FIRST GRADE!!!

Last Friday there was a meet and greet at Sydney's new school. We all went over and got to meet her new teacher. She was the first kid in the class, so she got to choose her desk first. She got a good seat where she can see the Smartboard and teacher well. Her teacher seems REALLY nice and I think we're going to like her. She's great about communicating with parents, which eases a lot of my anxiety. I'm so used to the small private pre-school / Kindergarten environment and being able to see and talk to her teachers twice a day! This is a whole new ball game for all of us!

We all survived the first day! It was questionable for a while, but we did it! Sydney got up like a champ with her alarm clock this morning and came bounding down the stairs. I greeted her with a hug for my FIRST GRADER! I asked if she was excited and she said she was, but she was shaking because she was anxious. She pulled herself together, got her breakfast and got ready really quickly. Mornings have been a HUGE struggle with 2 kids - despite getting things ready the night before, it still takes HOURS to get out the door in the morning, so I was worried about being on time this morning. Especially since Brad's out of town at a sales meeting. But we did it! Even with time to spare for a few photos.

We had to sign her up for before and after school care at a daycare around the corner from our house. Not my first choice, but there aren't many options that bus to her elementary school that don't mean an extra hour of driving for me each day :( I'm so, so, so spoiled by Connor's school and Sydney's prior school. This daycare has a bus to take kids to and from school, though, so that's what we chose. With us both working full time, we just can't always be home when the county bus would pick her up / drop her off. I told her I'd stay with her this morning to see her off on the bus (partially for my own sanity). We got there about 15 minutes before the bus was supposed to leave, so she played with some of the kids there and Connor and I just hung out. When it was time, she grabbed her backpack, hopped on the bus, and waved good bye! I may or may not have shed a few tears...she was completely fine. She knew where to go once she got to school because of our visit on Friday.

I worked from home so I could be there when the bus got back this afternoon. School gets out at 3:05 and is only a mile or two from the daycare, so I headed over around 3. Turns out the bus also picks up kids from another school, so they didn't get back to the daycare until 4. I think they got delayed at Sydney's school because they were looking for a kid who only goes in the morning, so I hope it doesn't take that long every day. If it does, I'm afraid we'll have to figure something else out. I'm willing to chalk today up as the first day and everyone getting used to a new routine.

She said she liked her first day, but it was a little "boring," lol. I think there was a lot of listening to the rules, etc., and not as much "center" based, hands on instruction as she's used to. She did get to go to recess and they had a fire drill. She tripped during the fire drill and had to go to the nurses office to get bandaged up. Nothing a few band aids couldn't fix. She says tomorrow they get to go to the library and she's not sure when they have music class. She's the only one in her class who didn't do Kindergarten at this school last year, so she's still learning her way around. The other kids in her class seem very nice and willing to help her learn her way around.

I did get a really sweet email from her teacher. I emailed her this morning wishing her a good first day. She's awesome and wrote back during lunch.

Thank you for the well wishes to start off the day! Sydney is doing great and has already earned two “paw points” for kind acts. She lent a friend a crayon when they did not have one and one for helping a friend remember to use the quiet signal in a kind way! She is working hard and looks to be having a lot of fun too!

I hope she continues to be a good friend and hope she has a good and challenging year ahead! Fingers crossed that tomorrow goes smoothly as well!

Catching Up!

I've really neglected this blog. Sorry! To say that life with 2 kids, 2 crazy work schedules, a terrible commute, kids activities, doctors appointments, getting ready for school has been "easy" would be a lie. We're always on the run and have very little down time. But I know that's a good problem to have. Let me try to catch up on what's been going on the past few months...

