In the groove

Well, here we are, second full week of school and I'm beginning to feel like I know what it is like to have two kids in school full time.  It is a whole other world.  I can run errands for more than one consecutive hour.  Granted, that isn't my idea of fun, but now I don't have to split it into multiple days if I don't want to.  I'm trying not to over-schedule myself with volunteer work and such, but I just can't seem to stop.  Library, envelopes, fundraiser stuff....and the classroom helpers haven't even been contacted yet.  Yes, we are still in the baseball/hockey overlap timing, but that will be done soon enough.  I'm needing to get ready for a big birthday coming up.

As far as the kids go, we have had a pretty smooth week.  Only hiccup was that Trevor got a nasty cold on Sunday night.  I thought he wasn't going to go to school in the morning, but seriously both of my kids make me feel like I'm running a psych ward the nights that they are battling the start of colds.  Gwen started her nighttime screams on Monday night, a day later and Trevor was at least down to moaning.  Although there have been some bumpy mornings and afternoons, it does feel like nothing is a surprise to the kids.  We leave the house whether the kids have everything they need or not.  We do as much as we can the night before.

Gwen has had a few school lunches now, and she still seems a bit puzzled by it.  Especially so by the fact that there are two main choices, but whatever your choice, you still get the same side dishes.  And yes, she has admitted to eating very little for lunch and come home starving, but I think this next month, she will know a lot more about the food she does like to eat at school.  I just hope it doesn't turn into bringing her own lunch 100% of the time.  She has one "homework" activity every night which is to read or be read to for a total of 20 minutes.  We were having a hard time finding something that she was interested in that could keep her interest (because of the length of the book) for more than 3 minutes, so I decided to bring out the magic tree house series.  Well, that was a major hit.  We are on book 6 in the series.  I know she is a ways off from wanting to read those kinds of books by herself, but I'm happy to have found a good bunch of books that I know will help her get through her reading time here at home.  She has started to have some math homework as well, and seems to be grumbling about doing her homework instead of being able to play with her toys.  She isn't as into screens as Trevor is, but I'm still trying to teach her the same habits of homework before playtime.  We got a call from her teacher after last week's school to see if there was any concerns on our part.  No she seemed to be loving school.  And her teacher thought that Gwen was doing a great job too.  Our conferences are scheduled for both kids on Gwen's birthday, so it will be a great place to put together the kids' goals for the rest of the school year.

Trevor seems to be gliding through his new year as well.  We had a hiccup as Trevor is known to do from time to time, but thankfully no real continual issues, so far.  I'm trying to maintain his independence on things that he needs to do for school and piano and such.  It is hard to not know if he is doing the work appropriately, but judging that is for his teachers.  I do not need to get in the way.  I'm thankful to have started our homework meetings again, so I can at least talk to him about newsletters and things we are getting communication about to see if there is anything I can help him with.

All in all, the house is getting cleaner and more organized, and I'm helping out a lot more with the school projects.  This is shaping up to be a great school year for everyone.

The First Day of School

I have to say, I enjoy Facebook on days like these.  It was filled with friends and family posting their pictures of the kids on their first day of school.  I, of course, added to our yearly ritual as well.  Thankfully, I'm not getting groans from the kids yet, but I'm sure they are coming.

Last week was our last hurrah.  We went to the state fair, ate lots of food, went to back-to-school night to drop off school supplies, Trevor forgot his, baseball practice then headed out to the lake for the only time all summer our family of four was there.  Thankfully, thankfully, THANKFULLY we got gorgeous weather both Friday and Saturday we were there.  We were able to be lazy and gradually enjoy waking up and walking around, and then the four of us went on a boat ride for the afternoon.  The kids stopped and jumped into the lake at three spots, and since the lake has not gotten rain for a while, the algae had started to bloom.  It is a river/creek fed man-made lake, so at least it doesn't have completely still water, but it was still bad on shorelines.  Saturday, we got to say happy birthday to a very fun girl, and visit with my cousins kids.  Again, THANKFULLY the weather was spectacular, so the kids played for hours in the water, went on a pontoon ride, and then got showered and changed for dinner.  After dinner, the kids got a little more time to play, girls on the ping pong table with Russ, and Trevor and JJ played their video games.  Then, they played a baseball game before ending on charades.  Gwen requests that every time.

We came back on Sunday, and it wasn't very good weather anyway.  We had a fun birthday celebration to get to!  First birthdays are always fun, mostly because the kid has no idea what they are getting into, but seem to understand that for some reason it has to do with them.  It was a great evening.

Monday, I spent the entire day getting ready for today.  Grocery shopping, whoops, I forgot one thing, so I had to go back a second time.  Major laundry to make sure all the right clothes were washed (more for the girl than anything).  All the darn paperwork that needs to be turned back in to the school.  Making the kids fill out their lunch wishes for the first month of school.  It took all day, but it all got done.

Then today:  Gwen was excited for the day, and found out the night before that Trevor said he was nervous.  At first, that shocked me, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.  He's hitting that age where he really cares about what other people think of him.  Its not so much anymore about doing the work.  He has no issues with that.  His words about being nervous were something about how he was afraid the new kids would be mean to him.  I made him make sense of that thought by asking him what he would feel in the reverse situation.  I told him I had been a new kid and I was more worried than anything because I thought that everyone would have already made their friends.  He was also sad to see the summer go, but I think that is normal.  Thankfully neither kid was up late with nerves or excitement.  I remember 4th grade was the year I was up past 2am on the first day of school because of my nerves.  In the morning, Trevor didn't want to get up, but that's him not wanting to get moving.  He was up.  Gwen was not up, but was good getting moving, again because she was so excited.

We decided to walk to school, and while protesting at first, Gwen made it, and she told me that she did not want to walk home.  I figured I could accommodate because she would be exhausted and probably not willing to walk back.  Trevor was out the door and running to school.  Guess those nerves wore off!  We got to school in plenty of time.  I asked Gwen if she wanted me to walk her to class, and at first she said no.  I told her that I would say good bye to her at the office, and then she said she wanted me to walk her to class.  I was fine with that.  She found her hook and took out her stuff, and seemed very confident to walk right into class.  She said good-bye with a giant smile on her face.  I'm pretty sure she didn't see me choking up.  But I took a deep breath and moved over to Trevor's room.  I saw him going 100 miles and hour with a fellow classmate from last year.  No worries from him.

