First Class Field Trip & Other Preschool News

Today was the Dandelion's first school field trip. They took a tour of the grocery store down the street. In order to make the groups manageable, the kids were split into four groups so only a portion of he Dandelion's classmates went with us today. Since they were mostly the youngest kids, it was a bit of a challenge keeping them from running off when they weren't strapped into carts!

The tour started with the floral department, where they took them into the back room and through the produce refrigerator. From there we headed to the pizza kitchen where the kids got to put the cheese on a pizza.

After that we headed to the lobster tank where the kids got to touch Larry the Lobster. The Dandelion was quite excited to see the lobsters but didn't want to touch it at all.


From there we headed over to the bakery, which was what I was afraid of. The Dandelion cannot eat things made in a bakery because they have peanuts/nuts so I generally steer clear of it, and today we were invited into the actual bakery. Fortunately the Dandelion was quite interested in the book of fancy cakes outside the bakery and didn't even notice that the other kids got to try squeezing frosting and that everyone got a sugar cookie to eat. Frankly, I couldn't have imagined it going any better.

The kids finished up by going back to pick up the cooked pizza and then got balloons from the floral department. The Dandelion (and his classmates) were thrilled to have balloons with their favorite characters!


So overall, the trip was fun. Actually, the class has had a lot of "special" activities so far this year. In addition to the grocery store trip, they have had a mini-golf fundraiser and a grandparents' snack day. The Dandelion was very excited when Papa came to his school for the day!


In other preschool news...

I am thrilled to report that there are weekly newsletters being sent home with what they are doing in class. This was one thing I missed most about being at other schools. I am too hands on to accept sending my kids "into a black hole" for school. I did not handle it well last year, and I am not doing too well with the whole going to school on a bus and staying there for 6.5 hours without me.

On the other hand, I am not so thrilled to report that the Dandelion has been struggling with drop-offs over the past week. He gets very clingy from the time we pull into the parking lot at school until I pry him off to get out the door. So far he doesn't really cry or scream about it, but he does put on his best pouty face and begs and pleads for me to stay at school with him. So it seems he does want to be there, he just wants me to be there too. However, the teachers have said that he seems to do it for show because as soon as I leave he acts completely normal, interacting with the teachers and other kids in the class. I do hope it blows over soon though, because I still feel bad leaving.

Additionally, he seems to be getting comfortable with people at school - from his teachers and classmates to the gymnastics teachers and the director, he does a great job of saying "hi" or "bye" with their name. He was also super excited about his first "homework", which wasn't actually homework. It was really his first handwriting worksheet. He was so proud of it. He came home and showed all of us his letter "S" paper. He seems so grown up these days!

Nate the Great and other favorite books

The Tumbleweed has been on quite the reading kick lately. Between having library class at school every week and the school running a book fair, there have been plenty of new books around to capture her imagination. These days she is plowing through short chapter books, usually Junie B Jones or the Fairies books. We are working on branching out, but when left to her own devices she seems to gravitate to the same things. I have been impressed with how much her comprehension seems to have improved since school started. She is much better at answering questions about the book after she has read it. Yay - to her not grumbling & complaining when I ask "What was the book about?". Now she can even list the "characters" and tell me the "setting" and "plot"!

This weekend she picked up the book she got from Aunt Kasey for her birthday -- Nate the Great and the Big Sniff. Aunt Kasey picked this one because she and her dog Rufus were featured in a story in the "Extra Activities" section of the recent editions of the book. She seemed to really enjoy the book, and was eager to tell about what she read (although she still needs to work on her summarizing skills). Thanks Aunt Kasey!

Now we just have to work on not staying up too late reading on school nights! Hmmm... I wonder where she gets that from?

Apple Picking Minus One

The Tumbleweed has been struggling with going to school some mornings because she wants to stay home and "do fun things". I guess I can't blame her. It was kind of strange today when the Dandelion and I went off on a field trip with the MOMS Club and she didn't get to come with us. On one hand it was nice to have the quality time with him (and to have only one kid to chase around), but it did feel like we were missing someone. And of course when the Dandelion recapped the event for us during dinner I got a "See, I told you that all the fun stuff happens while I am at school" from the Tumbleweed.

I guess I better get used to it, because there are still almost two full years before the Dandelion is in school all day, and there are going to be lots of activities between now and then. Hopefully the Tumbleweed starts to accept it too.

Mission: Organization - Sidetracked

Closets

As any homeowner can tell you, home improvement projects really take on a life of their own. Our basement organization project is no different. We started out on our organization journey three months ago determined to "clear the clutter". The basement is really coming along and is nearly complete, but along the way we have gotten a little sidetracked and organized a few other areas of the house. This includes the kids craft cabinet, our bedroom and, as previously mentioned, our living room. With momentum on our side, I decided to tackle our three hall closets. So while the kids were both at school, our organizer came by to help me sort & purge. By the time the Eagle came home from work, I had three surprises ready and waiting. (My apologies that there are no "before" pictures, I had the closets halfway emptied before I remembered!)

