September 16, 2012

Catching Up With September

It is halfway through the month of September and I haven't even written about August yet.  I will put that off just a bit longer as I write about this month's events.

It was great weather to get a few things done outside.  Ryan "helped" my mom clean things by rinsing them off with water.  He cleaned just about anything he could find, including himself.  That child loves playing with water!  I don't know that he was really much help, but he had a great time and was not in the way.

 Justin worked on a project with my dad.  The two of them waterproofed the ladder.  Justin had an interesting technique and it often looked like he was dancing more than painting.  He had a blast though and my dad was able to finish up the project.

 September meant the end of the summer and Justin's first year of school.  He had been really nervous in August when we went in for the kindergarten screening.  By the time we went in to the meet the teacher event he was feeling more confident.  On the first day, he was ready to go.  I was lucky I got a picture of him before we left.  He was one anxious boy!

 After school he told me that it was probably the best day of his life.  Off to a good start!  Since then it has been an up and down ride.  Evidently he doesn't like that he can't do whatever he wants whenever he wants.  The teacher even makes them walk in a line instead of trampling around the school like a herd.  The nerve!

 

 

 

 Justin also started soccer.  I was worried that it would be competitive and the kids would have a lot of experience.  I was thrilled to see parents trying to figure out shin guards and kids who asked the coach if they got to go play in the dirt when they were done.  His coach is a gem.  She is a high school student who played Park and Rec soccer all through elementary school and she is really good with the kids.  The first game will be this week.  We will see if Justin is able to keep his cool.  I have been proud of him at the practices.  He has been a good sport when he does well and also when he does not do so well.

While the weather is good we have been trying to get out and take advantage of all of the playgrounds here.  We missed having such nice playgrounds in Namibia.  This playground is at Justin's school, and is perfect for weekend play because it is not as crowded as some of the other more popular playgrounds are.  Ryan enjoys getting the chance to play at Justin's school too.

Although Ryan stopped taking naps long ago, sometimes he still gets worn out.  I always hate when he takes a nap because it means he will be up late.  This nap lasted all of about twenty minutes, but it meant he was up three hours past his bedtime.  He still woke up at the same time the next morning and was a bit cranky.  Who would have guessed I would see naps as an enemy?

 I didn't want Ryan to feel left out, so I signed him up for soccer too.  His group meets once a week on Saturday mornings.  It was such a joy to watch the three year olds run around with so much energy and so little skill.  They had a blast!  The instructors are from the college soccer team.  At one point they were trying to get a 3 on 3 game going with the 7 in Ryan's group.  They wanted to make sure everyone got equal play.  Another mother and I said we thought it would be fine to have four on one team and three on another.  Sure enough, that seemed to work fine.  Sometimes there were multiple goalies, sometimes more than one ball on the field, and frequently there was rolling around on the grass, but the kids had a lot of fun.  Ryan is so excited to have shin guards and a soccer shirt like his brother.

  Ryan doesn't like to do much without his brother.  I was able to get him to go out on his bike with me.  I need to find a better place because there are too many hills when we go around the block.  I was either pulling him or trying to slow him down.  He had a good time, but I was sore by the time we got back.

We miss Rob and can't wait for him to finish up in Namibia and join us here.  In the meantime, it is pretty routine with school, soccer, library, and playing.  The boys are having a wonderful time with Grandma.  She is spoiling me too!  :)

February 5, 2012

The most exciting part of the week for us was probably getting the list of potential places for Rob’s next assignment. It is fun to think about the next place we will go and what it will be like for our family. We are reading up on the different places and weighing the pros and cons for each place. Hopefully it won’t be too long until we find out, at least unofficially. It is fun to think of the next adventure. Our next post will probably be one that both boys will be old enough to remember well.


On Wednesday we went to the library with the boys’ friend, Leah, and her mother, Tanja. I would have NEVER found it if we hadn’t gone with them. You go in this small back door and walk down a hallway with boxes stacked around. Down one hallway there is a reception type desk with a woman sitting behind it. She is the librarian. She opens the door to a storage room and turns on the lights. The books are lined up on shelves with very little sense of order. Children’s books are together. Adult books are separated by language. No windows, yucky fluorescent lighting and very stuffy in that room. I am assuming that it is there because the real library is undergoing a six month renovation. The interesting thing about the renovation is that it started in February 2009. Lovely. To get a library card, you have the woman make a copy of your driver’s license. You write down your name, address, and phone number and the books you are taking out along with the date. When you return them, you cross of the books you return. The cards are kept in a shoebox looking box. Wow! Wonder how well that works for them? I am sure they end up missing plenty of books. Of course, no one else was there. Perhaps they can’t find the place!

On Thursday we got to babysit Nicky and Timmy while their parents (Gilbert and Sara) went out to celebrate Sara’s birthday. My boys were so excited to have friends over for dinner. After that they played trains until I finally put my kids to bed. They all played pretty nicely together until about an hour after bedtime. I sat up with Nicky and Timmy watching Go, Diego, Go videos.

Other than that it has been pretty routine. We went to swimming lessons, had our playgroup, and shopped for food. We will see what the next week brings.