Growing Up

It's been an exciting few weeks around here with lots of very grown up things happening with the kids. Here are a few highlights:

After months of thinking about it, Megan got her ears pierced. If it were a planned thing, I'm sure she would have had a clean face and nicer hair, but it wasn't and she didn't. Who cares. She is SOOOO excited about her earrings.

Earlier that day she asked Dave to take the training wheels off her bike. She's still not quite riding, but she's getting the hang of it.

Nicholas competed in his very first martial arts tournament. It was totally worth waking up pre-dawn and driving over 2 hours to Freeport, Maine just to see his face when he got THREE trophies!

The fall doesn't show any signs of slowing down, so I'm sure I'll have more updates soon!

Back to School

This week ushered in a brand new school year. Both kids were ready and excited to get started. Nick, the mighty 3rd grader, was up and out to the bus stop with plenty of time to spare. He and Megan even indulged me with a few pictures. Andre (from across the street) started 1st grade and had his first experience with the bus. Nick and Alex (another neighbor) were ready to be his buddy and make sure he wasn't scared, but no worries...Andre didn't even flinch at the thought of the bus!

Megan only had a short meet & greet on the first day of school and then a a regular class with half her classmates on Thursday. Next Tuesday she will have her first full class. They kind of ease the kindergartners in. People have asked if I'm sad that she's in kindergarten. I'm not. Not even a little. She went to pre-k last year 5 mornings a week. This is just a repeat of that schedule for me. Next year will be a doozie, when she takes the bus and is gone from 8:30am until 4pm. It's cool that they're both at the same school now, though, because I only have one school calendar, the same school picture package options, etc. I'm getting used to packing two lunchboxes and hope I never commit the cardinal sin of putting the wrong one in the backpacks!

Both kids came home from their first days of school absolutely loving it! That's all a parent can ask. They're not fighting me and they want to go back. I never want to relive the first few days of 1st grade with Nick! He has a lot of big stuff coming up these next few months, but I know he's going to conquer them all! He is competing in his first Tae Kwon Do tournament on September 12 in Freeport, Maine, he tests for his black belt the weekend of October 2 - 3 and 3rd grade is the year of a thousand book reports. We're looking forward to a very eventful and exciting fall!!

Summer Recap

I see that our last post was about the last day of school. Here I sit, one week away from the FIRST day of the next school year. Where did the summer go? I feel so blessed to be able to be home with my kids during the day, especially during the summer. One more year of evenings and weekends before Megan is in all-day school and I can start working days.

Let me try to give an overview of our summer in a nutshell. The school year went late because of a particularly snowy and icy winter. Therefore, we'd barely finished school when swim lessons began. We've been taking lessons through the city's Parks & Rec program at the public pools. Both kids LOVE it. The June session was torturous because the weather was cold and wet for the entire month. They muscled through, blue lipped, and Megan graduated from Level 1 to Level 2! We skipped the July session because our schedule just didn't allow it, but the kids ended strong with the August session. The weather was fantastic and at the end Nick graduated from Level 3 to Level 4!
Nicholas also participated in a series of weapons day camps at his karate school. He has trained in and completed tournament-quality forms in nunchaku, sword and bo staff. He loved the camps and had a great time.
Probably the biggest milestone for our family was Nick's first year at sleep-away camp at Windsor Hills. Dave and I both have such wonderful and life-changing memories from camp. Nick was excited, but anxious. To add to his anxiety, he was the only boy from our church attending boys' camp and his trusted counselor was unable to attend at the last minute due to a family emergency. BUT...Nicholas showed amazing courage and grit by jumping in with a crew of his old buddies from Lowell. Ok, he hadn't seen them since he was about 4, but he trusted us that these were his best buds and went along anyway. Thanks to them and Pastor John from Lowell, he made it the week! He was homesick and we did get one call on Thursday, but he persevered!! He loved the food (my picky eater?), enjoyed waterfront time, was the first to fall asleep every night (my boy who has trouble sleeping?) and even WON the pine-car derby on the last day!! He's still talking about things that happened at camp. He says he *might* go back next year, but I think that will turn to a "yes" if we can get more Nashua boys to go with him.
I once again was the preschool director for our church's VBS. It took many months of planning and innumerable hours of work, but we had a fantastic week at Crocodile Dock being fearless kids who shine God's light. The CD of the music is still a big hit in the van, especially for Megan.

