Tuesday, September 2, 2014

August Update


We've had another fun filled month to report.  A lot of weekends at the beach to finish out the summer and enjoy friends in town. We had a great visit from the Zeediks and were able to meet their darling baby boy, Bo for the first time.  We don't get to see these friends often enough, but really had a nice time catching up!  




Also had so much fun as always with the Bachmans in town!  Cathy and I did our yearly dinner out to celebrate our birthdays- both in September.  So fun to see her.  We chatted kid-free for 5 hours! Safe to say we caught up on each other's lives and it was such a blast.  Then fun to have the whole family over for dinner the next day and see the kids.  Aren't we lucky to live only 3 hours away!  Most of my Brooklyn friends I fear I'll never see again... so it's such a joy to have Cathy close by.  We commented on how awesome it was the first day we met.  She lived three floors down in our apartment complex and had been given a piece of our mail by accident.  She brought it up and I invited her in and we've been best of friends ever since.  So fun to think back on those early days with two babies each.... braving the cold NY winters and awesome NY summers at the park.  Life was so simple back then!


We had a great little beach party with Blake's office friends.... it was perfect!  Breakfast and boogie boarding.  Who could ask for anything more?  And I even jumped in the waves and did a bit of boogie boarding myself!  It was SO fun and I'm so glad the kids are getting older and I'm able to join in more!  I love holding babies, but I love joining in with the kids even more.





The boys started Juijitsu this past month and they are LOVING it.  And someone else is LOVING it as well.... Blake.  He used to do karate as a kid and he finds it thrilling to watch his boys enjoying this type of thing.  Heck, someone else is LOVING it almost as much:  me! because all the boys are out of the house getting their energy out two nights a week... haha!  Plus I like to see my men happy.




Evelyn started a play last weekend  "The Rocking Tale of Snow White."  She's thrilled and it's such a win-win because the practices are held on Saturdays.  Mostly at the same time as the boys' soccer games.  Evelyn enjoys the games here and there but it is a burden for her to watch two-three games a day and I feel so bad making her do it! Yet, she's too young to stay home alone and I wouldn't like that either!  So, being at play practice instead...is a fantastic solution! Here's a picture of Ev and her friend Marilyn at their latest show:  Off to Neverland.  It was a play attached to a summer theatre camp they attended together.

 I've been so happy to see that Evelyn is finally sleeping better.  We started giving her Melatonin at night and she is now able to get to sleep at a reasonable hour and then wake up full of energy and just so much happier than she used to be.  I cannot state how big this is!  Both she and I are thrilled!  Less moodiness, less irritation, and more happiness.... hard to beat that!


I've been keeping very very busy with primary program nearing.  And also working with some of the special needs children in our primary.  It's been neat to rely on some of my graduate school training in this endeavor.  I created a visual schedule for one four year old who needs extra support and created a handout for his teachers.  It is very fulfilling for me to work in this capacity.  I've also been creating lesson plans for the kids' classrooms.  I'm teaching a character development course for Grant and Dane's classes this year.  I"m still considering writing a curriculum for Evelyn's class. I've never done fourth grade, so it would be some work and I'm not familiar with her teacher, so again.... I'm unsure, but we'll see if I have the time! I created this cute little lesson called "everything is awesome" from the lego movie.  The lesson talks about how it's ok to feel other than awesome and outlines strategies for coping when things aren't going awesome at home or school.



And Anna is just about as happy as a child could be alone with me for a few hours every morning.  We adore that time together and life is good.  Here's a picture of Anna requesting mac n cheese for breakfast.  Hey, why not?