And yes, YES, we go back to school later. But that is not a good thing. By the end of August, everyone is ready for less together time. So I'm jealous then too. Next year, our first day is September 3rd! But then we have off the 5th and 6th for Rosh Hashanah. Urgh.
Whatever.
Michael is having a blast, at least. His preschool ended May 30th...3 full weeks before the other 2. So we decided to have him spend a week, all by himself, with Grandma and Grandpa. He is doing all sorts of fun things, and even got to spend the night at Memere and Pepere's too. But don't expect any pictures of those trips. Grandma and Grandpa guard their pictures like Fort Knox. Sometimes I'll be at their house and see an absolutely adorable picture hanging on their fridge. They like to keep the cuteness to themselves ;P
All teasing aside, Michael has done spectacularly well. He never shuts up and is just fine all by himself, thank you very much. He does seem to miss Andrew and Lily more than he misses Jeff and I. On the phone he tolerates talking with me for a few seconds before requesting to talk to his brother and sister. And the sweet and caring way that Andrew and Lily ask him what he is doing melts my heart. They really really love each other.
In order to facilitate the hand off of Michael, we planned a day at the zoo in Pittsburgh...which while not quite halfway (6 hours from us, 3 hours from them), was way more fun than what is actually halfway between us (farms, windmills).
Lily was quite the poser at the zoo.
Back here at the ranch, we had school. And more school. And Lily got to practice eating lunch at school (very exciting). Andrew had Market Day, the culmination of a 2 month economics lesson that 3rd grade does. Each class is a country, and each table group is a state. Each student had to apply for a job in their state (Andrew was treasurer), which they got paid for each week. Each state had to pay taxes and got bonuses for various things. Each student had to create a product to sell on Market Day. They had to pay rent for their set up spot, got to set the price and adjust as supply and demand required. I also got paid as a helper in the production of the product. It was really really cute.
Andrew did "Geography Fun Fact" sheets. His idea. His original idea was to do 2 countries for each continent. Then after he did all the research and typed up the sheet for his first country, he decided to do just one country from each continent. And then after spending HOURS doing a few more, he decided that 4 countries was just fine.
One side had pictures and the other side had basic facts and fun facts. We printed them on card stock and laminated them. Every other kid made things like pet rocks or rubber band bracelets. Not my little nerdlinger.
Oh! And then my new washer and dryer! Most life changing event in recent times. Below is how I was drying my clothes in the last few weeks. If I machine dried it, each load was taking 90-120 minutes to dry. And this is a house that does 9-10 loads a week. It was MISERABLE. But with my new fancy washer and dryer, not only to the clothes come out dry, they are such a higher capacity that I am only doing 5-6 loads a week. CRAZY!
Shadow. Turns 11 next month. Crazy.
Some random shots of playing in buckets before Michael left. We are so classy. Our new neighbor (a 2nd grader), was so confused. She came over and kept asking, "Wait. You are playing in buckets? Don't you have a pool? Why are you playing in those? How long will you be playing?" I finally had to shoo her back to her house...she clearly couldn't comprehend playing for hours in these things (which Michael and Lily ended up doing).
4 comments:
That's so impressive that Michael will spend a week away from home by himself. Zander can't even walk to the other side of the house by himself because it's "scary".
Sorry you have to endure nine more days of school. And homework. At this point in the year, I have a hard time believing teachers even want to grade it.
That previous comment was me. This is what happens when your kids are old enough to have their own accounts but not old enough to have their own computer, lol.
What fun!
I don't get all the difference in school year start/stop. We don't live far from you and we were done this past Friday (sorry!!). I hope the remaining days go quickly for you. I really slacked off the last few weeks of school but still insisted on homework. This is our first week with everyone home and I'm already realizing I need to PLAN and PREPARE our days so I don't lose my mind!!
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