Monday, October 26, 2015

Photos by C

 

There are some things that other parents did that I used to think silly, before I had three children. Like handing over your phone to the toddler in the backseat to keep her from falling asleep on the way home. Obviously a completely legitimate use of a very expensive device. 

That same toddler snatched it out of my pocket later in the afternoon and fired off about a hundred pictures, but from which I found these gems, with fancy filters applied and everything. Glad someone can figure out the artsy stuff. 



 

I was planning to share pictures of our weekend pumpkin carving fun, and I may still yet, but I think Caroline generated better material for me today. I'll put her in charge of photography more often. 

Saturday, October 24, 2015

October Reflections


Yet another pumpkin picture to begin a post, but tonight I have hopes of actually catching up a bit more than last time. As expected, it has felt like we have been on fast forward since school started and here we find ourselves with the first "solid" seven-week chunk of school complete, and only five weeks left until my due date! Next week will be just two short school days then a mini fall break for the rest of the week, and for that breather I am very grateful. 

School has been going well this year, now that we are firmly in the swing of it. Amy has been doing marvelously as usual, with her third-and-fourth grade class suiting her very well. Last year her teacher burned through at least four reams of paper per student, and Amy's days both in school and for homework were really worksheet-heavy. She didn't exactly complain, but this year's teacher has been a lot different. While it bugs me a touch to never really see much work come home, it sounds like they are doing all sorts of interesting and productive things in class, and the homework has been appropriately light. Amy is cheery about school everyday, enjoys her class time and playing with her friends at their multiple recesses, and on the whole makes me very happy with the investment in this school for her these two years. Also, we had an interesting conversation about public and private schools - Amy was aghast to learn that one does not study the Bible in public school, and since she considers that "the most important subject" (all her idea!) she wants to keep doing private school wherever we go next. That could get a bit expensive...but I admire her conviction. 

William has had a couple of rough patches in the separation department. Frustrating, especially since he always has fun in the three short hours he spends at school. But this week was full of smooth and quick drop-offs and he seems to be accepting of the routine now. I sympathize with him so completely though, because I, too, never really wanted to be away from Mommy. He does enjoy his classmates and they are all really excited to see him every morning which is pretty cute. We play on the playground everyday after I pick him up which he and Caroline both love. William's other loves at school include his helper-job of the day, any extra time he gets to make his own drawings, and bringing in a toy from home to show his friends. His teacher is the same teacher he had for preschool and I will be forever grateful that she decided to move up to kindergarten with his class because she knows him so well and that familiarity has been a great boost for him. 

Caroline does a really good job with a routine that for her involves a zillion trips in and out if the car everyday. She is mostly cooperative and likes all the little bits of school she is involved in, like checking the fish tank by Amy's classroom, playing with the preschool stuff outside William's room, and especially the playground. 


She's so talkative now, with lots of complete sentences, and I am constantly delighted as I listen to her talk through the different parts of her day. 


And then there's me...


Poorly lit picture from last Sunday, I think? My, what did pregnant ladies do with themselves before the days of the phone-mirror trick? Anyway, here we are, now just five weeks out, and hoping, actually, that baby hangs out inside for all of that. There are dentist appointments, teacher conferences, meals to plan, Christmas shopping and making to do...perhaps too ambitious for the next four weeks before my parents arrive and Thanksgiving is upon us, but I'm going to do my best. After all THAT, I will be most glad to meet this little boy and get my body back to myself - for good. I'm thankful for the relatively easy pregnancies that I've had, not to mention the amazing blessing and miracle that each one is, but nevertheless will be glad to put the aches and twinges and breathlessness behind me and have a bit more energy back - both mental and physical. 

