate that I take another one the following year.

Which brings me to this year. Today I sent my babies off to 4th, 2nd and 1st grades. The littlest one stayed with me and will start preschool at home with me in a couple weeks.

First day of 4th grade



First day of 2nd grade



First day of 1st grade

First day of...oh wait... Not quite yet, baby girl.

Lazy Days of Summer?

Today we went to the beach.

The kids had SO much fun.



And that's why I'm writing this.

 
 

To remind myself that the whole point was for them to have fun.

I forgot.

Because taking four children to the beach is a lot of work.

It Was Berry Fun

There are so many wonderful family traditions that I read about and think, "Oh! We should make that a tradition too." Apple orchards in the fall, maple tapping in the spring, ice skating and sledding in the bitterly cold, blustery, snowy winter, just to name a few. Some we adopt, some we don't, and some we let the kids do on their own while we sit in our warm house sipping hot chocolate.

Strawberry picking has been on my Traditions-to-Start list for a few years, but I always want to start the tradition too late in the season {you can read that last statement as: I forget until the strawberries are gone}. But this year we made it to a berry field just in time. We were literally picking berries in the last two hours of their strawberry season.

Sean had to work that day so when the boy-who-couldn't-have-been-older-than-eleven asked me how many were in my "party" {funny...it doesn't feel like a party}, I told him five and he quickly lead us to a single row of bright red berries that we were to pick until we reached the end. And that was it. 

Being a newbie strawberry picker, I still felt unequipped for the task at hand even after we'd heard the "instructions." But there were eight eyes staring at me, eight ears waiting for instructions. What's a mom to do? The same thing I do most of the time...make it up as I go along.



With the box positioned in the middle of our "party," I instructed everyone to squat down, pick the red, non-squishy berries on either side them, place them GENTLY in the box, and notify me when they were done. They did. And we moved down our row like that, one six-foot section at a time until...

someone had to go potty. Of all the options presented to us, the "trees on the other side of the corn field" seemed to be the most convenient. I'll spare you the details, but needless to say, here was another situation where I felt thoroughly unequipped to give instructions. 

With all of our biological needs met, we headed back into the field and made our way down another row not nearly as full of berries as our original row, but this time we made it to the end.

And it was definitely the end. They were done. It was hot. Everyone was sweaty, thirsty and hungry for more than the one berry they were allowed to eat while picking.

We piled back into the car, paid for our berries and headed home to bake.

Before we went, I had visions of a freezer stocked with pies and jams and crumbles made from our oodles of berries. When we got home with our barely four pounds of strawberries, I was content with a single strawberry pie and relieved that I didn't have hours of baking ahead of me.

Despite a few complaints, we all had fun and are looking forward to annual strawberry picking. Yeah for traditions!

The First is Nine

Exactly one month after Wesley turned 7, this dear boy turned 9. On (or near) their birthdays, each of the kids gets to spend a day alone with mom and dad doing whatever (within reason, of course) they choose. Jack chose a night of Minecraft so after dropping his siblings off with grandparents, we stopped for a burger at one of our favorite places, picked up our reserved copy of Minecraft at a Redbox and settled in for a long night of building...or fighting...or whatever it is you do in Minecraft. For this nine-year-old, who is typically limited to an hour of screen time per day (I know, we're no fun), a whole evening with no limits on video games was a dream come true.

The following day was his party and, since he couldn't decide what theme he wanted, I chose one for him and made it a surprise. We'd recently watched Mr. Peabody and Sherman (hilarious!) and had been quoting the lines around our house for a week so I figured it was a safe options.

One of the places Mr. Peabody & Sherman visit in the WABAC machine is ancient Egypt so our guests were welcomed with hieroglyphics. 

I really liked the black and white chevron paired with red that I saw here, so I carried that theme throughout the details.

Mr. Peabody's math brilliance was spread across our chalk wall,

and we took a tour through history as we made our way around the island.

Mr. Peabody's spectacles and red bowtie were highlighted on the cake, milk cups and party-wear for the kids.

                           

Instead of hats, I made red bowties for each of the kids to wear.

When Wesley discovered his bowtie and figured out the theme, he went upstairs immediately to change clothes. He came down doing his best Mr. Peabody impersonation.

The other kids tolerated their bowties for awhile...

at least long enough for me to get a picture of them all together.

We served a simple meal of pizza and veggies - black olives, white cauliflower and red tomatoes.

The pizzas were made to look like Mr. Peabody (with his black olive specs and pepperoni bowtie) and Sherman (with his matching black specs and red pepper hair).

I took advantage of the history lesson in the movie and created a game that involved a favorite pastime around our house: shooting things (don't worry, we use Nerf guns).



I created four targets - France, Egypt, Greece & Italy - and then made cards containing trivia about historical events from each of those countries. When a card/clue was read, the kids had to shoot the corresponding target/country with a Nerf dart.

I'm not sure if any actual learning happened, but, hey, shooting things is always fun!



After dinner and games, it was cake time.

Right before we joined together in a chorus of "happy birthday," I discovered I didn't have any birthday candles left. But we sang it anyway,

and Jack blew out a small Christmas pillar candle. What a good sport! I'm always amazed at the grace these kids show their well-intentioned mama.

Happy birthday, dear Jack!