So I had a whole day to myself.  I treated myself to dinner with a friend at Crave.  I had a salad and dessert and didn't have to keep checking the clock!  It was amazing!  I filled the rest of my day with little things.  And quickly it was time to get the kids.  I met them in the front area, and Trevor was good, but Gwen was on the fritz.  She was SO crabby and I could tell hungry, thirsty and exhausted.  Now, she would never admit it, but immediately she was yelling at me that she didn't want to walk home.  I explained that I brought the car, but that wasn't good enough.  She couldn't even walk to the car.  *scream scream* *whine whine* I asked her to talk about her day and she didn't want to.  So I asked Trevor.  Then she wanted to.  We got home and she wanted to eat something sweet.  I had her finish her lunch.  It wasn't as uneaten as I thought it would be, but after she had eaten, it helped a bit.  She had homework to do, but didn't seem like she wanted to do it.  Anyway, bottom line, Gwen was tired, Trevor said he had a great day and was all smiles.  He really enjoys how often he rotates classes for different subjects.  They have about a third of their class as not being in their last year's class.  That is nice.

So for now, we will plod ahead to get into some sort of routine.  I have some big events to plan for in the coming weeks already, and I don't know how I'm going to pull them off.  We shall see.

A busy week for Trevor

With the changes to Trevor's way of doing things, as well as hockey and a few more events, Trevor has kept himself very busy over the past week.  This weekend was the last Bloomington hockey tournament.  They have a Minnetonka one next weekend, but the parents don't have to be as involved as this past weekend.  Trevor also decided to come with me to the Gopher basketball game on Saturday and last but not least, we had a baptism to attend and visit with relatives on Sunday.

Starting off with his school work and changing his homework routine and anything having to do with getting ready for school.  It started off rather difficult, but then was really easy.  Now we are back to somewhere in between.  I know I have to let go to the point of letting him learn from his mistakes, and I know for sure that I'm not oblivious to what is going on, I just need to point him in the right direction, when he asks for help.  A big change is talking about his results of tests and such.  He has gotten to the point in his class where he has met all the requirements of a 3rd grader and they are doing their expanded curriculum things like analogy word tests and reports on the current unit which happens to be Egypt.  So first step is to do the homework that is assigned by the due date (sometimes this might be studying for a test).  Then when they get the test or report handed back, we get to look at it and see how he did.  For the most part, Trevor looks at the test and says, well, I only got 6 wrong, that's pretty good.  Well 6 wrong is relative and since they don't have grades yet and are only evaluated on if they took the test or not, it is up to us to determine if that was a good grade or not.  So I need to put it in perspective.  If he were in middle school or high school and got a 14 out of 20, what grade would that be?  A C-.  That is a much easier thing to evaluate based on his own desire to get a good grade which then leads to getting into a good college, and job beyond that.

But that is the key thing that I know Russ is having a hard time with Trevor on.  It is finding how to motivate him to get what he wants.  For the most part, school comes easy for him.  He is taught something and he can repeat it back in test format.  But he can't teach it back to someone and when it comes to written tests, explaining what he knows and why, he doesn't do so well at it.  But they aren't graded on that part.  He does what is expected of him and that's it.  If it is something that is interesting to him, he will go at 110%.  He researches and wants books on the subject, he wants to talk to adults about what he knows, etc.  So if you ask him to take a test on something that he doesn't really care that much about, he'll do it but that's all you'll get from him.  If you ask him to do homework on the current math topic, he will do it as fast as he can and not put a lot of time into it.  So if he doesn't get an A on a math test, there really isn't anything I can do to motivate him to want to get a good grade.  It is something he has to want for himself.  With Chess or baseball, there is no need for motivation.  He is motivated to do as good as he can, so you will often find him practicing baseball in the backyard in the spring and summer and reading books or playing against anyone who will play him in chess.  When it is swimming or hockey, he does it because yes, he does enjoy it, but there isn't that motivation there to do better.  He does what is asked of him.  I don't doubt that like school, the motivation might come later.  But while Russ and I both want him to be motivated to do better, it isn't something we can will onto him.

Anyway...not to get too sidetracked, Trevor did have a great week outside of school.  He had his 3rd grade mallet performance.  That was a fun show to watch.  Every 3rd grader got to play a mallet song and sing if they weren't playing.  I know his piano helped him know how to play his piece, but man he really had a doozy of a song!  I think next year is the recorder performance.  I remember when I was playing a recorder in 4th grade.  I don't really know that I'm looking forward to all those 4th graders playing their recorders......

The very next night we had Trevor's First Reconciliation.  We had 4 weeks of prep, religion meetings, and then this one service.  He of course wanted to be a reader and of course we got the remark that I feel as though we always will:  "Wow Trevor, you really have a gift for public speaking!  I wonder what you will do with that when you are older".  To which Trevor thinks that after he is professional baseball player, he thinks it will fit in perfectly to becoming the President of the United States.  Anyway, they had 5 priests to perform the sacrament and invited the adults to take part as well.  Now, I had my first reconciliation when I was in 4th grade, and if I remember correctly, that was the first and only time that I had done the non-communal form.  So that night I had my second.  Trevor didn't seem to be nervous and I think got out of it what he needed to but it was another momentous night of our week.  

The weekend was primarily about hockey with a few other events sprinkled in.  Trevor had a really good tournament, as seems to be the case very often.  The last game of the weekend he scored a goal, but they said it didn't count.  The team and the coaches "counted" his goal anyway and he got the "lunch bucket" award for his play during that game.  I can't tell you how many times the parents were saying that we were all glad that hockey was coming to an end this year.  It is a long season and it would be nice if we got a break between hockey and baseball, but that just isn't in the cards.  We will have a week long break to sunny FL so maybe when we get back most of the snow will be gone.  With this latest dumping and snow day it is hard to believe that there is enough time for it to melt when baseball is supposed to start the beginning of April!

On to the last few weeks of school in March!  This week the kids already didn't have school Thursday and Friday, and Gwen was even off on Wednesday, but add in this snow day today and I think we'll be ready for school to come back again next week sooner than Monday!