Closet #1 - Cleaning Supplies
This closet had previously held much of my office supplies, which had already been given a new home in the basement. We had already started putting the brooms & vacuum in it, but now it is all of the cleaning supplies.


Closet #2 - Bedroom Linens
This closet was holding a whole bunch of stuff that we moved in with and never really unpacked. We hardly ever had a reason to open it, yet it is a prime location. We relocated items that needed to be stored and donated the ones we no longer needed and - voila! - we had space for all of our sheets & blankets!


Closet #3 - Bathroom Linens
This had been our "linen closet". It was crammed with all of the sheets, towels, kitchen linens and other miscellaneous items. It was so full that things had started being shoved in wherever they fit, rather than being put away where they belonged. With the sheets & blankets in their new home, there was plenty of space for the towels!


We are close to wrapping up the basement project, so check back for the big reveal!

Book Fair Flashback

This morning I volunteered at the Tumbleweed's school book fair. This is her first year at public school, and therefore my two hours of the book fair was the most time I have spent in the building so far. I didn't see her while I was there since the Dandelion's school hours did not overlap her library time, but I did get help out with a class of 2nd graders and a class of 3rd graders.

Being at the school brought back so many memories from my own childhood, particularly of attending my elementary school book fair (which is not the same school that the Tumbleweed attends). If you had asked me a week ago, "was there a stage at your school when you were in first grade?", I don't think I would have known the answer. But today memories suddenly came rushing back and I had a flashback to the school book fair which I now recall being held on the stage of the gymnasium, behind the closed curtains. Crazy.

I came home that afternoon, with the Dandelion napping and the Tumbleweed still at school, and dug out my memorabilia boxes from school. I was hunting for something specific, and I found it. It was my 1st grade journal from Mrs. Whitbourne's class. In it were mentions of my favorite class (art), field trips we took (grocery store, post office and a rained out trip to the zoo), a drawing of my sister & I in our Halloween costumes (a witch and Cheer Bear), and some of my favorite toys (My Little Pony & Cabbage Patch Kids). What an awesome time capsule it was.

I found a few other gems in the boxes, but tucked them all back away before the kids could get into anything. It is fun to take a trip down memory lane from time to time. I wonder what memories going to the school open house this week will bring back...

Hawk Hill - 4 Years Later

When we first moved her four years ago we stuck pretty close to home. We had a one and a half year old, who didn't go to school yet and had very few activities. We didn't know our way around the neighboring towns. We hadn't found all of the local attractions. But that didn't mean we didn't do anything. We invited our friends out to visit and went apple picking at the orchard down the road.



Four years later, we are much busier driving all over town (and to the neighboring towns) for sports, activities and school. But just as we did our first fall, we supported our local orchard. The kids went apple picking with Papa. As always the train play structure was a big hit and they want to stop every day to play. The Tumbleweed is a bit bigger than she was four years ago.

Go Red Team!

The fall soccer season kicked-off this week. The Eagle is coaching both kids this year --- which means coaching 2 teams. And they were both assigned red jerseys. Madness!

The Tumbleweed's U6 team had the first game of the season on Friday night. She is on a team with a bunch of her friends again this year and they were all super excited to play. And they played awesome, the 5 five year olds each scored a goal! They don't really keep score, but if they did the red team would have won handily. Lots of fun, and funny moments, a perfect way to start the season.



The Dandelion finally got to take the field on Saturday morning for the U4 clinic & game. He has several little buddies on the team and they were absolutely adorable following along during warm-up and learning not to touch the ball with their hands. After 30 minutes of "practice", the kids lined up for a game.


Shin Guard Check!

The Dandelion kept his head in the game pretty well! He had a couple turns with the ball and took it straight upfield. Straight from where he started just happened to be five feet to the left of the un-manned goal, but that's okay :)



I'd say soccer weekend #1 was a success - and it was also the first fall season that hasn't started out with a rain-out. Fingers crossed for the rest of the season!

One is the Loneliest Number

With the Tumbleweed in school all day, the Dandelion has had some adjusting to do. Last year she was in school every afternoon and he hardly seemed to notice, although that was partially because for much of the year he napped during a portion of her school time. This year is different. She is gone for 7 1/2 hours.

On the first day she had school he seemed to really enjoy it. He pulled out lots of different toys, "made" me imaginary things, invited me to play trains with him (so I would build a fancy track), and came and visited me, but only for a few minutes, while I was doing something. Then off he went to do something else. He liked the freedom.

Fast forward to today - just 5 days later - and he was a different kid. By 9:30 he was demanding that I take him to playgroup at a local center (something we haven't done since June). After much discussion about playgroups not starting yet, he stomped away yelling. I found him upstairs a short while later hiding under a "tent". When I asked him what he was doing he said "Waiting for my friends to come to my birthday party" To which I responded, "you are?" and he replied, "Yeah, but I don't have any friends." :( I felt so bad for him. And at the same time I was amazed at his ability to verbalize his feelings. *big hugs*

So I guess the moral of the week is, when your kids are used to being busy, playing with each other and seeing their friends a lot, don't change too much at once. Perhaps I should have made more plans to get out with friends his friends this week, rather than enjoying the peace & quiet of not having both kids home fighting over things all day. Not to worry, the Dandelion and I have plenty planned for next week!