Once camp and VBS were over, we turned our focus on vacation. Dave and I celebrated our 10th anniversary this summer by heading to the Sandals resort in the Bahamas for five days. While we were gone, the kids took their own vacation to the lake with Aunt Ellie and Grandma Way. Over the weekend they were joined by Nana, Papa and Uncle Dan. Dave and I enjoyed some quiet time away and we will be forever grateful for not only the care the kids received, but the amazing memories they made! Something is said about their vacation nearly every day! Cammy went on vacation, too. We've never kenneled her before, so this nervous mom sent her to the Ritz of kennels. We got reports back that she was shy at first, but quickly became very lovey and a staff favorite. I guess we have two kids prone to homesickness! They even e-mailed us a picture of her during playtime. After recovering from vacation, our sights started to set on the countdown to school starting up again. We squeezed in a few beach days with friends, swimming in our neighbor's pool, a trip to Water Country and some other fun summery things. Now we are all yearning for the sweet comfort of the fall routine. Both kids have declared that they're ready and excited for school to begin. We have backpacks and supplies and fall clothes ready to go. We saw our class lists this week and are happy with the results. Megan wishes a few more of her friends were in her class, but she makes friends quickly and I am not worried about her.

It's been a crazy, fun filled, memory making summer and we've enjoyed every minute of it!

Promoted!

Monday was Nick's last day of second grade. He's had a great year both academically and socially. There were only seven boys in his class and they quickly became best buds. This crew of gentlemen were both well behaved and bright. You could tell when speaking to Mrs. Martinez that she adored her class this year. Nicholas and a few other students even completed their x12 multiplication facts by the end of the year! WOW! I hope the third grade teachers they get can pick up where Mrs. Martinez left off!

Sadly, it was a rainy, yucky day for Nick's last day...
He walked home with Brooke to her house...

We had our second annual Last Day Lunch with our friends, the Catalanos...

Because I forgot to blog Megan's promotion from pre-k, here is a picture of her getting her diploma:

Happy Father's Day!

Sunday was Father's Day and we were happy to actually see all three grandfathers and a few great-grandfathers!

Our day started with the kids waking Dave up to give him his cards and presents: a Red Sox bathing suit, animatronic Wally doll that sings "Sweet Caroline" and a Zune accessory that enables him to listen to his Zune in the car. We then drove to Haverhill to attend church with my grandfather and my father. It was fun to be with them and every Dad in attendance got a whole, homemade pie! NICE!

We then drove to Methuen to have lunch with Dave's father. We had a really fun time eating and playing with Al & Deb as well as Amy and Joey.

After lunch (and the pie for dessert) we drove to Chelmsford to celebrate with Dave's step-family. All the gentlemen were honored, but let's be honest, they were upstaged by our newest cousin, Audrey!! We all passed her around and loved on her. Megan finally got to hold her and did so for a LONG time! Happy 1st Father's Day, Jonny!!!

We drove home exhausted. We got everyone settled and prepared for Monday...Nick's last day of second grade.

June 15, 2009

Also known as THE BEST DAY EVER!

We had TWO new cousins born on the same day, at the same hospital! Can you believe it? What are the odds? We are all bursting with happiness! It was not an easy road for either Mommy, but the end results were FABULOUS!

First, In my family's corner is Micah Richard. He was due June 9th, so he was nearly a week late. He was born at 11:10am. He weighed in at a sturdy 9 pounds 3 ounces! He is the boy cousin and thus claimed by Nick. Nick, however, refused to be photographed holding Micah. Trust me he did hold him and was giddy under the tough-guy exterior! Mommy (Kara) and Daddy (Matt) are also doing well!

Next, in Dave's family's corner is Audrey Joy. She was actually born on her due date! She waited until 9:22pm to make her entrance, but it was worth the wait! She may be little compared to Micah, but 8 pound even is very respectable in her own right! The best part about Audrey's birth was that Auntie Mindy sent us instant messages and texts all day from the waiting room. We felt like we were right there with them! She is the girl cousin and, as you can assume, has been claimed by Megan. Mommy (Kimmy) and Daddy (Jon) happy and healthy as well!A very proud Auntie Mindy!!!
Megan has been waiting SO LONG for this moment!

We are bursting our buttons with joy and pride! I can't even describe the state of my heart as I listened to Megan pray for the two mommy cousins and their babies throughout the day yesterday! Ahhh. All is right in our world tonight!

Megan's Big Day

Megan started gymnastics in January and has loved it! It was only an hour, once a week, but she had fun and got some exercise. Today the school hosted an end-of-year show for her class. She's in a preschool group, so there weren't routines or anything, but they basically showed off the skills they've learned.

First they all marched in...

Then they all warmed up...

Then they broke into squads and went through several circuits.
Tumbling...

beam (with no one holding her)...

Each gymnast got to stand on the pedestal and accept a trophy!

This is Megan with her teacher, Miss Sara.

Megan did SUCH a great job and can't wait for classes to start up again in the fall!!