June 28, 2011

Today was an eventful day because we bought the boys their first real Bible. They were very excited and took turns reading from them on the way home. As part of our Kindergarten this year, I want to read the Bible and I thought this would be a perfect time for them to each have a Bible and they can take turns reading and also follow along. It will be a good way for us to start each school day.

Here is the latest picture of our new baby:
Isn't she a cutie? We will be going to pick her up and bring her home on Saturday so we are all getting excited about it and are starting to prepare for the new addition. Her name is Tinkerbell. The lady who has her has a son who actually named her this and we think it is cute so we are going to keep the name. She kind of looks like a 'Tinkerbell' and Peter Pan is one of our favorite books so it fits. It is actually kind of funny because we had already been thinking of names from the book Peter Pan, so it works for us. She reminds me so much of my Zoe when she was a kitten. I still miss her so much. It will be refreshing to have a cute, funny little kitten running around the house. Hopefully Dancer will adjust to her quickly. He seems to be enjoying his 'only cat' status though so I'm not sure how happy he is going to be to have to share his domain again so soon.

Not much else new around here, except that it seems we might have lost our camera. We went to a work picnic and have not seen it since so not sure what happened to it. We actually have a new one that we bought just before we moved but we have yet to get it out and learn anything about it. Seems that we need to do that now:).

We have been working hard around here, in the hot, hot sun, trying to get everything planted in the beds out front and watering the beds out front and the new grass in the back tons and tons. Yesterday it was 103 when I was outside watering. I prefer to do it early in the morning or late in the evening but we had planted lots of stuff that morning and had not yet watered it and some of it was looking a bit puny. We still have probably another two van-loads of stuff to get and plant before we are finished. We have already planted two van-loads.

I finally bought some curtains for our living room windows. We had ordered the curtain rod and it was on the garage floor for quite a while. I had to iron all six of the curtains, which was no small feat, as they are about 50 inches wide and 108 inches long. The rod was very heavy and long but the husband did an awesome job of hanging it. It is perfectly straight. When we ordered it, the people who we bought it from were concerned that it would bow because the expanse if so long and it only has one support in the middle and one on each end. But it does not bow at all. They were also telling us that, when the curtains are pulled back, the stack would be so big it would cover about one third of the end windows. As it turns out, the stack does not cover the windows at all. There is enough room beside the windows for the stack and it fits perfectly. I am so relieved that is done and it turned out pretty much perfectly. Although I have already seen teeny tiny holes in some of the curtains on one side where Dancer-the-cat clearly tried to climb them, at night while we were sleeping. At least they are hung very well so we don't have to worry about them falling down. Hopefully the cat found out it was not much fun and will not try it again. But then, there is the new kitten..... no telling what she will do.

Oh, and the other news is that I went to my 30 year high school reunion. I had not planned to go, as I am just that type of introvert, but an old friend called and said I should go and I did not really have a good excuse. So, I took a quick shower and headed up to where they were. I arrived just as they were finishing taking turns standing up and telling a little about themselves and their lives so it was my turn! I had not heard anyone else so I was not sure exactly how much information or what information everyone was sharing and I was a bit nervous and trying to figure out who everyone was.

I came from a very small town and we only had 43 students in our graduating class. Many of us had gone to school together since first grade. They did not have Kindergarten when we started first grade. There were 21 of us there and I really did enjoy seeing everyone. They had had a 10 year reunion that I did not attend and they had not had a 20 year reunion so I am really glad I went to this one. I was able to catch up with some old friends that I had not seen in many years. It was really fun and I didn't get home until around 12:30 that night, which is really late for me! What a good time though.

That's it these days. Not much going on. Just trying to get everything done and settled around here before we officially start Kindergarten. Almost there...sooo close. We still have to hire a fencing company to come out and fence the back yard. I need to do that now. Later.

June 16, 2011

Actually, we are past the worst of the storm season but we started today off with a bang and it looks like it could start up again anytime. The nice thing is that it is a very cool day today, relative to what we have been having and also to what they say we are about to have for the next 5 days or so. It is suppose to be unseasonably hot here over the next 5 days or so but I think that is what they have been saying since summer got started around here so maybe this is how it is going to be all summer long. I am thankful for air conditioning.

