Somehow in the blink of an eye, a quarter of the way through the kindergarten school year i complete! How it passed so quickly I am unsure, and definitely not mentally prepared to be on the way to halfway through the school year. The past month was an unpleasant health roller coaster for me, meaning while I was down, driving to and from school, cooking and really doing anything was on Craig to handle. He took the girls to dance, other activities and birthday parties, and let me rest and try to feel better. While that isn’t nearly as hard to do as a couple years back (thank heavens I didn’t catch this when they were toddlers!), it is still quite exhausting, expending energy and mental stamina to solo parent for a time. I’m happy to report I am mostly on the mend and the cracked ribs aren’t as painful and healing up. I will be glad to have this month over!
This week Craig and I attended our first parent teacher conference with three kids in tow, and somehow managed to convince them to sit and color while we chatted with their wonderful teacher. It’s always fun to watch Craig sit in a 5-year-old’s chair and fit his legs against the tiny table!
Miss Tawni showed us each kiddo’s portfolio, including their self portraits, custom colored hand prints (Reagan’s even had nail polish drawn on it!), and paper collages that spelled out their names. All three self portraits boasted blonde hair and each kiddo’s color integrated into the drawing somewhere, which is pretty cute.
Overall nothing crazy to report on the first eight weeks of school; all three are progressing normally for their age and learning and developing on target for their age. As expected, penmanship in the last two months has improved dramatically for all three. While this is a great sign, I very much enjoyed seeing the custom lettering interpretation from each and will miss that short phase. I admit I saved an unreasonable amount of papers boasting their primitive penmanship as it morphed over time, and I’m okay with that. With a name full of letter “e’s”, Emerie made curly cues instead of an actual letter, but it was so cute and understandable to read! Reagan easily wrote her name by the time school started and truly enjoys writing, so her name continues to become clearer and neater each week and her capital “R’s” improving. At home she often carries a notebook and constantly writes notes and pictures. Harper often adds extra vowels in her name and is now spelling it correctly more often. All in all, I’m pretty please with their progress.
Emerie continues to patch most mornings- so half her school day- and Miss Tawni noted she doesn’t see any added frustration or limits from doing it each day. This is GREAT news, as we were unsure if patching would effect the school day and preferred to not patch after a long school day to get the time in. I assume the daily habit helps and she doesn’t question it anymore; Harper and Reagan still occasionally ask why they don’t have to do it. The kindergartners don’t have assigned seating in the classroom- at least not yet- and it sounds like the girls don’t always sit together and spread out, which is good. I can also tell they often sit by a fellow classmate, Nichole, because we see coloring almost every day with everyone’s names side by side and they tell me their favorite part of the day and it often involves her.
School pictures turned out really cute on the first try, and kudos to Craig for the cute outfit selection and pigtails since I was still sick in bed that morning. They all promised to smile big and did just that! And look, no eye patch stuck to a shirt this year- hahaha!
HarperReaganEmerie
The basic report cards for this age contain a scale from one to ten, with the majority of numbers under 7 since it’s their year one of grade school. This first quarter marks show music the highest for Reagan, followed by PE; Harper the highest for music and PE class; and Emerie highest in music as well. All three reports note continued improvement on writing and understanding their letters and an average rating for all other curriculum. We still need improvement on letter sounds, recognition, and word spelling, and need to actively practice more at home than we have recently. Now that my month long plague is easing up and energy is slowly returning, we will focus on the sounds of each letter and continuing to recognize them. When questioned, Harper claims her favorite subject is writing, Emerie likes gym class with Mr. Ivan the most, and unsurprisingly, Reagan’s choice is coloring, i.e. art class. They all sing the praises of their teacher too, as do us parents.
A few more days until Halloween and the girls are excitedly waiting for a real snowfall. I think they’ve forgotten with snow brings the cold and darkness, but either way they are excited for it.
The past month and a half since school start means long, busy days and lots of outdoor activities as we wrap up the summer and ease toward the cooler, winter months. End of August equals many late nights for Craig to finish budget deadlines, and early September wraps up the federal grant season for me and starts the next program budget round; all this on top of school and life activities and house projects. Let’s see how much of the past six weeks I can remember, since I didn’t write down nearly as much as I should have!
We ended August with a fun trip to the fair- the girls were pumped to go and wander around, get customized face paint, eat all the food (especially the dip ‘n dots!) and ride a bunch of rides. This year we managed to not immediately drop them on the ground! Somehow we timed the trip perfectly with the weather; the whole day was cloudy but no rain or wind like the prior week. Since early morning lines were short, the girls convinced the kind ladies to do customized creations. Emerie asked for a combination of her two favorite things, an “Elsa themed turtle,” which translates into a blue, “frosted” turtle and sparkles. Harper wanted a “rainbow seal,” which is quite specific and her own creative idea, and the lady laughed and looked up a seal to mimic. It turned out really cute! Reagan went all out and wanted a full panda face, but in rainbow colors. She walked around with black lips and eye shadow the rest of the visit; by the end of the day it morphed into more of an angry, tired panda.
