Home is where the heart is...

Well, we have finally gotten into a good routine at home and at school. Unfortunately, the time at home feels so short. But I think the little time we share (save the morning these days) is quality time. Just look at how much Colin missed his sister below! It is interesting and wonderful to see the two of them meet and greet each other at the end of a school day. Audrey is ALWAYS happy to see Colin and, though he might not want to admit it, he is thrilled to see her, too.

Last night, we had our first Parents as Teachers visit. We signed up at the Festival of Nations at the end of last month. As it turns out, our educator lives the next block east on our street! She just walked right down and walked home. We really liked Mary, and so did the children. Colin even asked if she was going to visit again tonight. He is remembering so much more these days. It is like his teachers turned a light on in his little mind and he is able to do SO much. I've never listened to a preschooler with such a vocabulary, either. I think it is the fact that we devour books all day everyday!

Anyway, at the end of the session, there is always an activity. This visit was mostly for Audrey because Mary was only trained through two year olds (she'll be trained to five year olds by our next visit in November). We made this little pull basket that has a string attached with bells. Both Colin and Audrey drug this around this evening. Here are a few photos of that.

Can you see that Audrey has tactfully hidden her brush inside Dad's shoe? What a surprise he will have when he goes to work next if I forget it's there!

Also, I'm including a few pictures I took last week while our students were out at recess. This is the place I get to call home during the day. There are 22 chairs and we use them all at times. But, I only have ten third graders that are my main responsibility. It is a pretty cozy and welcoming room, I think.

The Yard Project Update

Growing up in northern Missouri, on a cattle farm in the middle of almost nowhere, I would have never pictured myself as a city girl. Even now, living in the city of Saint Louis, my heart is in the country. I'm proud to come from a small town where people really know how to treat each other and smile/wave even at strangers. I remember riding around with my parents and watching them nod or wave at the driver of an oncoming car/truck. When we went to the local grocery store or gas station, someone would always comment about how I looked like my dad or ask about our family. Even when I went to college and came back, people in Salisbury would acknowledge that I was Josh's sister (he was well known there, then). When we moved to this city, I vowed that I wouldn't let it change me. I had no idea that the people here would teach me a lesson - people in the city can be as welcoming as those in the country. Living on my block taught me that first - our wonderful neighbors! Joining the Soulard School community gave me my second look into friendly city folk. But, the saying is true..."You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl." I love Saint Louis and all that we can do here, give our children, and enjoy together. But, often I miss being able to go out of my house and just walk in peace and quiet for miles, if I want to, on a country road with the bird songs for my music. I miss going to the pond around dusk to listen to the frogs or watch the sun set behind a hill. Every time I go to my dad's house (my childhood home) I make a point to go outside on a clear night, if possible, to see the stars. I remember sitting outside on our deck with my parents, when they were married, and just listening to the night sounds and watching the stars. The city lights prevent me from enjoying the stars like that, but our yard project is coming along and soon I will be able to go outside and enjoy a wonderful yard (fenced in) with my children. So, here are pictures of its progress...

Colin loves to watch the men and their machines!

This is the new entrance to our basement.

We have wonderful/beautiful new retaining walls and steps.

Here is what the rose bed looked like this morning...
and what it looked like this afternoon! Don't worry, they will be back - just moved to the other side of the yard in a nice new garden area off our new patio.
Shortly after this photo was taken, Colin just HAD to cross the plank bridge. I know he really WANTED to get into the mud, but he resisited.

Then, later this evening Clayton, Colin, and Audrey had a feeding frenzy of watermelon on the kitchen floor. Not the ideal place, but Clayton had his reasons.

Our first day of school

Last night, I had this entry all laid out and typed a detailed description of Audrey's day, Colin's day, and an short snippet of my day. But, then our internet went out for the night and I lost it all. So, I'm too tired tonight to try again, but I did want to share our photos. Description to come later of that momentous first day!

The second set of photos is of Colin's birthday tent. He sleeps in it each night now, and generously shares it with Audrey. Even Clayton and I play in there with them. We'll try it outside after our yard project is done. Oh, more pictures of that progress this weekend!

Here we are the morning of our first day of school! (real school, that is, no camp)

A better picture.


Colin's tent

Cheesy smile.

Ending our summer

Well, I think our summer is finally over - officially. Last week we had a couple of days during the week to play and enjoy a flexible and relaxing schedule. We took our time during breakfast, played at home, and enjoyed each other's company. One of the ways that we did that was playing in Colin's room and making a "parade" out of both children's stuffed animals. I found it hilarious that they both put themselves in the parade. Guess who was at the very front leading it all...Colin, of course. We even brought Cammy (who is basically blind now) upstairs to have some human contact. I don't think she was very happy about it, though.

