And we are off!

School is back in full swing, which means we have all spent the last few weeks being grumpy and trying to figure out our new routine.  I think for me, the big adjustment has been trying to get out of the office in time to be home to get everything rolling.  Even on days when we do not have a practice or a meeting we have about a billion hours of homework.  By "we" I mean We.  The kids avoid doing homework, and I stand over them and threaten them.  And by threaten I mean that I ask them a billion times if they are doing their homework.

It is tiring.

But honestly, I don't get on here to complain.  We really are adjusting fairly well.  

Peanut is having a fantastic year.  The school work, although copious, will be interesting later in the year.  She has some good friends that are in her class.  Her teacher is very good and very interesting.  She comes home bubbling about how much she likes school and her teacher.  We received word today that she is in a special math program at school.  She is very excited about, and I can tell she feels very honored.  My concern is the amount of homework she will have to do.  

BabyP is struggling a bit.  However, we seem to struggle at the beginning of each year.  He was not very happy with his teacher initially, but he has grown to really like her.  I really like her and I appreciate that she works late so I can check in with her often.  I think together we have been able to motivate BabyP to do better.  In his defense, I think structure is difficult for him in general, and I think being an active six year old does not help.  He really tries though, and I appreciate that about him.  He teacher even mentioned that he does feel bad when he gets in trouble.

BabyP and I talked a LOT at the beginning of the school year about expectation and how to meet them.  We talked through strategies for getting through the day and how we feel when we are not able to meet expectations.  He felt he was being blamed for things he did not do.  I don't know if he was or wasn't, but either way, that kind of thing happens so we worked on strategies to avoid it.

So... we are off to a great start!  BabyP is in soccer, and Peanut is swimming.  They both think they want to do scouts, so Mr. T. and I area going to finding "creative" ways to get through the next year.  Wish us Luck!!

Soccer Stars

Another soccer season is drawing to a close or was when I wrote this post.  This soccer season was a little bit different for us in that we were using our kids to meet people.  Which sounds terrible, but the truth is what it is.

BabyP really enjoyed it.  He enjoyed it last year too, but it seems like this year he really got the hang of it.  He was one of the better kids on the team and was always willing to stay in to play more.  He still complained about having to leave the house to go to soccer, but once he was out there, he was all business.

BabyP's and Peanut both had great teams.  It is interesting to me to see how the team's take on different personalities.  BabyP's team has not been together for as long as Peanut's team has nor was the team as big.  In that regard, the parents were much more open with one another on BabyP's team.  

This girl, she does not love soccer.  However, she does like to be with her friends, and being on this team afforded her that opportunity.

I also had a first where I was part of the teaching team.  I was the coach who was kind of useless, but had a big heart!  

I don't expect this one to sign up for soccer again; however, I do expect we will enjoy the friends me made on the team.  

Summer

Here are some of the highlights from our summer....

 and it was pretty dang good!

First day of school

These two cuties started school!  This was the most anticlimactic start of school we have ever had.  We bought all of our supplies from the school, and the kids had clothes and backpacks already!

This little one is struggling some.  I knew he would after spending a week with him.  I think a summer of not many rules and lots of activities, it is a hard transition for a small boy.  I have touched base with his teacher though.  We will continue to monitor his behavior and hope for improvements.

This girl seems to be blessed with awesome teachers!  When I tell people who her teacher is, they are very excited.  Peanut loves school right now.  I hope she keeps this love for a long time.  

My two hooligans.  

Summer vacation

We took probably the most relaxing vacation I have had in a very long time.  We rented a condo in Ocean City Maryland, which is only about 3 hours from us.  It was fantastic.

Ocean City has a large boardwalk, which we only went to twice.  We were very far away from there.  We spent most of our time just laying around the condo.  We did a little something everyday to keep the kids from killing one another, but mostly, just hung out and enjoyed being with one another.  (and enjoyed is a relative term when you have two kids that are prone to screaming and hitting one another.)

There are put put golf and laser tag places all along the highway that runs along the ocean.  We did not go to any of them because it would have gotten in the way of doing nothing.  I posted a picture of the above Australian themed golf course that was ripe with New Zealand flags.  Evidently, those two countries are interchangeable.

The surf was strong because there was a hurricane off shore.  It made good beaching for Mr. T. and Peanut.  Baby P and I just hung out on the sand and played.  We built some pretty epic sand castles.  I was very interested in building canals for our moats, but I sense my excitement for water conveyance falls flat with the kids.  Oh well... I will keep trying.

We took two interesting boat rides.  One took us to Assateague Island to see the wild horses and do do a little bit of catching with nets.  The kids were upset that we went on this trip because their expectation was that we would ride the "Duckaneer" which is a pirate ship.  The touch tanks and hands on activities caught there attention though.  They admitted their mom was right!

We also took a trip on the "Happy Hooker", where these hookers were all pretty happy.  We all caught a number of fish, but we had to release them all because they were too small.  

We did spend a day at the boardwalk doing some touristy things.  There was a very interesting museum there about life saving.  There was also the Ripley's believe it or not!  I don't think as a smaller person, I truly understood what Ripley's was... now I find it pretty fascinating and funny.  They had this crazy tunnel that made me almost fall down and vomit, not necessarily in that order.

And the Jolly Roger, an amusement park for smaller kids.  This is where I learned that even if roller coasters are not terrifying, riding a roller coaster with Mr. T. is.  I have never heard him scream "OH MY GOD WE ARE GOING TO DIE."  so many times.  Prior to this experience with him on the roller coaster, he was giving ME a hard time about not wanting to ride a roller coaster that does a loop de loop. Anytime he harasses me about it from now on, I am going to scream "OH MY GOD WE ARE GOING TO DIE!"

I did have the kids ride the killer roller coaster again with me, and we did not, in fact, die.  We did, however, have a really nice time.

Probably my favorite thing we did, aside from drinking wine and reading books on the balcony, we to go crabbing.  I was extra proud of this because we did not do a tour or anything.  We figured out how to do this, and made it happen!  We kept 4 of the crabs we caught, and we able to have some crab with our dinner that night.  It was hot as the dickens, but the kids and I had a nice time.  

I don't know if we will go to the same place next year, but we very well may.  We had a really nice time.