Welcome to our World

September: feels like summer at the beginning and fall at the end -- at least it did this year.  School year activities began after a little while of being back in school.  K had volleyball, gymnastics and Activity Days along with monthly orthodontist appointments.  (Gymnastics didn't last long and also ended for her in September.) D has flag football and Cub Scouts (and selling popcorn this month) and his cello lessons.  M has Girl Scouts and Activity Days (and her mom is in charge of both so it's a good thing she like me!) and viola lessons with a neighbor now.  N is still getting used to going to school 5 times a week but is looking forward to when her Daisy Girl Scout troop starts up in October.  She played around with the idea of joining a soccer team but opted not to in the end.  And no, I am not going to be the new Daisy leader.  But we did combine our Brownies with the other local school troop and it is going great!  We earned the Ma...

Hubby and I chose to go camping over Labor Day Weekend after canceling our Mount Rushmore 4th of July camping trip. We stayed at the Royal Gorge KOA and loved it. From the ‘80s playground to staff led activities to extra fun like a giant slide and go karts, we felt no need to leave the campground after our trip to Royal Gorge Bridge and Park. We spent about 4 hours there on Saturday (after arriving around bed time Friday night) riding the gondola, carrousel, mining for gems and the chilling making wax hand souvenirs. We had bbq for lunch, watched a raptor show, and the kids got shaved ice before we walked back across the bridge. The pool back at the campground was soooo cold but that didn’t stop the fun. Crafts, a hay ride and Big Foot Hunt and KOA provided s’mores rounded out the day. More park time, a KOA pancake breakfast, a slide 5 stories tall (enough to give my right foot trouble), go karts, bracelet making, the pool (warmer that day), ice cream treat...

When I was asked when the children started school, I would reply, "August 15th, 17th & 29th."  Once again this year I will be dealing with 3 different schedules between the public school, the Waldorf school, and N's half day schedule.  I suppose I'm just a glutton for punishment because it would be a whole lot cheaper to put N in full day kindergarten and have no Waldorf school to deal with.  But what is right is right and we try to do what is best for each of our children, whether it is convenient or not.  So far K and N are loving their first weeks of school.  They both have really good friends in their classes and have magnificent teachers and are just plain happy.  N is counting down the days, however, until she can have me all to herself in the afternoons while her 3 older siblings are in school. Here is a picture of N watching D mow the lawn.  He didn't really want to do it but decided for the $15 and begging I did he finally would.  ...

The countdown to school begins for us when the calendar says August.  One of the things we decided to get done before 5th grade began was getting K into a different orthodontist.  This led to K having two baby teeth pulled by our wonderful friend Dr. T. and getting braces on the next week.  K was a trooper!  She had asked M lots of questions about getting teeth pulled and felt confident she knew what she was getting into.  Dr. T did a great job explaining things and keeping the atmosphere a calm one.  I was impressed with both his professionalism and K's bravery.  5 stars all around! In between getting teeth pulled and braces we hosted Activity Days Day Camp at our house from 9am-3pm one day and took the girls to Sister W's lake the next day.  The weather didn't cooperate -- gave us heat when we were cooking over a fire and cold when swimming -- but I think the girls had a great time.  They are such a wonderful group of girls.  Sis...

Did you know that the Apple Store runs free camps in the summer?  K and D attended the Telling Stories camp for 3 days (90 minutes each) and learned how to make movies using the Clips app.  They got t-shirts and that bracelet D is wearing is actually a usb drive with his movie on it.  It was pretty neat and Apple is very clever because I totally fell in love with their magic track pad and Hubby bought it for me when he came to meet us for lunch.  It was grand being able to eat with him 3 times in one week!  A parent needs to stay with them, so one morning when M and N were at the Waldorf summer camp I sat down with the over 300 page "Taking Charge of ADHD" book.  Weeks later, I finally finished reading it and it was pretty amazing.  I've also read "The Connected Child" this summer and fell asleep watching the Sensory Processing Disorder video so Hubby had to fill me in on the rest.  lol.  One hot day we convinced Hubby to leave work early an...