Grandmom, GG

Apologies for differences in font sizes. Could not edit these.


This morning, Grandmom passed away peacefully. No words can express the imprint she has left on our hearts and on this world. She has been the best grandmother to us and an amazing great-grandmother to her great-grandchildren. Just these past few weeks, she made sure to keep up with the children's goings-on, and as always, remembering to send cards for their birthdays. This past Saturday, she even managed to sing happy birthday to Olivia. There are so many wonderful memories and she shared so much life with us that it is hard to imagine what it will be like without her. Yesterday Ethan said, "If heaven is full, then GG will be the very first person in the next heaven". He is so right- she lived in a way that was a truly outstanding example to us all.

TGIF

It's been a little of a crazy week. Ethan wasn't feeling well a couple of days ago then the moment he got better, I got really under the weather (with something different). Starting to feel human again. Valerie and Julia had soccer yesterday and both of them did so well. They really are taking to that sport! Julia scored two goals in a scrimmage, with Ethan cheering loudly on the side lines. It was so cute, the louder Ethan cheered, the harder she played and had this fantastic look of determination on her face. I didn't get to see Valerie play, but Steve said she did a great job as goalie- seems like the dad as coach, daughter as goalie thing might be history repeating itself. Ethan had cubscouts last night too and he had a blast- they played dodge ball. Olivia is oblivious that tomorrow, her second birthday, is such a special day! We will celebrate as we head to MD to a very special family wedding this weekend!

Julia, budding artist

Some art work by Julia. It is amazing how something suddenly snaps and a child goes from drawing very abstract shapes to recognizable scenes! We are very proud of her.

Weekend 9/14-9/15 2013

We had a really nice weekend overall. Saturday we took the kiddos to the library and they each picked out three books. Ethan is a voracious reader these days and picked out several chapter books (he's read one and in the middle of another already). Valerie picked out some Junie B. Jones books for us to read to her. Julia picked out several chapter books- which she pretends to read. And Olivia picked out several board books. After that we went to the zoo and had a blast (see several pictures above from this trip). Julia requested the picture of her on the rock, usually we don't get requests and they try to avoid pictures- so I was pleased to oblige. The Riverbanks zoo really is beautiful and there are a lot of particularly kid friendly aspects to it.

Sunday was great because E,V and J each had some time with friends. Ethan got to play with a friend from school who happens to live in our same neighborhood. Valerie went across the street to play with a friend her age/grade. And Julia had a roller skating birthday party to go to (see pics above). Olivia wasn't at all shy about trying out the skates. Unfortunately, Olivia had a fever for some of the weekend, but it clearly was viral- we worried anyway though, b/c she has programmed us to.

Some things I have noticed about South Carolina/South Carolinians- They pronounce on, "own". They only have license plates on the back of the car. This leaves the front of the car available for a plate of one's choosing. One that I saw today said, "Possum, the other white meat". Also, Sunday around 9 a.m. is a wonderful time to do the grocery shopping. Eventually we'll have to find a church and shop with everyone else in the afternoon, but we haven't yet.

Livy's Song

I know I shouldn't be shooting movies while driving, but I couldn't resist this morning. Two days ago, Olivia kept asking where daddy was on the way to school. Then yesterday she repeated over and over that daddy was at work. This morning she put it to music.

Valerie Loves Daisies

Valerie went to Daisies last night. She was reluctant to go, but had a great time and afterwards said she was really happy she'd been there. The Kona Ice truck was there and talked to the girls about running a business. I think she's working towards a badge at each of these meetings. It is a very well organized troop! We're supposed to go camping in just a couple of weeks.

Homework

The school year has just begun, but so far the kids are pretty gung-ho about doing their homework. Last night, I pointed out to Ethan that he needs to read 40 books this year. He said "Hold on one minute Mommy, I'll be right back!". He returned with a pile of books, pretty much every substantial book that he had ever read on his own. He seemed a little deflated when we explained that he needs to read 40 books starting now. But he does read every night and enjoys it, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Valerie was excited to do her homework on the computer. Really the first time (for both of them) that teachers have used the computer as a tool for homework in earnest. Her teacher has also given her some creative extra things to do- like go outside after the sun sets and just see what it's like out there. The night she did this, it was overcast, so no stars were out. She said "all I saw out there was lightning", sounding somewhat disappointed.

