School Days

Can it be here already? First day of school came to our house today. Olivia is starting at a new school today, The Kinsella Magnet School of Hartford. I had a lot of trepidation before school started. She's going from 7:45 to 2:15 (aah!) and it's in Hartford...so it's not at all what she has experienced in the past. But, it's Olivia...one of the most adaptable children ever (are you listening Luke??). So, she psyched herself up for the first day (seeing the dance halls, piano rooms and the theatre really got her pumped) and went to school with a great attitude. We hung out for the first 1 1/2 hours to see how it went. They met in their rooms and then headed to breakfast.

It was really hard to stand back and let her do it all on her own, but I won't be there with her everyday, so I had to let her get her own food. She did well with her drinks and bagel. But, she was confused (as was I) at why she had graham crackers for breakfast. She ate them.

After that they all got their balloons with cards attached with their names on them and headed off to the annual balloon launch. This is something they've been doing for years (despite the fact that tons of birds have probably choked on those balloons!) and this year it was special because they just opened the doors to the new school (literally they were pulling the stickers off of things as we visited the other day! We unpacked toys for the teacher). The mayor was there for the opening as well as some VIPs from donating corporations (Travelers Insurance and CL&P) and 2 news crews (I did sort of miss doing shoots when I saw them doing their stuff). It was pretty cool to see all the balloons go up and the kids were really excited (except the kids whose balloons got stuck in the trees...or didn't get off the ground!).

After the launch, we waved goodbye and left her there for the rest of the day. When I picked her up I got the typical conversation.

What did you guys do?

I don't know...played.

Did you read a story?

No, my teacher doesn't read (not true)

What did you eat for lunch

I don't know...something silly

I might have to ask the teacher what they did just to give her a prompt!

UConn Dairy Farm

Growing up with a farm up the street, it's easy to take for granted seeing cows up close, but kids really seem to like viewing farm animals. We headed to the UConn Dairy Farm the other day to get some icecream and see the cows being milked. I didn't get to see much of the milking because Luke decided to have a panic attack as soon as the cows came into view. But he rallied for the horses, and really came all out for the ice cream!

fun with the cousins

Our best attempts at getting all four in a picture. Not too bad...

We thought it would be fun to make a cake for everyone's birthdays since we don't get to spend them together. The kids had fun "frosting" the cake which consisted of lots of stabbing and licking of spoons. The cake was definitely a "masterpiece" when it was done! Between the frosting and the layers of sprinkles it was sugar heaven!

Friday we decided to try our luck at Sesame Place despite the extreme heat. Here are Luke, Bea, and Olivia waiting in line for the merry go round. We were able to see Elmo (from a distance, and the count and cookie monster...the distance was probably a good thing for Beatrix!)

Itook one for the team and rode the teacups and the balloons that spun and went up in the air. We managed to get some of the water park in before the storm came to drive us all away.

Shore Thing

A few days after we got back from NC we packed up the car to head to NJ to visit with the cousins who were out visiting from Wisconsin. The first day we headed to the shore (in NJ, you must call it the shore, not the beach) with my dad. Ainsley and Beatrix had a great time playing in the waves, and eating on the boardwalk.

After filling their suits with sand we headed back to grandpas for some ice cream. Bea had to leave early for a snooze, but I managed to get the three remaining in a picture with grandpa!

Crabs

On the way back from NC we stopped in MD at uncle Derrick's house for a sleepover and a huge crab dinner with Derrick and Michelle's family. Olivia was really fascinated by the whole crab experience. She really likes her shellfish!

Sunset Beach

We just returned from our annual trip to Sunset Beach, NC. Once again, the kids had a blast at the beach (never wanting to get out of the water).

This was a great year because they were SO good at entertaining themselves in the water by themselves. They were also perfecting their sandcastle skills and of course (in Luke's case) throwing balls and frisbees.

End of camp

Thursday was the end of camp for Olivia (boo hoo!!!). She really had a good time (or she's a good liar) and learned the song they had to sing for the show so well they gave her the microphone during the show. She had one line to say about the color green (they did a show based on the rainbow) "My brother's favorite shirt is green"...which came out "My favorite brother's shirt is green"...it made Luke feel special. She had a huge cheering section with just him!
Then she proceeded to lift up her dress a bit on stage (my friend quickly ran over to congratulate me on Olivia's first peep show...gee thanks Deanna) luckily she was wearing her bathing suit underneath (phew). Luke started yelling out "Put your dress down Olivia!!" It was pretty funny, and yet embarassing seeing as how she was the tallest, oldest one up there and she was acting like the baby!!
I had some compliments from the counselors who offered their babysitting services to me since my kids "are so well behaved"...(evil laugh inserted here)...little do they know! But, I will probably try them out since we have yet to try a sitter and the kids actually know the counselors!
I'll try and post some video of Olivia singing, it was pretty cute! No peep show though!

Summer break

I took a summer break from my blog...I just didn't have the patience to sit down and type while someone was crawling on my lap, or whining for some food, or asking me to iron his shirts (Luke, you're such a diva sometimes...).
We've spent a lot of time at the pool this summer, and it's paid off very well for Olivia. After spending the early parts of the summer just dipping her face in, she decided to fully submerge on our trip to Wisconsin. Then, the same day she finished her 4th week of swim lessons, she finally let loose and swam a few feet. She's been making progress swimming with her 'ice cream scoops' (everything is about food to kids) and I think she'll be ready for the swim team in 2011. She was really reluctant to jump off the side of the pool. I thought she would never even try it. Her swim instructor tried to get her to do it a few times and I really tried. Finally I just sort of dragged her in and she realized it wasn't scary. After a few minutes of going from holding two hands, to one hand to one finger she finally decided to try it on her own. Boy did she catch on quick! She hardly even jumps to her feet, she likes to jump in and land on her butt on the bottom of the pool.
She found a jumping buddy named "Catherine" and Catherine tried to teach her to do a cannonball (she was a bit bossy...was this was I was like as a little Catherine too??). Now she's working on diving. It's hard though because they only let you dive in the 10 feet and she's terrified. So, we try it in the 5 feet when the guard isn't looking. (really, she's not going near the bottom...this is really a bellyflop we're perfecting!)
Luke is making progress too...but in the baby pool. He'll walk in the 2 1/2-3 1/2 ft pool, but he's not excited about getting his face wet. But, he's mastering the baby pool walking on his hands and doing belly flops there! I have to drag him out of it every time we want to leave!
I had to laugh because Olivia passed the beginner class at camp...while she's on level 3 at Pine Acres...I am guessing she wasn't showing them her stuff at camp because "bubble blowing and kicking on the wall" are a piece of cake for her these days!!