First Day of School 2013

     Once again, and too early I might add, the younglings have returned to school. This year is another pretty big year as The Boy has been joined at the local elementary school by Pickle. Yes, she has moved on up to first grade! She is pumped about it, too. It was hard to hold her back from running out the door this morning after she got dressed. The Boy was not so excited.
     After a fine breakfast of waffles we tied our shoes and headed out. We were joined on our walk by 2 of Pickle's past and present classmates. We thought it would be nice for the three of them to head into the unknown of a new school with the known of some old friends. It helped a great deal. About 4 houses from school Pickle reached down and took the little boy's hand and held it all the way onto the playground. In fact, she was still holding it as the bell rang and they walked into the building.
    I walked down to meet the kids after school and found two very pleased little ones. One was just glad to be out of school for the day and the other just couldn't wait to go back. After a snack of fresh lemon squares a little paperwork was completed and a paragraph about summer vacation written and then the bags were packed for another day.
   

Louisiana Trip Photos

 

Making Memories

Three weeks ago we set off on a 21-day adventure to visit our families in Louisiana. Crazy? Yes! Due to the fact that we have multiple family units, a visit of anything less than 2 weeks is just not enjoyable and flying a family of 5 is plain ridiculous. So the only logical thing to do is pack up the minivan and drive there. We started with few set plans and our only goal was to make sure the kids spent as much time with their grandparents as possible. It was not a vacation for me as I had to work but it was nice to be able to close the laptop at the end of the day and enjoy good food and good family every night. 

There were good dinners out, lots of swimming, a fish fry, multiple nights grilling, more swimming, a bike race, boat rides and tubing, paddle boarding, more swimming, Gator Farms and Science Centers, visits with old friends, and lots of cousin play time. Our motto for the trip was making memories, and I think it will be a summer we will always cherish.

We will post some pictures to show off what a great time we had. To the family and friends who housed us and entertained us, thank you for taking such good care and the good times. And for the family and friends we missed seeing, we'll catch you on the next road trip!

Coach Josh

This boy made that man a Father just over 9 years ago. I know he was thrilled to have a son and could not wait to do the things he enjoyed with his Dad when he was a boy. Playing catch is probably highest on that list. Park has been playing baseball since he was six and started in T-Ball. He has diligently kept at it each fall and spring moving up in age groups through "Farm" (machine pitch) and now he has been in the "Minors" for two seasons. 

 With little girls to chase (and me being pregnant back when we started Little League) JP has not really had much chance to help out any of the teams over the last 3 years. Now that we have made it to Minors where the boys are pitching, JP offered to help out at practices this season focusing on pitching. This was a tremendous bonus giving the other Coaches time to work on other fundamentals with the rest of the team. He was given a team hat for his efforts. Coach John quickly realized he had a gem of a helper and by the time the boys showed up for pictures, they had an extra jersey (Youth Large for the record) for him to throw on and get in the picture which included a father/ son photo that is a perk of being a Coach. 

JP became a valuable addition to the team helping to get the pitchers warmed up, providing insight to Coach John about the level of skill and capabilities of each boy, and maintaining order in the dugout during games. It was a great season for both of these boys. A light seemed to have switched on for Park mid-season and he started trying harder  at each game and asking to play catch and hit more at home to put in the extra time that Josh keeps telling him is needed to be really good. I think a lot of that had to do with JP being so involved in the games and process. 

On this Father's Day I cannot help but be so proud of him and what he is doing to help raise an All-Star.

Kindergarten Graduate

Pickle has graduated! She has been counting down the days until June 1st for the last month as they have been practicing and preparing in school for the big night. I think she was more enthused about the performance and being on the stage than actually graduating as when we finally reached the big night she got teary-eyed during the ceremony at the thought of leaving her school. I think she cried more than me!

We have been a part Community Montessori School since December 2006 when Bubba started so Pickle has been a part of the school since she was born. First as just the new baby sister and then as a student herself. The teachers told us from day one that she was made for Montessori as she was engaged in all parts of the day - songs, art, lessons - and would continually find new work to keep her busy throughout the day. She rarely needed reminding to get to work or find something to do while at school. 

Singing was definitely one of her favorite parts of school. Imagine our surprise when she came home from school singing all these neat songs that she had learned in school and most of which they sing daily. We asked her brother if he learned all those songs and he just said - "yea." Singing and painting were not his favorite Montessori activities!


So after three years at her little Montessori school she finally reached that wonderful childhood milestone of Kindergarten Graduation. The school goes all out with a stage and caps and gowns. Each kid presents a project they had written and created. This year's assignment was to pick a science to research. They had to write three reports - one explaining the science, one on the impact of the science, and one on a famous scientist within that field. Pickle chose Geology and initially wanted to write about her Dad as the famous Geologist, but the teachers kindly encouraged her to find another smart and talented individual instead. She ended up learning about John Wesley Powell.

Now she is off to First Grade - to the "big kid" school where her brother goes. What a difference a year makes in terms of educational milestones. Although Pickle has always been smart and showed a lot of promise last spring, the many things she learned this year have been truly amazing. She is doing double digit addition, reading chapter books, and writing reports. I hope she continues to love school and schoolwork!

Haircuts!

The girls both desperately needed some cleaning up and trimming and I was able to convince Pickle that growing her hair as long as Rapunzel's was just not going to work out.

 We probably could still go shorter with New Kid's hair but this was several inches off and it is a marked improvement and feeling healthier and bouncier already. She loves it and points out to everyone that she got a haircut!

Next up will be Big Brother's summer buzz cut . . . just have not been able to pin him down just yet.

Artichoke Blooms

Ever wonder what happens when you don't harvest your artichokes? 

Beautiful blooms!