Now We Will Have School for the Rest of Our Lives

Daphne is officially a student now.  Tuesday night was open house and today was the first day.

At the open house the kids found their name tags and sat at the teacher's feet so she could tell them that on Thursday they will get to paint with watercolors (and Daphne shouts, "I HAVE THOSE PAINTS!  I PAINT WITH THOSE!") and draw the number one ("I CAN DRAW A 'D'!") and maybe play outside (she was distracted at that point, turned around and talking to the boy behind her).  They can bring a stuffed animal ("I HAVE A DOG ANIMAL I CAN BRING!") with them to keep them company, if they like. 

So in the car I told her that when her teacher is talking, she'll have to remember to sit quietly and listen to her instructions.  It's rude to interrupt, she'll have to practice being quiet and patient.

She says, "Well, can I just talk to my friends instead?"

"No, Daphne, you have to be quiet when the teacher is talking.  It's important to listen to her."

"I think I will just talk to myself."

"Nope, you have to be quiet."

"No,"  she says, "I will just talk to myself."

For the love, Daphne.  Silence is golden.  

Pray for her teacher, I think.  And for the little girl talking to herself at school because her mom told her not to talk to her teacher or to her friends.

front and center might not be the best spot for her

we discovered her classroom was David's AWANA classroom many years ago

Wednesday was a long day of anticipation, waiting for the morning to come, wanting to pack her backpack full, reminding me over and over that we can't be late for school.

She asked, "I get to be at school by myself, right?"

"Yes, we will take you and help you hang your backpack on your hook, but then you can stay all by yourself,"  I told her.

"I can hang my backpack all by myself.  I don't need help.  Can I walk into the school by myself?"

"Your teacher said she didn't want little children walking in the parking lot alone, so we will walk you from the car to your classroom.  Then you can hang your backpack by yourself."

That seemed to pacify her.  I guess the "your teacher said" line is going to work well for us.

School starts at 9 A.M. and it took us exactly three minutes to get there.  Best drive ever, and it's fabulous to not have to rush out the door before we're all properly awake.  

Once we were back at home, David took Christian for a walk and I turned on Norah Jones and cleaned the house.  It was so peaceful and I realized why moms get so excited when school starts back up in the fall.

After pick up we heard that she was upset because they didn't play on the playground for very long and she wanted to eat more food at snack time.  She painted, made puppets, read stories, and she wants to go to school everyday forever and ever.

The letter from her teacher this week says, "My number one goal is to teach your child about our great creator God, who made them and loves them and will walk with them through their whole life."

How blessed we are to have our children surrounded by people teaching them these truths.  It's going to be a good year.

I thought she looked tired after school,  A giant lunch restored her energy.

Beware of Little Boys

I thought girls were the most fun babies to have.  Hair bows and dresses and tea parties and all that.  Pink and purple and sparkles. (I really love sparkles.)

But then I had a baby boy.  Blue and green and brown.  Trucks, tractors, trains.  And let me tell you, there is nothing like it. Those people who say you can never find cute boy clothes?  I think they are not looking in the right places.  Boy clothes are plentiful and a special kind of darling. 

Boys aren't better than baby girls; not by a long shot.  It's just so different and unexpected and wonderful.  Impossible to guess until you get to have one.
 
My baby boy turned two on Saturday.  You would know that if I was up on my blogging.  My regular laptop needs a new charging cord and this old one is so slow and crotchety I like to use it as little as possible.

To record Christian's birthday festivities, though, I will endure.

I draw two things for him every day: a train and a bus.  Then he turns the page in the notebook and I draw another train and another bus.  He turns the page and...you get the picture. 

So for his birthday gifts we got him a Playmobil bus and a board book with the song "The Wheels on the Bus."  We sing "Wheels on the Bus" every night at bedtime.  (Along with "God is so Good," because we like a variety in our musical genres.) 

For lunch we went to a restaurant that is a grilled cheese sandwich shop on a bus, and at suppertime he got a bus on top of his cupcake cake.  Best Mother Award in the Bus Theme Birthday Category?  Yes.


 

stick a bus on a cupcake and call it good

birthday dinner with the grandparents

first use of the You Are Special plate

the driver on the bus says "move on back"

'mommy put the bus on the cake but I want it'

I leave you with this warning: beware of little boys.  They will steal your heart clean away.

