Labor Day and Soccer

Sunday after church we headed over to my parents’ house and shortly after Katie, Kris, Micah and Claire arrived.  They came over for a day of fun.  The kids were in the pool in no time.  Late afternoon we headed out on the boat for some tubing.  The lake was busier than we’ve ever seen it, but we expected that since it was Labor Day.  We took turns tubing but I think Claire loved it the most.  Claire and I had the best ride out of everyone.  We hit a few huge bumps and she thought it was awesome!  We ate a late dinner and they had planned to go home but it got so late that they ended up spending the night.  The kids thought it was great fun to have their buddies stay over with them. 

Monday they left mid morning and we just hung out by the pool.  Lindy has come so far this summer with her swimming.   At the beginning of the summer she didn’t like putting her head in the pool.  On Monday I had her floaties off and she was getting dive sticks off the bottom of the shallow end!  Over and over and over!  She loves it now!  So exciting to see her doing so well.  Now if we could convince Will it’s fun to put your head under the water…  I helped mom with her pictures in the afternoon and we headed home around 3pm. 

Tuesday it was back to school.  The kids struggled a little more getting up the second week.  They had been on the go the entire weekend so I don’t think that helped.  They both had another great week.  They both still love it.   Every week they have a trivia contest on their school news.  Will entered his answer and on Friday morning they read his name out as the winner of the trivia contest.  I had tried to explain to him that just because he entered didn’t mean he would win.  They would pull one out of the box and see if the answer was right.  I told him he probably wouldn’t win and wouldn’t you know, he did win!  ha!  He gets to read the trivia question on the school news show on Monday and Tuesday and he is super excited. 

Will had another soccer practice on Tuesday night and thankfully didn’t get stung.  (Although a mom did at the game on Saturday so obviously they’ve got some kind of problem out on the field).  I took Will and walked the track while he practiced. 

Mimo came up on Thursday afternoon and went with Drew to pick up the kids.  They were surprised and excited to see her and spend some time with her.  

Friday night was my mothers of multiples consignment sale.  I had been working for two weeks to get everything tagged and I took it on Friday night.  We got to shop that evening, too.  I got some good deals, like a complete snow set for Will, dresses and shirts for Lindy and even three pairs of slim size 6 pants for Will  for $68.  I love consignment sales!

Saturday was a busy day.  We got up and Will had his first game at 9am that morning.  It was cute to watch.  They got shelacked by the other team, even if they don’t actually keep score.   It was a big learning experience for our whole team.  We knew we had a new kid coming to the game Saturday and it turned out to be one of Will’s classmates!  In fact he was in the same class with him last year, too.  He was excited to see him.  He turned out to be a good soccer player so we were glad he came!   Will had to learn to move around on the field and not just in the form of jumping and flapping.  He’s got that down pat.  He seemed to like it though and he had fun – which is all that really matters.

We left the game and headed downtown to Bookmarks, a big book festival that Aunt Jamie helps put on.  They have all kinds of authors but the one in particular we were trying to catch was Eric Litwin, the author of the Pete the Cat books.  Will’s whole kindergarten class was based on Pete the Cat.  His teacher used his books all year.  We made it to the very end of his talk and then we went and got his new book and headed over to get them signed.  He had very strict signing rules – like you had to buy the new book and he would write your name in that one.  If you bought the new book he would sign one Pete the Cat book, but wouldn’t personalize it.  Kind of strange but he seemed like a fun guy.   We met up with Mimo and the Bryants and we sweated a ton.  We grabbed some lunch and then the kids and I headed home to cool off and relax.  Drew stayed to hear some other authors.  I went home and cooked some yummy food for our football tailgate for the first home Wake football game. 

We left and headed to pick up any of my stuff that didn’t sell at the consignment sale and then we headed to the football field.   We tailgated with the Bryants, Grandbob and Suzette, my parents, Ed and his father-in-law and his friend.  We had a fun time as we were watching some storm clouds move closer and closer our way.  The game started at 6:30pm and we made it till about 4 minutes till half time before I called it a night.  They would come on and say a storm was less than 15 miles away and they would keep us updated. We were watching on our phones and finally I decided I was going with the kids.  Bob and Suzette had already left and my parents left with us.  On our way out of the lot, it started raining.  We made it in perfect time.  They ended up stopping the game at 14 seconds before half time and they did eventually start it back up and Wake did win, but we were sitting safely in our house by that point.

