School Days

I find it funny that whenever I ask Sophie about her day at school, her typical response is, "All we did was work". While she generally seems like she enjoys her day, she is quick to point out that play time at school is few and far between. Nonetheless, she is always eager to start her homework. This is likely in part due to the fact that Jack doesn't get homework, and I suppose this minor difference gives her a sense of importance.

Her homework as of late has involved tracing and/or copying various letters and numbers in order to really master the technique of proper handwriting. Today, before even venturing into her "real" homework, Sophie asked if she could make a tracing page for herself. She proceeded to make dashes for every letter of the alphabet and numbers 1-10, and then traced them all. Granted she needs some work on the 6 and the 9!

Soon after this little project was complete, she set out to organize herself for the next...a stamp page that she's been working on for days. I love how all the stamps and crayons are lined up just so. This is clearly a trait that was passed down from Eric. While I love neatness and organization, there is something a tad more OCD about the way she (and he) like to line things up.

You can see from the picture that soon there will be no room left for any more stamping, coloring, etc. But Sophie views this as a work in progress and I love her enthusiasm in setting out to create the perfect masterpiece...which will likely end up taped to the kitchen wall or hanging from the mantle if she has anything to say about it!

Litchfield Beach 2009

Our Beach vacation has come and gone, and we are finally getting settled into our fall routine. I wouldn't exactly call it a restful week with 4 families living under one roof (7 kids altogether, including 2 babies), but we enjoyed spending time with our friends. The kids had a blast, and we were able to spend a lot more time at the beach this year as opposed to splitting equal time between the beach and pool.

Given that we rented the same house last year, it was nice to have the familiarity of the house and the local surroundings (like Starbucks!). We were able to incorporate our separate guy and girl excursions, but we decided to get these out of the way earlier in the week. So, after a great day at the beach on Sunday, the Dads headed out to play golf on Monday and us Moms enjoyed a shopping/lunch/spa day on Tuesday.

Our house was a short 2 block walk from the beach, which took anywhere from 2 minutes (walking solo with one's own towel or chair) to 15 minutes (walking as a group with 5 preschoolers, 2 strollers, coolers packed with snacks, lunch and beverages for all ages, an inflatable baby pool, and a wagon loaded to the hilt with chairs, kites, towels, and even a portable potty!). You get the picture right?! Total chaos!! But once we made it, we enjoyed it immensely. We tried to time our beach trips with low tide, which left a cool, rather large pool of water for the kids to play in away from the actual ocean.

All of the kids at the beach...




Given that Sophie and Jack have been to the beach on four separate trips this summer, they both enjoyed jumping the waves and playing in the water. This was the first time that Sophie was actually able to fully swim in the ocean once we walked out far enough past the breaking waves. She was also very interested in collecting shells, and she found this amazing conch seen below.

Another highlight for both kids was having 2 babies around. For some reason, they both really love babies and were captivated by them much of the time. Last year Jack was the youngest, and the only boy, so it's nice for him that he could hold his own a little more with the older girls while at the same time, spending some quality time with the 2 youngest. Before we know it, Jake and Bella will be keeping up with the rest of them, and I think Jack is glad to have another boy around!
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We continued our tradition of each couple preparing a meal for the rest of the gang one night, usually after the kids were sound asleep so we could reward ourselves with a more relaxing meal. Towards the end of the week, we indulged in a gourmet meal prepared by a chef in our very own beach rental. We weren't going to let anything get in the way of our evening, so we wore the kids out all day at the beach, let them make their own individuals pizzas which they had chowed down on by 5:30 and put them to bed a little earlier than usual.

The chef and his partner arrived at 7, and wondered how the house could possible be so quiet with 7 kids around. Appetizers of scallops over risotto and crostini topped with lump crab meat were served at 8. After we were seated, we enjoyed a wedge salad, surf and turf featuring sea bass and Filet Mignon, and we topped off our evening with bananas foster (Liz is likely cringing at this part) and chocolate covered strawberries. Needless to say, this was the best meal of the week!

Here's a picture that Crystal took of me and Eric the night of our special dinner...


And all of the adults ...



Jack and Kiki (the 2 early birds) enjoyed breakfast together most mornings.



After another fun day at the beach on Friday, we were all pretty much ready to call it a week and go home to catch up on our sleep! By Friday, most of us had the beginnings of a cold or some other ailment, so it was time to pack it in. It certainly was a great way to end the summer and kick off the new school year!

Mommy's Helper

Tomorrow we head out for our second annual family vacation to Litchfield Beach with the Dekel, James and Monroe families. Woo-hoo!!

