First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. I got up extra early to get everything ready for the kids. We took some photos this morning.

Noah on first day of Kindergarten.


Ben on first day of third grade.


Emily on first day of fifth grade.






Most parents walk the kids in to school on the first day. Typically because we have bags of school supplies we need to deliver. We went to Emily's class first and dropped off her stuff. Then, we went to Ben's. Then, we went to Noah's. Emily and Ben headed out to the playground and I thought Noah and I would just chill in his classroom a little. He looked so cute and confidant.


But, he decided he wanted to go to the playground. So, I walked him out there. No sooner did he step foot on the dirt and the whistle blew. So, I told him to go stand in line with the Kinder kids and the teacher would walk them in. I was watching from the parking lot. I was so proud of us. Not a single tear! Everyone was happy.

I watch him walk in with the teacher. His hallway was full of parents and kids. At least two teachers had duty that morning, so their classrooms were locked and people were lined up everywhere down the hallway. I figured I would head to the office to turn in my check for full day Kindergarten since we have to pay if we want full day. The line there was outrageous. So, I decided to walk through the school to make sure he got to his class okay.

I turn the corner of his long hallway that probably has 8-10 classrooms. It's for K and 1st. And I see Noah running down the hallway, crying his eye outs. Apparently, he did not get to his classroom. The teacher brought him in the doors and in all the chaos, well, she lost him. I don't blame her really as it was so chaotic in that hallway, but my God, this is my child. Where was he going? He could've ran right out the front door. It isn't like at 4 years old, he can read the names of the teacher on the doors.

I scooped him up (as could have any stranger) and got him calmed down. Now, we were both crying.

We walked back to his classroom and I got him in his chair. He was so brave. He just wiped his tears and started playing with his blocks.

I don't know who the teacher was that walked him in, but I was not happy about the situation. I emailed the principal when I got home. No K or 1st grade teacher should have duty the first week of school. And, there should be someone at the beginning and end of the hallway to watch for kids who are lost.

Now, I'm just hoping the rest of their day all went fine. I asked the kids what they thought I should do when I get home, Ben said eat pizza and play video games. Noah suggested video games too. Emily told me to fold some laundry. I came home to complete silence and it is just weird. I got a glimpse of this with preschool last year, but it was so short that it wasn't even enjoyable. I came home and worked. Exciting, eh? But, then I did take a 20 minute power nap this afternoon.

It's nice that the house stayed clean and the silence is nice, but I really miss my kids. This is going to take some getting used to.

Update: The kids just got home and everything went fine. Except Noah got his leg stuck between a slide and pole on the playground and a teacher had to help him. I'm going through their backpacks and I think this sums up Noah's day:

Lessons Learned and A New Chapter

Last night we went to church. They had a fun carnival after ~ Bounce houses, bungee jumping, slides, carnival games, and RAIN. It wasn't pouring, but it was sprinkling pretty good. It wasn't lightening though, so we were good. The kids had a blast. I think the rain just added to the fun for them. Here's Em on the bungee jump thing.


Today is the last day of summer vacation. The kids start school tomorrow. I told the kids we were going to get some cleaning done. I just wanted to start the school year off clean. I was trimming the bushes in the front. David was mowing the backyard, and I had the kids helping me.

Emily was using every excuse in the book. Her allergies were bothering her, she was sweating, blah, blah, blah. Then, I found this video on my phone when she was "going to the bathroom".


I was telling the kids that doing yardwork is a life lesson. You'll have to do this when you get older if you ever want to own your own home. I was trying to tell them to rake the leaves in a pile, so they are easier to pick up. Bring the garbage can to you instead of walking to it 100 times. Work smarter, not harder. Then, they all agreed that they never want to do yard work when they get older. So, I told them, they'll need really good jobs, so they can hire a landscaper. So, that's the lesson they came away with. Whatever.

We came inside and all cleaned up Ben's room. My kids play. Hard. They toys are always everywhere. His room was driving me crazy. We got it all cleaned up and moved on to Noah's. Emily's room is always very clean, but she never goes in there. The point being, we got the house all cleaned up and it feels great.

So tomorrow is a very big day for me. I had Emily in August of 2004 and I took about a month off and went back to work. I had a pack n play in the office and I'd take inventory with my baby girl strapped to my chest. You can do that when your Dad owns the business. In January of 2005, my Dad sold the business. Emily was 4 months old. I've been a stay at home Mom ever since. For almost 10 years, I've been home every day with my kids. Sure, there have been hard days, but for the most part, it's been wonderful. I'll always cherish that I was able to do that and be there for every milestone, for every moment.

