Horns

The kids were trying to figure out why a woman was wearing red horns on her head. After they decided it must be part of a costume, Grace said, "Maybe she's being a Texas Longhorn!"  And Jonathan said, "Maybe she's a female Minotaur!"

I didn't even know what to say, but I thought those were great ideas. :)

More ways they're different than their brother

After school, while Jonathan was doing his homework:

Benjmain:  "I can sing!  I designed the perfect song!  I can sing!  I can sing and you can dance!"

Grace:  "OK…can we trade places?"

Benjamin:  "No, not until the last song!"

And they proceeded to discuss who would do which role…and then B started to sing…and then they both sang…and then B yelled at G…
and that's how it goes around here, a lot.

Adventures with Tooth Brushes (August)

Around here, even something simple like brushing teeth can get loud and complicated when all three kids do it at the same time.  This time, amazingly, nobody argued!

It Happens Fast (from August)

This is how fast a little goofing around can go from super happy to super sad.

While We Were Gone on the Cruise

Cheryl took really good care of the kiddos while we were gone.  Here are a couple of pictures she shared with us.  The kids had a great time with her!

Popsicles…in July

When my mom came over to watch the kids for our anniversary in July, she brought smoothie popsicles.  The kids love this special treat of hers!

The First Day of Fourth Grade and Kindergarten…in August

Ready or not, the beginning of school was upon us.  The kids were ready, and I really wasn't.  I love having them home without the constraints of the school day schedule.  But, the kids were excited, so I tried to mirror their excitement.  Also, I shed my tears about sending Grace to kindergarten before the actual first day, so the first day went just fine.

Fourth grade!

Kindergarten!

And, the traditional pictures with each parent.  Jeff was able to juggle his schedule, again, so that he could be there for the first walk to school.  The kids and I love that he does this.

I love this picture with Grace.

And Jonathan is too tall for me to kneel next to him for pictures now.

A very honest picture, right?  Benjamin did NOT want to be in the stroller after a summer out of it, and he did NOT want to leave his brother and sister at school.  It took him at least a month to stop being down-in-the-dumps about the whole situation.  He really misses them - especially Grace - each day.

I love this one.

Grace's teacher had each arriving student put on a name tag and sit down with some Play-Doh.  She was happy, and all was well.  I did hear, later on, that she got weepy during the morning.  Drop off went fine, but apparently, there were about four kids in the class who were crying, and that set her off, too,  She recovered quickly, though, and seemed to be fine after that.  There was one little boy who cried at drop off every day for the first week.  I sure felt badly for him and his teacher…and his elementary-aged sister, who was the one trying to persuade him to stay in his class.

After that first day, we tried adding scooters to the morning mix, and for the first month or two, we always walked with some mix of scooter(s) and stroller.  After that, I realized that my back and shoulders were hurting all the time, and I wondered if it was from pushing my gigantic three-year-old in his stroller.  And it was.  So now, I'm taking a break from the stroller, and we walk sometimes and drive sometimes.  I feel a little wimpy driving, after being such a faithful walker at first.  But with the way Benjamin loves the journey so much more than the destination. and with the way the kiddos have not been very focused about getting ready to go each morning…it's just "one of those things."  And I'm thankful for the driving option when we have a short time to get to and from school.  And, yes, the kids seem to be doing well and enjoying school.  They both get along with their teachers, and they both won academic awards from their teachers for the first end-of-the-month assembly, so we are proud and thankful.

And, for memory lane...

Kindergarten 

First Grade

Second Grade

Third Grade

Isn't THAT Interesting!

The kids all had their 6-month checkup at the dentist last month, and the little kids' teeth looked great, but I now have the mandatory opportunity to re-brush Jonathan's teeth each morning and night.  Let's face it - braces are hard to navigate.  Anyway, what was really interesting was what the dentist said about Benjamin.

She looked at his frenula - the connective skin under his tongue, inside his upper lip, and inside his lower lip, and she told me that they were very thick and that he was a bit tongue-tied.  She said that if his kindergarten teacher noticed any speech problems with Benjamin, that we might want to have surgery to clip the one under his tongue, but that kids cope with it without surgery most of the time.  With speech therapy in Benjamin's history - although he didn't do therapy for a very long time - I found this very interesting.  Could that have influenced his difficulty learning to talk?  And, I have been taking him to the pediatrician and dentist regularly for his whole life (or, in the dentist's case, since he first bashed his teeth.)  So, why is this the first time I've heard about the frenulum issue?

Well, I don't know the answer to that.  But, I'm kind of glad I didn't know.  I imagine that, if I had known when he was first having difficulty talking, there might have been a push for surgery, and I'd much rather avoid surgery in any situation when that's possible.  I think he's coping with his slight tongue tie right now.  He's saying his "L" sound correctly almost all the time now, and his "R" and "TH" sounds are both coming right along, too.  All the other sounds…he already has.  Based on this chart that his wonderful speech therapist gave to me, way back when, I think he's zooming right along. And after looking at my old posts about where he came from, I am SO thankful for all the progress he has made!  He's doing great.  We have so much to be thankful for.  And, I highly doubt we'll be facing surgery under his tongue when he's in kindergarten.

Meeting Her Kindergarten Teacher…in August

Gracie has been excited to turn five and start kindergarten since she was about three years old.  Turning four years old was merely a hurdle she had to jump in order to turn five, as far as she was concerned.  So, kindergarten just couldn't start soon enough!  

However, we noticed that she started having trouble eating a couple of weeks before school started.  She lost her appetite and lost weight, so much so that her swimsuits were loose.  And if you spend any time around us, you know that all of our kids have hearty appetites.  Grace is a bit picky, but she still eats a lot…usually.  Eventually, Jeff and I realized that Grace was worrying about school, but she wasn't able to talk about it for some reason.