HarperEmerieReagan the Panda
The visit also re-established that I have two thrill seekers, but certainly not three. To be clear, Reagan might not love the thrill of going fast, but she sure is brave. After the first (kid-sized) roller coaster ride, Emerie was laughing and smiling and Harper had her hands in the air excitedly, while Reagan had a death grip on the handle and a look of desperate survival- definitely not enjoying the moment- but she did go a second time with her sisters even though she was scared. We clearly gave her the choice, stating she did not have to if she didn’t want to, and she simply asked to sit in between her sisters to make it less scary and went up and did it. She didn’t appear to enjoy it the second time either, but she did it and that says a lot!
Several trips to Pyrah’s you-pick farm this summer meant lots of veggies to eat and fun to be had. The small zip line, used by climbing up the side of an old pick up truck, was quite the hit. The girls and cousins probably went down it 20 times each, and did a good job taking turns with other kids. More notably (and hilarious) was the girls’ response to some of the fresh veggies growing out of the ground. At one point Craig and Emerie were cutting fresh broccoli and Emerie was sitting in the dirt, eating the plant like you would an apple. Maybe the added flavor a dirt made it taste more authentic? Not my cup of tea…. Reagan helped me and Aunt Jenny pick two rounds of bulging snap peas and was more than happy to not only carry the bucket, but continue to “taste test” as many of them as possible. All three also insisted on running around with their fans- i.e. a rhubarb stalk with the biggest leaf possible on the end- and running around the farm yelling hello your majesty! and I am the queen!
This year’s trick-or-treat in the heat was a fun event with cousins and we managed to avoid any rain. The epitome of laziness, we didn’t go searching for any new costumes, but allowed everyone to choose a dress-up dress to sport for the night. Harper opted for her pink sequin “Aurora” dress, the hit birthday present from Grandma Sue this year, requested her hair be down and to have a dash of pink eye shadow. Emerie also wanted her hair down and insisted on the Ariel dress and corresponding Ursula necklace and purple eye shadow. Reagan asked to be Jasmine with her outfit coordination to the tee; matching headband and bubble braid, gold ballet flats, and sparkly teal eye shadow. This year’s walk was far less whiny than last years, probably because they are better at walking longer distances now, and they were more than happy waiting in line and going up to the front doors without parental participation.
The routine change into school hours started off a little rough for me personally, with tired monsters at pickup and throughout the evenings, but I believe we made it through and now it’s going better. If I plan some kind of activity or craft to do right when we get home, that seems to help with the earlier transition from school to home each night. My attempts to keep them off screen time in the afternoons is definitely raising my blood pressure, but also resulting in great sister play time (in between the fighting). Taking them to the park, which we’ve done on several sunny days this month, is not necessarily an enjoyable activity after a full school day; in fact, they get all worked up and act crazy and rude to others; and corralling them back to the car by myself usually results in some yelling, timeout threats and a lot of frustration.
One major steps in the “big kid” transition is drop off and pick up each day. Everyone is much more comfortable hopping out of the car in the drop off line, grabbing their coats and backpacks, and after fifty hugs and kisses, marching inside to their classroom. They have a password each week, a specific word of the week if you will, that they must repeat to come in. They are also so proud to switch their names on the board to show they have arrived for the day and if it’s a hot lunch day. We are also seeing great improvement on letters and what words start with what. Craig and I receive constant questions on what things start with, or the brain teasers when you have to come up with 700+ words that start with the letter “h” off the top of your head. After only several weeks, I can already see writing improvement from all three on worksheets and requests how to spell words has increased by 1000%.
Some nights, the non crazy attitude evenings, we will do letter or math flashcards at bed time. All three enjoy competing to see who can answer first, which often gets everyone riled up and yelling, but also shows they are retaining the information. The basic math- you know, 2+2 and 5+9 type numbers- result in a moment of silence while they count it out on fingers, and then extreme yelling when solved. Eventually everyone gets mad and overly competitive and we rotate who answers. Whew!
Grandma Anne came up for a fall visit for two weeks and all three enjoyed sitting upstairs on the guest bed and reading books, making chocolate chip cookies, and her trip’s sewing project- curtains for their bunk bed, with snowflake fabric and pink, purple and teal ribbons tied to the frame so they can easily make a fort or open it up when not playing. Not only is this just something fun for the cool bedroom setup, but Craig and I are hoping this will reduce the destruction we see almost everyday and have to clean up every night to go to sleep. We also probably need to purge some stuffed animals!
In mid-September after school activities started and we signed up for two clubs. While the school is definitely still working out the school day to after school activity transition and we’ve had several days all three never made it to the club, the girls are absolutely enjoying both Book Club and Puzzle Club when they go. Each week a different book theme is shared during Book Club, and from what I can tell, they all greatly enjoy trying out new puzzles. We opted to wait and do intramural sports club next session and I’m hoping that will peak their interest at some point for good physical activity in the winter. Speaking of winter activities, all three are in the same dance class this time around and while we questioned how well that would go (as opposed to splitting them up), so far so good. It helps we know a couple others in the class so the moms get to hang out while the tiny humans learn ballet and tap. At the beginning Harper was not on board sharing her favorite teacher or “her” hobby, but she’s come around with friends in the classroom and so far the fighting isn’t too bad.
