Kindergarten

At the beginning of this summer I couldn't stomach the thought of Ava going to Kindergarten.  I'm not sure why.  I guess I was viewing it as the beginning of the end.  Right now she still likes us and she believes that we know stuff.  School is exhausting and there are so many pressures.  Ugh.  Yeah, yeah, it's super fun and you get to make friends and learn stuff but that doesn't gloss over the other side, the evil side.  Part of my hesitation revolves around my ability to accept the fact that she's just getting older.  Kindergarten is a right of passage.  I wasn't ready for it...until our summer came to an end.  Suddenly, it was OK.  Just like that.  Boom.  OK.  Ava was ready and so was I.  What a relief!  It was super exciting to pack her backpack, make her lunch and put her on the bus.  Actually, we missed the bus on the first day :-/  It was fifteen minutes early so everyone missed it.

Onto the pictures...

Walking to the bus stop...

We missed the bus so we delivered Ava to school on the first day.  Here she is standing in line with her class waiting to go to her classroom.  

After school we met up with one of her best friends for a treat!  They're not going to the same school so they had a lot of catching up to do over some frozen yogurt...

Here she is getting on the bus on her 2nd day...

Today starts Ava's second week of school.  She enjoyed her first week up until Friday which is when the exhaustion set in.  We weathered a few monumental meltdowns over the weekend and tried to get her caught up on sleep.  She was ready for school again this morning!  So far, so good.

Linc's Adventure

Kids.  They're crazy.  They take years off my life...

I go to book club one night a month and that's pretty much my only adult social time.  I cherish it.  Sometimes we treat ourselves and our group meets at a restaurant, rather than at one of our houses.  Yeah, we keep it fresh.  This month we met at a restaurant and it was a gorgeous evening so we sat on the outdoor patio and there was live music.  It was lovely and I had a delicious glass of red wine.  Shortly after catching up with the ladies, and two sips into my wine, my cell phone vibrated.  I saw it was Chris calling.  I answered and immediately heard Lincoln wailing in the background.  Chris had a strained voice and quickly explained that he thought Lincoln knocked his tooth out.  My heart sank.  I was certain everything would be fine but my heart ached because I wasn't there to rock my baby and tell him it would be OK.  I jumped up from the table, quickly explained the situation to the ladies, and ran to my car.  Luckily, I was only two miles from home.  

When I walked in the door Linc was upset and wanted me to hold him.  Ava was crying.  Chris explained what happened.  Apparently, Linc fell in the kitchen.  Chris didn't see exactly how he fell as he was locking the front door or something.  We looked at Linc's tooth and it was still attached, just pushed up and back.  Then our friend, who happens to be a dentist, called my cell phone.  I'd forgotten that I was at book club with his wife and she called him when I was darting home.  Hooray for awesome friends!  He was at home putting his four kids to bed but suggested that I bring Linc over so he could look at his tooth.  

Now it's somewhere around 8:30 p.m. and Linc and I were making our way over to our friend's house.  Linc was a champ and let Dr. Fuller look in his mouth and try to push his tooth back into place.  Unfortunately, his tooth wouldn't budge so Dr. Fuller decided that we needed to get an x-ray immediately.  So, he called his wife home early from book club so he could take us to the office.  It was quite the adventure.  

Now it's somewhere around 9:30 p.m. and Linc is exhausted but being such a good boy and we're at the dentist's office.  The x-ray didn't show any bone damage so we scheduled a follow-up appointment, gave many many thanks to Dr. Fuller and drove home.  

Ava wanted to wait up for us because she was so worried about Linc so she and Chris greeted us when we got home.  As I filled them in on our adventure, Chris rocked Linc and the poor baby passed out.  Chris felt awful.  Just terrible.  He was so upset that he couldn't prevent the whole thing from happening.  Honestly, I'm surprised it took this long for it to happen!  Linc is crazy.  It's a wonder he hasn't broken a bone or lost an eye yet.

It's been a couple weeks and Linc's doing great!  It hasn't slowed him down at all.  We're keeping him on a soft diet per the dentist's orders.  Thankfully, Linc is a good eater so it hasn't been a problem.  We're glad it was just a tooth and not something more serious.  Regardless, I'm sure this incident still took a couple years off our lives.  Kids.  They're crazy.

Next month I'm going to encase the kids in a bubble before I leave for my book club meeting.

       

Linc's tooth - the morning after...

A picture that Linc drew of his "broken tooth" and "tears" on his cheeks...

 This picture was taken about a week after and his tooth looks much better...

Follow-up appointment at the dentist's office...