You will probably never get it back. 

Maybe Summer Will Never End

I've felt decidedly un-bloggy lately.  I've had no deep thoughts.  Hardly even any shallow thoughts.  No thoughts at all.

The lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer have grabbed hold of my brain and it's possible they'll never give it back.  

We have just under two weeks before the fall crazy begins.  Two days a week of preschool and two days a week of BSF, plus a few other activities we're trying to decide if we should be a part of.  Schedule juggling and dividing of driving duties and wondering how much traffic we're going to have to fight.  I know it's nothing compared to most, but it will be very different for us, and a little scary because we kind of prefer a slower pace of life.

Evenings of sitting on the porch with Daph while Christian plays soccer with himself in the driveway. Walks to playgrounds, hours in the living room with the Playmobil, wearing nothing but a diaper and not taking the time for shoes...it appears that those are the activities we are drawn to, and that the busyness of grown up life might not suit us quite as well. 

Tell me that we're going to survive, 'cause right now we're not exactly sure. 
 
















Long live summer. 

There's a First Time For Everything

Our tomato plants were looking heavy with red fruit this morning, and to my great surprise, I picked a basket full of tomatoes, peppers, and onions.  It was time to be brave and make some salsa. 

food thief

I say 'brave' because I think everyone who grows even the tiniest of kitchen gardens makes their own salsa each year, but I've always been a little intimidated to try.  Are you shocked and appalled?  Part of it was not knowing a good recipe, and salsa isn't one of those foods where you want to spend the afternoon slicing and dicing, peeling tomatoes and crying over onions, only to have the batch turn out disgusting.

I like following the Old World Garden Farm blog.  My 'gardening' pin board is full of great tips from them, so I felt their salsa recipe was one I could try and get a good result. 

The recipe is really easy, and I'm so pleased with the fact that all the main ingredients came from my garden.  I mean, I didn't grow the limes, or the garlic (I'll do that next year), or the cilantro (that, too), or the apple cider vinegar (but I have a recipe to make my own, which I will be doing as soon as apple season is here), and I also didn't make my own salt or pepper.  So when it comes right down to it, growing only the tomatoes, peppers and onions isn't really that impressive.  Never mind.  I'll try to do better next time.

And do better I will!  I'm glad to have this salsa-making skill under my belt so that my garden can forever be grown with this recipe in mind. As soon as more tomatoes are ready this year, more salsa will be made.  Guaranteed. 

David stopped by this evening to try a taste and proclaimed it the best salsa he's ever had.  Is he lying?  He seemed serious, and he also said we don't need to buy salsa ever again.  Sounds legit. 

Anniversary Eve

Nine year ago tomorrow this was going on at my parent's house:

These photos are not from 9 years ago, they are from Sunday, and this event had nothing whatsoever to do with our anniversary, but the timing was still fun and the dead pig was just as gross looking now as it was back then.  (But this time Grandpa wasn't carrying the head around on a platter.)  (Yes indeed, that happened at our reception.)

This morning we went on a family walk at the trail along Marine Drive and the Colombia River.  It was a beautiful morning, and apparently happy hour for airplanes because one after another were landing at PDX while we walked, including 6 fighter jets.  The jets look so tiny flying up over our house, but they sure are huge and loud when flying right over our heads in preparation to land.  The kids covered their ears.

The kids are both staying at Gramma and Papa K's house tonight, Christian's first night away from us.  Do you think he will miss me?  We know Daphne won't, but that sweet little boy sure does like me a lot.  I hope he's not sad.

David and I spent the evening walking around downtown, people watching at Pioneer Square and admiring the wardrobe choices of many, shopping, eating, walking along the water.  All of these things were done very slowly and without paying attention to when bedtime was approaching.  It was bliss.

And we still have the whole day tomorrow!  We don't even know what to do with all our time yet; more shopping in a different part of town?  Hiking?  The beach? Try to sleep in past 7?  Stay home and work on our house?  (That idea was tossed in the mix for about 2 seconds before we decided it was a very bad idea.)  The world is our oyster! We must use our hours very wisely. 

