My Big Fifth-Grader

Erika, sweet Erika. When did she grow up? I can remember the day she was born like yesterday. She never ceases to make me proud and starting 5th grade was one of those times. She showed lots of apprehension switching schools, but her positive disposition shined through and she had a great first day experience, besides it being hot! (No air conditioning) She said at least she's in the basement! I asked her to give me a few things about this week she would want to share, she smiled and started rolling off her experience...

1. My teacher can get a little strict. She only lets us go to the restroom one time in the afternoon. She's understanding when it comes to helping students when they are having problems, though.
2. The teachers for specials are really nice. This week we spent time just getting to know each other.
3. Switch classes are going to be fun!
4. Locker combinations are pretty tricky! A boy named Mitch who has a locker next to me, helps me. I've tried it at least three times the last two days, and I've only gotten it right once!
4. Lunch is very noisy, but the food is surprisingly good!
5. We have a new bus and it has air conditioning and smells new. I like to ride the bus to school and sit with Brooke, but I am glad my mom is picking me up after school.
6. I am so relieved to be reunited with old friends, we picked up right where we left off! Two are in my class, and I see about 4 more at lunch and recess.

Tennis, anyone?

I am still amazed at what a young age children are placed in sports and how intense it is. Having three children and not liking to over commit, I have struggled with all of them participating in sports and having our evenings so busy. They have tried different things at the Y, and they've enjoyed gymnastics, golf, dance, swimming, baseball, and soccer. My kids just haven't figured out what they love and I'm not exactly sure what they are really good at. Although Erika would rather just draw or sew, I want her in some kind of sport. She was in a tennis camp at Tom Harrison Tennis Center in Springboro this summer for 10 weeks, which was a lot of fun. She had a great experience, and she'll definitely play next summer, too!

Dirty laundry, anyone?

We've been in our house five years, and with Rob and I on the first floor, we throw our diry laundry on his closet floor. The girls are upstairs and they have the convenience of a laundry chute. Weekly, I pick up (or Rob if the mound begins to touch his clean clothes), or Rob often complained of stinky clothes on the floor, so I invest in a hamper. I conveniently place our hamper in our bathroom, and silently sigh at how we can't manage to lift-the-lid-and put-dirty-clothes-in-hamper. Uggh.... so now it's not that we are stinking up clean clothes in Rob's closet, we can't lift the lid to the hamper! (sigh) Men... :)

School Haircuts

Who knew going to get our haircuts would be so much fun? I took the girls to The One in downtown Lebanon, which was a treat in itself for them- they felt so grown-up. We are used to Great Clips, so getting their hair washed and styled was big-time! The styles were a hit! They all chose to get a different look than what their typical style is... Ellie had the beautiful french braid in the shape of a heart, Emily had them curl her hair with soft waves, and Erikas' was straightened. Lots of fun!

Anticipation

Is it really that our children get anxious for school, or that they are just feeling their parents' anxiety? I have made such an effort to not discuss school (unneccessary information) in front of my girls with their transition after two years from private to public. I know I will be faced with my decision daily, as I continue to keep in touch with friends I don't want to lose touch with as well as hear my girls' daily happenings in their school days. After much discussion with my husband, and incredible amounts of prayers, I've decided to stay home and be mom to my girls and a wife to my husband. I know God has a path for me, and His plan was for me to make the friendships I've made at The Academy, but I've also learned that I need to be home and focus on my family. I found myself engrossed with my profession, and lost focus. In a few years it will be easier. I pray now that my girls forgive me that I sacrificed their education on me being a better mommy and wife. I know they'll be "ok," but I look at this picture that Emily experienced on the 100th day of school, and I only pray she experiences school in Lebanon as meaningful as she did at The Academy.

Bathtime!

Bathtime in the summer doesn't occur nearly as much as it does in the winter. We blame no baths on our opportunity to "rinse off" in our neighbor's pools. Anyways, here's a preview of what bathtime looks like without suing the pool as an excuse! No callers on swimmining in the pool, so bathtime it is!!!! Here is our lovely mess leftover!

Summer Reading

The girls look forward to the library's summer reading club each year. With Erika being our rule follower, she made sure we only read the books that were checked out from the library and you had to read at least 50 pages (chapter book) for it to count as a book. I remember a couple years ago when I dreaded the trips to the library when Ellie would hide in the aisles and I would frantically whisper her name, only to find her with a stack of books pulled off the shelf around her. Now the only difficult thing is being in three different areas of the library and getting the girls to check out only five each. We rarely waited the full two weeks we had before they wanted to go back and get more, and they loved the process of writing their list of books and marking them with stickers. Erika and Emily finished a few weeks ago, and Ellie would have too, she just took longer filling out the sheet, as you can see in the picture she wanted to write each title herself. To celebrate complete the club, they got a fabulous t-shirt they proudly wear often. One of their favorite memories was taking the books over to the Golden Lamb and reading under the gazebo. They are already wondering what next year's theme will be!

You go girl!

My Er-Bear! Ok, so I called her that when she was in kindergarten, maybe even earlier. Now she's in fifth grade, so I guess I need to just say, my Erika! I picture her my little girl, but when I watch her in tennis and swimming, she is so big! It has been fun watching her progress every five weeks to the next level at the Lebanon Y, and seems to really enjoy it. I have never been one to push a sport on any of my children. I feel there is plenty of time for team sports, and to relish in just letting them "grow up." Unfortunately, there is a consequence with this, kids are forced into sports at an earlier age, and it seems so political. With Erika, she is a happy-go-lucky kind of girl that just wants to please her mommy. I am pleased with her just trying it all out, and so she seems to like swimming, tennis and golf. Interestingly, all individual sports. And that's okay. Now she wants to play the flute. Where do we stop?!

Hannah Montana Time

After going to the water park today on I think the busiest day of the year, the girls were pretty wiped out. The picture reflects what I found on the bed after they got their R & R. I smiled to myself and thought, someday my bed will be made everyday and I will miss finding the spoons (peanut butter lollipops) left on my bed. But until then I will just sigh, take a picture, and relish in my little messy girls.

Camping fun

I've been out of touch with technology for about a week, and part of me felt a little withdrawal and the other part felt it was really good for the soul to take a break from the outside world we feel so addicted to. We have had a camping trip to Dale Hollow planned with my sisters and their families and my parents planned for quite a few months. The girls were so excited to be camping and boating with their cousins, so it was a big disappointment (and scare) when Rob got a horrible tooth infection and had to have a root canal. He was so sore and in lots of pain, but when he went to tell the girls we weren't going, he couldn't tell them no. So we packed up and went. He healed pretty quickly and we ended up having a blast! We couldn't all fit on the boat at once, but we had plenty of fun on land as well! We made sit-upons, God's eyes, parachute, made grilled stuffed apples, played cards, went on a scavenger hunt, and lots more. Although camping is lots of work, it is really worth the memories.