Ah, Fall Festivals

how you wear me out…and, my kids, too (but, for that I thank you!).  We had a brief diversion from our normal Saturday schedule of a trip to the Farmers Market in Falls Church yesterday as Cait had her first non-school choir practice.  Ironically, it was also held in Falls Church, but we didn't have time for much between pick-up and drop-off (more on the choir later, but thus far, she is loving it, to her great surprise). Also, given that we would be attending the Falls Church Fall Festival later in the day, but more than one trip might be a bit repetitive.

We had originally planned to attend two festivals yesterday, the one in Falls Church and another one, Arts on Foot, in DC.  I know, a lot to pack into a day, but a fellow FS blogger was participating in Arts on Foot.  Not only does Eve design and create leather goods that can the strongest of heart and wallet drool, but she does so from leather remnants. She repurposes the pieces that might otherwise be thrown away and each finished project is an original.  I have been salivating over the goods since finding her Etsy site months ago, but sadly have now failed twice at getting to a show.  Thank goodness it appears there will be another one in October, so I swear three times will be the charm.

Now, reading the above paragraph again, I realize it sort of looks like a hint…maybe even a giant hint.  You know, as though I  *might* want a new bag for Christmas and all a certain someone would have to do is click over to the Etsy site and….but, no worries, not a hint…not at all…unless he wants to take it that way, in which case, I am powerless to stop him.  

I desperately wanted to go to Arts on Foot, but the Falls Church Fall Festival just completely depleted our extra energy.  I forgot how intense the need is for two parent-like adults at these events, even just for those bathroom runs or moments when not everyone is thrilled about sand art (which we skipped entirely, cause I am a mean, mean mommy and don't want more stuff to move).  Cait was able to help out a bit, taking Kelsey to the restroom and buying tickets when we didn't feel like waiting in line…but then she needed to take long breaks to stand around the playground and read 400 page books (if you think I am kidding, take her anywhere…you will spend the entire time talking to the spine of said 'tome of the day').

It wasn't just a fall festival, but also the taste of Falls Church.  You could buy 'tastes' (one ticket per taste) and each taste was a sampling of a local restaurant's offerings.  Everyone from Clare & Don's to Robeks to Open Kitchen (yum, yum, yum) was there.  My only problem with the whole event?  I loved it (well, aside from it being overly crowded), but got so tired of the waste.  It seemed every plate was styrofoam or plastic, you got a fork with each dish (whether you asked or not) and plastic bottles were the only thing being recycled.  With the renewed interest in real food, farmers markets and reducing waste, one would have hope the planners would have taken the refuse into account. Sadly, they didn't other than quickly removing the overflowing garbage bins (out of sight, out of mind?).

After we ate, rode the train, bumped into several FS friends, jumped on the moon bounce, played on the playground, and sampled a bit more, it was time to head home.  We would have loved to get an official portrait of Nicholas by the "peacey* car" or in a "peacey officer's" uniform, but he wasn't having any of it.   Instead, we just had to admire from afar on our way in and out of the park.  The best part of the day?  The fact that the hosting site was a park that was equipped with a large (and free!) playground.  Not only a great place to play (and read), but in a very shady area far away from the ticket seller's booth. 

Not very creative pics, I know, but when there is but one of you…it's enough just to keep track of everyone and their stuff.  So, a few classic moon bounce photos and, of course, the train ride.  A fun (if not slightly overwhelming) festival for a gorgeous 'felt like fall' day.

*police car, police officer

Well, there it is…

the first (almost) full week of back to school completed and most of us are none the worse for wear.  We still have issues actually waking up to our own alarm clock.  I know, it must not sound soothing or calm as mornings should be, but without a bit of jarring, she simply won't get up (until noon or so…).  

What we don't have?  Despite the trouble waking up, few are having difficulty going to sleep at night.  In fact, I find myself taking naps while putting Nicholas to bed.  Yes, normal people would just, say, go to sleep…but we know better about Jen.   Even Kelsey is tiring earlier every night.  We are still trying to figure out the correct amount of sleep for everyone, but we are all getting more shut-eye and that is important.

We can't forget that LG started Montessori this week and thus far appears to be a rip-roaring success.  I have taken him to the classroom each day and it is not long before he has a mat and is completely involved in an independent project.  Did I mention how much I love, love, love Montessori?  

It was a great fit for both C and Kelsey and I really felt I couldn't try anything else with Nicholas.  There have been no tears, each day he is excited and happy at pick-up and we spend the rest of the afternoon discussing new friends, teachers and snack.  In fact, the only downfall is that I feel as though I have wasted my 'free' mornings making appointments and napping.  Important stuff, I suppose, but feel like I should be cramming so much more into those three hours.

