End of summer random thoughts

Argh! I was hoping to get one last blog post in for the month of August....I'm up to our Fourth of July trip to the Outer Banks, and since we were only there for a couple of days I could have wrapped all of it up into just a couple of posts, including the fun that the kids had the week after when they stayed there with my parents. Then there's our vacation with friends (end of July), one quick trip to the OBX two weeks ago (to pick up both kids)...and that pretty much gets us through the summer. Wow, we really did go to the beach a lot! But sadly, blogger is not cooperating, at least not on my occasionally-not-working computer, and so I can't upload any photos tonight. This means that I can't share any of these photos...but I can share some other random things!

I know typically Labor Day marks the "end of the summer" but for me, I think today pretty much marks it, as the kids went back to school today. They both had fantastic days  - I am of course going to do a full post on that very soon! I could not be prouder of the two of them, and am very excited for what this school year will bring!

Also, I can now end my summer "dress code" - I realized in July that due to the weather, and a desire to dress up slightly more, that I had worn a skirt or dress to the office every day since end of June. So I decided to keep this up, and managed to not wear pants to the office all summer (heh). Yep, wore a skirt or dress every day to the office for the past 2 months! I'll probably keep this up at least this week, since it's supposed to be hot again, but I am actually looking forward to wearing some of my pants again. However, I am going to make a concerted effort to stop wearing jeans to the office...at least until fall boot weather comes around again!

I'm definitely getting behind on posts again, but luckily I will be home for most of the month of September; in fact, I've now only got two trips planned between now and November! I'm sure something else will pop up in the meantime, but for now I will very much look forward to the time at home over the next few weeks, spending time with the kids, catching up on various things around the house...it's going to be a nice fall, I think! There's a lot of events with our friends to look forward to, a visit from both sets of grandparents, and we will end the fall with a trip for just Evan and I to Universal Studios. Yep, definitely going to be a good fall :)

Henry Preschool project highlights

As I mentioned in a recent post, I'm posting my favorites of the kids' projects from the previous school year before we start the new school year! Henry definitely did not do as much last year as Natalie - while preschool is still  pretty active, they just don't bring home nearly the amount of crafts that first graders do! That being said, we've got some pretty great things that he did last year too. As I said for Natalie, I definitely need to be better about photographing everything, not just the things I don't physically keep, as I don't have a digital copy of my absolute favorites. That being said, here are some of the better of the other ones that Henry made last year (in my opinion).

We start off over a year ago, during the summer when Henry went through a very big "abstract" period.

 Then when school started, it was time to practice letter writing:

 Pattern completion:

 Tracing and coloring (for some reason I really like the way he did this, making the short spiky lines!)

 Learning "short" to "tall"

 Estimation and counting:

 Thinking about what he wants to do when he grows up:

 Finding hidden pictures in his drawings (this was based on a book that the class read called "What does it look like?"):

 Then, at the end of the year, there was an art presentation of some of the "real" art that they kids made during the school year, inspired by real artworks. Love Henry's paintings and pictures!

Henry's hand writing has gotten so much better since last summer, but I don't have a recent example to show. I'm sure I'll highlight some beginning of the year projects as the new year starts, and then you can really see the difference! Henry is so ready for kindergarten to start; we can't wait to see how he blossoms there.

First Grade Project highlights

As I'm sure you know if you have kids in school, they bring home a TON of stuff. Like, ridiculous, multiple-crate filling loads of stuff that they have made and done. I love to go through it with Natalie each night, and hear her story about what she made, and what she liked about it. However, it is simply not possible for me to keep everything that she makes at school. Not only is not all of it worth keeping (let's be honest, it really isn't), but we'd quickly have no basement left, as it was all taken over by piles of homework sheets, coloring sheets, art projects, and crafts. This means that it has to go in the trash. That's not in and of itself a bad thing - I have zero pack rat tendencies, and so I tend to throw things out first, and ask questions later.