Parenting...tough stuff

It really isn't anything to get worried about, but being a parent is sometimes hard.  You try to be the best parent you can be, and then get information that you are probably contributing to the problem.  It is hard not to feel like a mini failure.  Our school has been lucky enough to have had 3 seminars with a very cool teacher, parent, coach, and tutor named Megan Stone.  She also has been working with the entire staff at the elementary school to coordinate a complete effort from home to school when it comes to basically empowering kids.  Her subject is called Tools for Schools.  Part of it is learning and teaching your kids organization techniques, but also just to key the kids into taking control of their schoolwork as though it is their job.  Actually, school is their job but it isn't something that they can just sit and enjoy, they need to be an active participant.  Where the parents (and me in particular) can throw a wrench into things is how much we take over things for the kids.  I solve problems, I set schedules, I remind rather than let happen what will happen in order for the kids to learn from their mistakes.

So last week, I heard basically the same message from two different sources that I need to let Trevor figure things out for himself.  This is NOT to say that I ignore questions or talk through issues with him, just that he is the one that has to come up with the questions on his own, if he gets stuck.  If he forgets something, gets a poor score on a test, or makes a behavior mistake, it is up to him to figure out how to change it for the future.

One of the big changes is having a weekly meeting, just him and I to discuss the next week of activities and homework.  It is a chance to plan out our next week, have him sync up his planner and let me know what he needs from me.  We also chat about feelings, highs and lows from the previous week.  This week he expressed his fear to me that I was trying to push him out of the nest, basically.  He said he thought he would feel very lonely.  I reassured him that I wasn't going anywhere, but that it is better to learn these skills now, especially how to remind yourself of something important, rather than continue to depend on me to remind you when I'm not going to be able to drive you to your job and remind you all the things you need for your events in your life.  But it was at this meeting that it was very evident how dependent Trevor had become on me.  And it was also then when I knew I didn't do a very good job at teaching him independence.  Now I know I'm not the worst mother out there.  Today on Dr. Phil there was a mother with older teenage kids that she still flossed their teeth for them among many other things.  So no, I know I'm not an extreme parent.  But today, it was SO hard to bite my tongue and let him go without doing a number of things that I constantly remind him to do.

Another thing that we are going to continue to work on is open communication between his teacher, Trevor, and I.  Right now, we primarily communicate via email, and now that Trevor has his own email, he will get cc'd on everything appropriate.  The only thing that may not be included are feelings that he might be embarrassed about that he would not feel comfortable directly talking to his teacher about.  Really, when you think about it, what good does a parent/teacher conference do when the child isn't there to contribute to the discussion or make plans how to work on his/her own strengths and opportunities?

So here we go.  On to a new place.  It is interesting to me that when it comes to teaching Gwen these same things, I feel as though she is already ahead of the game.  Although she doesn't have homework like Trevor does, she is much more willing to take charge of her things she needs to do for school.  Trevor was much more willing to let me help him.  I guess it is just the natural differences between the kids, but hopefully when Trevor succeeds with his tasks, it will cause him to take such a big pride in his work that it will be worth the difficult learning times ahead.  Only time will tell....

Another few weeks of school

Time always seems to fly on by once school starts...for me it goes from school to birthdays to holidays to the new year.  So while I know Trevor's birthday and Christmas are a ways out, I am already thinking of things that involve those two events.  Tonight I even double-checked with the kids on what they wanted to do for their "friends" party and I think both of them have changed their tune a bit.  Gwen had been saying Chuck E. Cheese for a bit, and while I would be fine with that, I think she still likes the idea of having a bunch of friends over to her house to play.  So that might be a change.  And then Trevor has said he wanted to do a sleepover, but when he came down to his guest list, I suggested maybe doing a waterpark birthday and having a few friends sleep at the hotel if they could.  I just don't know many of the kids well enough to know if they would even want or have been on a sleepover.  A different choice may be an option for more of them.  Oh well, it is a ways off, and we have time. 

Gwen is loving school, although not loving her quiet time after school.  She thinks that if she gets homework, she shouldn't have to go upstairs since Trevor has to do his homework right after school.  She has just started to get a cold, and this morning Trevor woke her up before 6:30 to see the planetary nebula from his window....I have no idea what he was talking about but Gwen has been pretty crabby ever since.  Hopefully she can get some better sleep tonight to keep the cold away.  But after her rest time, she is free to do her homework...which really isn't homework, it is just activity pages and books she didn't completely color at school.  To watch her work, it is amazing the complete difference between Trevor and Gwen.  She has yet to complain, she has a huge amount of patience (in order to do her "quality work" - as directed by her teacher), and she genuinely loves doing it.  I still remember Trevor's work, which even now, he prefers speed to accuracy so as to get it done with as fast as possible so he can move on to the things he wants to do.  I remember the fights we would get in just to get him to complete his reading of a book.  So I would say she is loving school right now. 

Trevor is off to a wonderful year so far.  He has gotten two rewards from school for being kind to his fellow students and won a drawing at the first school assembly.  The school has introduced a new planner system as well as an academic coach that has already given us one seminar on how to encourage and teach the kids to succeed by staying organized and owning their job as a student.  I'm struggling on letting it all go, and letting him find his own way, unless he asks.  So it seems this year he really has grown and is having a highly successful year...I'm hoping his conference in two weeks is along the same lines.  It would be such a relief to feel as though we really have turned a corner for him this year. 

Similar to his summer at the roller rink, he has already had a few chances to get to know girls a bit better to.  MAN does he have charisma...at age 8!  What.the.heck?  We have had 2 swimming lessons already and although Gwen and he start the lessons at the same time, she ends 10 minutes earlier.  I told him on the first lesson he had to get himself out of the pool and into the locker room because I would be getting Gwen ready when he was done.  Didn't listen and went into the leisure area to have fun.  Typical Trevor.  So this week, I explained that he can't do it again, or he won't get McDonalds for dinner or his Nintendo for the night.  Didn't listen again...but this time, he was chatting up some girl.....probably in his class, who then walked by us and into the 10+ age women's locker room.  An older girl again?  Who does that?  Try to get older women?....oh wait.... it must be in his genes.  Well, its not from my side of the family anyway ;-) 

So that's it from me for the weeks of school so far.  I'm crossing my fingers on two wonderful conferences....It seems like it just might happen!

Week 1 kids are back in school!

