First Week Down - 40 to Go!

The first week of school was a big success! Everyone got to school on time, no missed buses, no screaming or crying (except me...) and everyone was happy to have "lazy days" over the weekend!

Friday night, Justin, Mason and friends decided to go to the first Bradley football game. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and we had severe storms all evening, so they didn't get to play.

While the guys were getting rained out at the game - Ella, Silas and I were at home all cozy in pj's and having movie night. I knew they would be exhausted after their first week at school and decided taking them out late to a football game would result in major meltdowns.


On Saturday, the kids and I headed to the mall to get Ella new earrings! She has had her ears pierced now for 6 weeks and can change her earrings as she wants now. We got her 3 new sets of earrings (9 pair). The first pair that she decided to wear were cute polka dot buttons.

Saturday night, Justin, Mason, Ella and friends went to the rescheduled Bradley game (Jags won 19-18!!) and Silas and I went to the school to play. It was a beautiful evening - definitely felt more like a late-September or October night!

Silas had fun running, sliding, racing his cars down the slide and having the park all to himself.

Sunday was full of cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, bike riding and my divine book group. And now we're off to Week 2 of school - hopefully it goes as well as the first...

Back to School '09

The first day of a school was a hit. Everyone got out of bed without too much fuss, got ready and (to various degrees) were excited to go. Mason did fuss about me taking pictures, wanting to know "why is it so important that you get so many pictures?" And after he left, I cried.

The Freshman@7am

Silas was a little more hesitant about going to school, which is ironic because he is the one that has been asking since last spring "when do I start school?" He was starting to understand that Ella won't be with him, that she'll go to a different school all day, and that upsets him.

The 2 sillies as we head out the door

Si's school starts at 8:45, so we drop him off first. It's a madhouse at the preschool. I have to say, it was very difficult to walk him to his room and then leave. He asked me if Ella was going to stay, if we (Justin and I) were going to stay. Walking out of the room and the building, I cried.
Next stop was Ella's school. She was a little apprehensive and shy. We went to her classroom, her teacher showed her where to put her lunchbox, her seat and then put on her name tag. She was very quiet...how she gets when she gets nervous.

Daddy gave her a big hug and kiss.
and of course...I cried.

Silas will ride the bus to Kelly's after school 3 days a week. He was very excited to get ride on the same bus as Ryan. I went over to watch him get off the bus.

He looks so tiny!

Everyone had a good first day of school. Mason said they didn't do much but fill out papers. He has friends in all his classes, except English.
Ella is VERY excited to have 2 recesses and loved eating lunch at school. She saw many of her neighborhood friends and thinks her teacher is very nice.
Silas told me he ate a snack, played outside, talked to some kids and that his teachers are pretty :-)

Hopefully they will all have a great year and I'll be able to stop crying...

Tomorrow is going to be ROUGH!

Here are the kids this morning at 8:55am -

Ella and Si will need to be up at 7:30 on school days...

And Mason will be up by 6:15am

They are NOT going to be happy campers!

Overheard:

Silas: Ella, are you my sister?

Ella: Yes

Silas: If I was sinking in Bef and Greg's pool, would you save me?

Ella: (pause, pause)...Maybe.

Silas: Okay.

Ella: I would try so I could practice swimming.

Parties, Baseball and Zoo Fun...

Well, I did an update last Thursday and already, more to update again because of such a busy weekend. It's hard to keep up with the blog when I'm so busy DOING stuff!

Saturday we helped Sam celebrate his 2nd birthday!

My kids are the ones that never smile!

Sunday we went to the Clippers game. First time at the new
Huntington Field. Very nice! Very expensive food!
And it was VERY hot out.

Chowing on some cotton candy

Kevin and Mason looking too cool!

Monday, Jen and I took Mason, Tyler, Sam, Ella and Silas to the zoo.
I didn't get any pictures of the kids but got a few animals :-)

This stingray was eating lunch - I've never
seen a stingray eat, or even realized where the mouth was.
He's much nicer looking from this angle, when you can't
see his long stinger.

And Mr. Monkey guy was very cute and even
smiled at the kids (seriously!)

'

Today was Margie's 3rd and hopefully final surgery! It went very, very well - it did not take as long as Dr. L said it might and he was practically tap dancing when he gave us the post-surgery update - he was very pleased with how well it went. Thank God and thanks for all the prayers!

This week is busy with getting everyone ready to get back to school.
All 3 in school this year - wow!

Some Random Updates

If tonight is any indication of how weepy I'm going to be about Mason starting high school in less than 2 weeks, then I am in big trouble! Tonight was the parent orientation night at Bradley. Not even 5 minutes into the principal's presentation, he said "raise your hand if this is your first child going into high school" - that was all I needed to get all teary-eyed for the rest of the night. I'm scared, excited, nervous...and I'm not even the one going to high school. I think it's going to be a great year...brand new school, loved the principal and the teachers that are part of Mason's Freshman teaching team, I am excited to see what types of activities he gets involved in, Friday night football games, dances, sports, maybe some student council...fun!

