Being a tourist.

 Jeff is on a roll and continues to plan an outside-the-house-activity each month for the family to do.  Several months ago he requested tickets to take a tour of the Capitol.  Our date to go was on Saturday, September 12th.  It was a rainy day, but we had a delightful time.  I felt proud we were taking advantage of what this beautiful city, which is practically in our backyard, has to offer.  Unfortunately, the Capitol is under construction and the scaffolding on the outside continues in the inside too.  But this just means we will have to go back in another year when the construction is completed. 

I'm pretty sure I've never done the tour of the Capitol before.  We had this tour guide who thought she was funnier than she actually was.  Her jokes were pretty corny, but she certainly knew her stuff!  She was able to point out the statues from every state the people in our group was from and give background info on all of them.  

Lots and lots of scaffolding.

The statue from North Dakota (for Rita)

The statue from Florida!

Three cheers for Jeff for coming up with an idea, that involved something we all enjoyed.  Plus it was educational.  A win-win in my book. 

Ian's new look

Ian was thrilled to hear the braces would be able to come off at the beginning of the school year.  True to our orthodontist's promise, Ian got his braces off on Friday, September 11th.  He now has to wear a retainer (It's clear!  You can't even tell he has it on) full-time, but he is thrilled to now run his tongue over his teeth and find they are smooth, smooth, smooth.  

The plan is for Ian to wear the retainer for several months and then when all his adult teeth are in, we will start round 2 with the braces.  

This is what Ian's teeth looked like the day he got them on:

December 8, 2014:  Before and After:

September 11, 2015:  Before and After:

Got to love an orthodontist who gives out a big bag of candy when you get the braces off.

The appointment wasn't even over yet and Ian was already munching away on the rice krispies treat!

5th grade is off to a fantastic start!

Hot cakes

Ian has a new skill in the kitchen.  He can now make pancakes.  From start to finish, Ian can do the whole thing himself.  And he does so regularly.  Ian will make approx. 15 pancakes at a time, eat a short stack and then freeze the rest to eat later in the week.

The first morning he made the pancakes, he was so excited and proud of himself. Ian said, "I wish Dad was here to see this."  He called Jeff to give him a play-by-play over the phone -- of course, after he had eaten a few first.  

Checking to make sure the other side is fully cooked.

 

 

 

At one point, I saw Ian was only making one pancake at a time.  I asked him why he stopped filling the griddle with many pancakes to cook at once.  Ian said, "I was having a tough time keeping up with them all."   Seriously, how cute is he!?!?!

And they're back...back to school that is.

First day of 5th grade for Ian and first day of 2nd grade for Samantha.  I have such wonderfully high expectations for a SPECTACULAR year!! 

Sam's class looped this year; meaning she has the same teacher and kids in her class as last year.  This is a good thing....a very good thing.  Sam loves her teacher and her teacher loves her.  And Sam has adjusted to the kids who are in her class.  There are 2 or 3 girls she is friendly with and will acknowledge their presence outside of school.  That is about the best we can wish for.  Given that there will be no adjustment period to a new teacher or different kids, Sam is off and running!  She is willingly going to school.  Yay!

Meanwhile, Ian had a disappointing experience last year and really didn't care for either his homeroom or math teacher.  It was hard listening to him at dinner tell us how miserable he was each day.  Steps were taken to try to help Ian, but at the end of the day, we just needed the school year to end.  I met with the principal to make sure this coming year would be better for Ian.  The kid used to love school and it was hard seeing that feeling diminish because of the teacher.  

This year is such a different story!  I am thrilled that Ian got assigned this particular teacher (Mrs. S.) this year.  It is going to be a perfect fit and just what Ian needs.  Furthermore, this teacher will be doing math too for Ian's level.  From what I've observed, she has a great way with the kids and understands their vast amounts of energy.  She doesn't expect them to stay seated, keeps the students moving and is very engaging.  On the afternoon of day 2, the teacher called to let me know Ian was doing well and how much she has enjoyed his sense of humor.   I haven't gotten a call like this since Kindergarten.  :) 

I always follow the kids into their classroom and take a picture.  Both kids hate that I do this.  I will never stop doing it!

Getting a hug from the teacher on the way in to her class.

With school starting, our schedule is back in full swing.  When you throw in my 3 part-time jobs I do during the school day, this makes for a lot of running from point A to point B to point C to point D. 

Each weekday at 5:30am, I am either meeting my friend Tami for a 4 mile walk or going to a boot camp class from 5:30am to 6:30am 3 times a week.  I am determined to be a healthier me this year!  It makes for a full day, but "me time" needs to happen when the majority of the family is still sleeping. 

