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Since we saw The Greatest Showman over spring break with Susan, Margaret has asked for nothing else for her birthday than to watch The Greatest Showman and have a sleepover. We usually have 3 movie nights at the pool over the summer, but since no one has offered to host them, I decided it was time to again. May as well kill two birds with one stone, so we had all of Margaret's friends to the pool to play, fed them dinner, and featured the movie for the whole membership-----icing on the cake was a cotton candy machine and sparklers. Happy kids = happy parents.
They
arrived at 4:30pm and stayed through 9:30am. No wonder our 100%
acceptance rate to birthday parties continues! When they were little,
it was offering beer, pizza and siblings that did the trick. Now it's
12-15 hour parties that all parents find attractive!
JJ loved the movie:-) And Andrew, who has sworn it off for too much singing at home, seemed to catch most of it still!
Cotton candy was a BIG hit!
Sparklers were the perfect exclamation point.
Nine not-so-little girls won't fit in her room, but the basement accommodated all! And the basement is pitch black, so we didn't hear a peep until 7:45!
Birthday cake for breakfast:-)
16 hour party, but only 2 waking hours at our house = well played. Next on the agenda was three hours of trimming and cleaning up the boxwoods. #thisis40
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Our
sweet little school was 250 students when Andrew was in Kindergarten and had ballooned to 350 last year. The
county's $35 million bond referendum was intended to expand our campus to
support 600 students. The school has been under construction for more
than 18 months---mostly exterior grounds work and new additions were built
during the school year while the existing building was completely
renovated over the summer. It's quite remarkable what they achieved in
the 8 weeks students were gone----literally the soil the school stands
on is the only thing that remains untouched. Every other square inch of
the building was upgraded and modernized.
We spent MANY hours at school in the days before students returned helping with a variety of tasks. Our CARES traits have always been front and center, but now they are all over the whole new campus---and in six languages! #mixedfeelings
The night before, we read "Kindergarten, Here I Come!" for the last time and "Sweet Dreams", provided by Matthew's teachers at his Open House, along with sleeping confetti to go under his pillow.
Think someone was excited?!?
And
Margaret was just thrilled to get me to cry..."Tomorrow is your LAST
first day of Kindergarten, Mom!!!"...as if I was unaware.
5, 3, K!
Wait...whhhaaaat?? Are these the same people...
as these???
And are the Kindergarten boys featured wearing the EXACT same shoes (just with different laces??)
Matthew RACED up the hill to the bus.
So thankful for no trepidation!
Just enough time for a street lax clinic....
...and one more round of...
Off goes my baby!
He was simply beaming with pride finally to be doing what the big kids were doing. Finally able to get on the bus himself. So much of his life has been marked by,
"No.
No you can't.
No, you're not old enough.
No, you're not tall enough.
No, I'm sorry, but...."
But this...THIS was a big YES!!!
It didn't feel right to take one of the cheerleader posed pictures. While this day has seemed so sweet from afar, reality is actually quite bitter. The basic demands of these littles have defined nearly every single day I've breathed for the past 10 years.
As Matthew reminded me yesterday, "Won't you miss having lunch with me everyday, Mom?!?". Oh, my heart! What I really miss is holding hands with him in the car. But so far, I do not miss constantly fielding questions all.day.long. :-)
So what did I do to help fend off my emotions? I volunteered to be a bus tagger. So as soon as they climbed aboard, I hopped in the car and dashed out of the neighborhood to beat the bus to school. Thankful I was able to weasel my way to their bus, Andrew sweetly greeted me, "Oh, hey Mom! Have a great day!". Margaret darted right past me, trying not to be seen. Matthew bounded off the bus in sheer joy, grinning from ear to ear, "Mom! Mom! On the way to school, I saw a car with a Fairview sticker on it!!!". Well, it was probably mine, but none the less, I was just filled with joy to see how happy he was:-)
Part of Margaret's new 2nd/3rd pod...too big to capture.
Part of Matthew's brand new K/1 pod - no doubt everything is bright and fresh.
Proud, happy, sweaty boy at 3:00pm. Grateful Mama.
As luck would have it, it was Mere's birthday. So at least I got to reassure Matthew that I didn't have to eat lunch alone today after all:-)
The first week of school also brought with it Matthew's first flag football practice. On a K-2 team, it's the first time he has seemed less substantial compared with his peers.
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With swim team driving the summer and Margaret off to camp the day after the two-day JSL Championship Meet, it means the beach must wait until the last week of summer. Driving to the beach after visiting Lalu and Robert in Winston is exhausting, evidently...
Hardly unpacked the car before we were off to gets our feet wet. Some year, we'll remember to let them change clothes first. #swimminginclothes
"Reunited and it feels so good!" Margaret and Michael didn't see each other for almost 2.5 weeks.
We always look forward to buying "random chunks of fish" to cook for dinner----now that's a lot of kinds of fish from which to choose!
My loves - hours and hours and hours spent riding the waves.
So grateful for Book Club's choice this month----the perfect beach read. Also grateful for the kids' independence in between my rides through the waves with them, so I could read hundreds of pages because I couldn't put it down. #Alaska #love #resilience
Practicing his throw, because flag football finally starts next week.
Dinner in the pool house with our spunky girl.
Spiral Jumps
Go Karts!!!
Good thing her steering wheel doesn't actually work because just as Big Rob has discovered on Big Orange, SHE.CANNOT.DRIVE!!!
We couldn't help but swing by "our house", The Salty Dog. We didn't think we were going to make it this summer, or we would have booked last December.
"Hit the chair" family lax game.
Why not bury lax sticks??
Even though Matthew still wasn't quite 42", he sweet talked the lifeguards into letting him ride the massive water slides, only to be complimented by his utter lack of fear and "advanced" swimming skills for his age.
Matthew's first "drop slide", where you literally lose your stomach and separate from the slide. Naturally, the biggest thrill was his favorite slide!
What a week - much, much needed family time. Now, back to school!
