More books and a quick trip

Four more books by RT have arrived at our house over the past week. "Colrs", which includes such entries as "GRA" and "BLOWE"; "Dots", which goes from one to five; "Pekshrs" (with the s's backwards), with a drawing of a stick figure, a traffic light, and left and right hands; and "Peses frum 1 to 10", which I think is "Pieces" and has drawings of upside down triangles. I don't get the things from his bookbag every day, so I'm not sure in what order these were created. They are being stored in a safe place, and I might even have to put them all together into one big book when he's through with this phase.

On a completely separate topic, guess where we were last weekend?

Dan's closest friends from high school had a sort-of impromptu reunion at one of their houses in Arlington, VA, so the boys and I decided to tag along and spend time with my close friend, Bernadette, and her husband who do not live very far from Dan's friend. We are all smiling in the picture, but most of the rest of that day was spend whining (Greyson) and snipping (me) at the whiner. Fun times! There was a great science and technology fair going on (you can see the tents in the background) but we only did a few genetics exhibits before we all died from the complaining. I did ask someone from the NIH if they were also handing out grants, but the answer was no. At least I got a laugh. We had a surprisingly good lunch at the Museum of American History, and we got to park in the parking garage of the Department of Energy and get special visitor tags and get scanned multiple times, so the kids got a good idea of what it's like to work for the government these days. We also stopped at Antietam on our way to DC, but I haven't downloaded those pictures yet. And that's where the whining started, so I'm not even sure if there is a good one in there anyway!

The kids are getting quite excited for Trick or Treating tonight, but I haven't let anyone open the candy bags yet. Mostly because I know then I'd be digging in. Reece already got to wear his costume yesterday for his school parade, so you can at least get a first glimpse of the cuteness that a five-year old at Halloween still is. Just be sure you tell him you think he's scary.

Fall and giant chess

I can not stop being in awe of the leaf colors this year, especially the maples. So I had to take a picture, although here you can really see the limitations of the iPhone camera. And my lack of photo-taking talent, but I refuse to care about that.

We have been in the shopping plaza where the giant outdoor chess set is twice now in a week, and the kids can't get enough of it. Reece doesn't even care if he loses to Greyson so long as he can move the pieces (especially the rook - usually his first move). When he takes one of Greyson's pieces, he knocks it down like he's playing wizard chess (see Harry Potter book 1 if you don't know what that is). I keep expecting someone of authority to come out and yell at him for this, but so far we've been left to ourselves to play as we see fit.

On a related note, Dan has an iPhone now (the 4, but I am not jealous - much) and took some better pictures of the boys playing the second time, but he hasn't yet played with all the features so they remain on his phone for the time being.

Reece the author

In kindergarten, there is "free choice" time apparently, and Reece has been spending his writing books. Then he brings them home and reads them to us before bed, and then he files them in the bookcase in his bedroom. Because they are books. However, they do not have a plot, and the illustrations are extremely rudimentary, but he could not be more proud of himself (as are we, of course).

 Reading one of his books to Dan last night.

The first was his A-B-C book, which is currently missing somewhere in the house. The second was titled "People frum 1 to 10" (in kindergarten phonetic spelling). Here are the cover and page 10 from that one:

The third and most current one is "Rods frum 10 to 1". Meaning ROADS from 10 to 1.

I am extremely curious to see where he goes from here, because knowing him he's not likely to move on to 10 to 20 due to the sheer quantity of work involved. Then again, he's been so excited about this, he might decide it's worth the work to produce such masterpieces.

Taunting fate

Well, my last post made it seem like everything was going along pretty smoothly at our Casa de Chaos, didn't it? Clearly, I should have included some of the glitches that occur, because fate (or someone who hates me) decided to throw us a major glitch at the last minute...our after school babysitter quit with one day's notice VIA TEXT. Sunday afternoon, I glanced at my phone and noticed that she had left me three text messages. When I viewed them, I think I could actually feel my blood boiling. I'm usually the calming force in this family, but I had to put my phone down in another room just so I didn't call her and scream obscenities at her. (And I would like to thank those near and dear to me who offered additional ones I hadn't thought of. Laughter definitely helps put things in perspective.) Because it's mostly my life that this kind of thing affects. I had to rearrange my schedule and cancel appointments this week to find prospective candidates, interview them, call their references, and now call them back to tell them whether or not they have the job.

