Happy Birthday, Riley!

8 years old. Wow. Several times within the last few weeks, when people ask me how old my kids are, I stumbled trying to remember how old Riley is. How is it possible that she's 8 now?

8 years ago she entered our lives, reluctantly. After about 2 hours of pushing, out she came. I was convinced she was a boy, and when Phil announced: "Oh my God, it's a girl!" I think my first reaction was "No way!" She was a fantastic baby (especially when compared to her colicky, non-sleeping brother) and such a fun toddler. But in all seriousness, she has really come into her own this year.

We had her parent/teacher conference earlier this month, and we were told she's a stellar student. She's currently reading at the 4th-grade level, and her math skills are astounding. The school will take these specialized tests in January, and her teacher believes that Riley will qualify for advanced placement for math.

School comes so easily to her, and it's amazing to see her learn. On the other hand, when she can't understand something easily, she tends to shut down and burst into tears. She's her harshest critic, something I believe she picks up from me, as I'm my own worst critic. She's had her moments of drama, but I have a feeling this is just a glimpse of what we have to look forward to during the teenage years.

She's an outstanding soccer player, something else that she has really come in to. Her soccer coach from when she was 5 asked her to play some 3-vs.-3 this summer just for fun, and she really improved with her play and her self-confidence. In fact, earlier this fall, an opposing coach, whom we had never met, came up to us and raved about her and said he wanted to recruit her to play for his team in the fall. Then tonight we got a call from her old coach who wants her to play indoor in January. She absolutely loves sports, especially swimming, softball and soccer. 

Happy birthday to our beautiful girl. We love you so very much!

8 years ago yesterday. I had no idea my water
would break just a few hours after this was taken.

8 years ago today. Poor girl had to get an IV after she was born, so she
had a splint on her left arm. Look at all that hair!

7 years ago at daycare.

6 years ago today.

5 years ago today.

4 years ago today.

3 years ago today.

2 years ago today.

 

Last year.

Today. My newly minted 8 year old.

11-11-11

Phil and I just got back from our 10-year anniversary trip to St. Maarten. Wow. It was a fantastic trip, and I hope to post pictures and write about it soon. But tonight Phil posted this on Facebook, and I thought it was important enough to share. It's moments like this that make me speechless. (But on a less-serious note, Riley told us that on Friday it was veterinarian's day.)

I know it is a couple of days late, but my son learned today at church that it was Veteran's Day and they gave him a flag and asked to put it by a tombstone of a veteran who served our country. This is something he really wanted to do, a boy of 5 years old... My wife took him to a cemetery and placed the American flag on a soldier named Carlton who served in the 2nd world war. It is moments like this that make you stop and think about the men and women overseas that are protecting us and are so far away from home and their families. Thank you Carlton for you service to this country. I am honored to know you even if it is only by your name.

Halloween 2011

We had a fantastic Halloween today. In fact, we had a pretty nice Halloween week.

It all started last Wednesday night at 9:30 when I received a phone call from one of the moms from Riley's class. The mom was scheduled to help out at the classroom Halloween party, but her other daughter was sick and she couldn't make it. Riley's teacher had mentioned that I would be willing to help, which I had said when I volunteered the week before. (Sidenote: I LOVE that I can help for any activity at the school since both kids are now in school!). Anyway, I said I would help, so Thursday I went to Riley's class and helped facilitate the party. It was a lot of fun!

Saturday Riley had her last soccer game (more about that later), and then Jeremy had a birthday party for one of his old preschool friends Ryan, and then we had a gathering with the neighbors. There was a ton of food and lots of fun for the kids and adults. Even pumpkin Jell-o shots!

Sunday one of the local churches had a trunk or treat where the kids got candy inside the church and did all kinds of activities. We hung out with a bunch of friends and had a blast. That leads us to today, Halloween! The kids both had school, and they wore their Halloween shirts. No costumes were allowed at school. They got off the bus around 4:15 and we came home to change, have some snack and meet up with our friends.

At the trunk or treat.

We have a Ghostbuster, angel, viking, 2 witches
pirate, karate guy and a sorceress.

Jeremy lasted about 1 hour, and then he asked if I could take him home. Phil had stayed at home to hand out candy. Riley and the older girls kept going for another hour. The two other girls were done, and Riley wanted to visit some of her friends from school. We stayed out another 15 minutes. The amount of candy the kids gathered is ridiculous. And I'm sure I'll be "forced" to help them eat some of it. :) But if that's the price I have to pay...

My pirate.

My pirate and angel.

The motley crew.

Trying to stay still.

We asked them to make funny faces.

 

That's My Boy

At dinner tonight, Jeremy was telling us about his day.

"Did you know my teacher likes spinach? And broccoli? Yuck."

