back to school

This has been such a week...one to remember.
Outside of each day's moments to remember there have been a few that I am sure to never forget.

Ethan started second grade on Monday. He was anxious to go back to school but not overly so...we had a great summer. I did a little interview on the morning of his first day back. He was most looking forward to friends (no surprise there), happy to ride the bus, hoping to eat chicken nuggets and chocolate milk once and a while and still ready to walk away without saying good-bye or a "see you later."

The first day was a bit of a shock to his summer system. He told Mark he had some trouble with his teacher...she wanted him to do an activity or two...Of all the nerve! But, true to form he was raring to go the next day and even more excited this morning when his little brother would join him.

The school asked that parents drop off kindergartners for the first day at the door to there classroom...as if there is another way to get your ever present 5 year old off to their first day of school and without the complete meltdown of all mothers involved. Did they really need to ask? I don't know if I could have added "put Owen on the bus" to the day's to do list and still kept my heart in functional pieces. However, dropping him off at his classroom was still one of those moments...the kind where reality smacks your heart so hard you remember you are alive...because liquid starts running down your face!


Owen was excited in a subdued way and only had about 15 seconds of visible nerves...he sat close, took a deep breath and laid his head on my lap (as he has so many times in his 5 years)...but this passed quickly as I prayed in his ear for Jesus to help the strength He has put in Owen's heart to rise up and help him to face all the new things he would experience today.

After his teacher welcomed them he found his spot in the boy line and barely looked back before heading off to the adventure. I wouldn't have expected any different from this wise boy.

And, along for the ride (in many ways), are my precious girls...

Once we got home I could tell Audrey was a little misplaced. She sat at the table very quietly (anyone who knows her is aware that this is nearly impossible). After about 10 minutes of writing on a wipe board she turned a very sad face to me and on the verge of tears said, "I don't want to wait so long for the boys to come home."

We had our moment together and have enjoyed a wonderful morning together ever since. This will be very different for her and a complete do-over for me...girl-style! The last time I spend significant time with a 3 and 1 year old like this it was Ethan and Owen. What a blessing to have these days with my girls now.

What great expectancy I have for this school year...
what a wonderful husband and children to enjoy it with...
what a good God to bless us so richly.

impromptu family photo

saying goodbye to summer

true north

I was the catcher so I couldn't be in the picture.

Read this on another blog and love how it encourages my heart toward my current true north...intentionality with my children.

Enjoy...

Here is a list of Seven Gifts Which Do Not Cost a Cent:

1. The gift of listening - But you must really listen. No interrupting, no daydreaming, no planning your response ... just listen.

2. The gift of affection - with appropriate hugs, kisses, snuggling, pats on the back and handholding. These small actions demonstrate love in a powerful way.

3. The gift of laughter - share amusing stories, humorous cartoons, jokes, etc. Laughter establishes a bond between people.

4. The gift of a handwritten note - kind words change lives and last a lifetime.

5. The gift of a compliment - a simple, kind and sincere remark can change how a person feels about him/herself.

6. The gift of a favor - the simplest things like getting a glass of juice for your child or putting away hubby's shoes for him may not seem like much but demonstrate kindness to others in a big way.

7. The gift of a cheerful disposition - the easiest way to feel good is to extend a kind word to someone. look him/her in the eye and speak kindly, from the heart with sincerity. {Proverbs 15:13 A Happy heart makes the face cheerful.}

someone to hold

visitors

We enjoyed a lovely break from reality with Mark's parents this last weekend. Because of the incredible weather we were able to enjoy a few of our favorite hikes. The kids were especially delighted by the invitation for individual sleepovers with Papa and Nana at the "hooteal" (Audrey's incredibly cute way of saying hotel).

Here are a few of the 600+ pictures that were taken...

hallelujah

Elyse just took a nap!!!

Also, love these pictures...

the miracle of learning

Untitled from vaporlife on Vimeo.

inspiration

celebrating fall

We are finding all kinds of ways to celebrate fall. We have had such a lovely week of weather and have taken advantage of any time we could be outside. We also enjoyed a great fall hike and picnic, carving pumpkins and some trick-or-treating.

fall fun

Enjoying one of our favorite fall activities and particularly that we have the "margin" to do so...

momentous

This has been a momentous day...Ethan went to away to school for the day.

When we decided to home-school Ethan for kindergarten it was with the intention of this being a year that we would balance his time at home with significant opportunities outside our home in preparation for the day he will go off to school. We have been blessed with many, but most exciting for Ethan is his day at "Options". This is an enrichment program where he spends the day participating in a more traditional school setting...classrooms, teachers, other students, room changes, lunch! He has anxiously counted down to the start of, as he put it, "the first day of his whole life!"

It was with a vast array of emotions that Mark and I dropped him off this morning. As each hour passed, with great delight, I checked his schedule to find out what he was participating in at the moment. And, thoroughly enjoyed popping into the last few minutes of his final class...karate!

It is incredible to me how different it was to operate for most of the daytime hours with only 2 children at home. I am looking forward to all the ways that Thursday's will be different. And, I am prayerful about the wisdom to deal with how all these ways will change our family dynamic.

packing his backpack

oatmeal for breakfast



off he goes

swimmers

This is incredible...




Untitled from vaporlife on Vimeo.


