Corn Maze Time

I am a complete slacker. I apologize.

September is notoriously rough, as all the kids and I readjust to school schedules and the ups and downs of new classrooms. Heck, Megan didn't even have her real teacher until mid-month since she was on maternity leave!

But September is over and October's nearly there as well. We have a busy week coming up. James has a long work week, there's Red Ribbon Week at the girls' school, costume day at the preschool, school trunk or treat, church trunk or treat and then, of course, Halloween. Phew!

Today, though, we took advantage of the finally-fall weather and explored the corn maze at the farm we normally go berry-picking at. It was an enjoyable evening, but I'm not sure I'm up for paying their price for the experience again any time soon... Either way, it was fun while it lasted.

The beginning of the adventure

Which way do we go?

Connor found the exit!

Winner's Circle!

And a celebratory moment at the hay pile

And, the final tidbit: My car started acting up recently. I was all set to switch out the brakes and rotors, but on my way home from a parent-teacher conference, it started making a really scary sound. Enough that I immediately pulled over and called for the tow truck rather than finish the last 3/4 mile to our house. Something was really wrong with the brakes at the end and the repair costs were too high. It was a very long day, but we ended up with another car (this time without the brake problems and the transmission problem right around the bend).

"Last" day of Summer

It has been a crazy busy summer! Not long after I posted my last post, I came down with a summer cold and at least one of us was down for the count for the following week, which means the girls missed their 2nd VBS, but July was extra busy with the summer camp at Little Lambs, a second summer of superhero VBS and the kids enjoying a series of playdates while I attended PTAC for 3 days.

This week was my last full week off. Though we have 2 weeks until school starts up again, I have work days starting this Monday (classroom set up and lesson planning hours). To make up for being too busy to get to the pool as often as Cadence would desire, I promised 5 days in a row of going to the pool (though I cheated on Tuesday and only took them to the splash pad). We were lucky enough to have friends join us for the first three days. I was thrilled with the confidence levels all three kids displayed in the water. Megan, who used to cry at the mere thought of getting in the pool, was ducking her face under water. Cadence was pleading to go into the "big pool" to really swim. Connor navigated the water with the same fearlessness that had him scaling the rock-wall side of the playground equipment at 18 months.

Today, though, on our my last real day of summer (weekends don't count). We kept busy. First on my to do list was a trip to Ikea to see if I could locate any last minute deals for my classroom, or the house in general. I arrived promptly at opening to guarantee the girls a spot in Smaland and we had a happy surprise when we learned Connor was finally tall enough to be allowed in as well (also, yay for potty-trained!). So, I enjoyed a blissful hour of wandering Ikea on my own, before picking up my happy children and enjoying Ikea's "kids eat free" summer deal (though, of course, only 2 ate free, because there was only one paid adult).

On our way home from Ikea, the girls both expressed wonder over a simple rock wall waterfall beneath an office building's sign. Since we were in the neighborhood anyway, I decided it was time for all of us to visit the William's Tower Water Wall (a Houston must-see). Connor was understandably scared of the sound in the little amphitheater of water, but the girls loved it. There's even talk of dragging Daddy with us next time.

We rounded out the afternoon with trip #5 to the pool. Connor recently discovered he can float on his own (well, with his floaties). He insisted on walking around the pool and lowering himself in random spots, so I got my exercise in for the day chasing him through the water. The girls had the time of their lives "swimming" (with their floaties) and attempting to swim without. We're signing them up for swimming lessons next spring now that they're both at least confidence in the water. We spent our longest time at the pool all week and I came home to discover our sunscreen had failed at last. At least the stuff on our faces did its job, so the only one really red is myself (since the kids were up to their necks in water 90% of the time anyway).

So our final day draws to a close. It's the Olympic's Opening Ceremony tonight, though, and now that the girls are old enough to appreciate it, we have an evening of pizza, ice cream and TV planned. I also learned the gymnastics team finals are immediately after my work hours on Tuesday. The girls caught a glimpse of the tryouts of Team USA and were immediately interested (as all little girls are!), so I'll definitely be catching that with them, but we'll probably watch it regularly for the next couple weeks.

Two weeks from today we'll be meeting the girls' teachers and doing our last round of back-to-school shopping. I am just hoping there's no downpour like there was last year. If there is, I'll be wise enough to run back to the car instead of trying to wait-it-out like I foolishly did last year.

Summer begins

One... two... three months since my last post. I keep promising to do better and failing. Oh, well. We'll say it's because I'm too busy living life to take a moment to write about it. ;-)

Summer break has been here for almost a month now (for me). I have been going a little stir crazy not having something to get me out of the house and challenge me every day. Being a stay-at-home parent is a completely different mindset and I've had a hard time readjusting to it.

Of course, we have to blog briefly about the last few weeks of school. I was quite pleased with the graduation ceremony my preschool pulled off. My co-teacher and I were given pretty much full control of what would go down and it ended up being amazing. Starting with the slideshow video I put together and ending with how well each of the students did when it was actually their turn to cross the stage. I took multiple pictures with students I have come to love. (The one actually posted is with a student I had this year AND last year. Such a sweetheart!)

