School Starts

First Day of School for Liz and Lainey:

We switched schools from Rosehill, and the partial Spanish immersion program, to our base school, Hayfield.  So far all the staff I have met seem real nice and the school looks great, still I was pretty nervous on the first day.  I put the girls on the bus, then spent the rest of the day watching the clock, just worrying waiting for them to come home.

 

Lainey was worried about the kids swearing on the bus (an older kid from another school told Alaina that this happens on her bus).  When I met Laines at the end of the day, she came bouncing off the bus and happily told me that she had a nice day and that  there was "no cussing" on the bus.  Of course, I'm pretty sure that Lainey has no idea which words are swear words but hooray!  Good first day.

Lainey was also worried about the fire alarms and continues to be worried.  She has spent days crying over this (the fear started in preschool).  Alaina feels that the alarm sound is too loud, that her classroom is "too far from the exit," and she is worried that the alarm might not be an alarm afterall, but an indicator of an actual fire.  The fact that the fire drills are unannounced isn't helping, still Alaina is crying and complaining about the alarms less every day.

 

Liz was worried about making new friends.  I was worried too.  I felt like I was sending her off to the wolves.  It was the exact same feeling I had in kindergarten.  At the end of the first day Liz reported that the kids were all nice and welcoming.  Now that a couple weeks have passed, she has made some friends.  Phew. 

The night before the start of school, Liz also worried that she wouldn't be able to remember where Lainey's classroom was located.  I kept telling her that she didn't have walk Laines to class, but she was still concerned (and I thought that was pretty sweet).  Another sweet moment was when Liz held Lainey's hand and guided her to the bus.  Ahhh, those are great parent moments.

 

Speaking of the bus, I am absolutely LOVING the bus.  What a change.  I have driven Liz to and from school for six years (eight if you count preschool) and during that time I often also drove Drew to and/or from work or the metro (especially for the past nine months when we only had one vehicle).  I feel like I have so much time now.  Also, I love that the older girls leave almost a whole hour before I need to leave to get Ellie to preschool.  It's so great for my time management.  Another plus is that the girls leave early enough that Drew is still home to help get them ready (he seems to enjoy this as well).

Within days of school starting Liz requested her own house key, "just in case," and suggested that it would be pretty cool if I wasn't home one day when she and Lainey got off the bus.  I gave her one on a key chain and she said, nope, I want to wear it on a chain around my neck.  Okay.  So, I complied with her request and, the next day after school, I went in the backdoor while Liz and Laines went around to the front, locked door.  When I went upstairs, to make sure they had gotten in alright, I heard Liz calling my name.  Turns out she had unlocked the front door without first removing the key necklace from her neck and was stuck.  Hehehe.

August re cap

After July's structure, it was nice to have a laid back August.  Among other things, we had playdates and pajama's days, picked peaches, visited a local bounce house and a trampoline park, went to water parks, hiked to a waterfall, completed the National Gallery of Art's art appreciation classes, toured Mt. Vernon, attended/ran the Activity Girls day camp, and started our back-to-school preparations.  By the end of the month I wished we still had another couple weeks because there were still so many things I wanted to do with the girls.  I was super sad when school started.

Lizzie blowing bubbles for Emma and Pepper (it was pretty adorable):

 Tax free weekend/back-to-school shopping: we went a little crazy with the shoes.  We came away with 5 pairs for Drew, 4 for me, 5 for Liz, and 2 each for Lainey and Ellie.  It was a bit chaotic and I think Drew was tiring of it in the end.  At Target I let Emma out of the shopping cart because she was fussing and she proceeded to pull boxes of shoes off the shelf.  Drew put her back in the cart and as soon as she got down on her hands and knees to clean up the mess, Lainey climbed up on her back.  Ah, the joys of fatherhood.  (Sidnote: both Lainey and Ellie were wearing Halloween costumes, a witch and cat.)

 We finally let Emma cry it out (in the middle of) one night.  Ahh, nights are so much better now.  Though the days are increasingly more difficult since she has started to climb.

 

 Peach picking with friends: the girls enjoyed themselves, though we learned that Lainey and Lizzie's skin is irritated by peach fuzz.  Ellie was very excited about soft the fruit was.  She pretended that they were stuffed animals and when we got home she kept hiding them so that they could be "stuffed animals" for her stuffed animals.

  

 Legos were a big part of our summer, but usually we played at home.  .  .  . 

 Hike to a waterfall in Shenandoah: it was a pleasant hike that all the girls were able to complete.  Only gliches were that Lainey was very afraid that we would encountered a bear and Ellie wet her pants.

2 days of Activity Girls Camp: we did it with another ward and it went very well.  The classes included modesty, cupcake decorating, positive attitude, friendships, scriptures, and music/dancing.  We found teachers for the mini classes instead of teaching them ourselves and the teachers were all wonderful.  It meant that camp, while more complicated this year than last year was so much easier to run (it also helped that we had a nursery for our kids and the children of the instructors).  The Activity girls also got to play get-to-know you and icebreaker games, decorate t-shirts, make friendship braclets, serve lunch to the sister missionaries, decorate cupcakes, and go swimming.  I feel like it was a great success and can't wait to plan another one for next summer.