What did you do at school today?

It was finally here - the first day of school! The Tumbleweed was so excited she got right up, devoured breakfast, and got dressed & ready to go in record time (with a little extra time to dance around her room to the music on her alarm clock)! We were out at the bus stop extra early for pictures (of course!) and the Eagle even stayed to watch her get on the bus for the first time.

The bus picked her up on it's return trip, so she doesn't have to cross. The route listed her as crossing, so I am glad the bus driver noticed and switched it. When she stopped she said we were a day early - they had the Tumbleweed down as a kindergartener. We assured her that she was going to first grade and off she went with a big smile and a wave.


The Dandelion and I should have planned more to do today, because I spend most of the morning wondering what she was doing :) The Dandelion fully enjoyed having free reign in the playrooom and was so busy doing stuff he basically ignored me for a good 3 hours! It seemed like the longest morning ever, but it was very peaceful.

Finally it was time to go to pick her up! Thankfully I have a talkative little girl and got the full run-down of her day over the course of the afternoon and evening...

8:00 - Bus ride was fun, "the bus goes faster than your car!" She also mentioned that tomorrow when all the kindergarteners start that they (the 1st-3rd graders) "have to sit in the back for the rest of the year!" and leave 5 seats open in the front for kindergarteners. I do hope she can sit near the kindergarteners she knows when they start tomorrow!

8:45 - At school, "we all lined up and went to our class"

[There was a bit of a gap here, but there was something about taking out the picture of themselves that they had to bring and coloring rainbow balloons. And she read one page of a book. She also appears to have eaten her entire snack.]

Recess (somewhere around 11:30) - she did the circle monkey bars "with no help" and saw one of her friends in another class. Then she got to try jump roping with two teachers holding the rope. She only got two jumps this way, but "one boy did 16! Maybe he could be in my TV show!"

Lunch (after recess) - "we came in like 3rd graders" (I have no idea what this means, but she said it more than once) She had lunch with two kids from her class and they "didn't really talk". [She seemed to have a lot of lunch left, so I wonder what she was doing if she didn't talk!]

Art Class! - "The best part of the day!" She was excited about her project and stressed to me that she would bring it home after it dries. She also mentioned that she had to go potty really bad during art class :)

2:00 - Using the Smart Board. "You can write on it with your finger and use markers that don't even have any ink!" She said she got to write on it herself and they did a letter matching game and a "what's your favorite color" game.

I picked her up, happy as can be, just before 3:00 so we could race over to gymnastics. She told me that there were 21 kids in her class (10 girls and 11 boys), she listed lots of their names, and made sure to tell me that she "left her pencil box at school until June!" She also said that someone asked if there was any homework today, to which the teacher replied "Not on the first day, that would be sad."

I am so glad she had a great time! I was impressed that she made it through an hour and a half of gymnastics after such a busy day. I do think she is going to be pretty wiped out by the end of such an exciting week, so things could get interesting!

Anticipation

On Friday we had the opportunity to tour the elementary school where the Tumbleweed will be starting first grade. We have both been eagerly anticipating this day, almost as much as the first day of school!

We did a practice run with our morning school routine before heading to the school. The Tumbleweed did well with her first time waking to an alarm clock and followed the schedule very well. I am hopeful that it always goes smoothly, but I imagine it won't take long before we forget to lay out clothes the night before or run out of the favorite lunch item creating a bottleneck in the plan. Here is the sign I made to hang by her bedroom door to help us all stay on track.


Once we got over to the school, we got a tour from our MOMS Club friends and her 1st and 3rd grader who both went to the school last year. She got to see her classroom and sit at her desk! We saw the library, lunchroom, gym, music & art rooms and of course the playground. On our way out, another friend who has the same teacher arrived so we headed back into the school with them. While peeking in the closed classroom door, her teacher spotted us and came over to meet us. I must say, I feel much better having had a chance to speak with the teacher before sending her on her way the first day :)


As I write this on the eve of her first day of elementary school, I am really wishing that I was Samantha Stevens and could twitch my nose and make myself a fly on the wall in her classroom tomorrow. I wonder if she will get lost or know right where to go. I wonder if she will be outgoing and make friends or be shy. I wonder if she will be quiet in class or get in trouble for talking out of turn. I wonder if she will listen to instructions or daydream. I wonder if she will speak up if she needs something or wait for someone to offer help. I wonder if she will feel out of place or fit right in.

It is so hard to know what your child will do when you are not there. Sometimes I look at her and she seems so grown up, and other times I think she seems so young! I hope she is the confident leader that I know her to be elsewhere, but it is so hard to tell what her "place" will be in her class. One thing I do know, it will be a long 7 hours from the time she gets on the bus until I see her again wondering what she is doing at every moment!