After a somewhat last minute trip to Hilton Head last weekend to help Eric's mom unpack and settle into her new place, and with this being the first week of school for the kids, I've been somewhat crazed these last few days and have been scrambling to get things done. Our suitcase from last weekend isn't even fully unpacked (why bother since it only needs to be repacked, right?).

Laundry seems to be something I can never keep up with anymore. Just ask Eric how many times he's run out of pants to wear to work and jeans to wear on casual Friday. It always ends up that there are plenty of whatever it is he doesn't actually need that day.

My "system" if you will is to take a load from the dryer and plop it on the couch to be folded. By the end of yesterday, I had done several loads but had not folded more than a few items due to various distractions - such as Jack stripping himself from head to toe (diaper and all) during "nap time", and peeing all over his crib. Pretty ironic that I had just been chatting with Liz about potty training and switching him to a big boy bed, don't you think? Is this sign that he's ready for both or neither one?!

Anyway, Sophie decided that she wanted to "participate" in vacation prep last night, so when Eric and I were tag teaming Jack at bedtime, she took it upon herself to sort and fold the laundry. It was a sweet gesture and she was quite proud. Every item had it's own little pile and some piles were weighted down with various construction vehicles and trains.

Here's the view from the upstairs hallway...






And my little helping basking in the midst of her masterpiece.

Off They Go...First Day of School

Today was the much anticipated first day of school. Sophie began Pre-Kindergarten and Jack had his first day as a Panda in the 2 year old class. It's hard to tell which of us was more excited about starting our new fall routine! While they both attended a few weeks of summer camps at Vinings Creative Learning Center, this is a new school for us this year.

Sophie and I got to have a Mommy-Daughter date yesterday in order to prepare for the big day. After we rounded up some necessary school supplies and grabbed some lunch, Sophie picked out a new backpack, some fall clothes and even a blender for the smoothies she's been asking me to make for weeks (I guess she's expecting she'll need some energy drinks after all that hard work). But the highlight of the outing for her was choosing 2 bottles of flashy nailpolish for a mani/pedi.



Both kids enjoyed their day. I have to admit I shed a little tear when Jack jumped out of the car to be walked to his classroom. In some ways I can't believe that he's old enough for pre-school. As long as I've waited for this in some ways, it's bittersweet for me to watch him enter this new phase.

As for Sophie, who I have proudly yet possibly prematurely labeled as a lover of learning, there may need to be a little transition time from summer fun to more structured school-time. When asked about her first day, she replied, "It really wasn't that fun...all we did was learn". To which I replied, "Isn't that the point?". When she went into more detailed description of what the day involved, it seemed that what she really meant was that while she enjoyed her time at school, there was little time for free play and unstructured learning. I'm hoping that she latches on quickly to the new structure and more academic element that VCLC will offer.

Her teacher Ms. Onsager certainly earned fast points with Sophie. Unable to find the snack I packed for Sophie, she gave her an extra breakfast bar that they probably kept on hand for this very reason. After locating the snack I packed, she let her have that too, which Sophie (who most of you know is also a lover of food!) thought was pretty great.

Catching Up...Hot Fun in the Summertime

Where do I even begin? We've had a busy and fun summer, which has once again led to me slacking off on the blogging.

I've decided that this will be one of several posts from our summer fun in order to give each experience the credit that it is due! So stay tuned...

One of our biggest milestones this summer is that Sophie is officially swimming independently. After a mere four lessons with Miss Michelle (which involved a lot of reluctance and tears might I add), she's truly able to hold her own in the water. Ironically, she cried her way through a few lessons, all-the-while doing exactly what Miss Michelle had intended for her to do. Seems like it was more an issue of control, and Sophie simply didn't want someone else calling the shots. The one thing she was vehemently opposed to was diving off the diving board. One day as Sophie began her lesson, she made it very clear that she didn't want to do the diving board. Miss Michelle quickly reassured her that it wasn't even on the agenda. Before we knew it, Miss Michelle turned the diving board dilemma into a bit of a game, and Sophie not only jumped off, but asked to do it again and again.

While it was definitely one of my harder moments in motherhood, we persevered and the outcome has proven to be wonderful.

We've ventured to the pool many a time this summer. Given that we have a lot have friends in the same boat, wanting to take advantage of the opportunity to let the kids practice their swimming, we've brought lunch and ordered pizza for dinner at the pool too many times to even count. This explains why every time we go to the pool, no matter the time of day, Jack exclaims, "Where's the Pizza?, or "I'm ready for my lunch". Here's a look at how he passed time time while Sophie learned to swim.

Stay tuned for more on our summer escapades!