So, long story short, the one we now call "doofus" worked for us Monday since we had no one else, I explained as calmly as I could (Dan went for a run so that no police had to be called in) how furious we were and why, and how she probably could have handled it MUCH better (she's 28 for god's sake!) while she tried to defend herself, saying that she had to do what was best for her (she was offered a tutoring job at the school where she teaches), and then I told her I just had nothing more to say about it and she left. I spent $135 on two online sitter services, contacted about 15 potential sitters, interviewed four, and picked one who lives within walking distance of us and will start Monday.

However, I'm not willing to mess with the fates or gods or whoever else wants to use me as a pawn in their board game, so here is full disclosure of the things I didn't mention in the last post:

1) The laundry is being done on an emergency basis at best, accompanied by all the problems you'd expect with such a plan. One morning I had to dig a pair of pants out of the dirty laundry for Reece, and that's when I realized that he only had about three pairs to his name that fit him. A semi-expensive trip to Carters followed.
2) I had to ask neighbors to take Reece in the morning three different days because my brain didn't comprehend that those 9:30 meetings meant there was no way I'd be able to take him to the bus stop at 8:55. I have since signed him up for twice a week before-care.
3) We've eaten out or ordered in close to half the days in the past two weeks. And eaten the leftovers or make-your-own-sandwiches the other days. Even though we're still getting a full bag of food from our CSA. I'm not even going to list here what I've thrown away.
4) There's just no way we're going to get to an apple orchard together this year. 
5) Reece's Halloween costume is right off the rack at Old Navy, and Greyson doesn't even have one.
6) I'm responsible for half of the cookie dough package being empty.
7) On a related note, I haven't exercised in at least a week and a half.

I know there are lots more, but I think I'll save them for a post a week just to keep a proper balance in the universe. On the grand scheme of things, of course, my problems are completely inconsequential. A very good friend of a friend died recently leaving a young family, and I've been watching all the It Gets Better videos with appreciation and sympathy.But sometimes, it feels good to wallow in my small world of crazy until someone makes me laugh and I vent in my blog and then I can move on.

Ambling into October

Reece and a neighbor at our block party - the city sends a fire truck or police car or both if you register the block party with them (they also provide blockers for the ends of the street), and the kids love it every year

I haven't posted lately because there just really hasn't been much to say. I find the minutia of our lives to be pretty all-consuming of my time and energy, but I'm pretty sure it would be incredibly boring to anyone outside our household. We've settled into a routine that, while varying from day to day, repeats itself week to week like we're stuck in some kind of time loop.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the kids and I get up and going and head to our respective schools. The slight variation occurs on Wednesdays when Greyson has to pack a lunch and carry his French horn to the bus stop because he has band practice during lunch. Then the babysitter comes after school to be with the kids until Dan relieves her around 6pm and I arrive home shortly thereafter and immediately make dinner for the starving crowd. Thursdays I usually work from home, and Reece has ice skating lessons after school, plus Dan works late so the kids and I often have creative meals for dinner. Fridays I leave early and Dan gets the kids out the door, then I get home in time to meet Reece's bus. Saturdays we sometimes have an activity, I try to get to the farmer's market, and we do a lot of chores around the house and try to veg out. Sundays are Sunday school and sometimes church, then Dan is consumed by the Browns game from 12:45 until 4:30 while the boys and I occupy ourselves in various (usually pretty unproductive) ways. I did get Wii Carnival Games through a swap (via swap.com), so we've been playing that a lot on rainy days. And then Monday starts all over again.

