Firemen's pants

A group of fireman visited Evyn's school today. They toured the truck and did a lot of talking about safety and prevention. As Evyn was telling me about what she learned, she doubled over with laughter and could no longer speak. One she got a hold of herself, she said that the firemen were talking about wearing "fire-poop pants." She continued to laugh and laugh and when I told her that they were saying "fire proof pants" she did not want to hear it. She is still giggling.

All about the animals

Our big doofus, Troy, had a videotaped training session on Sunday. It is one of those situations where he could use work in this certain area but it is not something we would hire a trainer to deal with. It just so happens that the trainer whose focus group I am a member of needed some videotaped lessons for some products he is developing and wanted to use Troy. I would never pass up free training - like free therapy for the big doofus. Anyway, Troy being the nice, smart dog that he is was super responsive. Troy's issue is that he gets soooo excited when guests come over that he runs around and acts like somewhat of a maniac. This is a big problem when there are children involved who are generally shorter than he is and are scared to death to come in. I really can't blame them even though he is a super friendly dog, just large and energetic. This will be a two or three part process. My neighbor - an adult - was nice enough to help out with phase one and next weekend we will use some child volunteers for phase two. If this video is released to the public via the trainer's website, I will post a link. It is pretty interesting.



In other animal news, the cat that we trapped about two months ago that was injured (I think I mentioned him here) is still hospitalized. He has had numerous surgeries and treatments and is just not healing. It is such a strange situation that they are talking to a feline immunologist for another opinion. Unfortunately, he is a stray (who has accumulated quite a bill) - yes, we all want him to get better, but at what point do you call it quits? He has been named 'Marvin' by the veterinary staff and become quite popular at the hospital. Leave it to us to trap and try to help a cat with some crazy, unknown chronic condition. We shall see how he does. After all of the animal helping we have done over the years, surely there is a place in animal heaven for us, if we can't get in anywhere else. :)



We brought four hermit crabs back from our beach vacation. The crabs we got, though, we plucked right out of the ocean and promptly died the day after we returned. Of course, we had already set up an aquarium, had crab food, and all of the other crap you need to care for a hermit crab. So what did we do? We went to the pet store and got two replacements, of course (rolling my eyes). These have got the be the least exciting pets ever - easy to take care of but boring. Until Saturday. On Evyn's birthday last Saturday, I was doing my rounds, feeding fish, the stinky ole guinea pig and the crabs. Something was different though. Evyn's crab changed shells!!! She ditched her ridiculously painted shell she came in for one of the cool shells of one of the deceased crabs. At least the crab has some taste - I would have quickly gotten rid of a shell painted with Piglet's face and hopped into the more natural, plain but beautiful shell, except I would have not waited so long to do it.

Happy Birthday Evyn

Evyn is six years old today. We can't even believe it. She has started losing teeth (finally, the natural way), is totally outgrowing her clothes - seriously, not much of anything fits from last year, or even nine months ago. She has apparently had a growth spurt this summer and along with the height has come some teenager-like attitude. She has transformed into this big girl in what seems to be overnight. She just started kindergarten, gets on the bus everyday and loves every second of it. She is becoming this person who is aware of other people's feelings and cares about them, loves nature and continues to approach life in general with excitement.

We had her party at a local kids' art studio - heaven for any kid or adult remotely creative. We invited her whole class this year, which I truly hesitated to do but it really worked out well. Everyone seemed to have a good time, and most importantly, the birthday girl loved it. They made beaded necklaces, puppets, clay objects, painted various things, you name it. We thought it was sweet that she wanted to pass the cake out "without any help." She is a kindergartner now, ya know? ;)

Times have changed

Tonight is back to school night at Evyn's elementary school. It has been on my calendar for weeks, but I did not know what it would be like, bring kids or not, where exactly do I go, should Holly and I both go.... About 7 o'clock last night the phone range and the caller ID said the name of Evyn's school. When I answered, a voice says "Hello, please hold for a message from your child's school principal." Then here comes Mr. A's voice welcoming everyone to the school and reminding everyone about back to school night, where to meet, that it would start with a short PTA meeting, etc. Not only was I amazed that I had received a random phone call answering almost all of my questions about back to school night, I was also a little surprised that the school has this capability. I am sure its main purpose has to do with safety alerts in case something terrible happens during school hours (which is disturbing all on its own), but it is a nifty way to efficiently spread information. Things have surely changed since I was in school, or even since Ashley was in school.