Have I shared my awesome haircut on this blog yet?

Lucky for me, my school schedule let us out a full week ahead of the girls, which meant I was able to attend their award ceremonies and end of year parties. Cadence earned all of the awards she could potentially earn in her classroom. I was a little surprised she didn't get the art award again this year, but I know she's an amazing artist and we don't need a certificate to prove it. ;-)

Megan's ceremony was a little more involved since it was also her program (Cadence's program was for Thanksgiving). Megan also got every award the teachers handed out. I was also pretty proud of her earning a PE medal. The PE coach keeps track of their lap times and the top 20 girls get a medal. Megan was #11.

Then came their actual last day of school. It was dress-code free day, so they were more than happy to don their favorite at-home dresses instead of the polo shirts required of them.

At last, summer! We had a long first week where we all went a little nutso. The rainy weather kept us from making use of free time, pools, splash pads and all the other things that usually accompany summer. Luckily, the second week had better weather and the girls were able to attend the same dance camp they went to last year. This year, we were able to attend the little party the church that hosted the camp put on. The kids had a blast. There were sno-cones, popcorn and an inflatable obstacle course that Connor stubbornly conquered.

The week after dance camp, we had to venture an hour north of home to the other end of Houston. There was no way I would be going to be only 10 minutes from the temple and not stop by for a visit. I was also wanting a little bit of the peace that comes just from being on temple grounds. The kids loved it. A few times their excitement got the better of them, but I don't think anyone minded hearing the occasion squeal of delight on temple grounds.

And that brings us to this past week. The girls got to attend the first of three VBSs I signed them up for this summer (to get them out of the house!). I love that there were so many VBS options near us. I must have combed through at least a dozen options before settling on the ones that our schedule best. I especially enjoyed the conversations I had with the girls as I drove them home and we discussed what things they'd learned about. Of course, most of their stories involved what they had for snack or what game they'd played in the rec room, but...

So, that's the last 3 months in a nutshell. Upcoming: another VBS next week, James has a week off for 4th of July, I'm working a summer camp the week after that (the kids are attending) for my school, another VBS, then I'm off to a work conference the week after that. I think I have a week of nothing to do before I'm back to work again. Even vacation's not really vacation around here!

An adventure in camping

I'm not even going to try to play catch-up from December. Christmas happened. It was fun. ;-)

I will take a moment and backdate a post for Connor's 3rd birthday. From this point on, however, we move forward.

And we start with our camping trip! Let me preface by saying: I had no intention of going camping. James had the week off and decided to go camping to get himself out of the house while the rest of us were busy with work/school. With a forecast of 40 degrees overnight and my only-seen-snow-once children, I wasn't keen on the idea. But late Wednesday night, James convinced me, so Thursday I threw things together last minute before and after work, and ushered the kids out the door as soon as they got home from school.

They had no idea where we were going and I was a little concerned they'd hate the idea once we were there. Turns out, they loved it! We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, because you pretty much have to when you go camping. Due to last minute planning, we lacked graham crackers and chocolate, but the kids loved the marshmallows and didn't know enough to care.

Our camp site backed right up to a lake and a small pier, so James took them all fishing. They didn't catch anything. First of all, the line was only in the water for a few minutes each. Second of all, the lake hadn't been stocked in awhile, so pickings were thin. A few smaller fish nibbled at the bait and made the bobber dance around, but nothing caught.

The one thing I insisted on: If I'm taking the kids camping for the first time, I need a camera to take decent pictures. I've been surviving on a camera phone only for the last several months and, in the process, have taken a fraction of the pictures I'm used to. I had been shopping around for a camera for the last few weeks anyway, so I took advantage of the trip, found a store with my pick in stock (all the way across town, but conveniently along the way) and splurged a little.

Oh yeah, bathroom selfie!!!

 I had fun toying with some of the options, especially the color selection one:

It was cold the next morning. Well, 40 degrees, which may not seem cold to some, but when a person lacks certain types of clothing, it's freaking cold. Especially when the fire won't start the next morning. Poor Connor, despite having clothes layered over his fleece pajamas and being bundled in his jacket and mine, still shivered for the first hour unless being held. The girls handled it okay, content in their jackets, and it warmed up several degrees within an hour or so.

We didn't stay long in the morning. With the Easter crowd on its way in and Connor giving me constant heart attacks by wandered toward the little pier, we packed up early. James instructed the girls in taking down the tent, while I played a last minute game of peek-a-boo with Connor and Megan. Then, it was back on the road, where we managed to avoid the same traffic that made the trip take twice as long on the way up.

Connor screamed as we buckled him in the car, irate that we were leaving when all he wanted to do was run wild. He continued to scream for 30 minutes until he cried himself to sleep in the car. The only thing that soothed him, upon seeing our house in front of him when he awoke, was a slice of cold pizza (leftover from our one night James wasn't home for dinner).