At the same time, some of it is incredibly special: really nice artwork she's made, the first "E" (excellent) she got on a spelling test, awards she's gotten at school, or just something that has made me smile. Also, I have nothing of my own that I made as a kid (I think I get my desire to throw things away from my mother!), and I'd like the kids to have something of theirs to look back on when they are older. So, my compromise to myself is to take photos of EVERYTHING (I guess in digital photography I'm a bit of a packrat, but that's ok - it just takes up hard drive space!), and keep only the things that I think are really, really special.

Natalie isn't necessarily a huge fan of this practice (which I get - it is something that she made!), and so I of course try to not throw things out in front of her. But she understands I can't keep it all, and has helped me to go through her projects some. Not a lot, as I still do most of this on my own after she goes to bed, but at least she now has a better understanding of why I only keep some things.

With that introduction out of the way, I bring you: my highlight reel of Natalie's first grade projects! I'm going in roughly chronological order through the year, starting with early projects and ending at the end of the year.

This one she drew after she, Henry, and I participated in a 1K fun run!

 This was after Halloween

 

All through the school year, as she's learned more and more math, she's loved practicing at home. Here is a sheet of some of the practice problems that we did one day, using a number line.

 In December she was in the Nutcracker, which prompted a whole bunch of dance-inspired drawings and craft projects. Here was one she did of a dancer on stage, spotlight shining down, and audience watching.

 And this one is Henry on stage during his recital, with us watching in the audience.

 Now back to some school assignments from the second half of the year...

 This was the beginning of a story she was writing titled "Will Mommy wake up?" I'm not quite sure where she was going with this, as she never got past this first page. I'm really, really hoping that Mommy woke  up!

 Here's a plan she made for one Sunday at home:

 I really love this. Evan and Natalie made drawings that go hand-in-hand. Can you tell how?

 If you didn't figure it out, I'll tell you: Evan drew the top picture, with the little fish in the pond on the lower right. Natalie then drew a close-up of what the fish is doing in the pond. Cute, right?

Back to school again, with a math story:

 And on this, we were really proud: she went on a pretty good run at the last couple of months of school of getting "E" on all of her weekly spelling tests. This was the first 3 weeks in a row!

 This was done a little earlier in the year, during winter, in art class. I love how they learned about shading to give the drawing depth!

 I honestly don't remember Natalie making this one for me, but I guess it was on a day when I wasn't feeling well? Very sweet either way.

 And a spring time poem!

 Finally, here's a drawing that she did at home, copying the still life of the tulips in the vase, on the table with two chairs in the background. Really, really good work!!

I've realized one flaw in my plan of "only taking photos of the things that I'm not keeping", which is that the stuff I do keep is really (in my opinion) the best of what she's done - and I don't have a digital backup copy of that, as I didn't take a photo of it! So my resolution for second grade is to take photos of everything, whether I keep it or not, so at least there's a backup  if the box that the projects is in gets ruined, or something. I'm really glad to have this record of what she's done...and honestly, it was fun looking back over her first grade work to see the growth during the year, and remember these papers!

Natalie's week at camp

After doing my posts in chronological order, I'm jumping slightly out of order due to the fact that I'm traveling and this is a little bit easier to do tonight! In mid-July, Natalie spent a week at a day camp here in Leesburg. A friend of mine had told me about this one, held at Morven Park. We did the nature camp (there are a few different themes throughout the summer), so the kids spent a lot of time outside learning about bugs, soil, animals, plants, etc. They played soccer, learned about horses, saw turkeys, did arts & crafts...typical summer camp stuff! Natalie loved it, and I'm excited that since it is ages 6-8, next year she and Henry can go together! That'll be really fun for them both.

What's really cool is that a couple of weeks afterwards they sent us all a link with photos from the entire week. So I have pictures of Natalie's camp experience...and I can share them here with all of you!

Nothing like a hay ride! 

 They did a lot of nature exploration, particularly with catching butterflies and insects.