Despite general low-energy/shortage of free time, I have managed to squeeze in some sewing here and there, and completed these two skirts for my girls: 


They are a pretty basic, no-pattern tiered/ruffled elastic waistband skirt...but with pockets! I figured that out and was really pleased that it worked. The girls were only moderately impressed of course. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to get a picture of them being worn one of these days. My project list is rather long still, but my sewing room is tidy and I'm feeling inspired so maybe I'll actually crank out a few more things in the coming weeks. 

So that's about it for now. I think I feel a bit more caught up. Be back soon!

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Soon


Just about six weeks until we are a family of six!


Thursday, October 8, 2015

Quick Notes on Small Adventures

 

Popping in briefly to share a few moments, like this one, already a week ago. Out to breakfast with my favorite guy and only C while the other two were in school. What a treat! This followed a doctor visit for me; everything chugging along nicely, going on 32 weeks in this picture: 

 

New sweater, too. Black shirt is slimming; I feel like I look rather bigger than that - I've already surpassed my weight gain of any of my other pregnancies, though I was starting about 10 pounds lighter than the others. But maybe that's more than you wanted to know. Moving on! 


Don took all the kiddos on a short bike ride to find a letterbox. If I knew how to add links on the blogger app I would; letterboxing is quite fun, and easy to do with the kids - recommended! Also, C's first ride in the bike seat. Glad we continued to hang on to this contraption all the way from Amy's toddlerhood; all the kids have gotten some use out of it. 

I put away toys and vacuumed while they were gone; it was very glamorous. 

 

We picked these three small acorn squash from our garden on Saturday. As I suspected, planting seeds from a grocery store squash produced some slightly off-beat results. Still tasty though! 


Sunday was warm and we made a whole-family trip out for a walk. This was the only picture I took, at the very end, and it gives me a chuckle when I think of everyone's story at this very moment. William rode his bike (hence the helmet) and did a great job of it except for the one short steep hill where he panicked and used his sneakers to brake... Rubbing nearly all the rubber off the toes of his almost-new shoes. Here he was trying to get Amy to see the plastic bottle in the sorry little dried up stream below. She was hot and cranky and insisted that William was making it all up about the bottle, because she couldn't see it. Don is checking the bottom of his shoes for suspected dog poop. Caroline has no pants on on account of getting hers all wet and sandy at the edge of the lake earlier in the walk. Minutes after this shot she would fall of course and scrape both knees again. And I'm standing back in the shade, feeling a little dehydrated and ready for lunch. But despite all that it was a great morning out! 

The rest of the week since then has gone zipping by. Field trip for all tomorrow; hope to be able to share a good report on that soon! 

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Outtakes

 

My goodness, the weeks are going so fast these days. The big kids had school pictures on Tuesday and I figured I would try to get a portrait-worthy picture of Caroline around the same time too, just to keep my yearly 8x10s consistent. Tuesday evening found us with some beautiful lighting and perfect curls so after dinner I tried to catch C for her close up. But of course she tripped on her way out the
door and skinned both knees, so the start of our photo op looked like this: 

 

But she perked up when I took pictures of her poor knees

 
We only had one heart bandaid left so I had to draw a heart on the other one. After that I caught some silly, and mostly blurry faces. 


 

But today while we were waiting for Amy to finish her first violin lesson (!) I did catch a frame-able shot, I think. Check that box off the Christmas to-do list. 

Quick notes on the other two: lucky Amy has the opportunity to take group violin lessons at school, after school once a week. We signed right up and today was the first. Of course, their were large tears of frustration and despair at the end, but after a snack at home and some fresh perspective she was back to feeling pretty excited about it. I'm looking forward to seeing how this goes. 

 

And lastly this message from my boy made me smile, as he asked for no help on spelling (the missing i in his name an oversight; he usually gets that right) and I love his little hearts at the bottom. He's been very into writing lately, especially love notes to a girl character in a movie, and Amy has been ghost-writing notes "from" her back to him while she is at school. It is all rather Santa-waiting-to-happen but for now everyone is still buying in and I'm just enjoying the show. 

There is always more of course... for another time! Happy October!