Yahoo!  Mom's sure excited here!  We are a week down of school and everyone is still smiling!  Trevor had the least amount of change because most of his class followed into the next class, they just changed teachers.  There was one that transferred schools over the summer and three added, but only one from a different school.  I have already gotten notes home from his teacher on his classwork on how well he is doing and how impressed she is with his work.  And he is soaking it all up.  He told me he befriended the new girl in class that came from a different school.  Trevor said that she wants to write a book, and he said that he wanted to illustrate it with her.  At first, I thought it was a guy and then he clarified it was a girl.  Then I started to count back to realize that next year will probably be the year (if it was anything like my school) that kids started "going out" - meaning absolutely nothing except in name only.  Oh goodness.  Already???  REALLY????  I don't know that I am ready for that...but really I probably never will be so time to suck it up!  I'm looking forward to getting a good game plan on for Trevor to see how much he can learn this year. 

Gwen is so gosh darn excited for school every day.  The first day was huge, except that it is simply an hour and a half meeting with parents involved.  So technically the first real day was the next day, but from that point on, she has been telling me she wants to go all day, and when I told her that she couldn't be with her good friends that are in her class she said she still wanted to go all day, but that she would just bring them with her.  And the talks begin about how she can't wait until she is in first grade so she can go all day.  Now yes, there is a full-day option at her school, but I'm at home, and really Gwen has been looking forward to doing things with me and spending time playing with me and then gets amped up watching the clock to know when she gets to go to Kindergarten.  She also seems to think it is really cool to be able to walk past her classroom in the morning and peek in to see her teacher.  I'm glad she is having such a great experience!  I'm also so happy to know that she has an opportunity to expand her friends even though two of the girls she knows - one from dance and one from preschool - it will be great to be able to get to know their families better too. 

So this week, we are already in the thick of things with a PTA meeting, dance class, swimming lessons and I have been able to get some appointments for myself on the calendar too.  So this week, while hectic, it has been good to start to set a revised schedule.  Of course Trevor is already testing those rules to see if they still hold true, but I'm hoping that he'll come around quicker than usual since for him, the changes are virtually nothing.  I guess I should focus on gearing up for the upcoming birthdays/holidays.  I know those things pop up on me every year.  I'd love to actually be ready for them one of these years!

A beautiful end and a wonderful beginning

Thursday was HOT.  We spent the afternoon at a family friend's pool.  Everyone was getting ready for their back-to-school meeting the teachers evening.  So it was a great way to close out the summer with friends.  The kids did very well playing together.  As the kids get older it gets easier and easier to relax and not worry about them.  I love my mom friends and know that these friendships will be around for a long time.  Of the group that was at the pool, there are 6 families and none of us go to the same elementary school.  I've told a few of my friends that I think it works out REALLY well.  At least from my perspective.  My kids think it is a huge treat to be able to see these friends as opposed to seeing them every day at school as well.  I hope it continues into their teens!

So we made it to back-to-school night and unloaded the school supplies, met the new teachers, the kids saw their school friends, and I tried to keep it all together organizationally.  There is so much to try to keep track of and get ready for our first PTA meeting.  So not only did I play the part of parent, I also had to help with the PTA stuff too. 

As soon as Friday rolled around, we were off to the lake for a beautiful weekend of sun, water, golf, and fun family times.  The weather was nice and warm for me, although not warm enough for me to want to go swimming....but I was able to watch the kids if they did want to swim. 

Apparently, it was the weekend for Trevor to grow well beyond his years because he drove the boat by himself, could have been offered an alcoholic drink (which he could never drink if it was any form of carbonation...he tried it again and could not drink it), and then was asked to go behind the bar and serve a drink or two.  What got me was that Trevor didn't ask for ANY of it.  People were just willing to give it to him.  The kid already thinks he is the coolest thing out there, and I have no idea if it is possible, but if so his head grew even larger that weekend. 

I wanted to drive back home from the lake on Sunday instead of Monday so the kids could have two nights of sleeping in their beds, so we started back after dinner...around 6:15.  Gwen was so exhausted that she slept the whole way home and all the way until the next morning, around 6:30 and she was happily playing in her room until my required 7:00am time.  Trevor was ready to fall asleep before we got home at 8:30 but made it upstairs and asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. 

And on the final day of our summer vacation, we were blessed with the arrival of becoming an aunt, uncle, and cousin to the newest Johnson boy.  I dropped Russ off at the hospital where he was delivered a few hours after we were back in town so he got to meet little Adam right away.  The kids love him and are excited to watch him grow.  I couldn't think of a better way to end our summer vacation than with the start of a new life in the family.   

Finally seems like we have a few minutes

Although every week Trevor could go to the parks, and next week is the last week of the session, I've decided to have him around because he has an afternoon hockey practice all week.  Things are finally coming together...and yes it took all summer to get this organized.  We are scheduled to go back to school shopping tomorrow, and if all goes well we will see the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie at an early (cheap) showing. 

Today I took Gwen in to get her shots updated so that she could enter Kindergarten in September.  I told her late last week that today would be the day, and while she seemed to be a bit fixated on it and mentioned it at least once a day, she did pretty good.  I remember when Trevor had to get them, I had to physically hold him down and one other nurse had to come in to also hold him down because of the fight he put up.  Gwen reminded me a lot of myself.  She braced herself, and looked away.  She cried, and was out of sorts, but she recovered well.  She doesn't like to remember it and gets sad if she even thinks that she will ever have to do it again.  Even though we have told her it is another 7-8 years off. 

I also registered her for her dance class next year.  I've started Trevor thinking about all his activities for next year....chess, swimming, piano, and yes he already wants to know more about baseball.  He was willing to forgo summer camps next year until I explained that it doesn't take any more time during the day, they are all evening and weekend games or practices.  I think he was a bit surprised by that. 

New for this school year, our church is offering Wednesday evening religion classes.  It is pretty neat that most activities don't meet on Wednesdays because of the assumption that so many churches do hold religion classes for kids.  Our elementary school also doesn't want parent meetings during that time either for that reason. 

So starting to switch gears while still having enough days in the summer to plan to get a few more things checked off the list of summer activities is what we have in store.  27 more days!  I think we'll be ready when it comes.  And very excited!

Visiting their respective schools

I meant to post this on the last post, and I will have to update right away again before I forget about this past week, but to keep things in somewhat chronological order, I wanted to post about visiting the schools.