This morning the kids and I ended up staying home from church.  Lindy started getting a cold over the week and she sounded horrible this morning.  In fact she puked two huge times last night right after she went to bed.  She actually got to the toilet which is new for her.  She slept okay the rest of the night but sounded bad this morning.  My stomach hurt and Will’s nose was running so we kept our germs at home.  She has been fine today but still has the cough.  I’ve started all her meds and will hopefully nip it in the bud quickly. 

That is the news and I am now caught up on the blog.  Until next week…

These two had fun too! 

Trying a new way to tube.  Apparently it wasn’t comfortable.
We eventually wore most of the kids out.  Claire got a nice nap out there!

She is a fish now!

She loves these goggles – even if she does look goofy!
Maybe she’ll convince Will to go under one day.

The kids completed new lego sets this week.  Will did the advanced beach house all by himself. 
Lindy did the advanced tree house this week with the help of Drew and me!  You have to find the piece and show her where to put it so it’s a team effort.  She enjoyed it a lot though!  Only problem is she tears it down too quick! 

Will’s first ever soccer game!  He did a skills class when he was three but they never played a game. 


This is a good flapping picture!  ha!
One of my best pictures, ever?! 

He played defense the second half and did pretty good. 
Meeting Eric Litwin and getting their books signed!

1st Week of 1st Grade

I’m way behind, can’t believe I haven’t put up the first day of school yet.  Backing the train up to August 25th.

1st grade has been a success so far this year!  What a completely different feeling this year compared to last year.  Drew didn’t even go with us on the first day.  We got up early, got breakfast out of the way so we could take pictures.  We headed to school early because we knew there were some new parking policies and I wanted to take pictures.  Both kids went happily into their classrooms and never looked back!  Drew brought them by after school and they both said they liked it and it was good.  And that was about all we could get out of them. ha!

The rest of the week went really well.  I tried to tell them we should stay home in our pjs one morning because they didn’t like school and they both yelled, “No, we love school!”  I took that as a good sign. 

Lindy’s teacher had sent an email on the first day to everyone saying it had been a good day.  She had my email address wrong so she ended up forwarding it to me and adding a personal note that Lindy had had a great day.  Friday morning when I dropped her off she said, “Lindy has had such a great week!  She has done so good and she has done great being more independent this week.  I’m so glad she is here.”  I really appreciated her saying that.  Let’s hope she continues to think that way!! ha!!   Will’s teacher has said nice things about him, too, such as he is so sweet and a good listener.  All things we know about him.  The boy is golden in a classroom.  A teacher’s dream student.   He’s pretty golden at home too but you know he has to pick on, pester and fight with his sister some.  He saves the little bit of attitude he does have for us, not his teachers.   All in all, it was a great week!

That week was mostly just spent trying to get back into the swing of things.  On Monday we did decide to sign Will up for soccer at the YMCA and he had his first practice on Tuesday the 26th.  It was going well until he got his first sting of any kind in the middle of it.  We assume it was a bee but he wasn’t for sure.  He said he heard something buzzing and he swatted at it and it stung him right under the eye.  The boy started screaming at the top of his lungs.  At first I couldn’t figure out what was going on until I finally heard him say “sting.”   He came over and it was already starting to swell.  They got him an ice pack he kept on for a few minutes but he ended up going back out to play.  He kept the ice on it on the way home.  The next morning it looked a bit bruised but thankfully wasn’t swollen.  What a horrible place to get stung.  I’m sure it hurt like crap.   The rest of the week he had bees on the mind.  There were apparently wasps on the playground and his teacher said he stuck pretty close to her that day.  Thursday night we were out in the backyard and something buzzed by him and he started screaming.  It didn’t sting him but it freaked him out.  Now he is leery of all things buzzing around.  Let’s hope it doesn’t happen again for awhile.