Ella has been funny this week - she made her bed by herself one day over the weekend, and now she refuses to get under the covers to sleep in it. She doesn't want to mess it up so she sleeps on top of her quilt and covers up with another blanket.
I was very proud of her this week. She has started riding her bike on the sidewalk. She learned how to ride with no training wheels last summer, but only when we go up to the school where there is more space. Last night I put her on the side walk and she was nervous and wobbly for the first 10 minutes and then she was screaming up and down the sidewalk, as fast as can be.



Silas still continues on his rotten, rotten, rotten streak. And we just can't seem to beat it out of him. I think it might be time for a new strategy...but no idea what that might be. Obstinate is definitely the word to describe him right now. We keep reminding ourselves that Ella was very stubborn and tough to deal with at this age, so hopefully Si will grow out of it too!

Cleo and Zoe are becoming best buddies. Well, not really buddies yet, but they are tolerating each other very well and manage to ignore each other mostly. This picture below is the first day that they were starting to get close to one another. Zoe was really wanting none of it but Cleo would come over and casually hang out by her and try to get noticed.

This video is cute - Cleo might have a Silas streak of rotten in her...

She loves to sleep in the baby doll stroller

Cleo has been a prefect fit for the family. She is so laid back, she just hangs out, plays, lets the kids carry her around...we're so happy to have her!

Justin has been VERY hard at work. JCS (his business) has started to take off and he's getting some great referrals. And a very sore back!

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Duh hanging out in the "family room" addition
Quite a significant project!

And I have been very busy with work, the kids, trying to get some photography practice in and just keeping up with all that needs to be done in life. I have discovered that I need 2/3rds caffeinated coffee to operate at maximum efficiency. Half-caf was not getting the job done, full-caf leaves me jittery and on edge.

Our garden is a shambles right now but the sunflowers are beautiful!

We're looking forward to a fun weekend of birthday parties and going to the new Clippers stadium for the first time! I've heard it is fantastic. We'll have to work some swimming in too - looks like temps in the 90's.

So there you have it - some random updates!

Ohio State Fair

For the first time in a few years (ever?) I took all the kids to the Ohio State Fair - wow wee, what an exhausting day!! Thank goodness, Margie went with me. If she hadn't pumped me full of coffee and sugar from a cream puff, I'd probably still be sitting in the middle of the fairgrounds.

I was thoroughly amazed and impressed by Ella and Si's love of big, fast, scary rides! They both went down the BIG slide by themselves.



I was a wee bit upset with Ella because on the last time down, they both took their own sacks and she left him up at the tippy top all by himself...but as you'll see, he did fine (he's on the right, all by himself).




They also went on the kid roller coasters, spinning things and anything else that went round and round, and/or up and down.

Ella, Tyler, Mason and Silas at the duck tape float. pretty cool!

This is a ride that Silas loved. He was too small for a lot of the rides this year. Next year should be better. I was ill after riding the bus and the helicopter kid rides with him. Apparently my equilibrium isn't what it used to be.


I had totally planned to be out of there by 4:30 to avoid major traffic...but at 5:30...6:00, we were still there, but definitely wearing out our welcome.

By 6:15 I ended up carrying 30+ pounds of sleeping child around for the last 30 minutes.


Of course the best part was all the yummy fair food! We had funnel cakes, elephant ears, Schmidt's cream puffs, fries slathered in vinegar and ketchup, gyros, corndogs, lemon shakes...hmm, I feel like I'm forgetting something...oh, cotton candy!

The kids (okay, all of us) were hot, sticky, gunky messes by the time we got home.

Oh, the fun!

How do you REALLY feel Ella?

(the note I received after telling her she wasn't allowed to do something...)

Miss Cleo

We have a new addition to the family! Beth and Greg found a kitten in their neighborhood and when I saw the pictures of her, I thought she was beautiful! After the vet checked her out and deemed her healthy as a horse, we decided to go ahead and add her to the family. We've name her Cleo.

She loves to sit and look out the window.
Aren't her markings beautiful!?

We brought her home this afternoon and have her set up in the basement with her littler box, food, water and toys until she can get used to the house, the kids and Zoe.
We have brought her upstairs a few times and she and Zoe got pretty close to each other and didn't freak out, so that is a good sign!

We went out for a while after we got her home - we had to tape cardboard up on the side of part of the basement steps because Cleo would climb into the basement rafters from the step. I was afraid she'd get up there and break her neck.

She has a very sweet personality and doesn't seem to be nervous or afraid of the kids and all their noise. She loves to play and spends most of her time sitting in the windows watching birds.

She's found a rocking chair that she likes to sit and nap in. She is a doll.

Welcome to our family Cleo!!