It seems so long ago that this was our little girl.
And now look at her. Our soon-to-be kindergartner.
As the days of summer wane, I find myself wistful. I don't worry a bit as to how well she will do in school. I have no doubt that she needs to go to school for the stimulation, to be challenged. But at home, she is my companion throughout the day. I may go the entire day until Phil comes home without speaking to another person except for the kids. Don't get me wrong: I will still have Jeremy. And everyone knows how tightly I hold him to me!
Riley is my shopping buddy, helping me find the good deals. She's the one who helps Jeremy get his sandals on. She's the one who sits and colors with him at the table (despite the times I hear her telling him to stop coloring on her paper). She's the one who sits with him at lunch, giggling away. At this moment in time, they are best friends, entertaining each other and spending a majority of the day playing. Jeremy has already told me how much he's going to miss her when she's at school. Me, too, buddy.
There's something about watching your children grow up and thinking about sending your first born head off to school for the first time. To have her away from me for the entire day. To watch her board the bus and return several hours later. This is a big step; one that I didn't think would affect me the way it is. And this is just the beginning of a multitude of changes. I certainly don't want my kids to stay little forever. Just until I'm ready to let go.
For Jeremy's second birthday, we were blessed to receive a two-year membership to the Brookfield Zoo. We love it there, as there's always plenty for the kids to do and see. I asked Phil to take a look at his schedule to see when he could take a day off so we could go. He found a day in July, and we withheld the information from the kids until the morning of, as we knew we'd never hear the end of the "how many more days" question.
We got on the road, and the kids were SO excited. We had a wonderful time, seeing all the animals and enjoying the beautiful day. The featured new exhibit was about dinosaurs, and surprisingly both kids were giddy to see them. After forking out extra money, we walked through the exhibit, and Riley was able to use the controls and operate a few of the faux animals.
One of the many dinosaurs.
The gigantic T-Rex.
A stegosaurus.
Riley scoping out the slide.
Jeremy enjoying himself.
The kids fighting over the brush.l
Riley brushing the goat.
Same goat, different angle.
We decided to hit the road shortly thereafter as all parties were getting tired. The kids fell asleep in the car (as always), and it was another wonderful zoo outing.
Outside the monkey house with the two river otters.
Mom and the kids. Notice the huge dinosaur in the back.
It actually shot water out to guests below.
Last week a hockey player who is pretty popular in our household officially retired from the sport. The following day there was a picture in the newspaper of Jeremy Roenick with the announcement.
For those who know us well (or even know a little about us), we are HUGE hockey fans. I think it began with me at birth, since my parents named me after a hockey player. Although growing up I hated the fact that I was named after a boy. I mean, what person doesn't hate their name at some point?! (For what it's worth, if I was born a boy, my name still would've been Darcy.) Phil enjoyed watching hockey once he got to college, especially attending college hockey games. We joke that we might have been at the same games since our colleges played each other and were only about 30 miles apart.
Anyway, I had always wanted to continue the tradition of naming my son (if I was lucky enough to have one) after a hockey player. And I have ALWAYS had a crush on Jeremy Roenick, with his broken nose and all.
On our first date, I mentioned to Phil that I wanted to name my child after a hockey player. And that didn't scare him off.
We didn't find out the gender of either child, so Jeremy was always on the table for our son. And when our Jeremy was born, he was blessed with the name.
My point to this story, is that I showed our Jeremy a picture of Jeremy Roenick and told him that's who he was named after.
He took one look at the picture and said, "That's me?! I'm a hockey player?!"
Too cute. And who knows what the future holds.
Riley can officially read.
It's a proud day in the C household, especially since this Mom works in the editing/writing industry. I've always tried to show Riley (and Jeremy) how important reading is. Case in point, we were at the two libraries in our area three times this week. (And it had nothing to do with the fact that summer is winding down and we're running out of things to do...)
She sees me reading the newspaper in the morning. She sees me check out books from the library, and she's always asking me if I have a book on hold. We read each child a bedtime story, and I've been trying to get the kids to sit still to have a little reading session in the afternoon. Sometimes it's a losing battle, but it's nice to know the kids realize how important books and reading are.
Yesterday Riley picked up an easy reader book that we had checked out from the library. She was surprised that she knew almost every word in the book. So she read it for Phil when he came home. She wanted to read that same Mickey Mouse book today, and, I kid you not, Jeremy picked up the book after she did and read the entire thing. Granted his "reading" was more memorizing than anything, but it was still cute.
Today she picked a different, more difficult book. She had never read this book before, and I'd say she knew about 75% of the words. We made phone calls to both sets of grandparents in the evening, and then I wrote on the calendar: Riley can read. And wouldn't you know, she read that, too.
Life will never be the same. But then again, we've been waiting for this for awhile. Mark my words: Jeremy will be reading before he's 5. That's my guess. And now it's in writing.
Every year we try to head over to Phil's childhood pool. He still has a friend who works there, so we can all get in for free. Due to the sad weather we've been having this year, we didn't make it over there until the July 4th weekend (egads, has it been THAT long since I've done a proper update!?), but it worked out well that way. Phil planned to spend the evening with his friends watching the fireworks, while I went to pick my cousin up from the train so she could spend a few days with us.
The kids, as always, had a fun time at the pool, hanging out with Dad's friends. Riley is quite the fish, always wanting to show off. This pool doesn't have a diving board, so she couldn't show off those skills. And Jeremy loved swimming around, as long as someone was holding on to him.
The pool was scarcely populated, so after Jeremy (and I) had enough of the pool, they set up a volleyball net and played, while Riley was perched in Phil's arms. It made it difficult to spike, that's for sure!
Jeremy letting me know he's done with the pool.
Riley in Dad's arms--don't let his pasty skin blind you. :)
Playing with the Johnson girls.
Janis being a good sport and reading some Arthur.
For those who know me, summer is my favorite time of year. I love being outside. I love open windows. I love running around without shoes on (although it does cause some dirty feet in the process). And I love having a garden, where we harvest food daily--sometimes the food doesn't even make it into the house as the kids eat the raspberries straight from the vine.
I have not, however, enjoyed the unseasonably cold temperatures. Phil has, though. As has our electric bill.
The average high in July was 69 degrees. Really?!
So it was a pleasant surprise that Mother Nature decided to allow the heat to return. The heat is on. It's on the street.
I've been taking the kids outside daily to bask in the warm weather. And it saddens me to know that school starts in just a few weeks. Yes, it does make me sad. Because it means that summer is waning. Case in point: at Walgreens yesterday, we saw a display for autumn items.
I know I'm behind in posting as to what we've been up to. With my brother and sister-in-law in town, Riley finishing up T-ball, taking trips to the zoo and just enjoying the unencumbered time before school starts, blogging has kinda taken a backseat. But I promise to keep you updates as to what we've been up to. Until then, just know that we're having a fantastic summer, despite the less-than-stellar weather.
It seems so long ago that this was our little girl.
And now look at her. Our soon-to-be kindergartner.
