Anglophiles

When Andy was little we, I mean he, used to watch this adorable show on Disney Jr. called Charlie and Lola.  I have no idea if it's even on the air anymore, but it was a show about a brother and sister and how the mature older brother dealt with the craziness of his little sister.  The characters are British, which makes the show even cuter because it's two little British kids talking to each other about the craziest thing.

We've had a Charlie and Lola book for a while, but Amanda just recently started to enjoy reading it before bed.  I forgot how much I loved their little stories so I bought about four more of the books, which both girls also enjoyed.  I'm not exactly sure how, but one day I started reading them in a British accent which the girls thought was hilarious.  It made me kind of sad that they had never seen the show because while I was reading I could hear little Lola and Charlie's voices.  Of course the books have more book titles on the inside cover and we also discovered there are DVDs.  So, for Amanda's birthday we got her the complete first and second season DVD set of Charlie and Lola.  The girls love watching it and I like it too because Charlie is oh so patient to his little sister's craziness and it is fun to see how he handles everything.

Unfortunately, the girls love them a little too much.  They have taken to speaking in horrible British accents, not just repeating lines from the DVDs but also saying everything.  This evening it was my turn to drive car pool to Andy's football practice.  We had to leave the house around 4:40 to pick the other boys up and get them to their 5:30 practice on time.  The crazy Colorado football post will be saved for another day.  Then he had a two-hour practice and then I had to drive them all home.  Usually I wouldn't wait at the practice field for the entire practice but tonight the weather was horrible and it could have rained with lightening at any time so we stuck around in case practice ended early.  I had to listen to the girls speak in those completely incorrect accents for three and a half hours.  Nonstop.  By the time we got home I was done.

Needless to say they went straight to bed when we arrived and we did not read any Charlie and Lola books this evening.

First Day of School

Yesterday was the last day of summer, which means that today was the first day of school.  Well, for some anyway.  Andy and I started our dance of getting up at 6a, this year I moved it back to 6:10a, and him ignoring me while he eats breakfast and plays on his iPad and I make his lunch and do whatever else.  Last year I just played on my iPad too, this year I'm going to actually try to engage him in conversation and leave my iPad alone until he leaves for the bus.  Then I'll have about 15-30 minutes before the girls come down and my day really begins.

So Andy was off for school by 7a and then the girls needed to get haircuts and go to school for picture day and teacher evaluations.  I love that they do pictures when I am right there to "help" the photographer and they don't mess up their nice clothes on the playground.  So much easier.  Sarah met her new teacher (she is only 24, I could totally be her mom) who is super nice and helped take care of her first day worries and Amanda is back to not being so sure about Kindergarten.  I can't hold her back another year (or can I - but I won't) so she's just going to have to figure it out.

I think Andy had a little rougher day than he expected.  He's not in the same math class with the two guys he drove over with last year and "it's hard to make friends".  Yes, buddy, that's the story of our last three years here.  But he is going to do fine, just a long, tiring day.

I am mandated by life to take a going back to school picture, so here it is.  April from New Jersey asked if he actually went to school with his hair like that and maybe was still working on it, but what you see is what you get.  Keep in mind, he's only 12 and he's not quite that worried about his looks just yet.  He basically told me that you can go to school with just showered wet hair and nobody cares, but you can't go to school with bed head.  As far as he sees it those are the two choices.  Man, if everybody viewed the world the same way he does life would be so much simpler.

Happy Birthday Amanda!

Today was Amanda's 6th birthday.  Holy cow!  It's hard to believe she's been around for six years but even harder to remember what our lives were like without her.  She drives me crazy, but she is also the most snuggly mama's girl I've ever known.  This family would never be the same without her.

In celebration of her big day and because it is next to impossible to throw a summer birthday party, the whole family went to Water World today in her honor.  The girls and I went about a week ago for a Girl Scout event, but Charlie and Andy had never been.  We rode huge rides in big, family-sized inner tubes and we all had a blast.  We're hoping to have a real party for her in about a month (after she makes some friends at school), but if not I think she would still say her birthday was a success.

Happy Birthday baby girl!

The Last Day of Summer

Friday was the last day of summer.  Okay, technically today was the last day of summer.  Well, if you want to really get technical, September 20 (or so) is the last day of summer, but not in the kid-parent-teacher calendar.  Andy goes back tomorrow.  The girls have teacher assessments tomorrow and go back Wednesday.  We will finally be back on a schedule, the kids will be gone all day, ahh.

I hate to do recaps, but I haven't been on here in over six weeks.  If and when the kids and I go back and read this blog, they are going to wonder what the heck we did this summer.  It's mostly the usually stuff, family and friends and camps and such, but what exactly happened this year?