So we told him that Dad likes spinach and that Uncle Kevin likes broccoli. He said that his teacher was asking the kids if they liked certain foods, and the kids responded by giving a thumbs up. He said she asked who liked spaghetti, and he put a thumbs up.

"And then she asked if we liked chocolate chip cookies. And I gave her TWO thumbs up."

Yup, that's my chocoholic, dessert-loving kid. :)
 

First Days of School

I'm not even going to acknowledge how behind I am...but I am. This post took me longer than normal because I needed to scan a picture I found. Why? You'll see in a minute.

Riley's first day of second grade was on August 24. And thanks to the advances of Facebook, I was able to find one of her old preschool friends was going to be in her class (for Miss Betty's reference, it's Kaitlyn T.). We met Riley's teacher the Monday before school started so we could drop off school supplies, see her classroom, and of course meet the teacher. Riley's desk was all set up, and she was very excited to see that there were a few other people she knew in her class.

We met Jeremy's teacher the following evening (the school does kindy on one night, and the other grades on the other evening). Again, thanks to Facebook, I found that one of his preschool buddies, Hunter, would be in his class as would one of our neighbors. His teacher was so excited and bubbly--just what you'd expect a kindergarten teacher to be. He was able to find his cubby, and we turned in all his supplies.

So on August 24, we loaded Riley up and headed her off to school. She's a pro at this, and nothing seemed to bother her. She's now one of the oldest kids in the school, as the school is only a K-2 school (with almost 1,500 kids!). 

Riley with the traditional sign.

Posing for the camera.

The reason behind my posting delay.
This is me in 2nd grade. See a resemblance?

Here we are today.

Dad and his girl.

The kids.

I had the rest of the day with Jeremy all to myself. I was pretty sad about it, mainly because it would be my last day with the guy. I'm sure many of you are/were tired of hearing/reading me lament about these waning days. He's my baby, my boy. And he still is. But now that we're almost 1/4 done with school (WOW!), I can't be prouder of how well he's done.

Anyway...we enjoyed our day together full of parks and hockey, but of course. The following day was Jeremy's first day of school. The school lets the older kids go first and then all the kindergartners start the next day.

Jeremy's first day of school.

My boy.

Mom and her boy.

The kids.

The school sponsored a Boo-Hoo Breakfast for moms/dads of the kids just starting school. We put J on the bus, and I drove over to the school to meet up with his class. He got there a little late--I think the bus was late. But our neighbor kid was very excited to see me. He kept telling me that he was having hot lunch that day and he couldn't wait. And then he offered to take a picture with him and Jeremy. Too cute.

Jeremy and his buddy Hayden.

Boarding the bus.

Jeremy in his class.

Jeremy and our neighbor Luke.

I went to the breakfast and met up with some preschool moms (Kaiden and Kiley's mom). It was a ton of fun. And it helped me deal with the fact that he would be gone all day. The first few days was rough, honestly. But Phil was working on painting Riley's room, so I was busy taping, and I talked to some girlfriends. And now we've gotten into a nice swing of things, and both kids are really thriving at school, not that I had any doubt. They're both finishing up their soccer seasons, and J's last hockey for this session is tomorrow. I'm so proud of the kids!

Two Touching Articles

Some days I don't feel like I do enough to help others. Now that both kids are in school, I have stepped up my volunteering efforts. I've helped out at school for both kids (I was able to attend my first field trip with J's class last week!), I've helped with Market Day, with PTA stuff, and I spend 1.5 hours every week at the library. (Sidenote: I thought about helping at an animal shelter, but I thought it would be too difficult to leave the animals there and not bring them home.)

And then I read something like this. Or this. And then I don't think I do enough to help others. I look at my brother and sister-in-law who've touched so many lives in their travels. They just returned from Guatemala where they helped build schools for low-income families. This was after a 3-year stint teaching in Lebanon. And prior to that they served in the Peace Corps.

But for now I just thought I'd share with you those two articles that affected me. I hope maybe they can inspire you, or make you go home and hug or call your kids/loved ones. And know how much you all mean to me.

Animal Crackers

We have a very busy sports schedule. Mondays and Wednesdays Jeremy has soccer, and Tuesdays he has hockey. Fridays and Saturdays Riley has soccer. Most people would think that's a bit much, but I think the kids thrive on scheduling and, let's face it, sports. They're both super athletic. You're welcome, Phil. (kidding)

So a few Fridays ago, I brought some snack along for Jeremy to munch on since I knew that he would be hungry. We usually eat dinner before soccer since practice starts at 5:30. I look over at him, and he's meticulously eating animal crackers. He's taking a few nibbles and then giggling.

I asked him what he was doing, and he said he was eating their butts. Why, you may ask? In Jeremy's words:


"so they can't poop."


Yes, that's my son. I'm so proud. On most days.