Because Gwen was at childcare on Wednesdays, that made my lunchtime available. I had never eaten lunch with Trevor and as luck would have it, they were having Grilled cheese sandwiches...something that I knew I could stomach. So I told Trevor I was going to visit him at school for lunch. He was excited and I think it usually scores the kid some cool points when a parent comes to visit.

So I went to visit and the kids were getting their outdoor gear on when I arrived. They eat with snowpants on and their jackets on their seats. We walked around to get in line for lunch. Trevor was also having hot lunch that day, so I was able to watch him and his friends get their lunch and watch the lunch ladies as well. I can safely say not much has changed since the 25 years or so when I was in elementary school. They do have more fruits or vegetable offerings than when I went to school, but the whole procedure is much the same. I was also reminded at how while it isn't quite the age range where they have popular/unpopular groups, they already did have their groups. I don't know for sure if it was a result of me being there or not, and it probably did have something to do with it, but I was happy to see that it wasn't split boys and girls sitting at different sides of the lunchroom in Trevor's class. The boys were discussing what they were going to do when they got outside, some of the kids asked if I could help them open some of the packaged food that they got, and the girls were giggling and talking about what they had going on yesterday, today or tomorrow. I'll have to make it a point to keep going to lunch throughout the kids elementary school years. I'm pretty sure it will become uncool at some point. But until then, and as long as they serve decent lunches, I'll have to come and take part from time to time.

So the very next day I volunteered to be a chaperon for Gwen's trip to see a performance of If You Give a Moose a Muffin. It was her first time riding a school bus and I could tell that most of the kids were way more excited about that than anything. It was a good 15 minute ride to the show so they did get a good ride. I was also given one of Gwen's classmates to keep in our group so that was really interesting to gauge how Gwen interacted with her during the events of the day. Neither girl was all that interested during the entire show, but they both behaved very well. I think in general, the boys are a little harder to keep still and quiet. During the last few minutes of the show, both girls wanted to sit on my lap. Unfortunately, I don't have much of a lap to begin with, but I did my best and both girls were still able to fit in the seat with me.

I feel as though I did my part as being an active parent in both of their schools. Pat on the back for me!

8 weeks and counting

Granted, counting as in I'm sure it will be here in less time....8 weeks from today is Christmas. 4 weeks and it is Trevor's birthday. Tomorrow is Halloween. As with all other retailers, I'm feeling like although most count the "holidays" as Thanksgiving and Christmas, I'm thinking our "holiday season" kicks off with Halloween. The kids are already feeling the excitement of an upcoming holiday, even though I've never made a huge deal of Halloween. Last year Trevor was barely getting over the flu and he didn't get to go to the school Halloween party. I let him go trick-or-treating but he was finally on the mend. This year, we kicked it off with the school party last night and tomorrow is the big event. Pumpkins are being carved tonight and we will be bundling up to make the rounds tomorrow.

I've been meaning to include a little taste into the life of a first grader in our neighborhood elementary school. Someone decided to come up with something called "Cheese Touch". I have no idea how far reaching this game is, but I would guess that it actually might not be in other elementary schools in the area. I could be completely wrong though. Anyway, the Cheese Touch is kind of like a secret tag, probably done throughout the school day. If you are it, you are trying to give the cheese touch to other kids in school. Your first two fingers must be crossed and your thumb must be out when giving the cheese touch. If you don't want to be it, you must cross your own fingers before someone declares "Cheese Touch". Trevor knows all the rules, as I guess you can also declare that you are not playing in order to avoid it. Anyway, it is a good conversation starter with people that he doesn't go to school with and I love to hear about all the rules that may or may not be real. As long as no one is hurt by it, I think it is pretty cute.

And for those of you that were expecting other news when I was talking about 8 weeks...sorry to disappoint. Although I have heard similar news twice in the past two days! Congrats to those special people!

Pumpkin Patches

As might have been mentioned previously, I am not exactly an outdoorsy person. My enjoyment outside is pretty much sitting in the sun on a hot day or golfing on an equally hot day. While I can think that the leaves do change beautiful colors in the fall, I am often more upset than anything because it means that summer is over and winter is coming quickly. Besides winter, I think that I also don't like fall because of the changing cooler weather, so I guess I'm a bit of a grump when it comes to fall activities. But as a mom, I know that it is much more important to get out and have your kids enjoy the activities in each of the seasons rather than sit in my grumpiness and make them unhappy too.

In this past week, I have been to a pumpkin patch twice. Two different locations, so it was fun to see the differences and what each of them had to offer, as I have not been to either before. On Sunday, we were able to head out to Minnetrista to the Minnetonka Orchards with Derek and Kyrsten. Although their pumpkin selection was a little picked over, the kids still got to enjoy the goats, corn maze, hay jumping, hay riding, and doughnuts. It was a fun afternoon and yes, a little chilly, but I did survive.

Then on Wednesday, Gwen had a field trip to a pumpkin patch in Shakopee. This location was actually someone's home that had the pumpkin patch, corn maze, face painting, hay ride, necklace making, and picking out your own pumpkins within their yard. It was nice to not have to walk such a distance to get from one thing to another and get too chilly. Again, the temperature was not as high as I wanted, but at least the sun made it a little warm.

Trevor has been off of school since Tuesday, and since Gwen has still had two days of school, it has been nice to chat with Trevor and spend some extra time with just him, not having to worry about homework or other "duties". We played some board games and got some more of his series books at the library.

Our family has slowly gotten back to healthy, although this cold bug was a doozy. I think everyone except Gwen has a lingering cough. Trevor just finished his antibiotics for his ear infection yesterday. Of course our house has suffered because of it. I just hope our neighbors don't disown us for our yard work. Perhaps that will be on the list of things to do today since it is going to rain all weekend.

And one last thought for all you planners. Did you know it is 9 weeks until Christmas? All those Black Friday ads are popping up, so you better start your shopping lists! I guess it is time to think about birthday gifts for Trevor.

TTFN!

So what are the kids up to?

Before I remember to write what the post is going to be about, I just wanted to say what a fun, and even lucrative wine tasting we had at our house on Friday! It was really cool to see everyone's favorite wines of the bunch and to hear everyone say they wanted to do it again next year. Hopefully it will be a tradition for many years to come!