Friday afternoon I got off at 12pm for the holiday weekend and I met my parents to go shopping.  Mom and I looked for frames for their house and we were happy to get what she needed.  We picked the kids up from school and headed home.  My dad had gone to our house and was pressure washing toys in the backyard.  Then they started on the house.  I went out there after we got home and washed away.  It’s amazing what that thing can do. 

Saturday morning I got up and went grocery shopping and that afternoon the kids and I headed to Greensboro to pick up one more frame my mom needed.  They didn’t want to go but I bribed them with watching a movie on the way.  We went to Michael’s and Target and came back home.  Saturday night we went to Ed and Jamie’s for an end of summer cookout.  We had a nice evening at their house. 

Here are the first day of school pics.  Enjoy!

The big 1st graders!













Will and his teacher, Mrs. May

Lindy and Mrs. Peters

Will before his first practice and his first bee sting!  Amazingly we had all the soccer stuff he needed in our house.  Love hand me downs – thanks Amy!

Will and his silly mustache
Lindy’s tall tower she built!  She found this fleece jacket and insisted on wearing it. 

Chicken taco shaped like Idaho?!

Open House

The last week, and as of right now, the last night before school has arrived.  My babes start 1st grade tomorrow!  I’m not actually sure where kindergarten went because I swear it was just yesterday we were getting ready to start that.  It sure is a different feeling tonight than it was a year ago before they were starting kindergarten.  I’ll always be worried about how they will do but this school stuff is becoming a lot easier!

As for our last week of summer, the kids spent it here and there.  We dropped them off at Lynn’s last Sunday night before the Panthers vs Chiefs football game and they stayed there a couple days.  Drew headed down Tuesday evening to get them and spent the night down there.  They came back Wednesday morning.  While they were at Lynn’s they went to the park and played, made cookies, and played around Mimo’s.  Lindy came home with some elaborate pup houses for her Paw Patrol friends that they must have spent a lot of time working on.  When Drew got down there they had dinner and walked to get frozen yogurt.   They got back around lunch on Wednesday so I went and met them for lunch at McDonald’s.

Thursday was the most exciting day of the week.  Good things happened on Thursday!  Lindy had a physical therapy appointment, about a month after Jill told us to get one.  She had put her back in a short brace on her right foot and said to come back in two months.  The only appointment I could get was 3 months out, which was Thursday.  Because Lindy has always gone back and forth from tall to short braces, we had no clue what to expect.  What we didn’t expect was to basically be discharged from PT because she is doing so well and is doing everything on the checklist Jill had.  What?? What??   Drew took her and Will to the appointment and Jill said she looked great.  She had started jumping on one foot on her left leg (her much weaker leg) and can stand on her left leg.  She is basically doing all age appropriate stuff – albeit a lot clumsier and not quite as graceful as kids her age!  But who cares, she does it!  Jill took her already short brace on her left foot and cut it completely down to just a shoe insert.  For the first time since she was about 8 months old, you can’t see braces on the child!  How cool!  I am dreaming about the possibility of cute little girl shoes.   Shoes have always been a struggle and we are as close as we can get to cute shoes.  It surely has to be easier with just inserts.  

The bad news of the week also happened on Thursday.  Wednesday night her right hearing aid went bonkers.  It was making awful static and clicking sounds.  I let it be overnight and it did it again Thursday morning.  I changed batteries twice and it still did it.  I called her audiologist and got her in at 10am and it just happens to be right next to PT.   We had also been having problems with tubes so they were going to change those for me too.  We got in with an audiologist we haven’t ever seen but that was fine.  They got her tubes changed and then they got her a loaner.  I was so happy because I would have been so worried with school starting on Monday if she only had one hearing aid.  It’s not the same as hers and she said it’s not as strong but it has to be better than nothing.    The funny thing is that things must sound different to her.  She said about 3-4 times that people wouldn’t recognize her voice.  We had to tell her she sounds the same to us but we figured out that something sounds different to her!  What stinks is that this is the second time we’ve had to send a hearing aid off for repair this year.  It’s $200 a pop.  I asked her audiologist how long hearing aids are supposed to last and she said 5-6 years.  Lindy’s are about 6 years old.  I wonder if we are getting closer and closer to her having to get new ones instead of paying to keep repairing them.  Insurance is the biggest question.  They are checking to see if insurance covers them.  A few years ago they passed a law in NC that requires health insurance to cover hearing aids for kids under 18.  Sounds great huh?  Apparently there are all kinds of loop holes.  Fingers crossed my insurance (which is new to Lindy) covers them.   