Babysitters are totally bomb-diggity.  (David taught me that word.  Oh, the things you learn after living with someone for 9 years.)

An Instagram Wrap-Up

Apparently this is the week for entertaining guests.  Let me do a little mental count...six groups of people in six days.  I think that's a record even for us.  What I love about having people over all the time is that it makes me be really good at meal planning and mostly good at keeping the house clean.  I mean, I also love spending time with the guests who come over, but really, it's the accountability to get all my work done that I enjoy.  (Kidding, kidding; I like the people better.) 

Our activities have included roasting marshmallows for s'mores, babies, Christian deciding he finally likes babies, friends to play ponies with, an overnight visit with GAL, GAL bringing gifts, lunchtime guests and suppertime guests, and tomorrow night will be Book Club.  I better finish up my book.

 

Speaking of GAL (the kids' Great-Aunt-Lori), she lives in Alaska where she has tamed the wild frontier to start a u-pick garden.  She is a workhorse like you wouldn't believe (not like a big, brawny, sweaty workhorse; a delicate, ladylike workhorse) and reading her blog makes me tired sometimes.  It is a life goal of mine to be as productive and energetic as GAL. 

Note that I like linking to other blogs when they write nice things about me? I'm generous like that.

Between guests we've had time for a few other activities.

Christian likes to get out a pile of trucks, tractors and trains and set up roadways and construction sites on the sofa.  He entertains himself for hours a week like this.  I kind of love it.

Because of this link found via Pinterest the kids got to play with a construction sensory box filled with beans and cornmeal.  (The rocks were left out for us because I knew Christian would just throw them as he thinks rocks are for throwing.  And occasionally for chewing on.)  We've done beans before but never cornmeal, and the kids LOVED the cornmeal addition.  The first time we did this they played for an entire hour with hardly a peep out of them. One whole hour.  Isn't that amazing?

Daphne has been in a My Little Pony phase this week (with a few G.I. Joe men mixed in) .  She'll go a month without playing with them and then have a week where she can't get enough.  The other day she had them paired off to get married at a 'marry meeting' (because she didn't know the word for wedding).

I found a big train book at the library for Christian.  It's 10 pages of him asking "what's this?"  and me saying "it's a train."  Then I showed him that I know how to draw a train and now he's constantly shoving a pen in my hand asking for me to draw a 'choo-choo.'  Over and over and over again.

I posted this picture on Sunday of David and I accidentally dressing alike.  It was so embarrassing.  (Except it wasn't because no one said anything and I actually forgot about it over the course of the day since I was always just looking at him and not at him AND me.  So it was fine. Maybe we'll start doing it more often.)

Oak's Amuuuusment Park (You Have to Sing It Like the Commercials Sing It)

Today was David's annual work picnic, and never are we more willing to join in on work events than when they allow our kids free access to Portland's premier amusement park, Oak's Park. 

We've taken them one other time, last summer for the preschool hours where it's like a $3 entrance fee for a preschooler and his/her parents.  Daphne remembers that trip quite clearly, with her memories of it as being the most glorious day of her life.  Therefore when we got to the park this morning she was running around like a maniac, bouncing from ride to ride and more hyper than I've ever seen her in my life.  After she went down the huge slide, she hopped off the bottom with arms in the air and yelled "That was AWESOME!"

Disneyland would blow her mind.  

sometimes it pays to be a shorty

Christian was ambivalent to most everything except the train.  He rode the train twice and the carousel once, which he also thought was a train.  I don't think he has it in him to be quite as expressive in word and action like his big sister, but a solemn, "Dada, Daph, choo-choo" was heard enough times today to let me know he has that memory firmly imprinted on his little brain.  

I was there too. I took a picture of my (beautiful) flowery pants while waiting for the rest of my family to go around the train track.  My job of babysitting the stroller was pretty boring; taking pictures of my pants helped pass the time.  This photo also sparked some fun Instagram chit-chat, so that's always a winner. 

After we got home Daphne's welcome packet for her school came in the mail.  For the first time in 5 years summer actually has a designated end instead of just continuing on until the weather stops being summery.  This year September 3 will come and just like that we move into a new chapter.  For the record, WE ARE NOT READY.