With birthdays and Christmas fast approaching, I think it is interesting to take stock of what the kids truly play with and how they play with it before new toys and games come into the mix. I have yet to really weed through the toys, but it is coming in about a week or so. I'm mostly getting frustrated with all the accessories of Gwen's toys that she can't even play with yet, and the dolls that go with the accessories are so beat up that she isn't going to want to play with them by the time she is old enough to. So that will probably be the biggest group of stuff to go.

First of all, Trevor has gotten rid of his rectangle tv of past, and while he does play out a few different Mario baseball games, or maybe they are Twins baseball games, he doesn't jump on the trampoline much at all. What he does do, when he remembers, is take a little notebook that Russ once used to write notes to himself, and create a batting order and field position for the Twins baseball team. It is pretty cute as he has been learning the why of certain positions in the field as well as your number in a batting order. Rather than have him go into the Children's Liturgy where he usually messes around, I let him stay in church with me and plot the next batting order or two.

Gwen, on the other hand has plenty of toys, and she does use her old stand-bys of dollhouse dolls, princesses and fairies, but what she is really interested in is her food. Not really cooking it, but using the food like a grocery store. She takes the food out of the grocery cart, and puts it on an arm rest of either the couch or recliner and wants me to take it off of the arm rest. That means she bought it. Then, I have to buy it back. I put the food individually back on the arm rest and she puts it back in the cart. This game literally can go on for over an hour. I have no idea why it is so interesting. Maybe I should introduce the bagging concept? I have a lot of little bags she could use. But really she just wants to keep buying the food.

Then today, the best thing happened....she started playing "preschool". I always thought it was the cutest thing when Trevor did it, and when I volunteered at his preschool I loved to see all the kids playing preschool. Today she was mimicking music time and library time. She said "Boys and Girls" a lot so I knew right away what she was doing.

So anyway, that is what the kids are up to for now. I'm sure it will change soon, but for now, it is what they enjoy.

So much to update

My classes are almost wrapping up and greatly increasing their projects and papers and such. Add to it PTA responsibilities and Fall Fundraising Chair stuff, it makes for a very busy time. It was the first full week of school and it has been flying by. I can't believe we are halfway through September. Practically two weeks until Gwen's birthday, then we have to get ready for Halloween. If I haven't said it lately, I love being crazy busy like this. I had a wine tasting party yesterday and I did some crazy cleaning for the previous 3 days and it was really nice because I know it won't be as hard to keep up for another two weeks, then another 7-8 weeks for Thanksgiving and Trevor's birthday as long as I can quietly and secretively get rid of the really little toys or pieces of toys that we don't even have the whole set for anymore.

I digress.... Gwen has become very attached, as has most of her class actually, to being in preschool. I went to pick her up on Thursday and she practically refused to leave. I did have to talk with her explaining again and again that she could not stay because school was "closing" but she also knows that they have childcare next door that she toured and it is obvious she wants to stay there after school is done, or go back so she can spend more time there. What is crazy to me is that while she is only at school for two days a week, and while I get anxious for her on Thursdays, having to wait and explain that she doesn't have school for another 5 days, but the time goes so fast, I don't think it really occurs to her to think it is something she is missing out on. We do grocery shopping on Monday, I have an envelope stuffing thing at Trevor's school on Wednesdays, and we run errands on Friday or just hang out with a friend if we can. She started library day on Tuesday and he brought home her favorite book from the lake house. Then when we read the book she wanted me to take out the folder that held the check-out card stating who checked it out. It is a pretty fun time for her to tell us what she learns in school.

So for Trevor, I have spent a good chunk of my time at his school. I am a volunteer that stuffs all the kids' weekly envelopes on Wednesdays. I am the chair for the school's fall fundraiser. Thankfully the previous chair is sort of helping me out with my job since it has almost been done for most of the year. I have set up 3 display cases at school prior to school starting, picked up the envelopes and applied labels to them with each kid's name only to find out that because of our enrollment increasing over the previous year, we don't have enough packets. Minor problem, but had to get the vendor guy on the phone to drop more off the morning of the first day of the fundraiser. We had a PTA meeting that evening to boot. Between the weekly envelopes, labeling the extra envelopes and attending the kickoff for the kids, I was at school a great deal. I think Trevor got a big kick out of seeing me at his meeting and his teacher let him say hi to me afterwards.

Our fundraiser is unique in that they don't offer individual prizes for the kids, it is a group goal that the principal offers things he will do for the school. It is pretty nice, he likes to promote the team feeling.

Trevor has been doing well, settling in, and seeming to have a good time. He came home with his first math homework on Friday, which he tried to convince me he didn't understand it. So we are slowly remembering the old routine. I heard about the whole Silly Bandz craze a while back, and Trevor has never shown an interest. We got a note from the teacher that she is considering banning them from her classroom because they are causing a lot of distractions for the class. I asked Trevor about them, and he says that there are a lot of kids getting in trouble but he isn't one of them. Mostly because he doesn't care I'm sure, but it is such a welcome change for the way last year started out for him. Another change from last year is that they are having teacher conferences in two weeks so that we can talk about year goals now rather than in another two months of school. I think it is smart.

I'm trying to get a sense of Trevor's school life, and it is pretty hard. It seems like he sits with different kids at lunch and plays with different kids at recess. He always tells me which of his former classmates he sees during the day. I'll be interested to see what his teacher has to say about the social side of class. She called me after the first few days of class and said that he is such a sweet kid. That day she had given him a kleenex because she thought he might need a tissue. Later that day, she had a few sneezes and after their math lesson was done, he told her that he didn't use the kleenex but that she might want it for her sneezing.

It will be interesting to see where the next days go.

First day of school time!

I have to say that it was pretty special to have both kids start school yesterday. I think it was that much more special for Gwen to be able to head over for her first day of school right after Trevor. She was very tired at the end of the day, but she could talk about her own first day of school and teacher right along with Trevor. It will be another few years before they have their first days of school on the same day again. Kindergarten starts a day later to avoid the craziness of the other kids on the first day of school. Makes sense, but she is not going to be the same day because of it.