My 30's were entirely spent raising my family. Starting tomorrow, Noah is in full day Kindergarten. So from 8:45-3:15, I'll be kid free. I'm thrilled and just a little terrified. My life is completely about to change. I'll have 6.5 hours a day kidless. I'm glad I have a part time job and it'll fill up some of my time. I'm glad that I'll have some free time and I can do what I want. I'm glad I can clean up the house at 8:30 and it will stay clean until almost dinner. I'm ready for the next chapter of my life, where I can focus on me a little bit again.

I'm sure I'll shed a tear tomorrow, but I always do on the first day of school. It's just the passing of time that gets me. Another year older, another year of my kids growing up. Then, I'm coming home and doing whatever the heck I want! :)

A Good Day

Yesterday was full of good things.

I took the kids to the last summer movie. Then, Dakri took Emily and Noah home (David was working from home) and I took Ben to his eye appointment in Phoenix. We've been going to the eye doctor four times a year for over three years. On our last appointment in April, the Doctor had us stop patching Ben's eye. We've been doing this for three years and his eyes weren't changing anymore, which means the patching wasn't effective anymore. Ben's eye have gone from legally blind to about 20/35. So, that's amazing progress. We stopped patching.

Yesterday, I was prepared for the Doctor to tell us his bad eye had gotten worse and we need to start patching again. Instead, he told us the eye was the same as it was 3 months ago, so it's locked into where it's at. He also told us at this point, we can go to annual eye exams! Yippee! I was shocked. We are so, so happy at Ben's progress. And as much as we like Dr. Salevitz, we are happy to only see him once a year.

We got home from Phoenix and only had a short time before we headed to the kids' meet and greet with their teachers. It was on meet and greet night 5 years ago that everything with my pregnancy with Noah took a turn for the worse. Shortly after that meet and greet, I was on a helicopter to Phoenix praying that Noah and I would live. This years meet and greet was a happy occasion. For one, I was not dying. For two, my baby looks like this.


And he learned how to drink from a water fountain.


You wouldn't think it's a skill you have to learn, but he's only done it a few times in his life. Living in Arizona, you bring cold water with you everywhere. If we even go to the grocery store, I bring water for each of us. At first he would get water in his mouth and then spit it in the drain part. Um, you are supposed to drink it little man. He got the hang of it.

We are thrilled that Ben has Emily's third grade teacher. Poor Ben's eyes were still really dialated and he could barely see.


I wanted to take Emily's picture and she said, Mom please not here. I didn't force it, but geez, you are only in fifth grade lady!

The kids all got great teachers and we are super excited for another wonderful year!

Spider Love

Emily was dressed up as Spidergirl and Noah as Spider-Man. They really do love each other. 

Vacation, day 15

We are about 20 minutes from home and it's about 10:30 at night. It's been a long travel day. It's good to be home. This is the sunset from the plane. 

We are so fortunate to have had such a great trip and thank Dad and Suzy and The Kelley family for having us. And my Mom for holding down our fort and watching our sweet dog.  

And God willing, we'll do it again next year!

Vacation, Day 14

It was our last day of fun for our vacation. Tomorrow is a travel day.

We headed to the beach we were at yesterday. Emily wanted to jump off the pier. She was a little scared still, but I knew she could do it and I didn't want her to regret not doing it. We warmed up on the beach. You know stretching out for the big jump.



Cousin Amy went first.


Then, Ben. I love that Emily was clapping for him. She was so nervous. The tide was high though, so it was a good 5-10 feet higher than yesterday when we jumped.


Emily and Ben decided to go together. She was scared.


She needed a little encouragement. And by encouragement, I mean a push from her Dad. I love that Ben's arm was going around "help" her too.





When Emily came up, I thought she would either be crying or happy. She came up and said, "That was AWESOME!" And jumped about 10 more times.

Here's a video of one of her jumps.


Then, all three of them jumped together. This picture makes me laugh. Amy jumped off first and jumped farther, so it looks like she is the size of a lego man and it looks like Emily is pushing her.




Emily jumped by herself.


Ben being Batman.


Emily liked jumping from the lower part which is about a foot lower. She finally jumped from the higher part.