Skip To My Lou

While we were road-tripping this summer, the kids watched some Kidsongs DVDs in the car. They were a big hit with both kids. The Dandelion like them because there was a boy in the show with his name. The Tumbleweed's favorite video was "Skip to my Lou", which has inspired her to practice her jump roping "so I can be on TV". And I mean seriously practicing her jump roping (at one point asking if she could take jump roping lessons). Over the past week we had several rainy days and she must have spent over an hour each of the days out in the Eagle's empty garage bay practicing. She has gotten pretty good, especially since she has a pretty lousy $1 princess jump rope.


At the end of the week she decided that she had not learned enough tricks to be a jumproper on TV, but she knew all the words to the song so she could be the singer. From there, she developed a whole production strategy. She drew up a flier with the additional cast members that she would need (3 bike riders, 5 jump ropers, 4 hula hoopers and 2 runners) and asked me to make 14 copies. She has it all planned out. Her 14 friends will meet us at the park, where she will borrow the Eagle's video camera and film the whole thing and "send it in to the TV people". She sure is driven when she wants to be!

In addition to the jump roping, the kids have also been riding the Dandelion's scooter and bike in the garage on the rainy days. The Eagle & I decided that if they were going to play in the garage so much it might make sense for the Tumbleweed to have her own scooter (she had passed on her small scooter to a younger friend in the spring) since the garage is a bit small for her to ride her bike in. So today we presented her with the option to give up her "little girl" vanity and ten toys of her choosing for the upcoming MOMS Club Toy Swap and in exchange we would get her a scooter. It took a little thinking, but she did decide to go for the scooter.

Mission: Organization - Phase 4, cont.

Mud Room

Many of our organizing goals have been centered around making life easier "by the time the kids go back to school". So since it is now officially "Back-to-School" I thought it was a good time to reveal our "Mud Room Drop Zone". This is the area that we frequently "dumped" things as we came in the door from the car (it was also home to the pantry).


It is now set up to house the kids things...


There are two units, one for each kid. Starting at the top, we have hung up some artwork that was laying around the basement. Next is a little information center with an inbox for important paperwork and a mini bulletin board to post calendars and notices. The kids each have 6 cubbies. We are still working on officially assigning these spaces, some are for extra totebags we pack in for little trips, but I have found it helpful when I unload the car to put each kids' things in bins and when they fill I ask them to take them upstairs and put their things away. On the left side they each have two hooks for coats and on the right one larger hook for their school bag, and on the bottom shoes.

We have been working with these cubbies for over a month now, and I must say, the first couple weeks were a little discouraging as the kids seemed to feel the need to empty the bins several times a day and leave everything on the floor. After a while the novelty wore off and they learned that they would have to clean up what ever they dumped out. I think I am really going to like having all of their school things in one place!

Filling In

Our busy schedule was complicated this week with us having to fit in the Tumbleweed's first trip to the dentist to have cavities filled. She was a real trooper and accepted everything that came her way quite well. No tears or refusing to do what she was asked. I was quite impressed.

She is determined to not have to go back for any more anytime soon and has been really good about brushing her teeth, flossing and using a fluoride rinse ever since she was told she had a cavity.

PRE-Schlool

The Dandelion had has first week of pre-school (or PRE-Schlool as he says it) this week. Getting all of the paperwork in place to leave an Epi-Pen at the school was no small feat and I was exhausted by the time I had all of the changes of clothes labeled and instructions/forms filled out the night before.


The first day was an hour and a half of orientation, where the Tumbleweed and I stayed at the school. He was pretty cool with that and even asked when we were leaving at one point. The Tumbleweed and I left him there for a few minutes and he didn't even seem to notice. He played well with the other kids and enjoyed painting at the easel (the Tumbleweed's favorite activity when she was in Preschool I too). He made 3 paintings "of Dinoco McQueen" (they only had blue & white paint out)! He didn't quite understand why they had to keep the paintings at school, but that seemed like a good reason to go back on Thursday...


Thursday was the first drop-off day, and he did pretty well initially. I half expected him to cling to my leg and not let us go. Instead he did say that he wanted us to stay, but then he just pouted while a teacher tried to distract him and he wasn't crying when I left.

The Tumbleweed and I headed out for "Girls Day" and went to Dunkin Donuts. We haven't been able to go to Dunkin since the Dandelion was diagnosed with the peanut allergy, since he can no longer have the treats he used to get there. She was thrilled to say the least. After that we went and got her back-to-school hair cut, trimming about 6 inches off! It was lots of fun to spend girly time with her.

When we arrived at school for pick-up I got a huge running hug from the Dandelion. I checked in with the teacher who said he did have a little trouble adjusting & following directions at the beginning and went off to play by himself. She said when they went over he was crying and said "I miss my Mommy" :(. He did tell me when we got in the car that he had been sad at school because he missed me, but then he "played and got happy and went in the Zone!" (The Zone is the indoor playground at school).

All in all, not bad... we shall see how week two goes.

