Moving Forward

In case you're wondering what I've been up to all summer, I was off taking a few pictures of hummingbirds,

families other than my own,

and those monkeys of mine.

And thinking.

The twins are going to be in kindergarten this fall. Well, technically in August since we're in Colorado and we like sending our children into schools without air-conditioning when it's 106 degrees outside. (No joke - it's been incredibly hot this summer, with very little rain and the schools don't have A/C. Here's hoping they won't roast!) Clearly, I need to come up with a plan. What am I going to do with myself once the twins are in school full time? Other than run around, jump for joy and have a celebratory breakfast the day we drop them off?

I think I've been stuck on hover-mode recently.

Neither moving forward, nor backward. Stuck somewhere in the middle. I am not certain if I should go back to school or just get some job somewhere or the other to just make some cash. School clothes don't buy themselves, after all. If I do go back to school, what am I going for? What do I want to do? The age old question of "What do I want to be when I grow up?" is stuck reverberating around in my head. Again.

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In the time it took me to get back to this post, all three children are well started into the school year. The twins are some of the youngest in their class, since they made the cut-off by three days this wasn't a big surprise to me. The fact that there are only 3 other kids right around their age did surprise me. Caitlin, our middle schooler, is having a great time. She now has to ride her bike ever-so-slightly downhill all the way to school and has done it willingly, compared to being completely unwilling to ride all the way uphill to elementary school. In her defense, it's a pretty hefty hill going up, but meh! She's OK now. Also, we're trying to turn her into Sporty Spice by signing her up for all manner of 4 and 6 week sports classes.

It's pretty amazing, actually. She leaves just after 8 am and doesn't get home until 5 pm. So far she's tried out volleyball, but that ends this week and then next week it's tennis! We're going to keep on throwing different sport "opportunities" at her until one sticks, dang it! We're also looking at signing her back up in skating lessons, since she really seemed to like those. The twins have also expressed an interest in learning how to skate after watching Caitlin do a performance, so that will be something new this fall.

All of this change is pretty exciting, actually.

The twins have scooter bikes without pedals that they were kind of iffy about, but over the course of the summer they've really taken to them. Now that they're in school, we have them ride their bikes home every day. They're at the point where they're able to glide and balance, so it's just a matter of time (Possibly even this weekend.) before we try them out on pedal bikes! They are loving being in kindergarten, love their teacher and classmates and are really enjoying the whole going to school process. I love all of the quiet that comes after dropping them off. I feel like I am regaining braincells and can occasionally maintain an entire thought process for minutes at a time!

I immediately started on a painting project in the basement that I then turned into a construction project for Eric. I'm awesome that way, you see. The Diderot Effect. I has it. It's just that after I had pulled all of the stuff out of the library/ex-plant nursery/out-of-sight-room-filled-with-crap and painted the walls, the giant purple paint stain on the 10 year old carpet was really bothersome. Since I'm turning it into a library/guestroom in an effort to lure friends and family members out to come see me, it only makes sense to replace the carpet with nice, new laminate flooring. Eric grudgingly agreed, so now we're at the demolition stage. How quickly I can go from a "quick" paint job to full on remodel I'll never quite understand, but apparently that's how I roll.

After he's done and we've pulled the room back together again, I'll post some pictures. Unfortunately, I don't have true Before and After photos because I didn't take any pictures of just what it looked like before I had cleared it out prior to my friend Val's visit. Oh, it was an eyesore. Instead, I have pics of what it looked like before I painted and removed the 17 year old bookshelves out. It should be pretty spiff when I'm done. Also, the books will be alphabetized again. Pet peeve. Gah!

Somewhere in here I'll start to seriously think about my future. Perhaps there's a book waiting inside me quietly trying to make its way out. Perhaps there are photos that need capturing. I know my garden needs serious attention after I ignored it all summer. Those 100+ degree days weren't my idea of gardening weather, so there's a lot of weedy neglect happening. Also, the front and back yards need a little more plant editing. As the summer finally cools off, I'll be out there again, ripping and shredding and revamping my beds.

I just wish I had as clear a plan for my own future as I do for the assorted rooms in my house. Ah well. I guess I'll just wait for my brain and creativity to wake back up and then I'll see.

Yup. I'll see.

The Start of a New School Year - for EVERYONE

It just so happens that we start the school year early, here in Colorado. While Eastern states wait until after Labor Day, we like to get our chilluns back in the trenches in the middle of August.

So when Monday of this week rolled around, we went school shopping and bought three sets of school supplies. On Tuesday, we took the twins up to meet their new kindergarten teacher. On Wednesday, we took Caitlin to her new middle school (Which she loves!).

She's so BIG!

And only slightly terrified.

At the end of the day, we even picked her back up again. We're good parents that way.

And took the twins up for an assessment at their new elementary school, while Caitlin was being educated. On Thursday, Caitlin rode her bike to school on her own.

And on Friday...

I'm in love.*

With kindergarten.

When you make the cut-off date for kindergarten by three whole days, chances are really good that you're going to be the youngest and shortest kids in the class. That's OK, though, because they've got each other. As a matter of fact, they weren't even separated, as I had thought they would be. Maybe it's because they aren't identical?

