First week of school

Aaralynne started Kindergarten this week. She has attended ECP, which is a pre-school class for children who are challenged, since just before she turned 3. And every first day of school, I have traditionally taken a picture of A. on the front deck. But this year, I totally forgot. I was so consumed with making sure we got out the door on time, that picture taking was not on my mind. So when we got to school and we were heading toward school, I told her to turn around and took this picture.

She's wearing a new jacket and had trouble unzipping it because there are velcro tabs to keep the flap shut and she didn't know how to navigate it.

I wanted to get a cute picture of her in front of her locker, but she was so distracted by the other kids that she couldn't even look at me.

She must have figured out getting on the bus (thank you teachers who pay attention to this) as she does make it home every day. Who hasn't heard a story about a kindergartener who got on the wrong bus and ended up on the other side of town! They have color-coded bus passes now, so there is less room for error.

Since I have adjusted my work schedule, I am here when she gets home. On the rare week when my boss is on vacation and I have to cover her clients along with my own, there is an after-school program A. can go to. To be here when she gets off the bus is like heaven to me. Since the first of this year, I have been driving many miles to have someone watch her while I work. Now I am spending less time in the car, and less money on gas. A. was able to ride her bike, and play with friends after school the first day. Yesterday I worked from home (which is even more heavenly) and we went to the grocery store after school. I am feeling so much more relaxed, and the other big bonus is that my house is more orderly.

There's a little girl who lives in the apartments across the street, and Ryan who is 8 and lives down the block, who she can play with after school. Ryan is her protector and makes sure she and the little girl get off the bus, even though I am standing right there. But because he is 8 and knows so much, there is no holding him back when he feels responsible for these 2 girls. He's a cutie.

Every time I ask A. what she did in school today, she says "I don't know." I ask questions like "did you read books?" or "did you work with letters and numbers?" or "did you sing songs today?" I ask "how was lunch in the cafeteria?" Every time--every.single.time.--she says "I don't know" or she doesn't even answer me. But she did say to me several times "if you want to ask a question, you have to raise your hand." Or even better "the rule is no touching anybody else" or "the rule is no pushing people." Now there is an eye-opener. I'm guessing she did those things. I know that when she is playing with babies, and someone comes and gets in her space, she has been know to push them away. So now my opinion of kindergarten teachers has skyrocketed. God Bless these ladies who have to teach these children the basics on how to behave in school. I'm sure we all think we teach our kids as much as we can the best we can. But some things the kids just have to live through before they get it.

It works for me to take her to school every morning. School starts at 8:00 and the kids here get on the bus at 6:45. We live 6 minutes from school, so it did not make sense to me to put her on the bus over an hour before she has to be there. This way she can sleep in until 6:30 and we leave here at 7:45. I head right out to work after I take her into school. Today, as we were driving to school, she asked me "is this the last day of school?" I explained the whole deal about going to school during the week and being home on the weekends. I'm not sure if she gets it, but she does well with schedules, so I'm hoping she'll get used to it. She's pretty tired when it is time to go to bed, and now it is almost dark by 7:30, so there is less time to play. I still hear singing and talking in bed, but she sleeps well. I have been blessed with a sleeper as she will often sleep 11 or 12 hours every night. 

I guess I was fairly stressed by the change in schedule that on the evening of the first day of school, I fell asleep at 8:15 in my chair watching tv, crawled to bed at 10:00 and slept until 4:15 am. My alarm wakes me at 4:30 each morning. I find that as I am older, I like to lay in bed for a while waking up. I watch the news that I missed the night before and of course, check my facebook. That sleeping in my chair only happened once, but I must have needed the sleep.

The weather cooled off last Monday, so with the start of school, it really feels like fall. We saw pumpkins in the store yesterday, but I resisted the urge to buy one. Last year, at Target's after-Halloween sale, I picked up a few pumpkin decorations and plan to get those out soon.  

Here is a picture of A. at the movies with her Dad. I did not know that my iPhone was equipped with a flash. Surprised me in the very dark theater.

It was a chilly, rainy day. Since we couldn't play outside and the Children's Museum was closed for maintenance, we decided to try a movie. We saw Planes. This was the first time I have taken her to a movie. In this day and age, just watching a movie at home is more the norm. She did OK, but ended up on my lap for most of the movie. She likes any opportunity to sit on my lap. Those long legs are going to get in the way pretty soon, but she loves me to hold her like a baby.

So the first week of school is over. I don't know about anyone else, but I am sleeping in tomorrow morning!

Summer 2013 Family Visits

This summer has been very busy. Now that I am back working, there doesn't seem to be enough time for fun. But sometime we just have to make time.

My sister and her husband are living in Arizona and they came to the midwest for a wedding and graduation this summer, and packed all kinds of visits in, too.  They came up to Traverse City on a Monday for one night to my daughter's house. I had to work, but I came after work. I was lucky that my daughter watched A. for me that day, so all I had to do was show up for dinner. Afterward we met A's Daddy at the local ice cream shop, but they were packed and hosting a benefit. So we went into TC and found a cute little ice cream shop where we all had a great family visit and some good ice cream treats.

We went to the fair again with A's step-siblings. They got to go on the rides and had a great time.

Here are a couple of random shots of A. with Baby Kimmie.

    Too Cute!

    And too silly!

And finally my visit to Indiana to see family. It was Western Days Festival in August. I knew several of my siblings were going to be there, so A. & I packed up for a whirlwind weekend with family. Turns out I was able to see my 4 brothers and 2 sisters, 10 nieces and nephews, some spouses in there and there were 9 great nieces & nephews. 

This is the youngest group--the oldest is a teenager and the youngest just turned one this summer.

This pic is a little off-center, but these are the cousins who were there, missing 2 girls who came later.

These are my siblings with 2 spouses. We are arranged in birth order starting on the left.

And here is the bunch of us who made it to Indiana for the weekend. Emily and Lindsey had to work, so they came later, but missed the pictures. My oldest brother came from Michigan City with his daughter and 3 grandsons. My youngest brother came from PA with his 2 daughters. My middle sister came from AZ, and her 2 daughters who live in Chicago were there. My FL brother came with his wife as part of a 3-week summer trip out East. His 2 boys were here, one with his girlfriend and their small daughter. We gathered at my sister's house with her husband and daughter. My younger brother, who I stayed with, lives close by and brought his 2 granddaughters. His oldest daughter came later. My oldest daughter combined a trip to Chicago with this visit and was there with her husband and 3 boys. 

A few random photos:

    A. can't stay away from little ones.

    Sisters!

    My sister got to be good friends with little Ella.

This is a good friend from high school who is also close to the family. He was up north for a tennis tournament (he's a tennis ref). He surprised us and stopped on his way back to Alabama.

Then my brother and I took the kids to the Festival to ride the rides. 

It was HOT!

I tried to take a few random pictures of the family when we were sitting around, but they weren't flattering, so I'll just add the one that was. Emily finally made it and A. was happy to see her.

It was so good to see so many family members together. This was a fast and furious visit for all of us. I told everyone that I felt like I was at something like one of those speed dating things where you only get 2 minutes to talk to someone and then buzz, you have to move on. But I was able to speak to and hug everyone, so it was well worth the effort!

We stayed at my brother's, and his granddaughters were there, too. The girls played well together and really didn't want to leave each other.

It's been so much fun spending time with family. As you can see, I spend most of my time with family. They are so very important to me, and I cherish each and every one.