With a Beak

With all of the school supplies in the house, it is no surprise that the Dandelion has taken an interest in pencils lately. He likes to carry them around, put them over his ears and stick them in the spirals of notebooks. He claims he has to write notes, but rarely actually writes marks on paper with them (usually when presented with paper he asks for markers).

Despite not actually using them to write, he does know the difference between a pencil that writes and one that has not yet been sharpened, as he pointed out when he said, "This one doesn't have a beak on it. Can you put a beak on it?" It was so cute that I even sharpened the pencil by hand instead of going upstairs to get the battery operated sharpener.

The Tumbleweed has corrected him enough times now that he usually calls is a "tiP", with an extra emphasis on the "puh" at the end. But the week of "beak" was really cute :)

And all of this reminds me of my favorite movie quote, perfect for this time of year...

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address." - Joe Fox (Tom Hanks), You've Got Mail

The Fairy Godmother's Ball

This past weekend was my sister's wedding. We spent a long weekend "back home" visiting with family and celebrating her special day. All but 2 of my 14 cousins were there, and the kids enjoyed seeing their 2nd cousins who are all close in age (three going into 1st grade and two starting preschool).


As usual, there were last minute things to do --- like getting my dress altered. My mom had a wonderful friend who was able to come alter my dress right at my parents' house! She also hemmed the Dandelion's pants with him on her lap studying how the sewing machine worked!

The kids were a bit of disaster at the rehearsal - both falling asleep in the car on the 10 minute ride from my grandma's lake house. Waking them up probably wasn't worth it, but it seemed important at the time to try. Oh well.

On the wedding day, the Eagle followed the limo around during pictures and got the kids in their clothes each time. We did let the kids go on a short limo ride to the ceremony, which they thought was totally awesome. I am pleased to say that the kids made it down the aisle and completed their jobs of flower girl and ring bearer with minimal disruption and we brought enough distractions/food that neither had to be removed during the ceremony. Hooray! The setting was beautiful, the weather cooperated and the bride & groom were stunning. Congrats to the happy couple!

At the reception, I got to enjoy eating at the head table with no kids. Apparently the price of the seat was a short speech, which I survived but not without a few tears :) Once the music got going, both kids had a blast dancing the night away. The Dandelion had his own little breakdancing moves that we hilarious to watch and he had a blast doing "cool tricks like Jack". We had to institute a "No Handstands on the Dance Floor" rule for the Tumbleweed so she didn't kick anyone, but once she got over that she was skipping around the dance floor and trying to mimic all the moves everyone else was doing.

We had a great time!


*The Tumbleweed wore the same dress in my sister-in-law's wedding - 3 years ago! We never made one alteration she just grew a few inches....

Just Barely

It was a big weekend for the Dandelion! He is finally tall enough to do all the rides at StoryLand and most of the rides at Attitash (potty training kept him off the waterslides, and you have to be 4 years old to rock climb). Fortunately they only measure in shoes or he would not have reached a whopping 36 1/2" LOL!

He was so excited to bounce on the EuroBungy Trampoline, fly down the Alpine Slide, ride the Polar Coaster (twice) and get drenched on the water rides. He was not as thrilled to wait in the lines, but now that he can go on some rides I think he is starting to understand why people wait in lines (at least I really hope he is!)


The Tumbleweed also reached new heights this weekend making it to the top of the rock wall (although she is still eagerly anticipating her 6th birthday so she can climb the rock wall at the Y).


She also did her first back flip (actually 8 - she counted!) on the EuroBungy Trampoline. After watching that, I must confess that I am starting to develop new gymnastics fears. I never could understand all the flinching parents who couldn't watch their kids in the gym, but it is a bit more difficult to watch her attempt something new than it was for me attempting tricks myself or coaching other people's kids. Very strange!

It was a jam-packed couple of days, but we managed to do a lot of fun stuff and even find a few letterboxes!

Mission: Organization - Phase 4

Ta-da!

It has taken lots of time and effort, but I finally have a true "before and after" to share. When we first set out on our organizing mission, we wanted to get the basement in order. Over the last two months we have sorted, cleared and rearranged our basement space and in the process it has also taken us to other parts of the house. So, even thought there are still a few finishing touches to put on the basement (sorry, no basement reveal just yet), I can share the progress we made in the living room during our latest organizing night.

I must admit, I didn't officially take a before picture. I know, but I realized it after we had already finished most of the organizing. After much searching, I was able to dig up an old (May 2008) picture that I think illustrates the problem pretty well (every other picture I have of the living room was carefully angled to not include the "problem areas").


So, now you see why there are no pictures. Want to see what it looks like right now?

Ta-da!


This is the former computer desk converted into a homework desk for the soon-to-be first grader to do her homework.

I don't know if the pictures do it justice, because I have seen the transformation in person, but the whole family thinks it looks pretty awesome.

Back to finishing the basement...

Mission: Organization - Phase 3

System Reset

Last night was our third appointment with our organizer. Before she came we were supposed to sort through the boxes of paperwork that had come from our desks, the mail pile, old files and from the numerous boxes of old paperwork that were in the basement. Supposed to. This was a bigger task than either of us had thought. We put lots of hours of work into sorting & shredding, but we did not entirely complete our homework.

