Welcome to our World

We were beyond thrilled when we saw which teachers our children were assigned to and who would be in their classes.  M was so worried about school that I had actually taken her to the Waldorf school I had worked at a decade ago and discussed having her go there instead.  But she was so happy she has her kindergarten teacher again and that there aren't certain boys in her class that she was thrilled to announce she would begin at the public school with all her siblings the next day.  K and D are both in the new addition but only D got the awesome windows.  K does have sky lights, which the teacher said were better than the old classrooms anyway. My older 3 did really well the first week of school and it was the preschooler that I hadn't worrried about at all that gave me fits.  Same teachers, same room -- even the same layout -- but she was upset there were new children in her class.  There are 16 children instead of 12 and about 6 new children.  I...

The last 2 weeks of summer came so quickly!  The first week K started her swim lessons again and D, M, and N went to a Star Wars themed gymnastics camp Monday,  Wednesday,  and Friday morning.  D wanted more days at Indoor Soccer so I let him go Tuesday and Thursday  morning so every afternoon left the children to play with neighbor friends.  It was a great way to relax after an adventurous trip. After seeing how much fun D had at AVID earlier in the summer, M went to a week of rock climbing.  The most exciting part of the week was on Thursday, when, as she was up on the rope, she saw a bear!  At first she thought it was a big dog and as it walked she realized that was really a bear.  When she told the leaders they didn't believe her at first, but as the bear walked away, they could see it too.  M was so excited to tell that story to family, friends and neighbors! School hair!  As a reward for finishing her month of swim...

Since we knew we would be traveling for K's 10th birthday, before we left town Hubby and I made her a volleyball cake and sang to her before letting her open presents from us and my parents.  Funny story about her gift from us -- she gave us the idea when we got D a Nintendo DS for his birthday.  We had lost the one we had given him for Christmas but knew it had to be somewhere in the house.  So, when I did find it a couple weeks before her  birthday (while I was looking for the stapler), I kept it hidden in the place that had kept it safe for months and gave it to her for her big gift from us.  K was so excited to have it for our plane ride to Boston!  The funny part?  When Hubby got out his computer bag he hadn't used since we flew to my Great Aunt Hope's 90th birthday party last October, he found the original DS we had purchased last summer and thought we had left on the plane!  K and D begged us to let M have it so all 3 of the older children...

We were hoping to go to the S. family's favorite beach the next day but it as raining cats and dogs and only 60* out.  So, after playing all morning and eating lunch, Maryann took us to Lowell Mills for the afternoon.  To me it was like learning about my family history because my paternal grandmother had worked in a Woolrich Mill in PA before she was married.  I felt a bit closer to the wonderful woman who had died of cancer when I was the age N is now.  It is something else to hear those machine going and then realize that they only have about 1/6th of the machines running that would have been running all the time back when the factory was in business.  Wowzers. Tuesday  was another cold and cloudy day, but the rain was pretty much gone so we headed to Plymouth after a big breakfast Ryan made and we dropped him off at the subway stop to fly out for a business trip.  Plimoth Plantation is a recreation of what the 17th century English village would ...

Saturday we checked out of the condo and were relieved to see we got a 5 star guest rating even with the setting off the fire alarm event.  We hauled our stuff -- 4 check in and 3 carry on and a stroller -- through the subway and got off at the Wonderland stop.  Love the name and that it was just a couple minutes to Paul Revere Beach!  Ryan was there waiting for us and we were able to set our luggage in the back of his mini van and have a fun filled day enjoying the beach, including an International Sand Castle Competition.  K has vowed never to eat clam chowder again after the children made an "aquarium" with crabs, snails, and clams on the beach.  They also loved boogie boarding and how shallow the beach was so they could go far out.  All 3 of my older ones said their beach day was their favorite day. We stayed so long we ended up eating at Friendly's on the way to the S. family's house, where we would stay the rest of the trip.  Let me tell you, yo...