I had to wake both kids up, although Trevor was already up, he just didn't want to get out of bed yet. On those cold mornings, neither do I. Gwen was pretty happy to get up, which is a change for her. Trevor took a bag lunch for his first day because I wasn't sure that he would like whatever they had for the first day. I had also sent a few papers with him to bring to school. I dropped Trevor off first and had to head out to drop Gwen off right away. We were a little later than I wanted to be because it was a little tricky to get both kids smiling together. This is the best I could do:

Gwen only has 11 kids in her preschool, and I got a good report for her on the first day. No crying or anything. She was happy to know she would be going back again soon. It was nice to have a few hours of quiet time that day. I didn't really think about it, but when Trevor first went to preschool, I had about 3 weeks before I had Gwen that were those quiet hours to myself. I think I was too preoccupied to actually enjoy them. But now they are back.

Trevor had a great time at school as well, although I wasn't really worried about it. He was able to talk to all his friends, and talked about how he saw all of his Kindergarten classmates at lunch and recess. We will be working on the new schedule and doing things like bringing papers to class. I asked him where the papers I sent with him ended up and he doesn't remember. They could be in his desk, they could be somewhere else, but they are not in his bag anymore. Also, he said he couldn't find his snack that I packed him. Of course I put one in where he had had snacks during his summer classes, but he didn't look there. So we'll try again next time. He also wants to do lunch today. I explained that we still don't have a menu so I'm not sure what it will be. He explained that he is sure he can find something. We'll see what he comes up with after today.

It's time to get ready for day number 2!

What a weekend!

Really, it was a weekend in terms of the number of hours, but it felt so much shorter since we tried to jam so much into it. Last Thursday and Friday I participated in an annual garage sale that my mom friends had. We got rid of a bunch of stuff, which always feels really good. It went on during the day on Thursday and Friday. So we were able to hang out over at their house during the morning and into the afternoon on both days. We had decent weather, although it could have been nicer. The weather has been strange lately. As I'm writing it is almost 80 degrees, but forecasted to be a high in the 50's for the next 4 days or so.

Although it was Kentucky Derby weekend, it was also Trevor's school carnival on Friday evening. They had been advertising it since March, so it would have been hard for him to not go to it. I also wanted to see what it is all about since chances are I'm going to have to help out at it at some point through PTA. They used the entire school. The library was set up for silent auction stuff. The cafeteria was set up for a rock band/karaoke prize game thing with raffle things going on and food as well. The gym had a bounce house, inflatable slide, and race car computer games. I think there were close to 30 games that the kids could play, and almost any age could do it. Trevor saw two of his classmates have a fake broken arm, and that made him want to check out the hospital room. He got a "cut" on his forehead which he loved to show off. Trevor's pediatrician has two kids that also go to the same school, so when we ran into him, his doctor was the first to notice and say, "You look like you need a doctor!" Of course Trevor doesn't really get the irony and explains that it isn't real. He also got to show it off to Bubba when he saw her that evening. I guess he played the part and got her pretty good.

So we headed off to Hatfield as soon as we could tear the kids away from the school party. It was about an hour that we were there. We missed our usual Stone's Throw dinner, but we were happy to be there, nonetheless. The kids played well with their (what are they again?) second cousins. The exciting Derby was run. I again did not win, although my horse placed second, which I think might be my closest finish yet. I cannot claim to have broken my maiden yet. We played our card games and dominoes, and came home early afternoon on Sunday.

Ever since graduating from High School, I have always looked forward to our annual Kentucky Derby races as the start of our season of trips to the lake. Unfortunately, this was my last week of classes before my week off, and I had a paper to submit by Sunday evening and a 50 question final exam for Accounting due the end of day Tuesday. Ever since around the trip to Florida in March, my cleaning has gone down the tubes. I need to get through this day before I can start my crazy cleaning again. Now, if the weather would just be nicer, I could deal with it better!

I'm a PTA mom!

So this week, I attended Trevor's school's PTA meeting. I have to say it felt a little strange. My mom attended the elementary PTA meetings, although I'm not sure how many she attended in Jr. High and beyond. I felt almost like "I belong more with the kids than I do with the mom's." Simply because I knew a few of the moms from morning drop off. Yes, they did sit around each other, and talk to each other. But I was ok with that. It was the first meeting of the year, and the group was happy to see so many Kindergarten parents there.

Counting the group, I'd have to say there were about 30 or so parents. I figured there would be more, but I had no idea either. A lot of the parents had kids in the 4-5th grade, but also another one going to Kindergarten next year, or one in 1st grade too, so they would be there for a while.

It seems like a very efficient group, in that they only have meetings every other month, they have binders for any committee chair, and that they are very open to any suggestions, but I'm guessing there isn't much to have to improve upon. The principal of the school was there and talked for a lot of the meeting, but that is his style. He shares a lot of information and takes a lot of information back to his groups that he is involved in. It is very obvious he loves his job. However, one thing his is, is not short-winded. Trevor really likes him, and tries to say hi to him anytime he sees him. I think if they both had the floor to speak, it would be interesting to hear what was said.

Anyway, I want to sit this year out, as far as being any big volunteer of any committee, but perhaps sometime in the future I can do something more. Maybe Treasurer? That sure would be fun. I am looking forward to trying to shift my own way of thinking. I CAN be a member of PTA....not my mom. And bring on the activities! I feel organized enough to be able to handle it!

Trevor's first week at school

I wish I could say it was awesome. I wish I could say that he didn't have any issues, and that he is so confident and makes friends with everyone.

But if I'm honest, he's had a few issues. Nothing that I'm worried about, or reason for concern. His first day with me was fine. He was checking out the lay of the land, and maybe since I was there, he was well behaved. On a regular day, he has been having more issues than usual listening and behaving. He has his usual fights with Gwen and simply chooses not to listen to me if I ask him to do something.

So on Wednesday, part of it was misinformation that I gave Trevor about picking him up from school. But another part was Trevor deciding he knew better than the teacher what was going on and what he was supposed to do. He ran out of the room near the end of class saying that he was "done". After a lot of convincing by the teacher, he came back to walk with the kids up to the front of school, only to take off again to try to run out to the car.

I talked with both him and his teacher. To his teacher, I explained that he is going through an, "I'm bigger and better than everyone phase, and I know better than everyone as well." Also, that I would talk about the rules that they are teaching, and use some of the same ones. Specifically, be safe.