But, that did not stop us from getting lots done during her visit. To begin with we cleared the remaining surfaces, and sorted the "left over" items into a few categories, including: items to return to stores/friends and keepsakes. As it turns out, there were lots of little things in our desks & files that could really be categorized as "keepsakes" that we aren't ready to part with and derive some enjoyment from, but that didn't really need to take up our "everyday space". By putting these items in a designated box, we are able to hold on to a manageable amount and keep our everyday space clear of things we do not use on a regular basis.

Once the surface clearing was done, we now had room to set up our new "Mail Center". After much discussion, it was decided that the mail center should be in the new office space, which is nearby the door we regularly enter and just before the stairs. This is to be the "landing zone" for all things paper that come in the house. We re-purposed some furniture that was in the space and stole the bulletin board from the Tumbleweed's room for the main set up. On the bulletin board we have space for important "action items" and envelopes for the little things (like coupons & Box Tops) that often get lost in a pile. We also have paper trays for bills and "To Do". And, most importantly the trash can, paper recycling bin and shredder are all within reach as the mail is sorted.

Our Mail Center

Shared Office Supplies

After we had set up a mail center, we tackled the other big reason our paperwork gets out of hand - the filing system. Our files were so outdated and stuffed that there was no where to put the new stuff, which was causing it to pile up. We started with a clean slate and emptied everything, and only added back in the items we currently need. Additionally, we now have a monthly filing system for past 'action items', paid bills and receipts. This should keep the mail area clear of "old" stuff, and eliminate the piles that usually appear on my desk.

It feels pretty good to have a such clear spaces then I look around! There are still several boxes of items that need to be sorted and/or returned to their homes upstairs. And there is still some reshuffling of the items that belong with my desk/computer but are still upstairs near it's former location. But even though we still have some homework, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

An Update Update

Returning to blogosphere from a vacation is challenging. There is so much to report, so many cute stories to tell, so many pictures to share, but life is continuing and it is hard to go back and recap a (very busy) week's worth of stuff. I have sat down to write a recap of various sections of our trip to Lake Placid for the IronMan race a half dozen times and it is just not flowing right now.

So, rather than get hung up on trying to complete that before I report on current events, I am just going to say --- you'll have to stay tuned and look for pre-dated updates around July 26th. I'll get to them, but maybe only little by little. We have lots going on as we approach the new school year: my sister's wedding, races, organizing and lots more fun in the sun.

Mis-spoken

Some of my favorite kid moments are the silly things they say. From mispronouncing words to using them in the wrong context, kids are full of funny things to say. I am reminded of this daily by both kids. And as much as I think what they said was so funny that I will never forget, I often can't remember the story when I go to relay it to someone else. Before I forget, here are a couple of recent quotable kid moments...


Dandelion

As a three-year-old, the Dandelion is learning lots of new words all the time. His pronunciation is pretty good, but he does tend to switch around some letters. My current favorites are "vathing suit" [bathing suit] and "bacation" [vacation]. I am not sure quite why these particular words got mixed up, but that is how he says them every time. Most other words he mixes up on purpose, either by changing the first letter to create rhymes or switching the first letters of two words like they do in the Shel Silverstein book "Runny Babbit". Hopefully is passion for "wixed up mords" won't hurt him too much in school.

Otherwise, he is pretty good at absorbing "big words" and using them when you least expect them ("Neat-o Mosquito!"). However every once in a while he does remind us that he is only three, like he did today... After I put him back in bed for the tenth or fifteenth time tonight, I told him "This is unacceptable. You can not keep getting out of bed" in my best SuperNanny voice, as I have numerous other times in his little life. But today, perhaps to stall or perhaps truthfully, he said, "What does un-accept-amle" mean?" Argh. Cuteness? Stalling? SuperNanny would say I can't answer him either way. I guess we will have to discuss it in the morning.

Tumbleweed

With very few exceptions, the Tumbleweed only mixes up her pronunciation on purpose (she too likes Runny Babbit and considers it a game to switch the words around). However, occasionally she gets caught up by words with two meanings. The latest example was this afternoon... She was looking at some of the piles we have been sorting in the basement and found a bag of records (LPs). Having not seen them before she asks, "What are these?" Giving the short, but true, answer I said, "Daddy's records" without giving it much thought. To that she replied, "How many records did he break? He must have been really fast to have so many!" I couldn't stop laughing to explain it to her so for now she thinks Daddy has lots of "record books with all of his broken records in them". Too funny.

Indoor Fishing?

For each of their birthdays, the kids received fishing poles from Nana & Papa. During a recent visit to my grandma's house on the lake, the kids tested them out.


However, they didn't catch anything. Because as my dad always says, "there are no fish in Canandaigua Lake". Or perhaps they needed to work on their technique. We decided to make a trip to the Bass Pro Shop this weekend and they were able to do just that.



The Bass Pro Shop was a pretty cool place, with live fish and turtles in various aquariums. This particular day they were also running their "Family Summer Camp", which meant there was a craft, a presentation to learn more about fishing and a boat to practice casting. And it was all free! The kids really enjoyed it.

