Cuter than Cute!

Here are some images from the first Friday of the school year.

Now that's a hot dog!

Meathead's on 75th Street. "New England style dog" for a New England
style boy. Yum!

Out of the mouths of babes...

Jack and Molly live for "lie down time".  This is what they call it when Marc or I actually lies down with them in bed before they fall asleep.  Sitting on the edge doesn't count - for some reason it doesn't have the magic that helps them go to sleep.  Marc has weaned Jack down to five minutes, and Molly hovers between five and ten before she's ready to let me go without a fight. 

Tonight during our lie down time, she was so tired her eyes were rolling and half closed.  But still, she managed to throw me a curve ball.

"Mama?  Remember God's favorite angel who turned into the snake and got sent away?  Is he really real?  Is he really around?  Like around us?"

Sheesh!  Inches from the daily finish line and I get one of the BIGGIES?  Oy, vey.

Not wanting to scare her before she fell asleep with tales from the dark side, I gave her the sugar coated story about how Jesus protects us and satan can't come near us, even though he does try to tempt us to do bad things.

There!  Done!  Goodnight!

"Mama?"

Uh-oh.  "Yes Molly?"

"Where does he live?"

Remembering to keep it simple, I tell her, "he lives in hell."

"What's it like there?"

Deep breath.  "Oh, well, no one really knows for sure.  And I sure don't because I've never been there, and I hope I never will!  Some people think it's a horrible, hot, fiery place that's awful to be in.  But other people think that it's only terrible because the souls there are kept apart from God.  And being apart from God is so sad, so miserable, that it's really an awful punishment."

"Does anyone else live there?"

"Um.  Well.  Yes.  But only the reallyreallyreally bad people go to there when they die."

Then the conversation went on and on because she wanted to know if Jack would have to go there because he's naughty a lot, or if she would.  Like, if she decided to only do bad things for the rest of her life, would she go there?

And I told her no.  That I was sure with all my heart that she would never ever go there.  Because her heart is full of kindness and love and she could never be evil like that.

"But", she reminded me, "sometimes I  do bad things."

"Yes," I told her.  "Sometimes we all  do bad things.  That's because we're HUMAN.  We make mistakes all the time because we're imperfect and always trying to get it right.  But God gave us the bible, and his son, Jesus, and lots of other good people to show us the right way to live.  And when we go to heaven to be with God, we won't make those mistakes any more because we'll have learned how to stop making them."

"Oh," she said.  "So life is a lot like school."

Yes, love.  Yes it is.

(And this teacher is wiping her brow and signing off for the night!)

The First Day of SCHOOL!!

When I think of all the new school years I started in my life, I can remember that inexplicable feeling of change in the air.  The turning of the leaves, that unmistakeable fall scent that lingers in the air, the anticipation of a new teacher, a new group of classmates, the sports and extracurricular activities that would be starting up again.  The colder nights, the earlier sunsets - all of it led to a palpable feeling of change.

So on a blazing August morning this year, it just didn't feel right to be waiting for the school bus!  But I remind myself that this early start (and a conspicuously absent February vacation) leads to a release date of JUNE SECOND!  To think of having all of June to ourselves is beyond my wildest dreams!

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  WAY ahead.  Back to August 24th - the first day of THIRD GRADE for Jack.  He is not thrilled to be back to rules and schedules, but he's undeniably curious about his new school and his new teacher, Mrs. Sellers. 

We started the day with some stick to your ribs belgian waffles, with our favorite Christmas Tree Shop maple syrup and a few of summer's last delicious berries (which Jack flicked off his plate at the first opportunity)

I'll be honest - this was a picture taken after he got OFF the bus, because he wouldn't let me take one BEFORE the bus.  He's worn this same shirt on the first day of school for the last FOUR years. 

Preschool, kindergarten, first and second grade. It was HUGE on him at age four, and this is probably the last year he'll fit into it.  I promised him I'd get him a new one for next year.  The same Land's End, kelly green polo with JACK embroidered on the chest.  So that no matter who he sees that day, they'll all know his name.  Even though, let's be honest, Jack is not the kind of kid you forget.

Molly had just woken up - her bus ride doesn't come until tomorrow, so I let her sleep in and see Jack off with bedhead and pajamas.

Jack, Ethan, Connor and Drew all ready to go!

Loaded down with all his school supplies and his cool new messenger bag that was painstakingly selected the weekend before with Auntie Trecie.

Bye Jack!  You're going to do GREAT!

And away he goes!

Then it was Molly's turn.  She and Mommy got to go to orientation at her kindergarten class.  She wore a special dress that Auntie Trecie had brought from Rugged Bear, a children's clothing boutique near our old house.  Her backpack was a little heavy for her with all her school supplies inside, but we snapped a few pictures for posterity.