I did get pretty productive last weekend, making duvet covers for both boys' beds out of jersey material sheets, and I reorganized (for probably the 10th time) my clothes closet (which also serves as our medicine/linen closet for the master bath).

 Reece's duvet. He won the "green war" this time.

 Greyson's duvet. Dan calls it the blood-red bed. Pretty cool for Halloween at least.

 Half of my closet. I first repurposed some Itso items I had in the basement and then realized I needed more, so what was supposed to be a cost-free endeavor did not end that way. As usual.

It felt great to get those tasks done, and the boys actually seem to be sleeping better with their new bed covers. An explanation: Neither boy has been using his top sheet on his bed unless it happens to be made of the jersey material, and even in that case it was ending up in a squooshed pile by their toes and I was having to wash their blankets every week or two. So I decided this was a better solution, and I couldn't find any ready-made jersey material duvets through online searches. I found some jersey sheet sets on sale at Target, got the kids to pick their colors, and sewed two flat sheets together to make the covers. The bonus is that now we have two fitted sheets for each bed in the same color and material as well as some pillowcases, and I think it all cost me way less than any regular duvet cover plus sheets would have. In fact, their beds are so cozy now that Dan and I have been threatening to sleep there instead of them!

And finally, on the farming front, we've pretty much let the garden go back to nature. The squirrels demolished the sunflowers, and the disappointment in not getting the seeds for ourselves was made up for by watching the sheer determination and creativity of the squirrels' adventures in trying to reach the seeds. Wish I had gotten video.

However, we are still harvesting a few items before they rot or animals get them. Here's today's take:

These are each actually only about 3 inches in length, and odds are good that the eggplants will end up going directly into the garbage in a few days. Might have the tomato for lunch, though.

Five going on fifteen

This morning...

Reece: Mom, I can't zip my jacket. Would you do it?

Me: I thought you knew how to do that already.

Reece: I guess I haven't mastered this skill yet.

The kindergarten best friend

Reece has a best friend already. And while that is no real surprise, since he has seemed to need to identify at least one child to be closest to ever since he started daycare, the child he has chosen (and who has chosen him) IS a little bit of a surprise. Because he only knows her from the bus. Even before he started kindergarten, he knew personally three kids in his classroom and another half dozen kindergartners in the school just from our friends, preschool, sports, etc. He had never met his new best friend before they were assigned to the same seat on the bus, and the only other time they see each other is at recess. It turns out that she has an older sister who is Greyson's age, and she and he are both in a class together this year and both play the french horn, so maybe that's what attracted Reece and his BF to each other. Who knows. All I know, the rest of us may die from the cute.

He didn't even tell us her name right away, he just referred to her as "my best friend". One evening last week, he put three Lego Harry Potter character stickers on his belly and said he wasn't going to take them off until he could show them to his best friend (but no one else) because, "She's not a fan of Harry Potter like I am, but her sister is, so I think she'd be interested in seeing them." On Tuesday, he had a headache while in school and spent about an hour in the nurse's office but apparently was feeling better by recess time (I know, convenient, but that's actually not like him - yet). When I asked him about the whole thing later, after telling me what happened, he said, "I had to get outside to tell my best friend what happened and so she wouldn't miss me." If they were 8 years older, I'm sure they'd be texting each other non-stop.

So now we're at the meet-up stage, where he's going to have a playdate at her house tomorrow after school and we moms can meet face-to-face. There are many reasons I'm glad the boys aren't in aftercare this year, but I think this is one of the best ones - being able to play at someone else's house after school. I have to admit, I'm very curious to see what this little girl looks like and what her personality is. Reece has tended in the past to become closest friends with more dominant children, especially girls, so I'll be interested to see if she fits that type.

Hiking the road (or overgrown path) less traveled

Before I get to the real focus of the post today, I'd like to mention that I have caught the Dreaded Family Cold. I'm calling it that because it seems to pass particularly fast among family members and makes one feel just yucky enough that you don't want to do anything but not sick enough to call off work/school when something important is going on. I had two meetings today so needed to go in to work. And I probably would have just puttered around the house rather than resting, so it's probably better that I'm at least getting some work accomplished (well, and blogging).

