Sunday Evening Choir

On Sunday evenings Sydney goes to youth choir at our church. Grades Kindergarten through 6th will meet every week (yesterday was the 2nd meeting) to practice for a Christmas show that they'll perform in December.

At first Chet and I weren't sure we wanted to add something to our schedule, even though we're not normally busy Sunday evenings. So we decided to ask Sydney and Lorelei if it sounded like fun, and to make our decision based on their reactions. Well, Sydney was ALL IN. But Lorelei looked as if we'd asked her to eat slugs. Since our church is only about a 15-minute drive from our house, and we're allowed to drop her off each week for the 2-hour practice, we decided it would be fine for just Sydney to attend choir each Sunday evening.

Anyway, there are periodic spirit competitions at choir practice, and yesterday was crazy hair/hat day. Sydney's hair is pretty short, so she made a crazy hat for herself. (True or False: I LOVE spirit competitions and am eager to help my children come up with outfits or creations that will "wow" anyone in their vicinity. If you answered "True," you're VERY wrong, and we clearly need to get to know one another better. That being said, Sydney was totally on her own in making her own crazy hat. Thankfully, she's used to this, and is LOADS more creative than I'll ever be, so it wasn't even an issue.)

I dropped Sydney off last night at 5:30 p.m., and she begged me to bring Lorelei with me when I picked her up so that we could continue listening to "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" on our drive home. (I HIGHLY recommend the HP audiobooks read by Jim Dale -- even if you've read all the books before!) Our audiobook rental (?) from the library expires in a couple of days, and she wants us to finish it so that she doesn't have to listen to me read the actual book in voices MUCH less exciting than Jim Dale's.

I had to snap a picture of Lorelei in her new pink shirt before walking into the church to get Sydney. She's been in a tomboy phase for about year now, so any time she expresses interest in something more feminine I buy it for her right away (HA!).

She paired the pink shirt with her green soccer shorts and camouflage Crocs in order to maintain a balanced look.

We went into the church to pick up Sydney, and lo and behold, her homemade hat won the spirit competition. She definitely would have lost if I'd helped her.

Hope your weekend was as fashionable as Sydney's and Lorelei's!

First Day of School!

We had a GREAT first day of school yesterday.

Backing up a little, Thursday night we had our First Annual Back to School Feast. Now, if you're thinking this means I roasted a turkey and cut vegetables and fruit into school-themed shapes, then you must not know me at all. In this case, "feast" meant that Chet and I had leftovers, and everyone else was served something they really like to eat. Sydney: shrimp cocktail; Lorelei: chicken noodle soup; Ford: pizza Lunchable (insert eye roll). (I can't remember what Ruthie ate.) For dessert we had mini cupcakes that I bought from the grocery store bakery.

Why am I telling you this? Lately (for the past year, at least) I've felt like we (I) needed to be better about celebrating life in general. Celebrating doesn't come naturally to me; I'm happy to let events roll on by without any fuss. I forget that it doesn't take much to make things memorable for children, and I want our children to have fond memories of their childhood. Hence the Back to School Feast. We probably won't have the same menu every year (ha!); I may decide to get fancier in the future than I did this year, but nonetheless it will be something for us to look forward to and back on.

In addition to dinner and dessert, we wrote a short note (two sentences) to Sydney, Lorelei, and Ford, along the lines of "Welcome to 3rd grade! You're going to do great!" We bought each of them an inexpensive book that I wrapped (including a bow -- I almost forewent the bow, but dug deep and decided the tiny bit of extra effort was worth it!), and you would have thought it was Christmas Day.

(Check out Sydney's overalls.)

Like I said, the first day of school yesterday was a success. One of the moms in our group is a photographer, which is great for me, because I didn't have to try to get a good picture of everyone before leaving the house:

Happy weekend, friends!

Monday Madness

Good Monday morning! 

I never updated you after Lorelei's Thursday afternoon ortho appointment -- she is splint free! They didn't even do an x-ray. Since it was a buckle fracture (meaning the bone was basically bent, something that can only happen to children since their bones aren't old and brittle yet like adult bones), there's nothing specific to look for to determine that it's healed. We just needed to protect it for six weeks (with the splint), and now she's allowed to go back to all of her normal activities. There's an increased risk of re-fracture for the next year, and it may take two years for her bone to completely "un-bend," but that's just how it goes.