Mission: Organization - Phase 2, cont.

The Good Stuff

We had our second visit from our professional organizer this week. We had done lots of homework, including sorting through numerous piles, donating unused items, and moving furniture. We had come a long way since the first visit, if I do say so myself. We are making our way down the path to an organized life, but we are not there yet.

During this visit we discussed some of the redefined spaces and elaborated on how we would use them on a daily basis. Would the items need to be in the reach of the kids, or out of their reach? Would we be using them daily or occasionally? How many items do we have space for?

In the organizing process, that last question is the big one. How many items do we have space for? Quite often it lead to more purging. For example, my shopping bag collection has out grown the reasonable amount of space to store them. Sure, all the bags were useful. They weren't broken, they were varied in size and they save then environment from plastic bags. But, we don't have room for all of them. In the end, we selected 7 grocery bags and about 7 "shopping" bags (of varying sizes) to keep. That left about a dozen in the donate pile.

That is a simple illustration of the latest part of the process. Getting to "The Good Stuff". Our initial sorting had gotten us close, but once we had redefined the spaces we could see that some of the things that had seemed good the first time around might not really be worthy of a piece of real estate in our new plan. With each new system we set up there is a finite amount of space and we have to choose the things that are most important to us to keep in that space. That's "The Good Stuff".

Sure we still have more work to do (much of it mundane filing), but even as I look around now I am starting to see "The Good Stuff" where there were once piles and misplaced items. We are starting to see the real benefits of all of our hard work, which makes it easier to keep moving towards the finish line.


The kids play with Play-Doh in our new "Messy Craft Area" (formerly where the Eagle's music desk lived)

She's Got Mail!

A month earlier than expected, the Tumbleweed got her letter from the school with the information for the fall and a letter from her first grade teacher today. She was so excited!

When I was a kid, it was written on the bottom of our report cards on the last day of school. Everyone would compare on the bus ride home, hoping to find friends in their class. The Tumbleweed's school mails the letters home during the summer, but these days that's no big deal. We have Facebook! By the time we opened our letter, I had already seen a Facebook comment that one of the Tumbleweed's gymnastics teammates had that same teacher. Knowing that, she is even more excited for school to start. Hopefully we won't be starting the year with "talks too much in class" notes coming home!

After the initial excitement, it didn't take long for her to ask to go school supply shopping. The apple didn't fall far ;)

Three-year-olds are like Elephants

They never forget.

The Dandelion remembers the strangest and smallest details. He can tell you exactly where he got "Yellow Bath McQueen" (Walmart) and "Blue Bath McQueen" (Target). He noticed that I tried switching desk chairs with the Eagle, and switched them back right away. He announces his friends' house every time we drive past it.

I am working on getting him to use his skills for good (like, putting toys away or finding something that is lost), but it seems like his innate ability is for remembering things we'd rather he didn't. He is particularly good reminding me when I have said, "maybe later" to change the topic. He always asks later.

Some other Dandelion-isms at three:

~He likes to sing. Sometimes making up a tune and singing the words he would normally just speak. Sometimes singing songs he knows, our favorites are the theme from Cars ("I am a highway, I wanna rah-way, oh-ha-ho"), theme from the TV show Meteor and the Mighty Monster Trucks ("Meaty-dam-your and monster truck jam"), and the Toy Story theme ("You've got a friend in me, I got a friend in me")

~He is interested in rocketships and space. He noticed that the globe was moved to the mantle (part of the re-organization movement), and asked "Why do we have that planet up there? Are there aliens on it?" A couple days later, he came to me and said, "Mommy, wouldn't be cool if we had our very own rocketship and we could blast off into the sky?" Plus he is always flying Buzz Lightyear, "To infinity and beyond..."

~He likes to mimic grown-up behaviors, like 'typing' e-mails and making calls on his cell phone. He also mimics some "big sister" sayings, like "wouldn't it be cool", "what ever" and "little brothers" (what the Tumbleweed says when he knocks something over or falls down. Now he says it when someone else, including the Tumbleweed, does those things - LOL).

~He talks in a squeaky voice. Sometimes he is making his toys talk, sometimes he is being shy. Most of the time when he does this it is really cute, but occasionally I wish he would just talk normally.

He certainly like the role of making people smile.


Note: Above photo was taken by the Tumbleweed of the Dandelion and his friends at the zoo.

Mission: Organization - Phase 2

Redefined Spaces

Part of our "organizing homework" was to make some decisions about what functions we wanted our spaces to have. Over time spaces that we had originally assigned a certain function to had taken on one or more other functions. For instance, our basement "guest room" had our pull out sofa and pillows as we had intended, but had more recently taken on the additional role of the Eagle's home office. On the other hand, my computer was in our living room with a single chair (our time-out chair) and basically nothing else. It took our organizer pointing out that it made more sense to have our computers in an "office" downstairs where we could share resources and the infrequently used sofa bed in the living room so people could actually sit down.