So on Thursday, I got a report that he had a wonderful day. He even told me how he helped one of the kids do an activity that they were doing. They were doing a fun "find the gingerbread man" game that introduced the kids to the school and the different people that work there.

Then on Friday, he had another issue. This time, he tried to explain his way out of standing up for the Pledge. And then, he wouldn't listen to his teacher, he started yelling at her. So now we are talking about "being respectful". When I picked him up from school, he was pretty upset because he thought I was going to be angry with him. But his teacher and I reassured him that it was only his 3rd day of Kindergarten. I said that that is why he goes to school. To learn how to act and to learn lots of new things.

After we got back home, Trevor was asking me about when he could see his old preschool teacher again. I think a lot of this transition is harder for Trevor than I thought it would be. He has a very small class, and not very many boys in his class. He knows one girl from preschool, but they didn't play much together in preschool. So for the most part, it's almost like we moved and he has had to change schools, and make all new friends. I'm not concerned, but I wish it were different. What mom wouldn't wish that her kid has a perfect time adjusting and is a little angel at school?

On a different note, Trevor was eating an apple for a snack and made one of his lower teeth pretty loose. Now, that is all he does...wiggle that tooth.

So now we just have to work on being as consistent as we can and wait out this development.....ah the joys of having a school kid.

We did it!

The first day of Kindergarten is under our belts. Trevor again did wonderfully. The teacher talked to them, and asked them to walk to the door to go make a book box, and Trevor knew since he was being watched, he better do the thing requested of him.

It looks like his class size will only be around 12 or 13 kids. But that we got the big scoop from the teacher. Lots of expectations, and ideas, and directions for the parents that she'll be explaining to the kids today.

The only thing that was a little crazy today, was that Gwen had her first day of class and it was for longer than Trevor had his school. Trevor seemed a little unhappy about that, but like I told him, it was just this one day.

He's going to have homework, every day, it will be our responsibility to take out his 3-ring binder and check off any notes for the day, the class website will be a place to check out other things that are going on, and also be able to write a note to the teacher as well.

I might even have it worked out so I can swap going to class with another mom that has her kid in the PM Kindergarten class. This month is just getting up to speed in the class, so the teacher said they are going to be playing on the playground every day instead of starting the hard and fast schedule that they will get to in October.

I'll be interested to see how Trevor likes his first week. It should be fun for him. Glad to have survived the first day of school!

104 days of summer vacation

Have finally come to a close. Now I honestly don't know if it has been 104 days or longer, but Trevor discovered a Disney Channel show called Phineas and Ferb that he really likes. Their theme song starts off by saying, "104 days of summer vacation....." something about and then school comes along to end it. So we are on our last hours of having two kids at home before sending one off to his school experiences.

This weekend we were at the lake again. The weather was really nice, although the lake water temperature was not cooperative. I'm pretty sure I got some nice Vitamin D, and could have used more sleep, but it is always nice to spend the time with family.

Today Russ and I got to play golf with some members we know but haven't had the chance to play with before. From going to Twins games, to the State Fair, lake trips, t-ball, Children's Museum, family dinners, sleepovers, trips to various parks, playing with friends, roller skating, it was a very good summer. If only the weather would have been warmer. I was going to try to take the kids to the free waterpark in the area. But it never hit that really hot temperature that I was hoping for.

So a new adventure begins. Trevor asked me yesterday when he gets to see his preschool teacher again. I told him when Gwen goes to preschool there. It seems that he isn't too sure that he wants Gwen to have the same teacher that he did. Although by the time it happens he might have a different thought in mind.

We went to the back to school rally on Thursday and met his new teacher. He unpacked his school supplies and put them where they belonged. He met two boys that he shared SO nicely with. Although neither of them are in his class. It is as though he knew he had to turn on the charm and be on his best behavior in order to make a good first impression.

His first real day of school is Wednesday, as tomorrow I go with him to class. I wonder if he even wants me to come. I think he's really looking forward to being more independent with kids that are older than he is. He is no question ready for it. And so ends the summer vacation....next chapter to start soon.....

First days of school

Sorry about my lack of discussion on this topic. I do have a picture of Trevor at home right before his first day of school. But I know he would like this better because his friend is in it. He has been really enjoying going back to preschool. His class is the same except for 3 new faces. He now goes 3 days a week instead of two. On Wednesdays they do a weekly reader activity and get to play on the computer. However, it has to be your "turn" for the day if you are going to play on it.

With his change back to his routine for the fall, comes a lot of arguments. For the past year and a half or so, when we did time outs for Trevor, they would be up in his room. I knew they worked because he was not happy when he got up there. He was away from the action. However, now he goes up there and enjoys his time away from everyone. So we are going to have to try a naughty mat or naughty step, whichever works. I'm not sure how Gwen is going to be in leaving Trevor alone, so it might have to be on the stairs.

Gwen is choosing walking as her main form of transportation, and I think that adds to Trevor's frustration. She is very quick. And gets into all his things. So a lot of Trevor's acting out is due to wanting more attention. I send Trevor to preschool crossing my fingers that he isn't as difficult as he is at home, and so far so good. I think there is enough newness and yet familiarity where he knows he has some Gwen free time.

In the mean time, Gwen has class on Wednesday afternoons. I am amazed at how much of an "expert" I have become. Ann Marie wasn't there on Wednesday and I immediately became the one the instructor knew would know what was going on. Almost everyone else was there with their first baby. Most were frustrated because they were dealing with their baby waking up in the middle of the night when they didn't use to. OH how I remember those days and how frustrating they were. And everyone seemed to be dealing with letting their babies find out how to put themselves to sleep. Feeling guilty with letting them cry and the such.

The book "Touchpoints" came up and I seconded it. A lot of the mom's wrote the book down and I hope most will be able to get it, if not for this baby for future kids. I also remember feeling that there had to be an answer out there for an issue I was having trouble with. And hearing a lot of the mom's questions, you get the answer, "There is no answer". It's just a phase, and you have to wait it out.

Anyway, I do know that Gwen likes her change in environment and plays like crazy when she is there. It is also easy to see that I am a second time mom by how much I let her play. Most parents are hovering right by their baby because they are worried about what they will touch or do. I keep my eye on her, but for the most part, I let her explore and only take her away if she is bothering another baby.

So school is in session. I'm sure it will bring on lots of fun stuff this year!