Then, Noah kept wanting to swim from the little dock over to the ladder by the pier where we were jumping and climb up. Aunt Paula had a lifevest. And off he went. I couldn't believe he didn't even look back. He just swam out in the ocean all by himself.




Cousin Amy helped her get through the pier without getting cut on barnacles.

And up the ladder he went.


That's pretty brave for 4 years old!

Then, he was freezing. Ben was freezing before too and I put David's shirt on him followed by my cover up. Since Ben was dry at this point, we got Noah dressed. He looks like Yoda. Cold, I am.


Then, Amy and Emily swam from the pier to the shore. Emily used the lifevest for a little help since it was such a long swim.


Then, David jumped off the pier and tried to catch them.




He won! Although, they didn't know they were even in a race.


Noah build a sand castle.


The boys played on the logs. I love the beaches here. This long wasn't there yesterday, but anything can come in with the tide.


Emily and Amy went back out and I thought Emily was going to jump from the super top. But, she didn't.


Then, David and Noah joined them.


A Momma and her ducks.


Then, we went out for one last gelato. Yum! We stopped at a different beach just to check it out tonight. The beaches here are all so different. This one had crashing waves and smooth pebble rocks everywhere.


And that wraps up our big vacation of 2014. We have a 14 hour travel day tomorrow. Leaving by 7:45 to catch an 8:30 ferry. Then, on to a three hour drive to Seattle as well as crossing the border, which can sometimes take hours. Then, we have a 5:00 flight and then land in Phoenix. Then, get our car and drive the 90 minutes home. We should be there around 10:00 at night. Whew, I'm tired already. It's been a great trip and who know, if we aren't at the border for long, we may have time for something fun in Seattle!

Vacation, Day 13

I actually did take one photo yesterday. Noah found this old Fisher Price toy that used to belong to cousin Greg. David thought it was super cool because he used to play with an identical toy. It was from 1970!


We headed to a different beach this morning. It had a pier and David and the kids went out to take in the view. I stayed on shore.


They found a starfish.


Then, two...


Then, three...


They were all dead.

Emily made a habitat for them complete with seaweed, rocks and dead crabs.


There were lots of dead crabs.


Noah found one that was his size.


And a middle one for Ben...


David and Ben went off exploring.


Here's the pier. Notice how tall it is at the very end?


Everybody jumps off the end of the pier. So, we decided when in Rome. David was going to go first, but he kept chickening out. I said, I would go, but once I got ready, David wanted to do it first. This went on for close to 45 minutes. Then, he finally went.






It's probably 15-20 feet down as we were at low tide. Ben wanted to go next, but with David. I love that Emily was so encouraging and she's clapping for him.







Ben did great. He swam to David so fast when they hit the water.


Then, they went again.


Now, it was my turn. I couldn't do all talk and no action, so I freaked once and went on my second try. Notice my eyes are closed the entire time.




It was soooo freaky. Can you tell who the photographer is in the family? David barely got me in a frame, but at least he got it. I'm 40 years old and I've never jumped off a pier. Neither had David. Emily was too scared. She tried and tried, but in the end couldn't bring herself to do it. This from the girl who wants to ride upside down roller coasters over and over. But, this had several different factors, height, cold water, the ocean.... I tried to get her to go just because I don't want her to have any regrets.

We left and came home for lunch. Then, we hit another beach by their house. Both of these beaches are within a 2 minute drive, so since the weather was bad yesterday, we hit up two today.

Ben loves this log and he makes standing up there look so easy.



Noah was camped out. The second we get to the beach, the kids want snacks. Drives me crazy.


Emily and Amy were out swimming. Amy was dunking her.




Noah found this log that was like a teeter totter.


Emily LOVES her cousin Amy.


I decided to try the log. Not as easy as it looks.


Then, David waltzes out there just to show me up!


The kids having fun.



Cousin Amy was playing seaweed monster with them.


Emily and Ben were trying to stand on this log. It lasted about 3 seconds each time.


We went to Chinese for dinner. Noah had my camera again for these next few shots...


Noah was sitting next to me when I went through these pics and he told me he wanted me to put this one on our blog. So, he took it and there I am.


Then, we went for gelato.


Then, we went back to the pier, so Emily could see it at high tide. It's probably only a 10-15 foot drop around dinner time. She said she would do it tomorrow night!


Here's our tribe.


And here's a picture of the ferry that will take us on our journey home on Wednesday. Boo.