Untitled from vaporlife on Vimeo.

i knew the day was coming

farmies, like roadies, but farmies

We are loving our farm days. They are early mornings...we have to leave the house at 5:45am...and we are really tired at the end of them but we love it! I wasn't able to get any pictures of Ethan because he was off on adventures: catching crickets for Quentin's bullfrog, feeding the cows, visiting the pigs, finding the cats, playing in the dirt, harassing the chickens, smashing squash, eating green beans, peas, carrots or whatever looks good from the share baskets or just general meandering about the farm with a small and extremely cute gang of boys and girls covered in dirt. But, here are my two other farmies...

Audrey sticks close to gather any stray veggies she can scarf down

Owen and part of his posse negotiating over shovels and buckets just outside the barn

st. mary's glacier

Yesterday, about mid-morning, we packed a lunch and headed to the mountains for a hike. Our destination was St. Mary's Glacier. It was one of the hikes listed in the kid's "passport to adventure" books that we are working through this summer from REI. All of the hikes/bike trails are "kid friendly" and we are finding them pretty "adult friendly" too. After we accomplish 5 hikes/bike rides the kids get a compass/whistle tool to hang on their backpacks.



On our way there the sky began to get darker and very foreboding. We drove through some heavy rain but I think our short time away from this glorious place had us very thirsty for the beauty and "space" of the wild we knew we would be enjoying. So, we kept going even if it meant we only picnicked in the high country. The sky cleared somewhat and even though Mark took some coaxing (the weather was VERY unpredictable and there was plenty of thunder to warrant his caution) we decided to go for it and make the ascent to the glacier. It was beautiful and rugged and wild. We did get rained on but no one cared. And our van and the picnic lunch that awaited us when we returned were a great comfort!






One thing I took notice of in my heart yesterday was that I am very prone toward thinking "larger and a bit more rebellious" thoughts after I have been in the wild. I find that I have a little more space to consider life in a different way. This happens nearly every time. I just finally noticed it yesterday. I love this place to be.

leap

I feel like I just took a leap from a cliff.
I called Littleton Public Schools for information about registering Ethan as a home-schooled kindergartener...make that a blind-folded flying leap in the dark.

I think it feels like a leap because of two things...
1. I can't believe I am saying Ethan and school in the same sentence...where has the last 5 years gone? How has he grown so fast?
2. This is my first action step toward actually home-schooling...as opposed to talking, thinking, praying about home-schooling. We might actually do this! Crazy!

cowboys

Saturday we were invited to have dinner with some new friends. Kirk and Kathy are ranch managers at a ranch for cutting horses in Longmont...about an hour north of us. I met Kathy at the Captivating retreat and we made sure that Mark and Kirk met at the Advanced Retreat. When I told the boys about it Ethan said, "I should probably wear my cowboy boots." Of course you better!

The ranch was beautiful, the company was refreshing, the meal was delicious and our two little cowboys were a complete delight. They didn't have to pretend...they WERE cowboys!

a larger story

Ethan was at the doctor on Monday for his 5 year old wellness visit.

I love these appointments because you get to see things in your child that you don't always see at home in the daily. Once the doctor gets all the pertinent information from me that he needs he interacts with the child and I choose to step back and allow what will occur to occur without my influence. I observe their development on display with a mixture of delight and almost pain...what I see is always so beautiful it breaks my heart. As a mother I truly understand the quote, "Only beauty and affliction can pierce the human heart."

Ethan's visit did not disappoint.

While the doc asked me the things he needed to Ethan sat in the chair in his underwear casually looking through a book. Ethan's turn for questions came and though he didn't put his book down I could tell he was listening when the doctor started asking him a series of questions to get a gauge on his understanding of the world.

Dr: Do you know your colors? (places 5 blocks on the table and begins pointing to each waiting for a reply)
E: blue, red, yellow, green, red
Dr: Can you count the blocks?
E: (points to each as he says...) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Dr: What do you do with a banana?
E: put it in a basket
Dr: What? What do you do with a banana?
E: (still casually looking at the book) put it in a basket (I understand this because at home we pull apart our bananas and put them in a basket...dr does not! Dr looks at me as if to say...why would he say that?)
Dr: What does a monkey do with a banana?
E: He eats it.
Dr: Mommy is a woman. Daddy is a ...?
E: King (still casually flipping through his book)
Dr: What?
E: (looks up from his book directly at the doctor and says...)KING!

It still makes me laugh as I write it down! After a little chuckle, the doctor asked Ethan why daddy is a king to which he replied..."I am the knight, Daddy is the King, Mommy is the Queen." We had been pretending in the yard the previous evening and Ethan was still living in that story. Ethan is almost always living in a grand story of some kind. I was just delighted to know that we are a part of it too!

growing up

This morning I was almost brought to tears when Ethan brought me his beloved blankie and said. "I want to give this away. I am not going to suck my fingers anymore and so I don't need it. I am five now." He was so sincere and it was obvious that he believes that the key to him being successful at not sucking his fingers is to give his blankie away. I am not sure what is was about this moment that made my emotions rise to the surface...maybe the whisper in my soul "he is growing up".

A little later on I felt I needed to document this day with a picture and so I asked him to hold it. He laced his fingers through the ratty edge (the one that has been re-croched numerous times...you can see in the picture that most of it is missing again) like he always has and said "I need this a little bit more."

I am glad he isn't grown up just yet!