Hmmmm... why didn't we think of that? Well, I guess that is because when you see it every day it doesn't occur to you to change it. So after two weeks of contemplating and measuring, we started moving things around. We called in reinforcements to move the couch (which I think will only be moved again by movers) up to the living room. And after a week of adjusting to that, the Eagle assembled a new desk for my computer in the basement.


I think it is going to take a little adjusting to not having the computer in the living room where I pass by it every two minutes, but it is nice working in the basement where it is much cooler in the summertime.

Our visions for the rest of the basement are somewhat clearer than they were now that we have cleared out the spaces more, but for all of the work we have done I still feel like there is so much more to do! We only have a couple days left to get the rest of our homework done, which is no small task. We are plugging away, but it really does take time to do it right!

Back to work...

Water, Water & More Water

The first week of July was much anticipated at our house. The Dandelion had been eagerly waiting until he could go to camp and play soccer. He was so excited he even got himself dressed in his "soccer clothes" - a very nice LONG sleeve shirt for a day that would end up being in the high 90s by noon. But there was no changing his mind - he was wearing his soccer shirt to soccer camp!

Day one went was a little rough, with both kids coming off the field for extra water breaks and not listening to instructions well. The Tumbleweed got into the swing of things by day two, with the coaches remarking at the end of practice that she had done really well with her passing during the scrimmages (something most kids her age haven't learned yet). However, the Dandelion struggled in the heat. He was pretty content to watch his friends from his chair on the sidelines, but then was sad when he got home that soccer was over. Too bad three-years-olds don't understand the concept of time very well :(

Day three was the much anticipated "England Day" at camp. This is the day that the kids bring "something English" to camp. The Tumbleweed had just received a new "Beefeater" bear from Papa a couple weeks ago and was eager to take it to camp. When it was her turn, she showed the bear and then sang "London Bridge" while making the bear dance. She and her Pinkalicious soccer teammate won top honors! The coaches said it was the song that put it over the top ;)


Days four and five went better for both kids. With a few incentives (a new water bottle, spray bottles with fans and a Talking Buzz Lightyear) and some pep talks, the Dandelion finally got out and played for most of the time. He really seemed to enjoy himself while he was playing, but every time he caught sight of someone or something on the sidelines he would come right back over. He didn't really listen long enough to understand most of the games, but he did like dribbling the ball across the field and kicking it into the goal!


By the end of the week I was completely exhausted from the early mornings, water bottle filling, cleat tying, 3-year-old chasing, picture taking and just generally being in the heat. We all worked hard, but it was worth it.

The Wall Comes Down

The last major child proofing barrier in our house has been the gate at the top of the stairs. We've had it there for about 3 years now, and I think that there are still only a handful of people who know how to open it. The kids never figured out how to open it, but have learned how to go over it (although they only did that 2-3 times). Lately we have only been using it occasionally, generally when the adult in the house needs to do something that takes their attention away from the kids temporarily and we need to know where they are (like taking a shower).

But this week the tide has turned and we have truly shifted away from "baby mode". We took the gate down. Actually it came down because we were moving the couch up from the basement (part of our organization homework), but for now we have decided to leave it down since the Dandelion handles himself just fine on the stairs these days.

So far so good. We actually used the basement a lot this week, due to the sweltering heat on the main floor of the house. The kids were able to go up and down whenever they needed to and I didn't have to check to see if the gate was open if they wanted to go up and down.

Now the only thing we need to work on is not going out the front door with out a grown up, as both kids have shown the ability to unlock the deadbolt on the front door. This is extra aggravating because back in the winter the lock was so sticky it took 5-10 minutes of wiggling to let in a guest. Is it possible to un-WD40 something?

Our First Plant

No this isn't a garden update. It's actually a letterboxing update.

While visiting my parents the kids and I planted our first letterbox for others to find. It was a little more challenging that I would have liked to find a place to put the box and I am not entire convinced that it won't be found by a "muggle" (non-letterboxer). Perhaps when we go back I will move it some.


This box (Rochester Junction) has my first hand-carved stamp. I was debating about sharing the stamp image, because I am proud of how it came out, but it seems as though that is frowned upon in letterboxing so I guess if you want to see it you will have to find it ;)

Edit: Someone has already found it!

Garden Update: Blueberries

This year everything in our area is about two weeks ahead of schedule, due to warm weather and good growing conditions. And, with that, I am pleased to report that we have grown our first blueberries! I found the first ripe one this morning. I'll wait a few days to try to pick a few more than one, but there won't really be that many. I think we might get about a dozen - LOL. I am still pleased that the bush is bearing fruit at all this year, since it did not produce any after I planted it last spring.

Other garden notes:
- The Lupine has bounced back with one more final stalk.
- The Foxglove plants have each grown about 3-4 smaller stalks all of which have bloomed, after the original stalks failed to bloom.
- The strawberries are done, with a total harvest of about 4 dozen berries over about 3 weeks.
- The lilies have all bloomed nicely - first the Stargazers, then the red lilies and finally the white lilies.