 Thank-you card that Linc made for the dentist (with a lot of help from Mom and Honey, mostly Honey)...

Terrible Two's

If I recall correctly, we didn't go through the Terrible Two's with Ava, rather, we went through the Terrible Three's with her...and they weren't that terrible. As is usually the case, Lincoln is doing things his way. He has opted to jump the gun and move forward with the Terrible Two's instead of waiting for the Terrible Three's. I wasn't ready though...I'm still not ready...I don't think any of us are!

For the most part he's an agreeable young boy. [Or maybe I just feel like that's the politically correct way to begin this paragraph of what some might translate as negativity.] However, he has opinions and ideas and his own sense of time. [This is what we want for our children, right?] He likes things to go as he has planned. [That's how I operate, too.] For instance, when he wakes up in the morning and his diaper has overflowed and his bed and pajamas are wet [and smelling exactly like a hamster cage] he would prefer to waddle over to his train table and "play" instead of rinsing off and changing into a clean diaper and clean clothing and then playing. He thinks I'm crazy for suggesting my seemingly sane plan of cleaning off first. We talk through a lot of stuff and this has almost always worked with Ava but seven times out of ten it does not work for Lincoln. If he doesn't want to cooperate on his own and I end up having to pick him up to proceed with the/my sane plan then he inevitably, and understandably, begins the kicking and yelling tantrum which makes cleaning and dressing nearly impossible (and really stressful).

One of Lincoln's more common phrases is, "No! My do!" as he is continuing to exert his independence. He has to do everything for himself these days. Everything. It can take a two-year-old a really long time to make Risotto with Butternut Squash for dinner...

Talking on the phone is a thing of the past. It is when I begin a conversation on the phone that Lincoln passes the time by hurdling his cars toward the grandfather clock or the fireplace.

Apparently tormenting your sister is all the rage these days. Poor Ava. She really puts up with a lot from her brother. Actually, she doesn't usually put up with it. She complains. Then she complains even louder. Perhaps I'll pursue a career in Conflict Resolution after this gig...

Despite all his little two-year-old quirks, Linc is still the most adorable and lovable little boy we've ever known! Therefore, we've decided to keep him and ride out this phase.

Snapshots

The Cat in the Hat visited us at story time...

Look!  Linc colored his hat red!

 Rainy day = fort, popcorn and a movie.

Sam and Tyler - Day 2

On day 2 of Sam and Tyler's visit we made volcano's following this easy tutorial. It was a huge hit!

Samantha with her volcano - ready for eruption!

Ava with her volcano - ready for eruption!

WOAH!

Even the boys were into it!

Here is a video of the action!

After our volcano experiment we enjoyed lunch outside...

(the girls are modeling the napkins that their Great Aunt Maureen made for them)

Check out the cool napkins GAM made for the boys!

Then we played outside for forever.

Here, the girls are attempting to catch a bird...

How sweet is this boy? This is how he pops bubbles...

The girls couldn't catch a bird on their sticks so they made a nest, complete with a worm, in an effort to lure the birds...

Sam and Tyler - Day 1

Sam and Tyler stayed with Honey and Papa a couple weekends ago and their trip was filled with adventure (and we tagged along too)!  

We went to the Virginia Air and Space Center...

Linc loves wheels (and all parts transportation)

 Uncle Ryan tagged along too!

 The museum had this totally cool "Grossology" exhibit where we learned all about poop, boogers and burps!

Tyler was all about the talking nose faucet thing...

 Ava was grossed out by the talking nose faucet thing and Linc was a little frightened by it...

 Chris got his game on...

 Simulator: Before 

Simulator: After

 We worked up an appetite!  

Arts & Crafts

My New Year resolution is to spend more one-on-one time with the kids. I know I do a lot with them...but I think I could do more. In the future, when I reflect on my time with them, I want to know that I did the best I could do. I'm always running around keeping the house in order that I sometimes forget to sit and read a book with them or to simply color together :-( I hate that. There are a lot of nights that I go to bed thinking, "Tomorrow is another day. Tomorrow I'll do better." I don't want to think that way anymore. I resolve to go to bed every night thinking, "Today was great! Tomorrow is going to be great, too!" I think a lot of stay-at-home parents feel this way. It's a tough balance, it really really is. Both kids enjoy doing arts and crafts and so do I! Here's to a new year full of coloring, gluing and painting!

"BROWN!" He's passionate.

(Also, look at all the beautiful circles Linc is drawing these days!)

SPIN ART!! It's baaaaack :-)

(Also, doesn't Ava look sooo old in this picture?)

It's a new year!

Namaste.