Fall 2011

I know I can't be the only one out there that just can't believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone already!  Just when you think that time can't pass any faster, it does!  We had a good fall.  We made our usual couple of trips to the apple orchard to pick apples.  The kids always enjoy the outings and Marie continues to be more and more helpful throughout the process.  Joey on the other hand wasn't so much helpful, but did pick one apple that he happily munched on for the rest of the time among the trees.  The last stop before heading back to home is always to pick up some doughnuts and apple cider.  The powdered doughnuts are the best, just ask Joey and Marie.  After making it home with all our goodies, there were a couple of messy days in the kitchen as we made and canned applesauce.

In addition to our family trips to the orchard, this year we made an extra visit because Marie's class went on a field trip there.   Almost all of the kindergartner's moms went and there were also quite a few younger brothers and sisters along.  So, it was a good chance for me to meet other parents and get to know a few of Marie's new friends.  Joey and Stevie were able to tag along as well. The weather was beautiful.

We arrived at the orchard and finished up our picnic lunches.  Then it was time to listen to the presentation about apple trees and bees.  We then loaded up the hay wagon and took a ride out to the orchard.  All of the kids (including Joey) were able to pick one apple.  Another short ride on the hay wagon brought us to the pumpkin patch, where the kids were also able to choose what pumpkin they wanted to take home.  Boy were our hands full by the time we got back to the barn!'  Thankfully, we were able to find a way to enjoy the donuts and apple cider that was waiting for us when we got there!

Other than that, we were busy carving jack-o-lanterns and doing "experiments".  Marie has really enjoyed learning about solids, liquids and gases and figuring out just how many helium balloons it takes to lift her "airplane".  We had our first snow of the season on November 10.  It didn't stay around long, just enough to excite the kids and get a couple of requests for hot chocolate.  We also have survived our first sickness bug.  Thankfully, it wasn't the throwing up, stomach bug variety.  But, all five of us ended up with some combination of sore throat, stuffy nose, cough, ear infection, and/or sinus infection.  Thank goodness for Kleenex and Amoxicillin. 

 

Marie has finished the first quarter of school and is actually a couple of weeks into the second quarter.  Her grades were good and the parent teacher conference went well.  She reportedly is one of the top in her class academically and is pretty good at making friends.  She has settled into her routine a bit more, though still doesn't like having to get up so early in the morning.  Her favorite part of school is still recess and quiet time.  Her favorite days are Monday, because it is chicken quesadilla day at lunch, and Friday because not only is it pizza day, but it also means that Saturday is right around the corner and she can sleep in as long as she likes. 
 Joey will be turning three in just a short week!  He is still a pretty busy little guy.  He loves playing (his version of) baseball and football, either indoors or outdoors.  We've been trying to head to the library every week for story time.  He is technically a little young for the Thursday morning story and craft time, but he is doing well and enjoys it.  He particularly liked a recent visit from "Fire Marshall Shoe" when he got to climb into and sit in a real fire engine. 

Stevie continues to be more mobile and independent, whether we like it or not.  He stands on his own for a few seconds at a time, walks around the furniture and train table with ease, and is able to take a few steps if he is holding on to our hands.  He is up to six teeth, four on top and two on the bottom and frequently gives us loving (I'm sure) bites on the arm or leg.  Whatever Marie or Joey are playing with is definitely the most interesting thing for him to have, much to their chagrin.  He certainly has a mind of his own when it comes to what he should have or should or should not be doing, which make bath time and diaper changes particularly challenging.  Oh Stevie, it sure is a good thing that you're cute. 

We will have to update you at a later time on the visit to Illinois to celebrate Thanksgiving.  We will have more to share soon regarding Joey's birthday.  We aren't certain how will will accomplish all of the shopping, decorating, and preparing we'd like to do for the Christmas holiday, but hope that it will be a low-stress time to enjoy all that we have to be thankful for.  We are all, especially the kids, looking forward to a little time off to spend with our friends and family and all those that we love.

Lions, Tigers, and Saints?

This was the first year that our end of October activities required two sets of costumes...one for the All Saints Festival at Marie's school and one for our traditional Halloween trick-or-treating with Rosie, Lilly, and their family.  I wasn't too worried about dressing up for Halloween, but was a little daunted by the need to first figure out which Saint Marie and Joey wanted to be and then put together a costume.

Marie had originally asked to dress up as Padre Pio for the All Saints Fest, but settled on St. Therese of Lisieux (thankfully!).  Joey on the other hand didn't really have much to say about what saint he wanted to be.  He just knew he'd need to dress up if he wanted to go to and participate in the festival at Marie's school.  So, it was decided that I would make him a basic Franciscan robe and we'd go from there.  It seemed like a natural extension to grab a couple of stuffed animals and go as St. Francis.

