James is on his school team as a starting defender.  He had the opposing team avoiding his side of the field!  He’s a wall!

He loves playing with all his buds from school and from teams past.  So fun!

As is our family tradition we went to the tree farm and cut our Christmas tree.  This year my brother and his family joined us.  We hiked out to the trees and the Scott’s made quick work of choosing and cutting.  The Morey’s, on the other hand, couldn’t seem to pick and each of the 3 kids had a turn with the saw.  As the sun set on the brisk evening we gathered back at the car for hot chocolate and cookies…desert before dinner!  (We did have dinner together too!)

Blurry eyed wake up

After tons of fun and tons of kids around, the summer is over and I am still standing.
This morning met with mixed emotions from the kids, while I calmly anticipated the silence.

James was bummed…too early to wake up, not wanting to eat yet, picking a shirt to reflect this…but a slight pick up of his mood when he thought of seeing friends.

Kate was dutiful and happy.  Careful to pick out her clothes and jewelry.  Adjusting her Safety Patrol belt and practicing the pledge.

Alexander was excited and full of energy–playing outside, riding his bike, and still–ready to leave over an hour early!

The dogs and I had a nice walk this morning and have been enjoying the quiet all day.

James’ soccer team has been on yet another amazing run.  They have quite the team.  This season found them claiming the championship early with still 2 games yet to play!  Even if they lost those games, they were high in the ranks.  One of the games was a forfeit, and the other was a win.  Way to go Eagles!

Today marks the end of the 3rd week of school.  What I want to know is how is it that these 3 wks. are gone so fast and those last 3 wks. of summer were so torturous and slow?!!!  I know that it’s all my perspective…

I have been enjoying the time,

but not entirely.  In these 3 weeks, three out of five of us have been sick.  Yep.  School gompus has infiltrated our home!  James started it and graciously shared with me.  I lost my voice for a couple of days… now Kate is home from school!

I have been busy too.  Both schools had “Back to School Night” where I got to meet the teachers.  The Elementary School is familiar.  I had 3 teachers to meet.  There were three segments.  Perfect.  The Middle School format is nuts. The mission, should you choose to be a good parent, is to grab a map and a schedule from your kid and report to first period at the sound of the bell.  (I was late)  Then, every 6 minutes, after the teacher has spoken at super sonic speeds about course requirements and expectations, you must navigate all the other good parents with maps to the next class…Before the bell…Repeat for all 7 periods.  Leave with handouts and prayers that your kid has a better clue than you!

I also have begun the school volunteering.  Realized that I have racked up about 7 hours so far!  Made a dish for the staff  welcome back breakfast, and one for the staff dinner before back to school night.  Took 2 stints at the fall book fair.  That’s a trip– Little kids with handfuls of change and crumpled bills (totaling $2.04) wanting to buy a $4 wacky pen all before the late bell rings.

Soccer, Ballet, and Hockey have all started for the kids.  Still working out the kinks in who goes where and when do we eat…

Meanwhile, the grass is growing and my garden is dying.  Kirsy hooked me up with a local farmer who delivers a box of produce every week to my door.  It’s been fabulous.  I had to come up with a dish for lots of eggplant.  I made kind of fried chips–the kids loved ‘em!  I have been sneaking this veggie into sauces for over a year!

Here’s to hoping the year is not filled with loads of illness, but instead loads of fun and productivity!

I drove the kids to PA for a week of camp.     James, Kate, Max and Jonathan plus Alice and I packed out van.  Its a little over 3 hrs.   Had to settle them all in with registration and swim tests.  Turns out James’ cabin is the “brother” cabin to Kate’s cabin so they are all in yellow…  The boys are on one side of the camp and the girls on the other, so I did some dashing thru the mud, but left them all smiling!

The last Peace assembly of the year had James and Kate being recognized for their accademic achievements.  Learning skills are the way they track progress on following instructions and participation.  Kate got all “I”s for “Independently”.  James got straight “A”s.  Alexander is not pictured this time.  He did finish the year with great success.   We are very proud of all three of them!

As I said in my last post, I turned off the computer.  It was great.  I got lots of other things done.  But the best part was I felt that it changed my view.  I love reading and playing on the computer, but I also love knitting and sewing and cooking for my family.  Finding the balance has been a great thing this week.

Mother’s Day wasn’t as we’d planned.  James was sick.   So he and I stayed home from church.  But the evening dinner was made by Hubby and kids.  It was great!

I walk Shadow almost every day; the exception being rain since neither of us really enjoy that!  This week, we had one day when we got two walks in one day!  She has friends too– Buster, Lilly, and Pasha all got a little play time with Shadow this week.  That makes for a happy puppy.

I have been looking for an aquarium on Freecycle for James’ water frog, Tad with no luck.  But since James was home sick, we discussed putting him in the tank with the gold fish.  We risked death–either the fish or the frog.  All 3 critters are still swimming!

Click this button and see more entries–it’s always fun!

Hubby and the boys had been building legos. As usual, it turned silly.  Daddy was tackling James.  I just love his expression!

Award Ceremony

Since I am on the committee for our PTA’s contest called Reflections, all three kids participate.  The theme this year was “Wow”.   James’ photo collage of his hamster Magic was selected to move to the county level where he then won an Award of Merit.  He was very proud.  Kate’s piece was stenciled clothing items turned into a boutique.  Alexander drew a dragon with pencil and crayon.  Their artwork, along with all the others who participated, was displayed in the school media center.  Then photos of the kids and their artwork were displayed (and still are) on a bulletin board in the school.  After the judging, there was the gallery from the county.   These pix are from that showing.  Now, the works are home to hang in our gallery!