Changing Dynamics

I am amazed at how much the dynamics have changed in the lively house since September 2nd, the first day of full-day kindergarten. Having two kids close together created a situation where it was *almost* like having twins at times. Instant playmates, growing and maturing together, playing with many of the same toys and having the same interests, enjoying the same outings and relying on each other for companionship as well as making me feel more like a referee than a mom at other times. Evyn, who battled her way through speech therapy went from primarily signing to full blown boss(y) in a matter of a year. At this point, or a little after, Reed started talking too, except his talk was overcome by his sister's voice. He has always been more of a quiet observer, so he submitted to her chatter. This is the way it has been for a couple of years now.....service-oriented Evyn has been calling the shots, bossing me around, bossing Reed around and requesting that everything be done FOR her and Reed hardly gets a word in.

You can imagine how quiet the house is during the day now. There is no fighting (ahh! peace at last), there are few demands, as Reed takes pride in doing things for myself, by himself (ahh! lovin' an independent child), however, on the days he is not at pre-school, he is lost. It also does not help that two of his buddies are in pre-school opposite days from him, so his usual playdate opportunities no longer exist. He begs to go to the bus stop hours before it is due to arrive. I never truly realized how much he relied on Evyn for companionship. He and I have been playing all kinds of games, he now talks almost non-stop and the things that are coming from him are, at times, amazing. His grammar, his imagination - wow! The alone time is wonderful. I get to focus on Reed only - something that is new to both of us.

The only problem is my work and Evyn's bus schedule. I thought I would have even more time to work during the day (which equals more free time in the evening) with one child gone most of it, but I actually have less. Reed needs me more now that Evy is gone, and I find myself in a weird transition, trying to still be efficient with my work since I do not go to bed until it is done every night and also loving this new side of Reed who wants me to play with him and loves to talk and tell me wild stories of when he used to be a guinea pig or about the big red bus with a giant stop sign that is coming to pick him up at the end of the driveway. My mandatory "quiet time" is now interrupted by Evyn's bus schedule and then getting her fed (they have to eat lunch at 10:30!!) and settled in. Luckily, work has been slow lately and is allowing me to figure out this new life of mine without interfering with my alone time with Reed who will likely be joining Evyn on that school bus for full-day kindy next year. Really, I am just in shock with the current changes and also thinking ahead to next year when I will be home alone for seven whole hours. Mixed emotions!!

weeks later

yep. time flies. Seems like forever since we were here.....











There were literally hundreds of pictures I had to choose from - it was hard to just show a few. The first few pictures were taken at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Jockey's Ridge State Park where we stopped to let the kids burn some energy and so that I could *finally* fly a kite at Jockey's Ridge. The rest of the pictures....well, I think it is pretty obvious that we enjoyed a lot of time in the sand. We had Hilton who was our beach chef. He has the ultimate tailgating gear and cooked on his grills and had spices, silverware, you name it. Yum - some of my favorites meals that week were on the beach. Evyn and Reed were completely fearless in the surf and wore themselves out day after day. It was pretty much sun, ocean, shell collecting, fishing, volleyball, Frisbee and beer enjoying by day, fun in the big blue house by night.

P.S. Don't you hate getting caught picking your butt on the beach?

Can you stand more school talk?

After making the previous statements about Reed and school, he completely blew me away yesterday. When I dropped him off for his first official day without me there, he walked right in, put his snack on the tray after showing it to his teacher, hung his backpack up, a kiss and a hug for me and he walked off to play without any hesitation.
The best part was when I picked him up and the assistant director, who witnessed his antics during meet the teacher the previous day, informed me that he had, had a great day and then his teacher gave me the two thumbs up. You can bet I was one happy, relieved mommy. So far, so good.
I was so excited that I offered to take him out to lunch - anywhere. He said he would rather eat at home. I even offered to get him a drink at 711, Slurpee or anything. Nope, he just wanted to go home. I can guarantee if those offers had been made to Evyn, we would have had lunch at the Japanese steak house for lunch and a show and then a treat for 711 on the way home. :)