Julia wants to do homework too! She is supposed to work on writing her name. She has INCREDIBLY neat penmanship. Last night, she sat down to work on this and wrote "Julia" once very neatly. Then I asked her to write her middle and last name using my example. She sat down and wrote some random letters and was clearly done.

Olivia doesn't have homework, but we all read at night. Ethan and Valerie will read to Julia and Olivia as well as to us. Julia will pretend to read to Olivia. When it's bedtime and I try to put Olivia into her fire engine bed, she commands "Rock!". So we rock in the glider. And when I put her in bed she says "Sit down!". You don't dare not do what she says! Putting Julia and Olivia to bed is a challenge every night. Neither wants to go to bed. Julia tries her best to keep saying something the moment Olivia has drifted off. We usually have b/w 2-3 night visits (1st Julia, then Olivia and sometimes Ethan; Valerie has always been a real sound sleeper).

This morning, Olivia was trying to tell me several things on the way to her daycare after dropping off E, V, & J. "I want Oh Oh". (?) "I want Cho Chet". (Chocolate???). She kept repeating these things over and over and was getting so upset at me for not giving her whatever it was she was asking for. Hopefully we'll have better communication tonight- and hopefully I'll have what she wants!

Ethan's USC field trip

Last week, Ethan's class took a field trip to see USC play a volleyball game. Here is a slide show that the teacher put together. I think we may have a Gamecock on our hands!

http://www.stpeters-catholic-school.org/2013/09/usc-volleyball-trip/

Low Key Weekend

This morning went smoothly. Ethan is a huge help in the mornings. He practically jumps out of bed to get ready for school, and when he is done, he helps me get all of the backpacks in the car and even helps to strap his sisters in. After I dropped E,V and J off at school, I have about 20 minutes to have conversations with Olivia on the way to her school. Some things she said this morning were "Daddy's at work" (over and over) and "I want to get out now" (over and over). Last night I was holding her while cooking and we walked over to the stove and she said "That's hot" and right after that I was cutting some veggies and she said "That's sharp". I know these are simple things, but it is always amazes me when the children say something new, and she says something new every day.

We had a nice but low-key weekend. We took the kids to Viva La Vista in Columbia, which was fun. I took the girls grocery shopping while Steve and Ethan were at baseball. Valerie and Julia were huge helpers- more help than you could ever want! Valerie and Julia are really excited about soccer and spent some time this weekend practicing outside in the back yard. Valerie is also really good at baseball, perhaps a new realization this weekend, when Valerie, Ethan and Steve were out playing catch. E,V,J, and O saw a lizard eat an inchworm that was dangling down about 8 inches in front of it. Valerie, Julia and I collected interesting things from the yard to expose on sun-paper. A lot of cicada bug carcasses stuck on our pine trees.

My ankle is doing well; able to be on my feet all weekend (I broke it in three places in June for those who didn't know). Did some baking this weekend, played games with the kids and tackled a couple more unpacked/unorganized areas in the house. Seems like there are always just a couple of areas left, but when we address those spots, there are still a couple left. Steve hung up some pictures and it's making our house feel even homier. Steve and I watched "House of Cards" on Netflix which we really enjoyed a lot.

Busy weeks ahead

Now that school has begun, extracurricular activities are starting all at once. Ethan is in the Dixie Baseball League and cubscouts. Valerie is a new member of Daisy's (girl scouts). Valerie and Julia are playing soccer (Steve is Valerie's coach!). Ethan and Valerie will be starting piano back up again within a week or so. There are going to be some times when we have three (or more!) activities happening at once (Thursday- two simultaneous soccer practices, and sometimes- a baseball game 15 minutes after soccer ends, and cubscouts). Trying to figure out how to squeeze in some homework and a family dinner! At least Olivia is just a (very mobile) spectator at this point. Last night, she spectated at Julia's soccer game right in the middle of all of the action whenever she could. Here are a couple of pics of Julia and Livy from about a month ago- since Aunt Lindsay noticed that we have a lot of catching up to do for these two.

A New Start in South Carolina

We've taken four plus years off from blogging and I think it's time we start again. Particularly considering we've moved away from so many friends and family and I've had a hard time making phone calls! So I will try to document some things regularly so those who are interested know what's going on and can see some pics of the kiddos. So far, everything is going great here!!! Since I spent a bit of time updating the webpage itself, I won't write much today. Stay tuned!