Ah, this is the face I'm going to miss!  Wasn't it just yesterday that she had her "cockatoo" hairdo and could barely keep a bow in?  And now here she is all long-haired and long-legged and ready to take on the world!  I can almost year Sunrise, Sunset  from Fiddler on the roof playing.  But I've shed my tears, and Marc and I have made our decision, that going to Spring Brook with her big brother alongside her is the best start we can give her in her new hometown.  She'll be learning the ropes right along with all the other kindergarteners, and will be able to start making friends she can keep for many years to come.  Mrs. Verdun is SO LUCKY to have this girl in her class - she's going to brighten the place up with her sunshine smile every day!

I loved getting a sneak peek into the workings of her classroom.  We waited outside with other parents and students, while we checked out the class list.  Molly is incredibly curious about all the unique names and skin tones that she's seeing around her that she never experienced in Pembroke.  We've talked about polite ways to ask about people's differences without making them self-conscious.  She was mostly trying to discern who is "American" and who is "foreign" because she was worried that she'd try to talk to someone and they wouldn't speak English.  I told her the best way to find out if someone speaks English is to say "Hi!  My name is Molly, what's yours?" 

I should probably tell them there's a missing 'T' there, huh?  Seems no one ever likes that poor T! 

Practicing coming and going.

Fun decorations!

 The children got to color apples while Mrs. Verdun talked to the parents.  Then it was story time.  She read Mrs Bindergarten Gets Ready For Kindergarten by Joseph Slate.  When Jack was getting ready to start kindergarten, our neighbor, Sue, told us about the book and I ran out and bought it right away.  Molly and I had been reading it over the last few weeks of summer to start getting both of us ready for the transition.  In fact, I'd read it to her that very morning, and she was thrilled to see it in her classroom!

We were only there an hour and then headed back home to see Ben, who had been getting spoiled by his Aunties while we were gone.  Then we put Ben down for a nap and got our aprons on - it was time to put our spiffy new double ovens to the test!

My sous chef, in all her baking cuteness!

Molly wanted to try the camera, so I put it on sports mode.  She took about 75 pictures in four seconds, so I knew at least one had to turn out well!  It was such a wonderful last afternoon with just the two of us, like 'old times'.  Six dozen chocolate chip cookies later and the day ended on a very SWEET note.

The Night Before School Started

I'm rewinding to last month in an attempt to catch up a bit more, remembering how we headed back to Johnny Rocket's for burgers and shakes to celebrate the last night of summer vacation.  We had such a treat - Auntie Trecie was here to visit!  Technically, she was visiting Uncle Paul and Auntie Ulia (wink, wink) but we also got plenty of her attention too.

All together, and no one was crying!

Enjoy that last breath of summer kids!

Loving his grilled cheese sandwich

Someone had a case of the goofies

Not only did he finish the whole shake, he nearly licked the blender container clean too!

Auntie Ulia was the hero of the day when she gave the kids a stack of nickels for the jukebox.

Jack did his own hair - it looked right at home at Johnny's!

That's one chubby hand that lives to press buttons!

Lucky ducks to have everyone here to share the fun!

We followed up dinner with ice cream cones at Nathan's.  Jack insisted on a hot dog, then cried that there was too much ketchup on it.  Molly happily sat and devoured hers, and Ben managed to escape the building and nearly made it into traffic before I caught him.  Exhausted and sticky, and screaming (of course), we all piled back into the minivan for the ride home.

And with that, the night, and our cross-country adventure summer, were over. 

Yipeee!

Is it pathetic that the arrival of this little baby makes my day?

We're Movietrapped!

Ben has been super cranky lately, so I figured it was time for a little drastic one on one.  Drastic for ME, meaning that I needed to let the dirty dishes and the unfolded laundry sit where they were and instead get down on the floor and play with my buddy.  It's amazing how hard that is to do when you're a Queen of Multitasking!  There's a poem about babies not keeping that's so true and precious... Wait!  I found it!

Babies Don’t Keep

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing, make up the bed,

Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,

Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew

And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo

But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo

Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?

Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

It really is a poignant poem, but when the maple syrup on the floor threatens to suck my shoe right off, and the dust bunnies look like they might overtake me, and the clutter and chaos start to take away my grasp on reality...it's near impossible to stop and smell the roses, or in this case, stop and let my booger-faced two year old take the lead at play time with my undivided attention. 

But sometimes you've got to suck it up and let those dust bunnies lie.

So when Ben found Marc's spiffy stud finder in the garage after we'd put the big kids on the bus, and he determined that it was a "spy gadget", I let him lead us on a mission all around the house.  We were hiding behind the sofa, crawling through the play room, finding spy gadgets and bad guys all along the way - it was hilarious!  I'm surprised at how well he can whisper when he's so inclined - and his imagination is tireless.

When the back of one of his toy trucks popped open,  I told him the bad guys must have booby-trapped it.  He used his spy gadget to check it out all over and proclaimed;

"Yep!  That's it!  We're movie-trapped!"

