Happy Halloween!

Halloween was, as usual, totally great.  We kicked it off in the hay maze at the pumpkin patch.

 Everyone picked out their own pumpkins.

 The Cragmont parade was a bit of a bust this year as it got rained out and the kids just walked up and down the hall way.  The adults felt a little claustrophobic, the kids still seemed to think it was great.  Our kids had quite a fan club - Mom, Dad, Eli, Roby, Nana, Papa, Grandma, Zeke, Aunt Ellie, Elizabeth and Vicky.  It's good to be loved.

 Anna's class was feeling the excitement.  Halloween + Rainy Day + Sub = Trouble.  I did not get a picture of the insanity but I did get them when they were finally calm post parade.  The power of putting in a video...

 There were a lot of helpers making the celebration happen.

 Eli and Roby examined Kindergarten.  They weren't totally convinced.

 I got my annual favorite picture of the year.

 The conductor, the engineer and their passenger.

 Our tennis pro giving out some of the 500 pieces of candy that we went through.

 Post trick or treating.

 Dave and Roby examining Roby's loot.

Happy me.  Good night!

Birthday party

We had the girls' birthday party two weeks ago.  This one was a Frozen themed movie watching popcorn/pizza/cupcake decorating extravaganza.  We started out decorating pop corn bags with Olaf faces.  The kids liked this a lot.  I was less enthused with the cutting this required...

 Then we had some bouncing.

 Group picture before the pizza!

 The big kids watched Because of Winn Dixie...

 ..while the littles got Frozen on the big screen.  Grandma finally watched all of Frozen and now gets what all the talk is about.

 Post movies we had cupcake decorating (which was my solution to not wanting to decorate the cupcakes myself. Definitely a win-win.)

 Happy birthday girls.

For the record, we have now celebrated Anna's fifth birthday FIVE times: In May at pre-school (summer birthdays go in May), in South Carolina with Nana, Papa and the Hoverman Aunts and Uncles and cousins, in Tahoe for Birthday week with the Smuseby family, at the birthday party above AND THEN last Friday in Kindergarten (summer birthdays go in the Fall.)  Lots of birthday, I think she could get used to this...

First day for the boys (two weeks ago)

The boys started at the Red Room two weeks ago.  I neglected to post a picture because it was such a non-event for them.  They walked up the steps, found their cubbies, removed their lunches, took off their shoes and commenced playing.  No big whoop.

 The only concern seems to be when they will get to go to the blue room.  They would prefer that the Blue room happens "tomorrow" and that Kindergarten happens the day after that.  These guys are ready to go.

Smiles from the big sisters who were enjoying their brothers' big day.

Update (post rush)

We got the news last night that Anna got Ms. Kellie (SCORE!!!!!)  There was a fair amount of lobbying from good friend Jacqueline as well as Elizabeth and Ms. Kellie assured everyone that she was going to fight for Anna and she did.  Phew.  We are thrilled.  Anna is in class with Odin (SJ's friend Chloe's little brother) and I know she is going to shine.  Ms. Kellie means business and those kids learn.

In other news... Roby bit through his tongue this morning.  He fell and hit his chin on a chair with his tongue between his teeth.  The Hoverman thinking pose is apparently hazardous.  Turns out that you can bite all the way through your tongue creating a 3/4 in gash from the top and the bottom and NOT need stitches.  His tongue literally hinged open from the middle. We visited the doctor, the dentist and got teeth x-rays just to be sure as his upper two front teeth were also bloody but he is ok.  Roby was incredibly brave in both the doctor's office and the dentist's office, answered all their questions while spewing blood out of his mouth and collected not one but THREE dinosaurs as prizes which he carefully shared with his brother when he was released.  

Holding one of his dinosaurs, clutching the bloody rag, sitting in the dentist chair and sporting Anna's dress (also covered in blood.)  Tough guy.

First day of school - Kindergarten and 2nd grade

We kicked off the school year this year with a big day for both Sarah Jane and Anna.  We've been approaching the first day of school with some trepidation from both girls.  Sarah Jane was worried about not being in Sophie's class, I was anxious about who their teachers would be and Anna was just plan anxious.

We drove to Cragmont Tuesday night to get our class assignments.  Sarah Jane has Ms. Dutton (I'm happy!) but is not in class with best friend Sophie.  I was really worried SJ would be crushed and she was, for about 10 seconds, and then she moved on.  Wonders never cease.

Kindergarten at Cragmont kicks off with a four day sorority-esque Rush.  The kids are assigned to a group (Anna is green) and then rotate through the four kindergartens switching teachers each day.  The teachers then put their heads together and distribute the classes and next Tuesday we'll get the big news for Anna.  The girls are no longer anxious; my anxiety continues.

Anna had a hard morning.  There was some fussing and a lot of hand holding and the annual picture torture was a bit tough.

Sarah Jane managed her anxiety until we hit the playground.  But then she found good friend Sirine (in her class this year) and all was well.

Once we found Sirine, I left SJ with Aunt Whitney (who thank goodness was there!) and I headed over to the Kindergarten area with Anna who immediately perked up when she found friend Sienna from pre-school.  Here they are peaking in to Ms. Johnson's room before the bell rang.

We filed in and found her name tag on her desk.  More nerves...

 But then I got a smile!

At pick up, Anna immediately announced that "Mom, school is FUN!" followed by "AND I didn't get sent to the principal's office!!!" Nothing like a low bar for success.

We ended the day with a walk to Grandma's, hanging out with Sophie and Chloe and Odin, cheese and crackers and lots of giggles.  All is well.