This was the summer where:
1.  Sarah went to Girl Scout day camp with Julia and they were the first two girls in the troop to earn a badge as Juniors.
2.  Andy did his second year at CCO (sleep away camp in Winter Park) and the girls and I had a great adventure of spending the night in a hotel and then playing on the mountain (alpine slide, the maze, bungee jumping) before picking him up.
3.  We went to Chicago and saw Aunt Kathy's new addition, went to Shedd Aquarium, spent some time with Jack during his last summer before college and left right before they got a new puppy!
4.  Continued on to Aunt Nanci's for the first Fourth of July party at her new house.  The kids met Jason and Jack (we have yet to meet Joey), and we even got to spent the weekend with Tudor.
5.  Spent the last leg of our trip in New Jersey where April was eight months pregnant and a total trouper.  Charlie came on the entire trip which was a big plus and fun for everyone.
6.  Sarah went to horseback riding camp and may have finally, by the last day, gotten over the fear of getting thrown of a horse so many months ago.  She was a different person by the end of the week.
7.  Tried out a new house in Destin because we outgrew the old one and we really liked it.  We realized as the kids get older that the trip morphs a little bit each year - we are excited and nervous to find out exactly what that means.
8.  Sarah and I went to a Parent/Daughter Girl Scout weekend, camping in tents and everything.  It was way over scheduled and a little much for her but we survived.
9.  Andy went to Michigan to visit my parents all by himself.  They went to movies, the zoo, and just hung out ignoring each other a little bit as well.

I wish I had written more in depth about all of these things, but I didn't.  I wish I could tell you that I was so busy making memories that I didn't have time to write, but that really wasn't the case.  I hope I can get back on track and start writing more because I know at least my parents love to read what the kids are up to and I know several of my friends do too.  I don't really have any excuses now that I have three kids in school all day long, hopefully I can stick with it.

I Will Run For Fro-Yo

On Sunday the whole family did a 5k.  The kids have been saying that they want to do a race since I do three or four a year, so I found one that they couldn't resist.  The Fro-Yo 5k.  They run a 5k, and at the end they get frozen yogurt.  How hard could that be?

We started out all together, but Andy got bored with how slow we were going.  We were moving pretty slowly, he was walking while the girls were running and he was still ahead of them.  So even before the first mile we told him he could go on by himself and just wait for us at the finish.  After about 1.5 miles Sarah was widening the gap between her and Amanda, so the two of us went on and Charlie stayed with Amanda.  He said it was touch and go for a bit and Amanda almost just stopped and sat in the middle of the sidewalk, but they did end up finishing about 10 minutes after Sarah and me and we were there to cheer them on for the last tenth of a mile.

Overall, Sarah did great.  I kept her pace so when she wanted to run, I ran.  When she wanted to walk, I walked.  She never gave up and even though her feet hurt and it was really, really hard for her, she kept trying to run and she finished without complaining.  I was so proud of her and she was so proud of her medal!  I don't know that the girls are going to want to run another race anytime soon (they would prefer the next one not be over one mile), but Andy claims that he wants to run the Hot Chocolate 15k with me in October and also a 10k some time in late August or September to prep for the Hot Chocolate.  I don't know how well that's going to go and this time we really need to train, but I would love to instill the love of running in my kids because although it's something that I found later in life, it is amazing exercise and you can do it anywhere.

Here's a picture of the family before the race started (yes, Andy is ALMOST as tall as Charlie):

Make A Wish

I was driving in the car with all three kids last week and Sarah noticed that the digital clock read 3:33.  So I started one of my "when I was a kid" stories, which they actually like right now instead of roll their eyes at, and told them how I used to make a wish when all the numbers on the clock were the same but if you looked back before it turned to the next minute, say 3:34, that your wish didn't come true.  They asked me a ton of questions and then we discussed all the technicalities and how 10:10 and 12:12 didn't count because they weren't all the same digit but 11:11 did.

A few days later I was driving Sarah and her friend, Julia, home from Girl Scout camp.  Somehow they got on the subject of the clock and wish making and Sarah started explaining it to Julia just as I had explained it to her.  Andy and Amanda were in the car as well, piping in to give clarifications on the "rules".  Since Andy is now 5'3" and over 130 pounds (crazy, right?) he was in the front seat next to me.  As we're listening to Sarah explain to Julia that 12:12 doesn't count, Andy tells me how that morning he looked at the clock at 5:55 and it was really hard not to look back for an entire minute.

I looked at him and asked if he made a wish.  His response?  "Of course I did!"  Man, how I love to pass on these stupid, little, crazy things to my kids and see them embrace them wholeheartedly.  It put a huge smile on my face.

Picture of the Day

It wouldn't be the end of school without the "last day of school" pictures.

 
Amanda already had her last day but she wanted to get in on the action.