Little Miss goes to Preschool

This week marked the first day for preschool for our little sunshine. To say that she was excited was an understatement. She has been waiting to attend this preschool for a long time. 

Several weeks ago we went school clothes shopping. No one was really surprised

 that she choose a hot pink sequin skirt. One of her teachers last year said she always

 looked forward to seeing what she was going to wear. 

I have another picture of her sister in this exact same spot with a bit more of a look of terror in her eye entering the same school. There is something wonderful about being the middle child in that the older siblings pave the path before them. Little Miss hasn't been worried at all about going. 

Here is our beloved Mrs. Potter. All of our kids have had and loved her. 

Everyday Little Miss wants to know if she gets to go to school today.

First Day of School

1999 that was the first year I started teaching 6th grade. That second year of teaching I got pregnant and took that little girl pictured below every day to school with me in my belly. I took her every day to the very school, the very classroom that she is now attending 6th grade in. Do you know how strange it is to work over a decade at a job and to tell parents all about the 6th grade mind and suddenly be on the other side of the table with a 6th grade mind living in my house?

 I remember being in the staff room and having another teacher tell me that I would be an entirely different teacher when I had kids. I think she is right. Today when I dropped off my first born and I tried to bravely let her walk into the school by herself it took everything in my power to not run in after her and escort her to her first class. Then when I went on to work I saw my daughter in the eyes of numerous sixth grade girls today. I understood on a different level their nervous energy, their anxiety about lockers and big 8th graders, their anticipation about what the year would bring. I understood because I had been living with one for the past few weeks. 

Here is my oldest on the first day of school. We are doing something different this year. We are part time homeschooling her. We are going to teach her reading, writing, social studies and math. We are going to do it along with a friend and between her, myself and Ken she will be completely covered. This is the right fit for us and I have to admit I am really excited about it. I live middle school on a 

daily basis and I see and hear first hand the ugliness that can happen. There is a loss of innocence 

that takes place. I am not naive enough that we are going to be able to keep her away from this, 

but I hope is that this year she will be able to find a balance and have the comfort to talk to us 

about the things she is facing. 

In addition to this she is once again in giant classes. We are talking 36 and up per class. This is too many and for a girl who often simply gets ignored I want more for her. She isn't a behavior problem, she doesn't struggle academically and as a result teachers let her do her own thing. The reality is classroom sizes are going to go down anytime soon. So for this year this is the right answer for us. 

Then there is this sweet boy. My little guy is going in to 3rd grade. His Mimi got him this shirt that says, "What if we all lived like heros?" and I think this is my classroom's new motto for the year. I love this shirt. I want one for myself. This sums up my boy perfectly. He lives by these words everyday. He is sweet and kind, he looks for ways to help others. He is funny and independent, but at the same time such a protector and a compassionate person. 

He is absolutely thrilled to finally have so many of his best buddies in his class. His teacher is super nice, Mrs. Johnson, and I think we are going to have a great year. 

This poor little guy is devastated to be losing his best play buddies. 

He wants so badly to go with them to school. He is is such a hurry to grow up, and I just need him to slow down a little so I can savor him being my baby. 

Camping Trip

Last week we headed over to the coast. The temperature change was a bit of a shock 

to our system going from 90s to 50s. Our little tropical girl was freezing. Luckily she had 

her older sister there to keep her warm. 

During our trip it was Midge's birthday. We decorated the campsite for her. All the kids would walk by and wanted to know what kind of party we were having. 

My parents came to camp with us in their RV. The second day we headed out to explore. 

They had a group set up to educate the kids about the seals and whales. They loved watching 

them with their high powered telescopes. 

We then traveled to Shore Acres Gardens to have a picnic and explore the gardens. 

The kids are getting good at taking pictures. 

They took all of the above pictures of the garden plants and flowers. 

For the first time we also discovered the rose section of the garden. I have been there several times 

and I had never seen it before. They had some amazing roses and we had fun picking our favorite 

ones. My personal favorite was pink promise because it was so fragrant, 

but the kids loved the rainbow sorbet rose. 

For each child my dad has made a homemade gift. This was Midge's. She was bummed because our van was jam packed and she wasn't able to bring it home with her, but we will get it soon. 

Midge actually helped decorate her own cupcakes. 

The next day we went down to the docks in Charleston. The kids were so excited to 

see a pelican and seals up close. 

When we pulled up the first two nets there were over 20 crabs in each net. There were so many crabs they were devouring all of the chicken we brought with us. 

Ken sent me to a guy who was cleaning tuna to get a carcass. He said he probably wouldn't give it to Ken because he was a man. Great let me use my feminine charms to get a dead fish. 

We were able to catch 2 keepers that day.

Sunset Bay had a wonderful beach for the kids to play on. After spending several hours on a confined dock the kids loved the freedom of running on the beach. The weather for the first 3 days was overcast like this. Finally on our last full day the sun came out and it was beautiful for the rest of our time.

As the tide went out a sand bar was revealed. The kids loved playing on this. 

On our last full day we took the kids on a ranger led nature walk. The ranger taught the kids about edible plants they could eat. The below plant looked like a butterfly. 

The kid's favorite plant to eat was the below plant that tasted like sour apples. 

We all liked these berries, but don't go eating berries in the woods unless you have a ranger 

because some are poisonous. 

While we were having our nature walk Ken and Leo went crabbing, this time with a lot more chicken. It paid off because they came back with 8 crabs (7 they caught and 1 was given to them)

That night we had a monster crab feast.