These guys are up next!

Sarah Jane is 7

Self Portrait

I cannot get my head around having a seven year old.  For the record, I LOVED six.  Six was sweet and kind and good to her siblings, rational, happy with friends and school, helpful AND still held my hand.  I'm pretty sure the hand holding is going away this year and I'm looking for the pause button.  I'm going to miss six.  BUT, onto 7!

We celebrated SJ's birthday at Tahoe.  She was very particular about her food orders, not just for her but also thinking through what the grownups would eat.  For breakfast she wanted croissants and her favorite cheese (Dubliner from CostCo.)  Grownups could have eggs if they wished.  For lunch, she requested that we layout a sandwich spread and everyone could make their own sandwich. She wanted salami and butter on English muffin.  Her birthday was on a Friday so for dinner she wanted pizza since we always have pizza on Friday's.  We made the pizzas from scratch.  She requested chocolate cake which heretofore has been verboten as Chocolate:MyKids as Cocaine:EveryoneElse.  Feeling up to the challenge we went with the Chocolate (thanks Aunt Whitney!) and the kids handled it with aplomb.  We might be lifting the chocolate at dinner restriction going forward (still to be decided.)

At seven, Sarah Jane is calm, rationale and kind.  She is an excellent conflict moderator and an loving big sister.  She is an observer and more often than not, waits for the world to come to her as opposed to going out to the world.  It takes a bit to warm her up but once you are in the circle of trust she is can be silly and goofy and fun.  She has plenty of authority on the home front and doesn't seem to need to push things with her friends.  She can get mad at her siblings (well, one sibling) but after an initial burst of pique, she more often than not takes the highroad and shares whatever precious toy is under dispute.  Sarah Jane is 100% sure about what she likes and what what she doesn't like, and she is NOT influenced by what others (her mother in particular) thinks she SHOULD like.  She does not appreciate others making up her mind for her but given the opportunity to decide for herself she can occasionally be open to new experiences.

At seven, Sarah Jane loves:

Water sports: This year she figured out swimming quickly moving up two levels in lessons and making it into the deep pool.  She also LOVES paddle boarding and spent most of the summer ferrying her father up and down the beach at Tahoe.  She's brave and confident on the water and pretty fast too!

French toast, pancakes and cheese: Sarah Jane is essentially a camel, filling up on french toast and pancakes on the weekend (man-sized portions) and melted cheese on crackers at Grandma's house on Wednesdays after school.  Other than that she subsists on air and water.

Directing "shows": Sarah Jane likes to direct shows for the other kids to perform in.  Everybody gets dressed up in elaborate costumes.  Then Roby says "LADIEEEEES AND GENELMEN!!!!" and we all clap and then Sarah Jane whispers instructions and Anna and Eli do something and then we call clap again.  Hours of entertainment.

Calendar & Whiteboarding: Ms. Rosen who was SJ's amazing first grade teacher did a great deal of math using the calendar. If, for instance, it was the 22nd day of the month, the class did a lot of math problems to figure out different ways to get to 22.  They did this every day at the start of the class and a lucky kid would put the day card into the calendar and use Ms. Rosen's wooden spoon to point.  Sarah Jane LOVES the calendar, loves writing on the whiteboard and she loves math.  I LOVE that she loves math.  On this we are 100% aligned.

Books: SJ is our early riser and most mornings after 6 find her cozy in bed with a pile of books.  Reading aloud to her siblings is her preference rather than reading to herself.  Favorite books are Geronimo Stilten (graphic novels about a mouse) and Berenstein Bears.

Music: Sarah Jane got a cd player for her birthday last year and it might be the best present I've ever gifted outside of the kegerator.  SJ DJs every morning and we have a never ending happy dance party.  We're still mainly on kid music but she's slowly starting to be interested in pop.  Her younger siblings are way ahead of her on that front as they seem to know all the lyrics on the Top 100 radio they listen to with Elizabeth but Sarah Jane has preferred to hold on to her youth.

Rhianna in the headphones

Checking her email: Sarah Jane loves borrowing my phone and checking her gmail account.  While she's there she peruses the weather (reporting every city that has thunderstorms) and instagram (another favorite.)  For those of you who have corresponded with SJ, you know that writing back isn't her priority (you get something like: a;lkjdsfasdkjfwer hahaha) but reading her emails has helped a lot with her reading this year.

More favorites... Ms. Rosen (first grade teacher) and Chris and Kris (Uncle Eric's sister and to-be-brother-in-law)

Ms. Rosen for first grade

Chris and Kris

Sarah Jane dislikes:

Unknown Media: Sarah Jane will agree to watch Berenstein Bears, Caillou, Dinosaour Train and Dora on TV.  She also enjoys Football and Baseball.  She categorically refuses to watch anything else although we've broken her into Frozen and now that's on the accepted list too.  Un-vetted movies are NOT ok.

Meat: Outside of salami, we have an emerging vegetarian.  I'm not sure she knows salami is meat.  I'm ok with that.

Homework: Sarah Jane is NOT a fan of homework.  Kindergarten was brutal.  I decided that for 1st grade, completing homework would be up to her and that was a better approach.  It still required a great deal of attention from me which SJ's siblings did not either appreciate nor enable.  Hopefully 2nd grade will be more self-sufficient!

Thunderstorms: We had a lot of these this summer and SJ is NOT a fan.  I think she might choose a bear over lightening.

Huddling with Zeke during a thunderstorm

And flashback to 7 years ago...