Did I also mention how grateful I am for the big, yellow school bus?  This is by far the most positive change.  Once I have successfully prevented C from returning to bed, she is on her own.  Just the knowledge of the bus, the chance to chat with friends, and the fact that she has a bit more independence gets her going.  She preps her backpack the night before, makes her own lunch, and gets herself to the bus stop 10 minutes before anyone else (and all of this allows me a few extra minutes of sleep).  Kelsey needs a bit more encouragement, but even on a 'late' waking morning, generally has an hour or so to get ready (well, has thus far).  Nicholas and I head to his school the minute the bus drives off, and with that, the morning is mine…and while I hadn't intended on the napping bit, this morning's dozing gave me enough energy to tackle a few boxes while the kids played this afternoon.   

I also needed a bit of a nap as I knew we had an event last night.  Kelsey's school PTA held a Popsicle Party for an hour or so after dinner.  Nothing fancy, just icy cold treats and a chance for kids and parents to hang out, chat, and for Nicholas to kick up a lot of dirt and move around some mulch.  It was really just a casual, but fun get to know each other time.  I was pleasantly surprised by figuring out that a friend C made on the bus turned out to be the daughter of a woman I met earlier in the week at the PTA coffee (her younger daughter attends Kelsey's school).  We reconnected tonight (thanks to C) and she, in turn, introduced me to several other moms and dads.  A nice, stress-free way to meet people and Little Guy was so exhausted by the evening, that he did not last through one story, much less several construction-themed books.

The week wasn't ideal.  A certain someone was missing, but he has missed quite a number of first days of school and  I have begun to realize that the kids simply don't seem to notice. Now if he were to miss Halloween?  A totally different story (fingers crossed R&R scheduling goes through properly!). More importantly, if he wasn't over there, we wouldn't be here, so the kids couldn't once again astound me with their amazing resiliency.   There are some days when I wonder if I am making it easier for them…or if their presence makes this entire scenario not such a bitter pill for me to swallow?

It's not perfect, the house is still getting there, I have a million and one changes I want to make, Kelsey is still a bit worried about friends, and C frets over activities…but overall?  Things are calmer, happier and I feel like we are really starting to get settled.  Who knows, one day I may even find that Yoga class or a walking group.  In the meantime, we are simply going to enjoy the lovely fall weather that has begun to descend upon us and all that goes with it…apple-picking, pumpkin patches and fall festivals, sign us up! 

{this moment}

I did the unthinkable:

I forgot to get a picture of Nicholas on the front stoop on his first day of school.  Kelsey's bus came a bit later than expected (think Dad, Kelsey & I were all worried we had missed it for a bit) and then we had but a few minutes to get to Nicholas's new school.  While I should have thought of it during our 25 minute wait, Nicholas was busy moving mulch and playing King of the Hill…who wants to miss that?  I guess I shouldn't fret about that so much as the day itself is more important.  

We walked him into the school as new students are taken to the classroom for the first 3 days, rather than dropped off at the door (yes, we will normally drop him at the door and he is welcomed by a parent or teacher each day…how awesome is that?).  We nearly tiptoed inside, dropped his extra clothes in the bin and entered the classroom.  He was a bit thrown off at first, as we finished the day in the large playroom yesterday and he assumed that was where he would return…not quite.  He was a little bit cranky about this, but the assistant teacher offered her hand and they walked together to get a puzzle to work on.  No tears, no fuss and by the time we drove past (a whopping 4 minutes later), I could see him sitting at the table, back to the window, clearly calmly involved in an activity.

Was I sad?  A teeny-tiny bit.  It is a bit of a departure from our Cali walking group/Kindermusik days, but I think it is a good departure.  We will still do those activities, but maybe just in the afternoon (anyone local up for a weekday walking group?).  More importantly, I have a few hours each day where I can finish unpacking boxes, organize, sort, de-clutter, maybe hang some pictures (I know, let's not go nuts) and take care of errands that would be little or no fun for Nicholas. Meanwhile, he is happy and safe in a loving learning environment.

And the verdict?  

He loved it.  He was grinning ear to ear when we picked him up at the door, and the teacher smiled and said it was a great day.   We buckled up, drove off and chatted about his day at school.  Maybe not exactly our prior routine, but I think I am going to like the new one very much…as is he.