Jack used to mis-pronounce the same word at this age - "booney-trapped" he called it.  And now he spends his day learning cursive and beginning division and daydreaming out the window of all the booney-traps he can make at recess with his buddies.

So Ruth and her poem, even if they put a crimp in my housework plans, are absolutely right.  Babies don't keep.   And I think I'm going to give myself a mandatory half hour of "on the floor with Ben" time each morning to make sure I enjoy him while the opportunity is here.

Sing it with me!

To the tune of Donna Summers' 'Last Dance'. 

Last box, the last bo-ox, last box, the last bo-ox....toniiiiiiiiigggggghhhhtttt!

One month, two days and five gazillion boxes later, we are officially

UNPACKED.

Now, if I only knew what to do with all this stuff!

Your laugh for the day

Lions and Tigers and Penguins, Oh My!

Our neighbor Chris invited us to the zoo today while the big kids were at school.  Ben had so much fun running around - I'm not sure he cared so much about the animals, but the RUNNING was a big hit.  And the climbing.  And the big jungle gym at the end.  On the way back, I got to sit next to him in the back of the minivan, which was a treat for both of us because I'm always in the driver's seat!  He cupped my face with his hand and said "Mama, you're the best mama."  And it was worth all the chasing him all over the zoo and the hovering underneath him on the jungle gym so he wouldn't land on his head, and the missing a nap and the bees swarming our lunch. 

We'll be back Brookfield Zoo - and next time we're bringing the whole crazy bunch!

This little guy had a thing for Ben.  There was a man who had been standing there trying to get a picture of him through the glass for a while, but the penguin would never cooperate.  Ben got in his way and I went to move him so the man could take a picture, but he said "Oh no, please don't take him - the penguin keeps coming by to see him!"  Sure enough, the penguin came right up to the glass and nuzzled at Ben over and over, trying to get him to play!  Ben could have cared less, but we had a fun time watching!

Finally - the playground.  He had found his bliss!

Going to try something new today and see if I can't link to the whole photo album through Shutterfly.  I'll always post my favorites to the blog, but the rest are fun too!  The password is "mallett" if you need it.

Click here to view these pictures larger

Happy One Month Anniversary to US!

Yesterday marked ONE MONTH since we boarded that jet plane and headed west.   I didn't want it to pass unnoticed, so I hung streamers over the kitchen table, left a new book for each child and a big sign that said HAPPY 1ST MONTH IN NAPERVILLE!!  We had dinner on the patio and snuggled under blankets as the sun set.  We tried to wait for Marc, but he took a circuitous route home and finally we had to eat cake without him.  I made an old fashioned (as in 1970s old fashioned, haha!) Jello Poke Cake with Cool Whip frosting.  It was HEAVENLY!  

It's been a good month.  Moments of misery crept in - mostly due to crabby people with upset routines and rhythms due to the volume of effort needed to get a new house in order.  But this too shall pass, and hopefully, all the good things will fill in the gaps.

Kinloch-A-Palooza

Our neighborhood is called Kinloch, which is Scottish for "Head of the Lake".  Have I mentioned that the folks of Chicagoland seem to have an odd affinity for all things British?  One house we looked at was on Royal Porthcawl Drive.  I rejected it based on the name alone!  There was no way I could say that with a straight face, let alone spell it.

So the good folks of Kinloch must have known we were coming, because they held their version of a neighborhood block party less than two weeks after we moved in.  Only here, we were happy to find, they do things UP.  The party is called "Kinloch-A-Palooza" and it included

• Moonwalk
• Obstacle Course Moonwalk
• Tent, tables, chairs
• Hot dog/sausage cart with all the fixin's (including corn on a stick - a huge hit with the kids)
• Pot Luck vegetarian Indian buffet (turns out our neighborhood has a pretty sizeable Indian contingent.  I had no idea how happy this would make my tummy!)
• A MAGICIAN!

• Movies after dark on the neighborhood's own outdoor movie screen.  I'm not kidding - you can even borrow it for fun. It's just like this one from the Frontgate catalog that Marc and I always comment on - as in "Who on earth would buy this thing?"  Well, now we know!

There were kids everywhere!  It goes without saying that our kids were out of their minds, having fun, for so long that they eventually collapsed.  We met tons of our neighbors - they are virtually all our age, all with kids, and all as friendly as can be.  And they were wearing name tags, BONUS!

At one point, Marc was hanging with a group of dads and their topics of discussion included the poker trip they all took together last year, the standing Saturday morning tee time they have (and invited Marc in on) and how socialism is threatening to ruin America. 

I'm surprised Marc didn't weep with joy right there.  He had found HIS PEOPLE! 

The party went on into the wee hours, but we were wiped out and in bed by 10pm.  It was an incredible day for us all, and really showed us how our leap of faith is being rewarded.  We're looking forward to next year's party already!

Miss Molly, skipping through our next door neighbor's yard to get to the party.

Home again, home again, jiggedy jig!