I also have to share a story abut Troy and Evyn's bus. Yesterday, Troy walked with Reed and I to E's bus stop. When it arrived and she got off, Troy acted like he wanted to get on the bus. The driver asked if she could pet him, so I let him walk up the steps and get on the bus to see her. Troy then tried to turn around to get off and was face-to-face with this kid who, as we learned, is scared to death of dogs. The kid climbed up the inside of the bus like a spider and screamed, horror movie style in an instant. Even though the kid was traumatized, it was hilarious, especially when Troy then refused to get off of the bus.

The good and the not surprising

The good news is that Evyn is digging kindergarten, although she has taken a sudden liking to sleeping late and is counting the "dark sleeps" until she gets to sleep in. This child has rarely ever slept in, ever. Nothing like a required wake up time to show you just how good you had it.
She has informed me that kindergartners do not cry. She also got a little panicky this morning when she overheard Holly and I talking about me taking Reed to the bus stop in the jogging stroller and then for a spin around the neighborhood. Apparently, kindergartners do not ride in strollers either. That message was very clear.
She apparently has my lack of ability to remember names easily. She proudly remembered two boys' names this afternoon. Jack - both of them. She can't tell me her teacher's name either, but at her defense, she has entered a whole new world this week and has a lot of stuff to remember.
I'm super proud of her and how well she seems to be adapting to kindergarten, and I cannot wait to see if she really truly will sleep in this weekend. I know I would love to but Reed still needs some convincing that the 5 o'clock hour is not a good wake up time for a 4 year old.
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Reed met his teacher today, Mrs. H. He is attending the same pre-school from last year and has the same great teacher that Evyn had when she was four. So, actually, he already knows his teacher, or at least knew of her just from being a student last year. I have seen him hug Mrs. H before today, and I have had to talk with her about how Reed was behaving in the carpool room after school last year. She knows both sides of Reed already, and I bet she is scared.
He stuck his tongue out at her and almost spit at her today (until he got the stink eye and then the "you will go straight to your room as soon as you get home" look) just because she was asking him if he would do her a favor and tell Evyn hello for her. How is that for charming the pants off of the teacher on the first day?
Really, I know he will be fine after the first few school days with the drop off part of it. It is just the behavior part that has me concerned. Hopefully Mrs. H will channel the inner nice, behaving Reed this year. He is really not a crazy monster of a child. He is a reserved guy who does not like new things and acts out when he feels like he is being put on the spot and then gets upset that he is being looked at. This still baffles me at times. I just hope Ms. H gets him figured out pretty quickly.

Evy's First Day of Kindergarten

Until last night, Evyn has been talking about how great it will be to ride the bus two times every day and just positively, in general, with all of the school talk lately. She was fine until last night when she fell apart because she did not want to be away from me for so long during the day and how she always wants to be with me. I had to try really hard not to cry a few times. We then promptly neglected to set our alarm so we could get up, I could work and we could both work out. Instead, we woke up in a panic 1 hour and 20 minutes behind schedule.

Despite our late start, Evyn got herself together this morning with just a little bit of hesitation and insisted that Troy walk with us to her bus stop. Once we walked down the busy street on a section of road with no shoulder and a a ditch on each side, Troy managed to knock her down which did not go over well at all. I have already requested a new bus stop - the one my next door neighbor uses. You would think that being neighbors and all, the transportation people would realize this and send us both to the same bus stop. Nope, he goes about two blocks to the left on a much safer stretch of road, and we go two blocks to the right. Anyway, once she brushed herself off, she did not seem too worried, UNTIL the bus came.

See how scared Reed looks - he was scared we were going to toss him on the bus too.

Although she was a little scared, she was very brave and got right on the bus and found a seat up front with all of the other kindergartners with the deer-in-the-headlights faces.

I did have to take her Benadryl up to the clinic this morning, and it just happened to be her lunch time. After Reed and I dropped her medicine off, we waited in the car and watched her class walk to the cafeteria. Ahh, she did make it to school on the big bus afterall. I guess the shock will wear off soon enough.