School is from 9:10am to 4:00pm. 

Monday:  ----
Tuesday:  religious school for both kids (4:40pm to 6:30pm)
Wednesday:  therapy for Sam at 5:00pm
Thursday:  gymnastics for Sam at 5:00pm
Friday:  ---
Saturday:  flag football (practice and game) for Ian
Sunday:  religious school for both kids (9:00am to 12:00pm)

We continued with our back-to-school tradition and went for ice cream after dinner on the first day of school.  It sort of makes going back to school a little sweeter when you know you get ice cream at the end of the day.  Sort of. 

Three cheers for a GREAT year!!

11 years ago today...something fantastic happened.

This is my most favorite picture taken of Jeff and me this past year.  It was right before we went on the zip lining canopy tour during our weekend away this summer.   We didn't know what to expect; would it be scary?  Exciting?  A huge adrenaline rush?  Would we regret signing up?  Would we instantly love it and want to go again?

So many of these emotions are similar to marriage.  Jeff and I had never been married before.  We may have had ideas on what marriage was like, but until you are in it yourself, you could never really know. 

Today marks 11 years being married to Jeff.  I am continually in awe that, just like the zip lining, I took a leap off the platform and have loved every bit of it.  The best part, in my opinion?  Being part of a team.  Having someone by your side to experience all the good and bad days with you. I can't imagine having anyone else go through this crazy ride with me. 

Jeff jokes that we have nothing in common (other than sea salted caramel flavoring).  We don't like the same kind of books, we don't like the same kind of movies or television shows.  And I'm not into sports like he is.  He doesn't care for the beach and I love it.  Really, it's quite humorous how much our tastes are very different.   However, I would say that these opposites work in our favor.  We have fun together trying new things and exploring new places.  We have each other's backs.  We want the best for each other. 

The best is when Jeff says I drive him crazy and he loves me.  Therefore, I can only equate the following to be true....Jeff loves it when I drive him crazy.  See how good we are for one another?

Happy anniversary to a guy who makes me laugh every day.  I love how he makes me want to be the best wife/mother/friend I can be.  11 years today!  I love you so much!!

Ch..ch..ch..ch..changes

Ah, the start of a new school year....is there any better time for wanting to get organized, instill new practices that are healthier, get into a good routine, and make a fresh start?  Other than New Year's day, I don't think so.  It's like getting a blank slate and resolving to do things better, make it easier/smarter/more efficient. 

I've been thinking (now you know you are in trouble if you live in this house!) about what I'd like to change with the coming year.  I've come up with a short, but powerful list.  I presented it to the family and so far, everyone is on board.  If even 1/2 of these brilliant ideas of mine continue through the first month, I will be a happy camper....a very happy camper.

1. I am no longer making dinner on Saturday nights.  For over 10 years now, I've planned dinners for every night of the week.  95% of the time, the dinners go as planned.  Every now and then, we will have a spontaneous night out or bring food in, but for the most part, it's all me putting dinner on the table each night.  I'm not complaining, but I am tired and burned out.  So from this point forward, I am no longer worrying about feeding my family dinner on Saturdays. I think I will enjoy the other 6 nights of cooking a lot more if I know I have a break one night a week.    When I told this Jeff and the kids, instantly Jeff and Ian said they wanted to take on Saturday nights.  I happily said, "go for it."   Whether they cook, bring in take-out, or plan for us to go out to eat, I don't care.  It will be so nice that there is one day every week that I don't worry about what we will be eating.


2. Sam gets dressed on her own.  Completely on her own.  She is 7 years old.  It is beyond time that she picks out what she wants to wear without a huge battle from me.  No more whining "I have nothing to weeeeeeaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr" or screaming "I DON'T WANT TO WEAR THAT!"  or "I DON'T KNOW WHAT MATCHES" allowed anymore.  No more begging me to put 4 different outfits on her bed to choose from, only to whine she doesn't want to wear any of them.  When the mood strikes her, Sam has shown she can get dressed on her own.  She has a great sense of style and knows exactly what goes with what.  She manages to get dressed all on her own on the weekends.  But for some reason, she enjoys pushing my buttons and putting a big wrench in our mornings before school throwing a fit.  I am done with this nonsense.  Sam has more clothes than the whole rest of the family put together.  I recently went through her closet (with her!) and pulled out everything that might be questionable on what fits and organized her closet by skirts, dresses, sweaters, long sleeve tops, and short sleeve tops.  We went through her drawers and organized them by capri leggings, full-length leggings, shorts, biker shorts, pants, and jeans.  There are easily 30 different outfits she could wear for any season/type of weather.  As of my writing this blog, she is in agreement with everything in her wardrobe.  It's all been picked out by her personally in the stores and given the green light that she will wear it at some point.  Although historically this doesn't matter if she will actually wear it, but it's a start.  I told her I would help if she needed it with a zipper, button, whatever, but I will not help with picking out an outfit.*

*For those who think we should pick the outfit out the night before; we've done that many, many, times.  However, she will still wake up in the morning and change her mind and throw a fit.  Ugh.


