One Week to Go

It is safe to say things are getting real around here.  More and more boxes appear every day around this house.  Lists are made and thankfully, items are getting crossed off.  In a week, a great group of volunteers will arrive at our house and help us move all of our belongings from this house to the new one.  It is hard to believe this is actually happening.

This week we will actually have access to our new house.  We are doing a lot of painting, cleaning and setting up before all of the boxes and big items arrive.  I also have to meet several service people at our house throughout the week too.  I have a feeling that this week will just fly by.

We’re ready for the range of emotions that each member of this family will go through as we leave this house.  I think everyone is excited, but this has been our house for quite some time.  Change is hard, even if the move is not that far away. 

In other news, we started CC this past week.  I felt very comfortable leading my class this year after tutoring all last year.  Nicholas, who was nervous about being in a new, older class, ended up loving it.  Daniel had a good time in the nursery this year too.  They both had a first day of school picture taken there.  They turned out pretty well. I cropped the signs a little since they had the city in it and I try to keep that off the blog.  :)

Daniel continues to enjoy preschool.  He’s brought home a lot of artwork.  He still has no problems being apart from me all morning.  But, he does have a big smile on his face when Nicholas and I come to pick him up.  On Tuesday, I was thinking how much I missed him.  On Wednesday, he was home and I remembered why we send him to preschool.  It is so much easier to get things done while he’s there.  I think it was a great solution for this school year.

Well, I haven’t really taken my camera out much in the last week.  Here is all I have:

Daniel found this step stool when we were getting some things packed up.  He likes to use it as his own, personal picnic table.

Finally, you may have heard that he is a crazy sleeper.  He never stays in one place.  I went to wake him up one morning and this is what I saw:

See, crazy sleeper! 

Well, that's all I have for now.  So, ready or not, here comes move week . . . .

1st Day of Preschool (Take 2)

Daniel is going to preschool two days a week this year!  I’m not really sending him for academics and I am still working with him at home.   I think that Nicholas needs some one-on-one time and in turn, Daniel will get to do his crafts, sing songs, and play with different toys. 

Daniel and I went last Thursday to meet his teacher.  He was able to see the room and play with some of the toys.  He ended up having a good time and didn’t really want to leave.  I saw this as a good sign.

I took a couple of pictures at home this morning.  I bought him a junior size backpack.  It is so cute and small - perfect for him.  We also had it monogrammed. 

So, on the first day, we could bring Daniel to his class.  We hung up his little backpack under his name and he went right in.  The teacher’s aide helped him wash his hands.  Then, he went off and played.  No tears.  No goodbyes.  He didn’t even look at us when we said “bye” to him.  No separation anxiety here.  I may have had a few tears in my eyes, but I held it together pretty well.

Nicholas and I both noticed how quiet it was at home.  We’ll miss Daniel, but I’m planning on making some days a little more special than others.  Nicholas is really struggling in some areas (not academic, just life), so I am hoping to make him feel like these are special days for just the two of us.

He did feel his brother’s absence though.  Near the end of our time together, he asked when we were picking up Daniel.  He was even anxious waiting out in the hall for him.  When we were let in the classroom, Daniel saw us and came running to us.  Nicholas stepped in front of me and hugged his brother.  Then, the two of them held hands the entire ride home.

I’m glad the boys have such a close relationship.  That is one of the reasons I like homeschooling.  They are together a lot!  They have a lot of good times and then have to learn to work through the hard times.  I think Daniel being at preschool will be great in so many ways, but we will definitely miss him too.

I think he enjoyed today.  He told us all about the songs he sang.  He played play-doh.  He doesn’t know any of his new friends’ names yet.  And, when asked if he wanted to go back, he said, “no.”  I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but hopefully, Thursday’s drop off will go as smoothly as today.  So, that’s just another exciting thing to add to our month of September.  

Life Lately

I had every intention to be more regular on my blog, but it has been two weeks since my last post.  Like I said before, it is not that I have nothing to blog about.  I just have so much going on at once that it really isn't a priority.  Our move is in three weeks (or less depending on when we get the keys) and our house is full of boxes.  It makes the room feel even smaller than it already was.  But, we are excited and it is starting to feel more real the closer we get to the moving date.

School has kept us busy.  We have also had some orientations and meetings for other school activities as well.  I don't have any pictures of Nicholas doing schoolwork, but I took a few of Daniel.

Daniel loves cutting with his scissors.  He can sit there for a quite awhile just cutting away.  He really doesn't make too much of a mess either.  If you look at the arm of the chair, that's where he put all of his little scraps of paper.

Daniel does a little bit of school each day.  He usually asks to do it, but if he isn't in the mood, he asks to play first.  Then, when he is done he comes over and does his work.  There are no themes.  Just little activities to help mostly with learning his letters and numbers.

The other day, Nicholas really needed my full attention with his school work.  So, I did something new for Daniel.  I put on some youtube videos of preschool songs and let him just sit and watch.  He really enjoyed this activity, but it isn't something we're going to do too often.  He'd be there all day!

With all of the boxes, comes a lot memories.  We've found so many things we haven't seen in awhile.  The boys suddenly found their most "favorite" toys ever.  Daniel cracked us up by dressing up in this get-up:

Super Elmo?

Daniel and I were looking at old pictures of him as a baby today.  He saw one of his monthly pictures that I used to do up until he turned one.  All of sudden he got up and said, "This is going to be so funny!"  Here is what he did:

Daniel - 3 years old

Compare that with this:

Daniel - 4 months old

I think he's grown quite a bit in almost three years time.  His feet now touch the ground!  I love that he came up with re-enacting it all on his own.  He is just growing up so much.  He really makes me laugh with some of the things he says.

Speaking of that, he loves to tell us that he doesn't like sleeping.  He tells me on a regular basis, "I don't like naps and I don't like bedtime."  That has been the case his entire life.

Also, he always wants lunch.  He doesn't like dinner.  I always tell him he can call it whatever he wants, but that's what I'm making.  The other day he said, "You can make dinner for you, but I want lunchtime."

Nicholas is growing up too.  He is days away from being 8 1/2 years old.  He is very into building with his Legos.  He often comes up with some pretty realistic creations.  School-wise, we just finished our third full week.  We have one more week of school before CC starts.  Nicholas is in the oldest class this year.  He is the youngest in it, so he is a little nervous.  Thankfully, he knows most of the kids, so he should be okay after the first week or so.

Labor Day weekend means more packing since Evan will be home.  Our garage is pretty much done (that housed most of our stuff), so we'll be moving on to the inside of the house.  Even though we don't have tons and tons of stuff, it still feels like we have way too much.  We've already made a couple drops at the local thrift shops.

September is definitely an exciting month.  Will I blog about it?  We will see!