The day of the festival was a busy one.  I dropped Marie off at school and stayed for daily Mass.  Afterward, there was a Saints parade in the gym.  It was neat to see all the different costumes!  Afterward, I went home and picked up Joey before going back to school to help with lunch duty.  Joey and I stuck around for the festival later that afternoon.  There were 10-12 stations set up in the gym with games for all the kids, bowling, fishing, golf, basketball, pin the wings on the angels, etc.  By the time the hour was over, both Marie and Joey had a full bag of treats!  It was nice to get to know some of the other parents and match more faces with names of Marie's classmates.

The actual day of Halloween, we had arranged to meet up with our friends the Roberts' family.  We have gone trick-or-treating with them the last couple of years in Northville.  We reused a couple of costumes from years past, Joey was a cowboy and Stevie was a tiger, which was especially cute since Leo who is about the same age as Stevie was a lion.  Marie got a "new"costume this time around...she was a firefighter (notice the reflective tape in the pictures!). 

Northville is known for their trick-or-treating and it is always a busy place.  It took a lot of vigilance on the part of the parents to keep track of our six kids ages 5 and under. Thankfully, the kids were happy to just hit a few houses and then head over to Aubrey's for pizza.  It was a fun, memorable, and yes tiring evening!

Love These Kids

Thought we would share a few pictures that we had taken of the kids about a month ago.  Thanks, Melanie Reyes! 

Yep...sure do love these kids!  Enjoy! 

 

The Month of Marie

September was definitely the "Month of Marie" around our house. To start the month (actually on August 30), she had her first day of Kindergarten. She had been counting down the days and was pretty excited to say the least. She had met her teacher a couple of times and already knew and was friends with a couple of the girls in her class. The first day came and even though she was up really early that morning, she was still pretty chipper.  If the rest of the days went similarly, should be a breeze, right?

Well, the first week went pretty smoothly. The mornings were still early (if you know us, you may also know that none of us are really morning people), but it was only three half days, so we were still able to have afternoon naps and she didn't feel like she was missing out on too much.

The following week consisted of four, full days of school, starting at 8:00 with Mass and being picked up at 3:00. She would come home and give us little details of her day. We started learning some of her classmates' names, the daily schedule, what she liked and didn't like at snack time, what she usually did during "rest" time, etc. We learned that there was a James that sat at her table in her class, but "James" was also the name of her 7th grade Mass buddy.

She generally told us that her favorite time of the day was recess. We knew she was making new friends, sometimes older kids in the 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd grades. We learned that she had gym class on Mondays and Wednesdays, Spanish on Tuesdays and Thursdays, that Tuesday was "Library" day, and that Thursday was "Computer Lab" day.

That first week, we also started hearing and noticing that she was having at least daily episodes of crying. It might happen at recess, at lunch, or even during class. Sometimes she would say that she missed me, sometimes she was "just tired", and sometimes it seemed the littlest thing would upset her.  Mornings were also getting to be rougher. I had a brief talk with her teacher, and we basically decided that she was still getting used to school and needed to get more sleep.

So, we instituted a rest time after getting home from school and also bumped her bedtime up as much as possible when we could. She was still excited about school, but would also make comments that she didn't want to go because she had to get up so early. We took comfort in the fact that at least by the time she went out the door, she was chipper and smiling.

Now that we have four full weeks under our belt, it is still sometimes a struggle, but she is doing much better. We have gotten a couple of encouraging emails from her teacher. And, as far as we know, she went the last two without crying at school. PROGRESS! It has been a transition for us all. Going to bed early, getting up early, spending more time in the car, adjusting nap times for Joey and Stevie, etc. It has been good for us all...I'm sure we'll settle into a routine sooner or later. We are looking forward to seeing everything she will learn and how she will grow this year.

 Marie and her classmate and "BFF" Sarah on their first day.

In the midst of the starting school transition, we also celebrated Marie's 5th birthday. It snuck up on us a little bit. But, we enjoyed immensely a visit from Uncle James, Aunt Jaclyn, JJ, Gracie, Aunt Jess, Grandma and Grandpa Shibata, and Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart. Uncle Mark and Aunt Sarah also made it over for a big chunk of the weekend. The weather was nice; the kids got to play outside a decent amount.

 On her actual birthday, she got her present from us and requested to be able to go out to dinner at her favorite restaurant, Olive Garden. She was super excited about her new matching raincoat and boots and it was a good night out, and by good, I mean that everyone pretty much ate their meals, there was no crying or screaming, and we didn't draw too much unnecessary attention. Marie even got to enjoy a Birthday Sundae to finish off her meal. It is hard to believe that our little girl is already five years old. She is growing up so fast!

 

I'll close with a kid-ism from Marie and a few recent pictures of her little brothers as well.

Marie has been enjoying Mad Libs lately and at one point, I was doing them with her.

Peg: "Name something strange."
Marie: "Toilets."
Peg: "Toilets? What makes toilets strange?'
Marie: "You know when they flush all by themselves and you're not expecting it."

Okay. Now I get it. Yep, that is kind of strange.