Sarah Jane's first day of first grade

 Sarah Jane started first grade today.  First we had our annual photo shoot.  She was pretty goofy in the pictures by herself.  Her smile was much more genuine after she got all the other kids to join her.

On the way up to school the fun of her new outfit wore off and she got pretty quite.  By the time we got to playground she was gripping my hand and I was having flashbacks to Kindergarten trauma.

Despite having several wonderful friends in her class (including Sophie, phew!) she was pretty shut down as we waited for the bell to ring.  She has Ms. Rosen this year who I've heard is absolutely amazing.  (Whoohoo!)  When the bell finally rang, Ms. Rosen took one look at Sarah Jane (who was in tears at that point) took her hand and marched off to the classroom with Sarah Jane leading the line.  By the time we got from the basketball courts to the door, she assigned Sarah Jane the job of holding open the door which of course made Sarah Jane feel very important and she was ready to let go of the hand and proudly hold the door open and then fall in at the back of the line.  Total magic. 

The parents weren’t sure if we were supposed to follow along so we all sort of meandered after their line and up the stairs to room 207 where we hovered outside the door.  Ms. Rosen looked out and told us we "all looked sad standing out there, so come on in!"  So in we all shuffled.  She had the kids sit on the rug, then she blew a soft whistle and they all moved to the outside of the rug on queue and then they all introduced themselves (Ms. Rosen started) passing around a rock and then she announced that the parents would leave, so we all did!  It was all extremely organized!!! DOUBLE PHEW!!!

Cousins! (and last Myrtle Beach post)

We had a great time seeing cousins Blake and Juliet at MB.

 

Juliet (6 months) is a big hit.  The boys love to hold her - they get all set up on the couch with a pillow in their laps, locate Aunt Kiki and yell "Hold Bebe Hold Bebe!."  Sarah Jane loved feeding Juliet her mushed up bananas and Anna just put her face 2 inches from Juliet's and made cooing noices.  Both Juliet and Aunt Kiki were very accomodating for all of this! 

Blake was also accomodating and shared his little sister (and the attention of his cousins.) 

For the record, I did a terrible job taking pictures of the adults this time around.  We were there with Aunt Laurie, Uncle Matt, Uncle Geoff, Aunt Kiki, Nana and Papa.  I've included the one picture I got of Aunt Laurie below.  Next time I'll get more!

Playing at Myrte Beach

 

While nothing can match the pure glee that the kids experienced the first evening we took them out to the beach, they had a great time playing in the sand and the waves every day.  Eli is in orange shorts below (backwards I know.)

 

Finding sand flees was a big hit.

It wasn't this hazy - everytime I took my camera out the humidity fogged it up.  I loved this picture anyway.

Eli loved sitting in his beach chair and having his snacks.  Snacks were a big theme of the week for the kids, they had lots of them; meals, not so much.

The girls have been doing a lot of ballet thanks to Teacher Paula.  They both just finished a week of ballet camp, Anna was a mouse in Cinderella (performance attended by Uncle Mike & Aunt Julia!) and Sara Jane was the evil fairy's helper in Sleeping Beauty.

 Roby had a tough wake up from his nap our last day but got some nice cuddle time wth dad.



Sarah Jane turns 6

Sarah Jane is six.  Headed in to first grade.  She counted to 100 this morning, no problem.  She is well on her way (though not all the way there) to reading.  She can swim accross the pool and isn't scared of waves anymore.  She is almost not scared of dogs.  She is a terrific big sister.  She's also great at pushing her parent's buttons.  She can drive us batty but when she's good, she's very, very good.

 

We started off the morning with French Toast (a la Dave) and hand made aprons (a la Aunt Whitney.)  Everyone got an apron.  These pictures don't do them justice.  Aunt Ellie and I suggested she go in to business and sell them on Etsy.  Whitney claims she's sticking with medicine.

 

After breakfast Sara Jane got to open her presents.  But first she had to wait while everyone got their coffee. Here is Zeke and all his helper baristas.

 This is how much she wanted to open her presents: She brushed her hair without me asking.

Sarah Jane is not as effusive as Anna when she receives her gifts.  However, she still scores high in the graciousness department as she let her siblings "help" her open all her presents.  What followed was a complete melee of tissue paper destruction as well as four very satisfied kiddos.

Sarah Jane's favorite present was a CD player and some "Children's Favorites" CDs.  This is the dance party that ensued.  Huge hit.  I don't think I've ever given such a successful present (with the possible exception of the Kegorator.)  On the flip side, we have all listened to "If you're happy and you know it..." on repeat since 10am this morning.  So far no one has a) killed me or b) destroyed the CD player but I can't vouch for tomorrow.

During quiet time, Sarah Jane helped me make her cake which was actually a bunch of cupcakes stuck together frosted with blue (aka green) frosting with a rainbow, some clouds and a giant "S" (all her request.)  The picture below makes it look like Sarah Jane decorated the cake.  Sadly, it was me.  Sarah Jane took one look and said, "Mom, is that the best you can do."  I replied yes.  She said, "I guess it's not so bad..."



Post cake, SJ and Anna had a long Face Time conversation with Nana and Papa.  Here they are showing Nana and Papa Anna's new hair band from GG.

 They also spun some tunes on the boom box.

Finally, after a long day of waiting, she had her birthday party; party favors purchased during "Camp Pickle" earlier in the summer, mac n' cheese and bbq chicken.  Momentary glitch when Eli blew out all the candles on the cake but they were re-lit and we re-sung and all was well. 

 Happy birthday big girl.

 

Myrtle Beach Morning

I took the kids for a walk on the beach at 6:30 one morning.  Ostensibly to let Dave sleep but really to play with my new camera while the light was good.  They had fun.  Sarah Jane and Anna did ballet.  Roby drew in the sand and Eli watched all of us like a hawk to make sure we didn't get too close to the waves. 

 

 



Anna turns four!

Anna turned four today!  She had a great day despite some hiccups (rain and a sick grandma.)  She kicked it off with blue pancakes made by her Dad (below.)  Sarah Jane is having her annual "Say what? My sister gets a day all to herself and I have to WAIT for mine????" moment.  She got over it.  

After breakfast, Anna and Roby played with bubbles in the rain, had rainy day art time with Aunt Ellie, made her cake and got goofy in Pickle's bed. 

 

The sun came out and we had a lovely time at the beach.  Hanging out with kids who play in the water at the beach is pretty great.  Dave and I are enjoying this summer more than last.

 

After dinner we had cake and presents.  Anna is the most gracious four year old present getter I've ever witnessed.  Every single present was greeted with a (genuine) "This is exactly the.... thing I wanted!!!!"  Usually it was a "thing" because she didn't know what it was but she knew she really wanted it!  Highlights from this bout of gifting included a Unicornio purse from Sarah Jane, a Unicornio art project from mom and dad, an apron from Aunt Whitney and a sticky spider from Aunt Ellie. 



 After cake and ice cream she got her big present, a new bike!

 Roby and Eli inherited the old Skuuts

 

We have a whole fleet!