There's an even better photo of Natalie than the one above, but unfortunately it saved as horizontal instead of vertical, and I can't seem to switch it! So you'll just have to enjoy her happy smile in the photo above.

There was fun with animals - here they are looking at turkeys.

 and the thing that Natalie was most excited about: painting a pony! They really did get to draw all over these ponies. I have no idea whose idea this was originally, but it's a staple of this camp and apparently the ponies don't mind. The kids also learned how to take care of them by grooming the ponies, so it couldn't be all bad. I'm sure they got a nice bath afterwards as well.

Here are a couple of miscellaneous group shots:

And on the last day, it was time for water sports! I have to say, these hoses look pretty awesome. I would enjoy playing in them too I think!

Father's Day in South Carolina

Last post from South Carolina, and for the month of June! We were fortunate to be there on Father's Day - it's always nice to celebrate with two dads, not just one. At the clubhouse, they were holding a Father's Day brunch (that I was pleasantly surprised to find out was really inexpensive, and tasty!), so Lynn made us a reservation and we all headed over mid-morning on Father's Day. I even convinced Henry to dress up some! Don't you love his glamour pose?

This one never has a problem dressing up :) BTW, I love this dress. It's from Gymboree, but I got it at a thrift shop for $7. So cute, and perfect for the beach! And look how grown up she is with her dangly earrings - I can't stand it!

Here's our family! The waiter was nice enough to grab a picture of us all.

Robert & Laura, who were nice enough to have us over to their house a couple of days before, joined us for brunch as well. Since they couldn't see their kids on Father's Day, I was glad they were able to be with us! Can you also tell that Henry was about done taking photos at this point?

And here's the room (and table on the right) where we had our lunch. Nice place!

We spent most of Father's Day afternoon in the pool - I already posted a cute pic of Evan and I from that day, as well as some videos of the kids having fun in the pool. All around, a nice way to spend Father's Day!

Hilton Head: fun in (and on) the water

While in South Carolina, we had two fun adventures on Hilton Head. The first thing we did was head over to go to the beach! Lynn and Doug have access to the beach through the Hilton resort there; it's a lovely stretch of beach. The beach there is nice - very wide, lots of sand, and the ocean is perfect for the kids as it was pretty shallow, and the waves were small.

 See? Perfect for them!

 A family photo in the water!

Going there for our first beach of the summer was great because it got Henry over his slight fear of the ocean. He loved swimming up and over the waves, and then was so excited to go back in the ocean on our two OBX vacations later in the summer. Worked out great!

Our other excursion from Hilton Head was a pirate adventure! Lynn found this activity for us to do; there's a pic of the boat we went out on in my previous post. It was REALLY hot on the boat, although it did get slightly better when we started moving, and had some wind blowing out on the water. While kind of cheesy, the two people running the adventure did a great job. The kids all sat up front, as the captain told his story, and we went out around the bay looking for the hidden clues to help us find the treasure. At first, Henry wouldn't go up front with the other kids, so Natalie was up there alone (there she is in her pink hat!)

 Oh look, we found out first clue!

 They did a nice job of involving the kids, as well as some of the parents. Here's Evan's small part:

Hey, he got laughs from the kids and the adults! Well done, Ev :)

And then, after finding all of the clues, Pirate Pete tried to steal out treasure!

At this point, Henry was fully enjoying the show and wanted to be up front with Natalie. I was glad to see him get involved!

 As Pirate Pete came to each side of the boat, the kids got to line up and shoot him with the water cannons. Natalie and Henry were assigned to the second side, which meant they actually got to knock him out of his boat!

We then found the sunken "treasure" and the kids got to take handfuls of the stuff - fake coins, rings, figurines, etc. Almost two months later, and both kids still have the baggies I made them with their treasure. They're still playing with it! So this was definitely a hit. I don't think it's something we would need to do again, but I'm really glad that we went and the kids had such a nice time!