And as of this morning, we have…

a 7th grader (a new middle-schooler for the second year running) and a 3rd grader.  It only took 3 wake up calls for C today before she bounded out of bed.  She couldn't even take the time to eat as she had to be at the bus stop before the crack of dawn (we ended up being 25 minutes early).  If you are wondering, she does have an alarm, but sadly it does not wake her up…it wakes me up (across the house) and I have to then trudge in and wake her up.  A very interesting method, but it worked (for today).  Here's hoping the fact that she wanted to go to sleep earlier tonight means she might not only get up with only one or two calls tomorrow or  maybe entirely on her own?

Kelsey was able to sleep a little bit later, since her school starts at the more acceptable time of 8:40 a.m..   C's school doesn't start until 7:50 a.m., but she has to be in line for the bus at 7:00 a.m.  On the other hand, I am so grateful that I don't have to drive her, that I am thrilled for any mass transit pick-up, regardless of the time.  The hour and a quarter between the bus times also allows me to have one on one time with each the kids before they go to school (provided LG sleeps in a bit).

At Kelsey's appointed time, we were at the stop, with cameras in hand 10 minutes early and still played the waiting game.  Finally the bus pulled almost up to our doorstep and Kelsey hopped on with barely a backward glance.  While it wasn't terribly hard for them to get up and going, it was immensely helpful that both girls had prepped their lunches, backpacks and clothes the night before.  Overall, it was a very smooth morning and with everyone already having had more sleep tonight, I'm thinking that tomorrow will be much easier.  Now, if I could get 4 plus hours, we will all be golden, as Wednesday is another big day:

LG starts Montessori!

After a flurry of form filling out and check writing last night, we stopped by the Montessori school this morning and took a brief tour.  It felt just a bit like going home again, as both C and Kelsey attended the same school and adored it.  Many of the teachers remembered them, and Nicholas thoroughly enjoyed playing with the toys and manipulatives.  In fact, when I picked him up as it was time to go, he burst into tears.  The teachers were thrilled when they figured out he was sad to be leaving.  

I have his outfit ready for the morning and his clothes and shoes are labeled.  I have a feeling it will only be a few minutes after drop off  tomorrow before he waves us off (Grandpa Kirk is still here and, of course, will be the official photographer).  While I am a tiny bit sad, he is just so excited about going to school.  

Now we just need to convince him that my car really is his "bus"!

Oh, and I just realized I can't forget to mention my favorite memory from the day.  Kelsey's school's PTA had a coffee morning (Peet's, yea!) and we were able to attend after Nicholas's orientation.  As we were leaving, we walked through the very open vestibule and Nicholas took a long, hard look around. He then queried in the most plaintive voice, "Where is my Kelsey?"   A cute, sweet memory I hope to hold onto for a very long time to come…

{this moment}

Wishing you a happy and relaxing weekend!

via Soulemama

We owe you one, Mr. Nice Guy…

One long travel day later, we are here.  And by we, I mean Little Guy and myself, and by here, I am referring to Memphis.   After a very sleepless night (to which even Grandpa Kirk can attest), I barely woke up this morning, finished packing, pointed out a few more important notes to Grandpa, loaded up the car and headed to National Airport.

We had a near repeat of Tuesday's lack of traffic and ease of parking.  The cranky factor was a bit higher, but it hit Kelsey somewhere between boarding passes and security that I was actually really and truly leaving for the weekend.   Those tears were genuine and a compliment of sorts.  We had a chat, Starbucks was promised for them on the way out and they waved me off once we zipped through the security check.

I had the flight beautifully planned, and even came up with a last minute winner of an idea:  stopping for bagels and "choklit milk, choklit milk" as it had now occurred to LG that Kelsey and Cait were not coming and he suddenly missed them utterly and completely.  Nothing helps like a food-related distraction. Never mind I was holding Nick, pulling the mandatory carry-on, had two backpacks and was pushing the Britax in the stroller…what's one more thing?

We arrived at the gate and stood in line until I realized I had almost missed the pre-board.  We hurried up to the front, were allowed to cut in front of folks sans toddlers and their accoutrement and headed down the jetway.  It was smooth sailing, even getting the car seat installed and Nicholas settled before 19A (the window seat occupant) arrived.  I gratefully noted that he seemed nice enough…no glares at Nicholas or pointed looks or eyes rolling.

Sadly, there are many travelers who do this upon seeing kids or babies on planes. The automatic assumption is that the kids are going to bawl through the entire flight and make everyone miserable. Frankly, I will take a bawling child (who is likely suffering from ear pain, not trying to upset everyone) any day over the guy who insists on grabbing my seat and pulling it down every time he stands up or the other guy  who absolutely must recline his seat into my lap and snore for the duration of the trip.