Connor turned 9 months old last week. He's crawling, pulling himself to standing, going through severe separation anxiety (from me), and eats EVERYTHING in sight despite not having any teeth yet. I can't put him down or he gets MAD. His favorite toys are his Little People farm and his dino ball popper. He's still happy most of the time, but we've regressed a little in the sleep department due to his newly found skill of sitting up from laying down and pulling himself up in the crib. There's too much to do that he doesn't want to lay down! He moves up to the next room at daycare next week and I think he's ready. There are more standing toys there (and mats so he can safely fall down) and they eat at their own tables. He's almost entirely feeding himself table foods at this point, so he's ready for that. He and I are still dairy, nut, and (obvious sources of) soy free - his doctor wants us to stay that way until a year, at which point 90% of kids typically outgrow their food intolerances. He's a little guy at 16lbs 13oz - 3rd percentile for weight. 28" or 25-50% for height. He's growing just fine, he's just small. He's also anemic (which could be part of the reason he's so small), so we're starting an iron supplement as well.

He loves riding the "bikes" at school!

Look at me! But now how do I get back down???

Terrible picture, but this was him saying good morning on the day he turned 9 months. Sydney goes in to get him in the mornings and he always sits up and smiles at her :)

He made us a zebra at daycare :)

We visited friends at the beach last weekend. He wore his Nittany Lion hat like a champ!

Sydney's doing extremely well. We've had a really busy summer and she's been at "camp" at Connor's school. It's a camp program for school age kids, so she's been with kids older than her and she's had a blast. I think it'll be a good transition for her from Kindergarten in a small private school setting to first grade in a public school setting. Speaking of which, she starts FIRST GRADE on Monday!!! Where in the world did the time go??? We get to go to a meet and greet on Friday. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time! She and I went shopping for her school supplies and she was excited to pick out her binder, notebook, etc. I think she's really going to do well.

She ran a 1K a few weeks ago when I did a 5K. She ran it by herself and had a blast! 

She wanted to read Connor a bedtime story and he was just ready for bed. 

We visited friends a few weeks ago and tried to get all of the kids in one picture. It was really hard to get them all to look at the same place, lol. Ages 5 months to almost 6 years. 

Sitting up and playing at daycare.

Connor meets the Nittany Lion for the first time. Sydney hadn't seen the lion since she was about Connor's age!

Hiding amongst the massive number of stuffed animals in Sydney's bed. 

Even the babies get waterplay at daycare!

Swimming with her new fins!

On a shell hunt. 

Unwinding after a long day at the beach / pool.

She wasn't tired...

Toes are yummy!

At the dive shop waiting for Brad to load his gear onto the boat.

The dive boat (and the machine gun that was salvaged from the U-352)

At lunch waiting for our condo to be ready.

Hope everyone is well and I'll try to do better about keeping this updated!

Vacation!!!!!

Probably my favorite time of the year...our annual family vacation to Atlantic Beach. This is our 5th year coming here and we love it so much. While we're still on the hunt for the "perfect" condo to rent, it's an absolutely wonderful week. We're able to unplug, no TV, no work calls, no work emails (well, not too many), sleeping and eating when and where we want to, relaxing time sitting on the beach doing nothing, reading lots of books, swimming, eating good food, the list goes on and on. The beaches here aren't crowded at all and the water is warm and relatively calm, so it's really great for a vacation with kids.

We stopped in Raleigh on the way down to visit with our friends, Jeff and Kathryn. Their kids, Carson and Sienna are close in age to Sydney and they all had a BLAST. We got to meet a lot of their neighbors at their Fourth of July picnic and even got to enjoy some fireworks in the cul de sac :) Connor was NOT a fan of those!

Started out the ride with a stop at Starbucks. One of the few places I can get a dairy free milk alternative! Needless to say, the car was PACKED with an extra car seat this year. We ended up getting a roof rack, which simplified the packing greatly.

We have a bookworm on our hands. She read most of the way to Raleigh. 

Our condo wasn't ready when we got here on Sunday, so we went across the street to the restaurant on the water. That's become our stand by if the condo isn't ready yet (technically check in is at 4pm, but sometimes we can get in earlier). Sydney had a blast waving at all of the boats going by. Connor was not so impressed!