Thursday night was open house at school!  We were all very excited to meet their teachers!  Will’s room was first so we stopped there first.  We actually know his teacher because she had two girls in Lindy and Will’s class last year.  They are not biologic twins because one is adopted.  Anyway, Will was very excited to see her.  The part time assistant in his class is good friends with one of my best friends, Katie, so she knew Lindy and Will too.  He was super excited to see some friends from last year in his class and to see friends from Lindy’s class in his class.  His table has a little girl he sat next to for most of last year and two friends from Lindy’s class.  One is a little boy they went to preschool with so he knew everyone at his table. 

Next we headed to Lindy’s class and met her teacher.  We never actually met her assistant which was odd.  Lindy’s table had two friends from Will’s class and I can’t remember the fourth child.  She had two of her closest friends from last year in her class and lots of kids from Will’s class.  After we left her class we headed out to see Lindy’s vision teacher.  We LOVE her vision teacher.  She is so great.    We enjoyed our visit out there.  On our way out we walked down the kindergarten hall to say hi to their teachers from last year.  We finally headed home, after stopping for milkshakes on the way.

Friday Drew really treated the kids to their last weekday of the summer.  He took them to jump at Airbound Trampoline and play putt-putt and video games at Adventure Landing.  What a day!!  That night we went to our church softball game which was actually a double header.  Daddy played with them while I kept Lindy from getting hurt.  There were these big drop offs and she couldn’t just stay in one spot.  Will had a big time playing with his buddy Dylan.  It was so hot and sweaty out there.  Will was just as sweaty as the people playing softball that night so I made him shower when we got home.  The kids’ last treat for the summer happened Friday night.  They had been bugging us to ‘camp out’ in the den like they did at GrandBob’s and like we do at Christmas.  Because we got home late we just got out sleeping bags and we set them up in the den.  Drew made his bed on the floor and I slept on the couch.  They thought that was fun.  We let them keep it out all weekend and we cleaned everything up tonight before bed. 

Saturday we just hung around the house.  Except I had to run out to the store to get the makings for ice cream.  I made homemade ice cream for the ice cream social at church that afternoon.  We had a grand time eating ice cream and dancing with all our friends.  It was a party for adults in our community with developmental disabilities.  The kids and I danced probably over an hour!   It was a fun time and good exercise!  Saturday night Drew and Will went to a Wake Forest soccer game and Lindy and I stayed at home.  We played outside and she played in the bath for awhile.

Today we had church and then Drew and I got stuff done!  We had a list of things needed to be completed and we checked them off right and left.  What a great feeling.  We are all ready to start tomorrow morning bright and early!  Bring on 1st grade!

He says he built an ice cream Sunday at Mimo’s.
The pup houses they worked so hard on!
Baking cookies with Mimo.  This girl loves to help in the kitchen.

Lindy and Jill (her PT) who said we don’t need to come back till next summer (unless we see a problem creep up)!
Where are her braces?!

Since the first day of school is so crazy, we took a couple pictures at open house Thursday night. 

Will outside his classroom.

Lindy outside her classroom.

Lindy and the VI team.  Love them!
This sign is so crowded on the first day and there is horrible lighting so we took our pictures Thursday night. 
Love the leg posing!

Ice cream social at church.  Lindy and Will with our church friends Dylan and Olivia.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!
Dancing with Daddy.

Then crashing apparently.
Playing ball with Karley.

Ms. Martha took the ice bucket challenge!  Go Martha!!