Caitlin came with us to see the twins off, since middle school (I'm still not over the concept yet.) doesn't start until later in the morning. It was pretty exciting to have us come full circle with Caitlin here, as the big sister, dropping off the twins on their very first day. When we dropped her off in kindergarten, we had no idea what was in store for us the very next year.

Logan blinked or made weird faces all through my shots. Sigh.

Lining up to go inside, Logan turned back to me and told me he loved me in the one piece of sign language he knows. Yeah, that's mah boy.

No, I didn't cry, but I do admit to a heart clenching moment when he did this. Verklempt. So sweet!

After they walked inside, we dropped Caitlin off at school

Apparently Fridays are "Crazy Hat Day". At least, that's what she said.

and ran away for a triumphant celebratory breakfast with our friend, B.

All.

By.

Ourselves.

And it was good.

I was reminded by a friend that I also needed to pick them up and that I didn't just get to leave them at school until another 6 years had passed. Since I figured that was probably true and that the phone calls would get annoying before the day was out we went to go pick them up by the end of the school day. Six whole hours later.

Six years from now, I'm going to be amazed just how small they are right here, in this shot.

Those ones! Over there! THEY DID THIS TO ME! Logan points out the Parental Units in a very accusatory way.

Daddy gets First Hugs, whilst Mommy photographs The Moment.

After Eric snagged all of the initial hugs, Logan ran over to me with intent eyes and gave me big hugs and squeezes and kisses. He's pretty darned cute, so I let him. Emma did too, but I can't shoot and hug and kiss all at the same time. I know, I need more arms.

Cominagetcha!**

Both of them were in a great mood and started telling us about their day while I tried to get a few more cute kindergartener pictures in.

Emma.

Logan.

Yeah, I'm in love with Friday. And with all of these school age children!

Wow! We survived! Um...now what do I do with all of this free time? Guess I'll have to write about it. On Monday. Or Tuesday, since Monday the twins don't have school, but they do on Tuesday! Squeeee!



* Yes, I'm a child of the 80's and here's the music video, because I know it's now stuck in your head, too.




** Just in case you need a second song to get the first song out of your head.

The Beginning of a New Era

On Friday, August 12th we found out a single piece of information that would change the course of our family's future.

The twins will meet the cutoff for kindergarten next year by three days.

Suddenly, we leaped into overdrive getting them set up in a half day preschool program that would run five days a week. Eric called up several different local schools and we went and visited about four of them. By the time we hit the last school on our list, a Montessori, we knew we had struck gold.

• They had not one, but two openings. This is key when you have twins, you see.
• School started on Monday, August 15th.
• The twins loved the school.
• During our visit, one of the teachers sat down with the twins and started an I-Spy game of letters and toy fruits and veggies, while we talked to the administrator.

Eric promised that we'd get back to them once we had a chance to think it over. I thought it over on the trip to the car. "Call her back as soon as we get home! They're closing in 5 minutes! It's Friday!" And so he called the administrator right back and told her that we'd bring them in first thing on Monday morning.

The same day we dropped Caitlin off at school for her very first day as a Fifth Grader.

Who's ready for school? I asked as I shot the above photo. As you can see, the response was overwhelmingly positive.

 Emma is ready!

Logan is ready! And very excited about his new Lightning McQueen t-shirt.

Caitlin was ready to take on the world as a senior in elementary school.

I feel a little bad, we sort of short changed her at drop off. We whisked in with her bags of supplies and walked her to her line. After hugs and kisses goodbye, we took off, rather than wait for the grades to walk inside.

I think she was pretty OK with it, though, since she wasn't paying any attention to us at all. She was too busy greeting all of those other kids who would soon roam the halls with her.

Then we drove off, with the twins, to their very first day of preschool.

Oh the excitement!

 Emma at check-in, snuggles with her blanket.

Logan can hardly wait to run off to his classroom and play with all the new toys!

The additional benefit of this preschool was the fact that they were able to put Emma and Logan into different classrooms. This would be the very first time they had ever been separated for any real length of time. All day, every day, 5 days a week for three hours*: solo. They would finally have a chance to make friends and see what life is like solo.

They never for a moment showed fear or insecurity. They didn't even say goodbye when we brought them to the play area to leave them. Instead, they raced off and left us standing on the sidelines.

We marched over, demanded kisses and made them say goodbye to us sad sacks!

 Buh-bye! Don't let the door hit you in the back on your way out, mom!

Who are you again? You know I'm busy playin', right?

So we left them. All alone. Together.

And ran away giggling into the early morning light.

 Preschool acquired! 

Freeeeeeedommmmm!

Later, they looked like this after school:

Emma was exhausted after all that learnin' and stuff.

Logan was still pumped from all the educatin'.

Caitlin was psyched.

* The list of things I want to get done in those three hours is just beginning to unfurl in my head! Weeding! Photography! Painting the house! Decorating! Writing! Decluttering! Grocery shopping without short people! OMG! Squeee!