The two days Colin and Audrey went to school this week were pretty good. I had a terrible time leaving Audrey at the nursery. I really wasn't prepared for that. Last year, she was just a baby and just accepted going. She loves Evelyn and the children there. But, the first day she was fine and then Colin and I had to leave. She was across the room and when I looked over at her she just gave me a look. It seemed to say, what is going on? Why are you both leaving me? So, I did what I shouldn't have done and couldn't help but do. I went over and decided to tell her good-bye. She had been wisked away before by her darling Evelyn, but I wanted to get in a habit of kissing her good-bye so she could expect that. I should have just let it go. When I went over, she clung to me and didn't want me to put her down. She didn't fuss or cry. She didn't even look hurt at me, just surprised. It killed me inside. That isn't the worst part. I missed her all day (and Colin, too, but I got to have lunch with him and he is in the same building with me now). When we went to pick Audrey up, she didn't grab on to me like I wanted her to deep down. Instead, she seemed in a daze. She had only slept have of her regular nap time and I think she was just mentally exhausted - it takes a lot out of anyone to adjust to a different environment and schedule. She wasn't herself for a couple of hours. And then, I just stopped everything and sat down with both of them and we just read books for a while. I think this is what I will do from now on. Come home and just play with them for at least half an hour. Forget dinner, homework, the house, even Clayton (when he is home) unless he wants to play with us. I don't think that will be to hard to do. After reading, Audrey seemed to snap out of whatever fog she was in and came back to herself. She wanted me to hold her most of the evening and wanted me as much as I wanted her. Colin was much more mellow, but I had expected that. He had some time through the summer to adjust to his new environment and his memory can stretch farther than a day or two. The rest of the week went better. I LOVE Audrey's teachers. Her newest teacher has a masters degree in Early Childhood and introduced herself to Audrey before me (I liked that right away). Her other teacher is a friend of mine from The Soulard School. Eleanor has a son, Emmett, three days younger than Audrey. I think they will be great friends! I know it will get easier for me, but I envy those of you who get to stay home with your children. It is one thing to CHOOSE to go to work, but when you know you HAVE to and don't have the option when you would love to, it really hurts your heart often. I keep telling myself that I'm doing this for them and I'll get to be with them often when they go to school, but those early years are so precious...

I will post more photos of these first days at school soon. Until then, enjoy a few from last week and today at Lafayett Park.

Purina Farms and the Brewery

As the school year quickly approaches, I have found myself wanting to do as much with my last few days of freedom as I can. So we have been taking advantage of this nice weather and getting out to be tourists in our own city (and outlying area).

I told Clayton that living in the city is growing on me. As a country girl, I never thought I would live so deeply in the city. But, now I can't imagine living anywhere else. Don't get me wrong, I would still love to retire there. I often long for the peace and quiet, or a long walk along the gravel road. I am happy to be enjoying the place I call home, now. Right now, right here, we can give our children lots of interesting experiences and show them things I only read about in books as a child. I love still being able to go home to the country and take them there to see the cows at my dad's farm and let them roam around bare foot.

Colin has been interested in factories after watching a DVD about machines and how they are made. Clayton and I hadn't been to the brewery for a long time, so we went on the tour to show Colin a factory. We were very disappointed that the packaging part was closed because of escalator problems, but he did enjoy seeing how things worked to make beer. I know, not the best thing to show him, but he doesn't think much of beer (I don't drink except for social gatherings and Clayton rarely drinks anything at home.) Anyway, at the end you get your free beers and we let Colin have his first soda ever! It was a rootbeer. Catch the photos below of him drinking it and then his face afterwards. I think he liked it, but the carbonation made his mouth feel funny. Poor guy, I guess I deprive him. I only let him drink milk and water at home - not even juice!

Audrey just loved the pretzels that came with the free drinks. It was a hit with the entire family!

This is a little video of Audrey with lots of pretzels in her hands while she drinks.



The rest of these photos are of Purina Farms. Audrey loved the sheep and cows, but was afraid of them if they got too close! We went with my friend Eleanor and her son, Emmett. Emmett is four days younger than Audrey. We're so excited that Eleanor will be Audrey's teacher in the afternoon this year! Yay! She and Emmett will be great friends.

The real hit of the whole morning was the dog diving show. Here is an arial shot of a dog catching a frizbee on his way into the pool. It was a great morning and lovely weather!

Nap War

For the past two weeks, Colin and I have been in the middle of a nap war. I've been trying to get him to take a nap for over an hour and then we are both frustrated. I started letting him stay up and just read books in his bed for some quiet time, but that fizzled out after a while. He still does that, but for shorter periods of time. Now, he usually ends up just playing with his cars or following me EVERYWHERE!

Yesterday, I won a battle in the nap war. Colin agreed to lay down in his tunnell that he got for his birthday and slept there. Here are some pictures of him all snuggled up in there right before I woke him up.

I had to include a picture of Audrey, too, to be fair. This is after her nap. She looks all comfortable in her chair with her bowl of yogurt raisins and whole wheat puffs and her soy milk.

All set for school soon

Yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment to go to and Colin stayed with our fabulously generous and kind neighbors (the Fricks) next door. Before going over, I put his things in his backpack. I showed him how to wear it and he loved it! He thought he was going to preschool right them! You could just see in his eyes how big he felt just wearing it. He wore it over to their house, but not before I took these pictures. I'll add more in a couple of weeks of his very first day back. He had to have at least one silly face!

Such a big, proud boy! I love him so!