Author: Sarah

Kindergarten!

Sarah Firsts, Milestones, School Days

Today, Carolyn headed off for her first day of Kindergarten!  I got up at 6:20, got myself ready and packed a yummy lunch (a ham & cream cheese pinwheel sandwich, baby carrots, grapes, olives, letter pretzels and two tiny vanilla cookies).  Then I managed to get the kids dressed early enough that I had time to make chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, and we still had a good ten minutes before the bus came to snap a few pictures.

Flower Power!
Flower Power!

She looks all grown up from last year!  (Though I said the same thing last year too!)  She picked out this dress herself when we went clothes shopping for school, and although it’s not exactly my style, it is pretty darn adorable.

She was so excited to get on that bus she practically skipped down the driveway, and I had to stop her to give her a hug and a kiss and tell her to have a fun day.

One Giant Step
One Giant Step

It wasn’t nearly as hard to watch that bus pull away as I thought it would be.  I think I already cried all the tears I had to in anticipation of today, and instead I felt excited for her.  I can’t wait for her to come home and tell me how her day went, and whether she found the little note I stuck in her lunchbox.

Last Day of Summer

Sarah General

Today, Labor Day, marks the end of summer and the beginning of my favorite season: fall!  It’s a little more complicated now that Carrie’s headed off to school full time.  I’m sort of treating this like I try to treat New Year’s: begin as you mean to go on.

Today I have:
– caught up on the laundry
– caught up on the housework…mostly
– caught up on the blog (yeah, I know…)
– laid out Carrie’s clothes, shoes and backpack
– prepped what I can for packing her lunch in the morning

It’s 10:15, and despite the fact that I am really anxious about tomorrow morning, and probably won’t be able to fall asleep, I am going to go to bed shortly.  6 AM is going to come super early, and we want to start the year off right…and not miss the bus on the first day of school!

All Better, and Tooth Number 6!

Sarah Anna, Carolyn

Anna officially has yet another tooth.  The other upper tooth, to the right of the middle teeth.

And Carrie seems to be completely better.  She slept all night last night, started out the morning pretty rough, but then after going back to sleep until lunchtime she suddenly woke up, ate a full lunch, and insisted on playing outside for half the afternoon.  We even took the girls on a wagon ride around the neighborhood – Anna’s first ever time in the wagon!20090906_wagon

Fever gone, appetite and energy back…assuming she wakes up the same tomorrow morning, kindergarten starts on Tuesday!

…But a Not So Nice End…

Sarah Carolyn

OK, so last night Carrie went to bed with a fever.  I don’t sleep well when one of the kids is sick.  I’m so intent on listening for one of them needing me that I can barely fall asleep, and when I do I sleep very poorly.  And then sometime in the middle of the night Carrie came in our room and tossed and turned all over the bed.  I don’t quite get how Denis can sleep through that!

Then around 5:30 her fever had spiked to 102.5, so I gave her some Motrin.  Which promptly came back up.  And she was complaining her throat hurt.  So off to the doctor’s for a strep test (thank heavens the office is open on Saturday mornings for situations like this!)  No strep.  Just a virus of some sort.

She’s just been feverish and lethargic all day, watching TV and sleeping on the couch.  Poor, poor baby!  It would be a little bizarre to have to call her in sick on the very first day of school, so I hope she gets better before then.

And I’m exhausted. I think all total I had about 4 hours of sleep, and none of them were consecutive or restful.  But at the same time I’m completely wired, because I drank half a pot of coffee this morning and a coke this afternoon.  Not good.

Nice Day…?

Sarah Carolyn

Today started out wonderfully.  I gave Carrie the chance to do whatever she wanted on her last weekday before school – a playground, the musuem, the zoo…  She chose to stay home to ride her tricycle, draw with chalk, and bake cookies.20090904_trike20090904_chalk20090904_cookie

We did all of those things, and Denis even came home from work early and brought us lunch.

Things sort of went downhill around dinner time though…Carrie wound up going to bed with a fever of 101.1.  Um, school starts in three days.  This is not good.

A Shopping We Will Go…

Sarah Motherhood

I’m pretty sure that I might be the only mom in the world who actually enjoys grocery shopping with the kids.  Don’t get me wrong, it takes a lot longer than shopping alone, and there are the usual requests for the boxes of brightly colored, sugar laden cereals and snacks.  But we’ve got a system.

It involves one of those magical inventions: the car cart.20090903_car_cart

The big girl is still happy to ride, and in the process entertains her sister and can dole out snacks as needed.  The little girl loves playing with the steering wheel and squeaky horn.  As long as I don’t drag the trip on for too long, it’s great!

Anna and I are going to have to figure out a new plan next week, as I’m not so sure she’ll be happy to ride all alone up front.  I guess I’ll go back to the regular kind of cart until she’s old enough to ask for a car!

Meet the Teacher

Sarah Carolyn, School Days

Carrie’s teacher (along with a lot of the other primary school teachers) had an open house this afternoon.  We went and met her teacher and dropped off her supplies, and then she had a chance to ride a bus around the campus.  I rode with her, and let me just say that I’m really, really glad my school bus riding days are over!

Her teacher seems really nice, and was surprised that Carrie was reading the sheet of instructions that told us where to put each kind of supply we’d brought.  This promises to be an interesting year for all involved, I’m sure!

Walking

Sarah Firsts, Milestones

Anna is officially a toddler now!  We were at the calling hours for my great grandmother, and she kept pulling up, walking five or six steps, plopping back down, crawling to the nearest thing or person she could pull up on, and repeating the sequence.

She charmed the pants off of everyone there, and added a bit of sunshine to an otherwise sad occasion.  Carrie helped lighten things up as well, and took the entire open casket thing completely in stride.  I’m not quite sure how she accepted it so easily, but I’m glad for it.

Back at my grandparents house, Carrie managed to convince nearly every single adult there to take her around the woods for walks and help her pick up acorns.  And Anna spent the afternoon being danger baby – not only walking, but standing up in the middle of the room without pulling up on anything, and climbing up and down the porch stairs.  Oh, my.

Soccer

Sarah Carolyn

Today was the last day of soccer camp.  Carrie loved it!  She was even goalie for a bit of their game and managed to block a goal.20090828_soccer

Four and five year olds playing soccer is pretty funny to watch.  A lot of the time they’re standing around looking at the scenery.  Sometimes they completely forget which goal they’re supposed to be headed for.  And the concept of passing really completely escapes them.

But Carrie liked it enough that she wants to continue, so I guess maybe I’ll sign her up for indoor soccer this winter, if it seems like she can handle another activity besides school and dance.  If not, there’s always next summer!