Sydney showing us that 10 boats had waved back to her :)

This is the view from the deck at our condo!!! We're staying in the same development as last year, but tried a different unit. We loved the development last year, but weren't convinced that the unit was *the* one. There aren't elevators here, so it can be a bit of a hassle to haul stuff up 3 flights of stairs. So we walked around last year and figured out which units we wanted to try. We thought this one would be good with a non-mobile infant. It's on the first floor (which we usually don't like), but the deck has direct access to the beach, rather than having to go down a bunch of stairs and through a parking lot. Makes it a thousand times easier for me to haul the beach cart down to the beach by myself with 2 kids in tow. Definitely worth it for this year, though I think maybe we'd like being up a little higher next year. 

Brad went grocery shopping and the kids and I walked down to the beach. See how uncrowded it is???

She walked right in - the water temp is around 80 degrees, so it's not cold at all! 

When Brad got back from the grocery store and after we had put everything away, we went over to the dive shop so he could drop off his gear and get his tanks set up. Sydney LOVES the Neptune statue and was really excited to have her picture taken with Connor and Neptune :)

Last year she was terrified of this. This is the gun that was recovered from the sunken U-352.

Silly faces at bedtime.

Not a bad way to spend a Monday, right? Connor didn't like the ocean and held his feet up (I think the noise of the waves scared him), but he LOVED the sand. I wouldn't let him play in it, though, because his hands are always in his mouth. We brought an inflatable baby pool for him and had Sydney fill it with buckets of ocean water, so at least he can play in there, stay cool, and not get too sandy. 

We ate lunch on the deck. Beautiful weather!

Toes are yummy! Lol.

Connor didn't sleep AT.ALL today. He needs to take a lesson from his sister...being at the beach is very tiring!

Big Boy!

Look who is sitting up unassisted!

He likes Cheerios, but they always end up on his chin. He's not a fan of green beans!

First Grade Bound (hopefully...)!

As part of the early entrance process, we took Sydney to her elementary school this morning so she could participate in both Kindergarten and first grade classes and have the teachers observe her both academically and socially. Though she was a bit shy at first, she was telling the Reading Coordinator all about her two lost teeth and favorite movie (Frozen) by the time they were halfway down the hallway (I stayed in the office while she went to the classrooms). We still have to formally apply (sometime this summer), so there are still no guarantees, but both of the teachers who observed her were recommending placement in first grade, so we'll see what happens. What matters, though, is that she was comfortable and had a good time. I'm so glad that she enjoys school and reading so much.

She loves reading so much that her teachers at her current school gave her a chapter book to borrow to read to herself. We've been reading it at bedtime and she just told me tonight that she's already read it cover to cover several times. That's my girl! We're driving to Charlotte later this week (yay!) and I bought her two of my favorite books from childhood (The Phantom Tollbooth and Bridge to Terabithia) in hopes that she'll want to read them to me and Connor as we drive.

She had soccer again tonight and is doing really well. She finally "gets" it and really goes after the ball. Her coach is the same as she had in the fall and he's really great with the kids. He doesn't take any crap from them, but teaches them skills and teamwork. I've been really happy with the soccer program in general, especially now that she's out of the youngest age bracket. We'll keep doing soccer through the summer and fall and will probably try gymnastics this summer possibly with a session of swimming sprinkled in there. Two activities is about the max we can handle with our schedule. Every single weekend is booked between now and almost October (crazy, huh?), so we have to do at least one activity during the week and that is HARD to do with a commute / Brad's travel schedule / 2 daycare / school pickups. One more month of them being in different school's, then we at least have a few weeks of having them together. That will simplify life immensely.

I love these tables at school. Connor LOVES to play with his friends. 

She was TIRED on the way to pick up Connor the other day! She insisted that she wasn't, but I beg to differ...

Swinging on a nice spring day!

First time in a "big boy" swing! He's ALWAYS smiling (except when he's angry and crying, that is).

It's going to be a very busy couple of weeks. We're going to Charlotte this week to visit Aunt Jenny and Grandma Speicher. Then we have Sydney's graduation from Kindergarten and dance recital. Thinking of how crazy it's going to be gives me anxiety, but we'll figure it out - it always works out somehow!!!