While I had Recliner in front of me (thankfully, he didn't recline too much nor did he snore) and Seat Puller (two, in fact, yippee!) to the back, I lucked out with Mr. Nice Guy to the left of Nicholas.  No looks, nothing.  In fact he fell asleep not long after take off.  Soon after that, we learned just how nice of a guy he could be.

You see, we had a Funtainer (Thermos drink container) for the chocolate milk.  No muss, no fuss, a nice container that keeps the drink cold and very little chance of spillage…or so we thought.  I poured the milk in, Nicholas drank some, and I put the thermos away for later in the flight.  About an hour into the trip, Nicholas decided he was thirsty again.  He asked for the milk and since he has no problem popping open the Thermos, I obliged.  Forget a pop, it was more like a firecracker.

Apparently, the Funtainer was a little shaken up and I don't think being at however many thousand feet helped much.  So instead of just a little click and the lid opening, the straw nearly exploded out of the top and quite a decent amount of chocolate milk spewed out…all over Mr. Nice Guy, who was, yes, still sleeping. 

He woke up to me apologizing profusely and muttering something about wipes.  I frantically handed him a few and grabbed back the dirty ones the minute he was finished.  I dabbed about the ceiling, tried to get every last drop and fell back in my seat utterly defeated…forget my worries about Nicholas kicking the woman in front of him, I had just managed to ensure dirty looks for the rest of the flight.

Guess what?

There weren't any.  Not much small talk, but no glares or annoyed glances (even when Nicholas kept threatening to randomly push buttons on his laptop…darn those high car seats!).  In fact, when I offered that he could get off the plane ahead of us, he actually smiled and mentioned that he was not in a hurry as he had an hour and a half before his next flight.

I still felt awful.  Not as bad as if Nicholas threw up on him (ooh, I just jinxed our flight on Monday…) but still pretty low.  For lack of anything else, we just tried to keep quiet for the rest of the flight (the laptop business aside).  Since I have no idea who he was or where he was from, I will just have to send this thank you out to cyberspace and hope somehow he knows how much we appreciate what he did…and more so, what he didn't do.

He didn't yell, point,  or curse children traveling on planes.  He cleaned himself up and went back about his business.  He didn't seem bothered by my incessant chatter to keep Nicholas occupied and was gracious enough to let us deplane first.  Mr. Nice Guy, thank you.  Thank you on behalf of anyone who has traveled with a child and had something similar happen.  By doing absolutely nothing, you made what could have been a nightmare bearable and almost happy.   I knew I could count on myself in some respects, such as bringing the Clif bars, books, toy cars & a mini-Magna Doodle to keep LG occupied, but didn't realize I could also count on you, my fellow traveler.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I’m so ashamed

as the consummate hostess, I am apparently not.  Though I was 15 minutes early to the airport today, with 3 kids in tow, a near-miracle in my opinion…in other words, I started off slightly on the right foot.  Not only was I early, but had no traffic, the airport was practically empty, many planes thoughtfully flew in and out to entertain Nicholas, there was plenty of parking and we only paid $2 for quite a bit of time in the hourly parking garage.  I don't know what I did right for a change, but seriously, you can't buy that kind of driving/parking ease at any DC airport.  So, we picked up Grandpa on time, had lunch and headed home…where any good hostess points were lost since most of my basement is still taken up by boxes (I swear they will be opened and sorted prior to Peter's retirement).

I had managed to get Kelsey's room as ready as it could be and the house was mostly presentable. However, I realized I failed miserably at the small details when I found this sign on the bathroom door.  C had not only organized and cleared out the bathroom cabinet (under the sink) with no prompting from me, but also the medicine cabinet, so Grandpa Kirk had plenty of room for his things.  (He is sleeping in Kelsey's room as, despite the comfort of the couch, the idea of anyone sleeping in that castle of cardboard gives even me the willies.)  That bit of straightening up was not enough, though, so she created a sign in order to indicate if the bathroom was in use.   And to think I was proud of myself for remembering to get an appropriately chilled six-pack (Blue Moon, folks, calm down… ).

Many thanks to C(and Sweetwater Tavern) for making our first guest happy enough to have not yet run screaming for the Residence Inn one day into his visit…success!  Oh, and welcome, Dad!  Now off to create that list of chores, I mean, fun things you and the girls can do this weekend…