The leaves around here have only barely begun to change, except for this maple tree at the metropark, which was probably 3/4 complete, and a few I've seen on my drive between home and work.

On Saturday, the boys and I met my brother and his family for lunch and then we did a little hiking in one of the Cleveland Metroparks near us. Nat likes to geocache whenever possible, so he brought his gps and the four boys and he and I started into the woods.

 Checking the gps to verify the coordinates.

 Heading down with the requisite walking sticks and water bottle.

However, because the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, we quickly left the nicely groomed path and set off UP and into the woods. And then down again, then across a small ravine, then up again, and to the coordinates location where we found...nothing. The kids, however, had a blast. It definitely reminded me of when my brothers and cousins and I would go wandering around in the woods at Black Lake in search of something or nothing - it didn't matter. On our way back to the entrance area, Nat again took the steeper, less groomed route with the kids and I elected to follow an actual path, which got me down the hill faster than the others so I was able to snap a few pictures from below.

 The boys and Nat trying to figure out the best way to descend.

Isaac chooses his own path and gets down first.

Reece after he made it down. I was VERY glad he wore brown shorts based on how much time he spent sliding down hills in the dirt/mud!

Hopefully, we'll do more of these kinds of hikes before the weather turns and maybe even find something at the coordinates!

I can text, I can text, I can*...

So I just added texting to my phone plan. I was able to drop my data plan down by $5 which happens to be the exact cost of the 200 text messages a month plan, so it was a zero sum venture. However, if my neighbor and I keep texting the way we did the first day my plan went into effect, I'll blow through 200 in about two weeks.

Why did I succumb, you ask? Well the old "everyone's doing it" reason seems to fit here, or at least a variation of it. Basically, about 3/4 of the people I keep in regular contact with do not have phones with email, so if I want to tell or ask them something pressing but not urgent, I have to call and interrupt them and probably end up talking for a while when neither of us really has that kind of time at that moment. I know, it's the end of civilization that we no longer take the time to talk to each other. Whatever. I haven't handwritten a note to someone outside my household in probably a year and I seem able to maintain close relationships. Or at least digitally close ones.

So now I just have to learn all the shortcuts. The best one I've received so far was from my brother-in-law who, in response to my message letting him know when and where I'd pick him up, replied "K". I'm going to have to go back and bone up on my CDB books.

*with apologies to Rita Golden Gelman

Moving along towards fall

School must have started, because two of the four of us have already caught colds. I really thought we were past most of the illnesses, but apparently there are some out there yet that we need to experience. Greyson is home from school today, and Dan is coming home at lunch. Luckily, I was able to rearrange some things and stay home, but I don't know what we'll do when I can't do that. Actually, I do know - Dan will have to be the at-home parent. Where's our live-in nanny???

We just hung around home over Labor Day weekend, and the boys and I even biked to Greyson's school one of the days to play at the playground there. The kids are getting bored with our usual playgrounds (rough life, I know).

We all seem to have settled into our new school/work situations (only Dan didn't have any major changes this year). Reece is already saying he likes snack time best at school, so I think the honeymoon is over. The boys got to go to Fundaze this past Thursday because they were off from school for Rosh Hashanah, and they visited the Holden Arboretum. The best part, for me, was one drop off and one pick-up. Because they'll never be at the same school together, this is my only chance. I'm actually rooting for more days off. Greyson wasn't so thrilled, either with the trip locale or the fact that Reece clung to him much of the day, but Reece had a great time.

On another note, I'm thoroughly sick of cherry/grape tomatoes and the garden in general. Between the overgrown tomato plants and rotting tomatoes scattered around them and the sunflowers that are bent and half chewed up from squirrels, the garden looks like a hurricane hit it. The good news? The basil is still healthy and growing and hasn't been taken over by the cucumber plants, and I'm going to make pesto soon. Everything else I am seriously considering taking a mower to. Well, if we had a mower.