Well, we have a busy Monday ahead of us. I'm attending tutor training this morning, specifically for the science experiments and fine arts projects we will do the first six weeks of school. Our first community school day is this Friday, and I'm required to show up prepared, but the director of our community provides all of the necessary supplies for the science experiments, etc., and, thankfully, walks us through each experiment and fine arts project before we have to do them ourselves in front of the class. Sydney and Lorelei are going with me, Ford is going next door to a friend's house, and Ruthie is getting dropped off at the CDC for the morning.

I'm full of jitters as I prepare for this Friday. No one else is nervous, just me, ha! It's funny to me, as I've been putting (what I think are) the finishing touches on our daily schedule, how DIFFERENT this year has panned out compared to last year. Nothing major has changed (unless you count major as me tutoring and Ford joining Classical Conversations this year, instead of going back to the CDC's preschool program), but our day-to-day seems a lot different, and my mindset is definitely different. I think it's par for the course with young children though; Ford and Ruthie have changed a lot over the last year, and Ruthie will continue to seem like a completely different person every six months or so for the next couple of years. 

As someone who used to want to control everything, I think I'm doing a passable job of going with the flow and adjusting our family's schedule as the needs of the (many) individuals change. I'm protecting our time at home by saying "no" to things I thought I'd always say "yes" to (sports, activities, SPORTS, ACTIVITIES!!!), and trying to say "yes" more to things I'm inclined to say "no" to (quality field trips...often in the hot sun... that I know my kids will think are SO MUCH FUN, but that require more effort than I naturally wish to exert). It's a fine line, but with the Lord's help, but I'm walking it.

Happy Monday, my friends.

(Yes, Ruthie is drinking a La Croix.)

What day is it?

Friends, I have no idea what day it is.

We got back from our Texas vacation last Sunday (August 5th; it was supposed to be August 4th, but we had to rebook our flights last minute). Since then, I've had no idea what day it is, and my only goal is to finish unpacking and to catch up on laundry by Christmas. (Kidding...kind of.)

Actually, we're gearing up for school to start. The public schools start today, but our first Classical Conversations community day is Friday, August 24th. I'm one of the parent tutors this year, which means each week I present all the new information to the 6-8 year olds (we have a small community with only three classes: 4-6 year olds, 6-8 year olds, and 8-11 year olds). All that to say I will personally have more to prepare each week before community day than I did last year (I'm excited though!).

Did I never talk more about Lorelei's broken arm?! She broke it the night of the 4th of July when we were waiting for fireworks to start. The kids were all running around, and she tripped and used her left arm to catch herself before hitting the pavement. I took her to the emergency room, and we were seen quickly and home by midnight. The fall caused a buckle fracture in 2-3 places on her wrist, and the doctor (not the ER doctor, but the orthopedist at the clinic on base) gave me the choice to cast it or to use a splint. He said Europeans have been using splints for years to stabilize broken bones, and that the outcome (a healed broken bone) is the same. Not to mention that she would be able to get a splint wet (read: SWIM), but that a cast would have to be immediately removed and replaced if it got wet. SPLINT, PLEASE. (She got two: one for swimming, and one for the rest of the time.)

We go back to the orthopedist tomorrow to see if the bone is healed.

A few hours before the break, on July 4th (dressed in their patriotic clothing):

Shortly before the break, waiting for fireworks to start with neighbors:

In the emergency room (she was pretty calm by the time we got to the ER, but was in a lot of pain after the break...obviously...and during x-rays, because they needed her move and turn her arm a lot in order to get the best picture):

On the way to the orthopedist, before getting the splint:

Our friends sent her get-well gifts (the puppy on the right, which also has a "broken" arm, and the cute shirt in the second picture):

I thought her broken arm would put a damper on our summer, but it really hasn't. She's not allowed to ride her bike or do gymnastics with a broken arm, but since we were in Texas most of the summer she wasn't doing either of those things anyway. (And no one is out riding bikes right now, because it's so hot everyone just stays inside huddled around the air conditioner.)

That's all for now, friends. I hope you have a great...Wednesday? Is that what today is?