In our old school district, the elementary school hosted a wonderful and free program for incoming kindergarteners over the summer.  It was designed for kids who had never darkened the doors of a preschool, and the kids came to a sort of pre-kindergarten each morning for a couple of weeks to get comfortable with the school.  Jonathan participated and loved it, and I think that knowing where the cafeteria and bathroom were, and how school worked, gave him a lot of confidence.

Our new school doesn't offer that program, and now that we don't have it, I really miss it.  Our new school gives us a small window of time to find out who the teacher is and meet her for an hour the Friday before school begins.  So, that's what we did.  And Grace had to choose her own outfit and stuffed animal to bring, although the pink gloves that she first wore were soon replaced by a tiara.  The dress given to her when she was little by our dear friend was a perfect match with her Very Hungry Caterpillar socks.  (Most of the time, Grace chooses very entertaining footwear!)

Benjamin had to get in on the fun.

And here she is with the other kids, meeting her teacher for the first time.  After she met her teacher, her eating issues went away, and she was back to normal.  I had never before seen one of my kids' appetites disturbed that way, but now I have, so I think I know a little bit better how to handle it.  Interestingly, as I was talking to our chiropractor about it, he said that there is an actually medical diagnosis:  September Flu.  He said that every fall, lots of kids have tummy disturbances when school is starting, and they soon go away once things settle down.  Who knew!

Last Swim Before School Started…in August

Although I was against a house with a pool initially, and also because we could not find a house without a pool around here, we have really enjoyed sharing our pool with friends and neighbors.  In these pictures, we're having one last hurrah with our neighbors before the first day of school.  We did swim with them again after this.  Where we live, the first day of school doesn't signify the end of hot weather, or of swimming season!

These awesome splashes were not made by kids, but by Jeff, the champion cannonballer.

My Mom's Birthday (in August)

It's nearly the end of October, and I still have LOTS of pictures in my "blog" folder from the summer.  Sigh…

Anyway, we got together for some swimming and pizza and fun to celebrate my mom's 63rd birthday.  I didn't put 62 candles on her cake, but as you can see, her grandkids still thought she had lots of candle-blowing muscles.  We love you, Mom!

Gifts - Again

Updated:  It has come to my attention that Christmas/birthday shopping has begun…so for those who ask for a list, I've put one up above in the tabs.  I added links and explanations where I could.  If you're looking for a list, it's there for you!  And, please let me know if you have any questions.  AND, please remember small gifts and time together are wonderful!  :)

Two Days at Sea, and Victoria, BC (Last Post About the Cruise)

Once we were done with the Alaska part of our cruise, we were totally satisfied with our experience and ready to come home and see the kids.  However, we had two days to spend at sea until we were back to Seattle.  We didn't take a lot of pictures, but we did a lot of lounging, eating, enjoying the shows, reading, and being lazy.  On the first of the two days at sea, the rocking of the boat was bothering me a bit, so I took a "non drowsy" Dramamine.  I'm glad I didn't take a regular one!  I felt like I lost that day.  I did some reading, but probably even more dozing.  It got rid of my seasickness, but it also put me into a fog.  And here I am at the rear of the ship.

On our last night on the ship, we stopped for a few hours in Victoria, BC.  Due to some rules about international waters that I didn't really try to understand, we were required to land on international soil.  So, here's the Victoria skyline.  It was a very pretty city!

Victoria had pay phones.  We used them to avoid international charges on my cell phone because, remember, Jeff's phone was at the bottom of a fjord.  

At one of our dinners in the fancy dining room, we hit it off with Blake and Cathy, who were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and go to church with friends of ours.  It's a very small world, and it was funny to realize that we had friends in common.  We spent our evening in Victoria (after we enjoyed dinner on the ship) exploring the town and chatting about our lives that we'd be rejoining the next day.  We really had a fun evening with Blake and Cathy!

Part of our little tour was looking at historic homes.  We thought Grace would like this one!  We also poked around a famous hotel where you can pay too much for high tea, walked to the small Chinatown because Cathy had not been to one, and explored a store that reminded Jeff of REI.

The next day, Jeff (expert travel planner) had our transportation from the ship to the airport all set for us.  We flew home and got to see the kids for dinner and before bedtime.  Everyone was doing great!  We were so thankful for Cheryl and what good care she took of our kids.  The younger two were not too anxious for us to get back, although Jonathan was ready for normal (which is his favorite condition.)  My houseplants were healthier when I got back than when I had left, by the way!  The kids did great.  We had missed them so much!  We were also thankful for my mom taking over when Cheryl needed a break (and who could blame her?  :)  )  Thinking back on our trip after almost two months back home makes me want to return to Alaska…would you like to join me?

Gifts

It has come to my attention that Christmas/birthday shopping has begun…so for those who ask for a list, I've put one up above in the tabs.  It's not finished - I will add links to it soon.  But if you're looking for a list, it's there for you!

Don't Faint...It's a Current Blog Post: Punk-Pin Patch

And I still do have a final post brewing about the cruise.  It's in a different tab, waiting to be edited.

TODAY, we went to a pumpkin patch.  And it's going to be a fall-ish day:  pumpkin patch, lunch at a taqueria, and we're planning to swim later this afternoon.  That's how it is around here.  It really was too hot for denim, but Grace thought we should wear "old overalls."  So, I looked in the box of Jonathan's old clothes for Benjamin to wear this fall, and there were a couple of pairs of overalls for B and G to wear.

Jeff had been gone all of last week on a business trip, so we all got reacquainted with some time together today.

And yes, Benjamin calls pumpkins "punk-pins."