3. Sam makes her own lunches for school.  Again, I think the more I tell Sam has to do for herself, the more control she will feel like she has.  Sam likes to be in control.  I told her I will help her with cutting, cooking, etc, but she has to take the initiative on getting her lunch made and assembled.  Ian has been making his own lunches for 2 years now and it is a pleasure in the morning to know he is responsible and making healthy choices on his own.  And if she drops the ball on this (because she is spending too much time figuring out what to wear :), then she will have to buy her lunch from the school cafeteria. 


4. Help with cleaning the house.  We will see how this goes, but here's the idea:  I came up with a list of 28 different tasks to do around the house.  Everything from clean a bathroom, vacuum the bedrooms, clean the glass door, unload the dishwasher, clean the inside of the microwave to fold a load of laundry and put away, etc.  It's broken down into manageable chunks with no chore being that time consuming or too big to do.  I created an excel sheet with 4 columns next to it.  Each column belongs to one of us; Jeff, Robyn, Ian and Samantha.  Every week one of us has to pick an item and do it.   When you've done it, you put the date next to the item, under your name.  Once all the items have been done, I will provide a new excel chart to begin these tasks again.  In less than a month's time, all the chores should be completed and the house will be clean.  The best part is, the kids are learning some very important life skills.  They get a say in what they want to do in terms of helping (it can change each week/month for them too), and I get some much needed assistance with the upkeep of the house.

Yep, this is what I sprung on the family.  No one had a bad word to say and agreed to give it a go.  I have high expectations that all 4 things listed above will go splendidly.  How awesome would this be if it does?

Summer Adventures 2015....Wrap up.

We have one more week of Summer vacation before school starts.  Other than the kids fighting with each other (it's gotten so out of control!) and that little snafu where Jeff and I slept on couches for 7 nights at the beach, it has been a most excellent summer.  I called the Summer of 2014 "Epic" and didn't think I'd be able to top it, but I came close.  Very close.

It was a dream of mine to show the kids NYC and I was able to make that happen.  It feels like a lifetime ago we did that trip, but its only been 2 months.  Since school let out, it has been a whirlwind of adventures, fun destinations and making the most of each day.  The short list is this:  NYC, Cruise with Jeff's parents, Ian spent a week in Connecticut with his cousin, Orlando for 3 weeks, and Ocean City, NJ.  Oh yeah, Jeff and I went to Wisp for a weekend.   You can't say we watched summer pass us by.   Have suitcase, will travel.  :)

I don't have a favorite thing we did or place we went this summer.  I loved all of it.  The best part is all the time we spent with family.  For not living close to anyone, it is so wonderful that my kids are growing up spending so much time with grandparents, cousins and aunts/uncles.  This means more to me than anything.  Family is so important.  

I believe one of the coolest aspects of a being a parent is watching your kids experience new things.  Seeing it through their eyes is wonderful.  It makes me want to give them the world and go along for the ride.  You know you are on the right track when weeks and months later, they are still talking about some of things we've done and seen.  There is nothing better than getting nostalgic and reliving the memories.

We are slowing down our days and gearing up for the coming school year.  Sam will be going into 2nd grade and Ian will be entering 5th grade. I am still in awe that I am mom to a 5th grader.  Yowzer!  When did that happen!!?!?

I am continually grateful to my husband who supports me in my decision to be home for the kids.  Having all these flexible part-time jobs gives me the opportunity to provide summer vacations I hope my kids never forget.  While not all of our days are ones you want to brag about (I am pretty sure there were a few days I was ready to put the kids up for adoption, but I do a good job of blocking the horrible-don't-even-want-to-think-about-how-I-survived-without-turning-to-heavy-drinking-kind-of-days from my memory), our good days outweigh the bad ones. 

The years are flying by.  It's important we do the most with our time off because before we know it, the kids will be going in separate directions and will be busy with their own lives. As Ferris Bueller once said, "Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop to look around once in awhile, you could miss it."