I am also very thankful for our new house. It is quite lovely and it just feels like home. I really love the house and the neighborhood and hope we will be here a very long time. The boys can actually cross the street here by themselves, as the traffic is really very limited. They ran over to the neighbor across the street the other day and rang the doorbell to see if their little friend could come over and play. He had been here earlier in the day but the boys were out with the dad. He could not play that day but he was over a few days earlier and they all had a ball playing here at our house, both inside and out. I think the boys really like the new house and neighborhood too, although Ben said that when he grows up he is going to buy our old house and live in it.

Ben does not care for change much at all and he expresses himself quite well. When I had my long hair cut off, he made it clear to me that he did not really like it and then he said "that's OK mommy, it will grow back". When I painted my toenails on Sunday, he asked why I did that and let me know he liked them better the old way. A week or so later, he asked me how I would get the nail polish off and, after I explained, thought I should take it off then.

As Ben came downstairs the morning that the boys would go to gymnastics for the first time, Nick very excitedly told him they would get to go to gymnastics that day. Ben's response did not come close to matching Nick's enthusiasm and he said he thought he would just watch. As I reminded him of how he cried a little when waiting for his first swim lesson and thought about sitting out and watching Nick at the first soccer lesson, a small smile played around on his face and had fully grown by the time I finished. He did not say anymore about it and ran into the gym with Nick, very excited, when the time came. He has loved swim lessons, soccer and gymnastics from the very first lesson and has always looked forward to returning but he was uneasy about them all before the first lesson. He does not care for the thought of big changes or new things but he seems to adjust to them quickly when they come.

Nick has learned how to swing himself and can even get started on his own. He absolutely loves to swing too. Ben has not quite mastered it, although he tries hard and can keep himself going for a little bit. Sometimes Nick will push Ben and get him going and then he will get himself going so they can swing together. I love watching them do that. It is so sweet. They both love to sit with the dad with books like I Spy or Where's Waldo or any kind of search type book like that and search for the things together. So lately I have noticed that they will sometimes do this together when the dad is not home. They were actually doing it this morning when the dad was in his office. Nick usually holds the book because he wants to pretend to be the dad. It is really cute to see them huddled up on the couch together, searching through the book. I love that they have such a special friendship.

They are both very sweet boys and are really coming into a very sweet and more thoughtful age. I am really loving this age and I hope it will serve us well when officially starting Kindergarten in the fall.

So, what's new around here? The boys and I just finished reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and we all really enjoyed it. We are now reading The Indian in the Cupboard and we are also enjoying it. There are so many wonderful books for children and there are so many that I have never read. So I am enjoying our read-alouds as much as they are.

We now have bushes and stuff in our flower beds and they look so much better, as does the house and yard. We are still going to plant more, as the landscaper only did the foundational planting, but it already looks so much better. I need to take pictures again of the house inside and out and of the boys. It has been too long. I first need to find our camera.

We are mostly in and unpacked. I still have three boxes about which I have been procrastinating and then I found six more boxes of books in the attic the other day, after I thought I had unpacked them all. No telling what else is in the attic that still needs to be unpacked.

We had a small party here the other day to celebrate my niece's birthday. She invited some of her college friends, the dad cooked out on the grill and I made sure everyone had what they needed and clean up after. It was nice and everyone had a good time. The boys had fun and were meeting everyone at the door, shaking hands and introducing themselves. It was funny. We put the ping pong table out on the screened back porch and some were enjoying that also. Not sure how it will do out there though because it is not meant to get wet but it did during the thunderstorm the other night. Not sure how long it will remain out there but we'll see.

Two weeks and four days until we go get the newest member of our family, our new little kitten. I am looking forward to it. I really miss my Zoe and I think having a new kitten will help with that a bit. I am concerned about Dancer though. I don't know how he will handle a new addition to the family and what he may see as competition. Hopefully we can make him feel very loved so he won't feel as threatened. I hope and pray it will all work out OK.

I can't believe we only have two more weeks of July left. This summer is going by so fast. Kids start back to school here in mid-August so we are quickly speeding towards that date. I am working on our plans for starting school. I know it is 'only' Kindergarten but I feel that I really need to start off 'school' with the boys in a disciplined way. It is easy to let up later but I think it will be much harder to start off in a less disciplined way and then try to add more discipline to our day later. The other thing is that, because of their age (they just missed the cut off by 1 month (Ben) and 3 months (Nick) so they will be older K'ers) and that they are already reading at a 1st grade level (maybe beginning of 1st grade but somewhere in 1st), I feel we should be doing a bit more than a typical K program but a bit less than a full 1st grade program.

Well, time for dinner. Have a nice evening.