Amazingly, we didn’t catch the first back to school bug until several weeks into the year. Lucky for us, everyone was back to normal after a few days and somehow Emerie managed to miss the first one altogether. The girls now all have a terrible sounding, throat cough, but with no other symptoms; all appearing fine otherwise. Let’s hope that cough doesn’t stick around the whole winter because the judgmental “covid glares” definitely still exist when out in the public, even when we know they aren’t contagious. And I managed to contract bronchitis (from them or my September conferences, who knows) that as of today, still can’t manage to kick. Craig incredibly picks up the slack when I’m down for the count and it’s a lot to do on top of full time work. Fingers cross this is my worst one of the winter and we make it through the colds months without going down again!
Much to her joy and delight, Reagan now has a couple weeks of speech practice under her belt. The pediatrician suggested she be evaluated after her five year checkup; she lost her tooth before she learned to form most words and the expansive vocabulary she shares now, so we can’t confirm if the slight lisp relates to the tooth or how her tongue forms the words. The evaluation session was a bit of a shit-show on my part, the school messed up and didn’t take Harper and Emerie to puzzle club after class and wouldn’t go for me, so I arrived late like a hot mess of mom, with all three in tow. It might surprise you to know, but I really don’t like to be THAT mom out in public and in general Craig and I have greatly improved over the years to not be a total hot mess in public. Not an easy task with three, I tell you! Thankfully the staff there were kind and provided coloring and toys for the other two while Reagan was assessed. It went so much better than imaginable with all three there at once! Now Reagan, of course, is thrilled to go to something solo, and after three sessions bright and early before the school day, she is excited to see Miss Mari and do an activity, which was painting last week while they talked. They are practicing word completion and enunciating the end of some words (I can’t remember what sounds exactly). She leaves the session happy, not realizing it’s actually physical therapy!
While pronunciation might be a little more of a battle than the expansive vocabulary we hear day to day, it is fun to hear other random phrases they randomly pick up at school or off shows. A main one right now is sister, can I have a moment of your time? which is often said to one another during playtime. Marriage proposals back and forth, or the more negative I’m not going to marry you might be the top phrase each day and still cracks me up. Multiple pet names are also chosen at random toward each other and include baby, honey, my love, darling, husband – not wife though, they can’t get behind this word- sister, and the usual nick names. Thank goodness they haven’t picked up the silly names Craig and I use on each other… 🙂
I will end this long and random update on the fact it’s finally fall time and the beautiful leavesare out, according to the girls. In fact they’ve mostly fallen since I started writing this blog last month, and temperatures continue to dip as snow creeps down the mountains. The girls still fight wearing coats during the day (at home), but are starting to get the picture it’s not warm outside anymore. My favorite pumpkin dresses that were big last year still fit, so we did a second annual and impromptu photo session in the woods after school one day. I revel in the fact their baby faces are nearly gone and smiles are much more grown up than I’m ready to process; otherwise we had some cute ones and a lot of candy bribery. My little girls are really becoming little ladies, and we are almost through the first quarter of our kindergarten journey….already!
Earlier this summer I complained about a lighter fluid incident with the tiny humans that happened outside…and let’s just say…you know what is worse to clean up AND off said children?! TILE (thin set) MORTAR.
God forbid Kid A (Harper) was chilling in a blanket on the couch, watching a movie as her Tylenol kicked in to reduce the crummy fever; me sitting with my laptop out working on emails, and Craig finishing up the tile in the bathtub and then pausing to eat some actual dinner.
In the span of 20 minutes, Kid B and C managed to explode, I mean explode, a full bag of mortar powder, to give the entire garage, and all tools, strollers, food, bikes, and so on in it a lovely layer of “snow.” It wouldn’t be nearly as bad if it were a bag of flour or sugar and covered in white; but the key point with thin-set is, adding water makes it do just that, SET. Craig’s reaction in this picture says more than any words I could say. Sigh.
Reagan managed to come back into the living room without us noticing the new layer of white on her right away; Emerie? Not so much.
Have you ever tried to get mortar out of hair, ears and eyes? Well I haven’t either….and it’s not fun. Hell, I didn’t even approach the mess in the garage and my eyes are on fire from it in the air! The garage explosion quickly spread to the downstairs bathroom and then to the one working shower we have, creating another lovely layer of white to scrub up before even trying to clean off those pesky monsters.
After multiple hair scrubs, shampoo, conditioner, soap, and a LOT of scolding, Kid B and C are confined to their beds with only one stuffed animal and didn’t put up much of a fight about it. But holy moley, I know we will chuckle on this in the future, but for now? How does one clean mortar off saws and tools without ruining them?
Only bonus I see is that only two kids needed scrubbing, not three; and the fact they didn’t bring water to the party before we realized their activity and caused cemented mortar all over downstairs. I used to dread the toddlers getting into flour or sugar and man, that would have been a nice result instead of this!
Harper sure enjoyed her popsicle while the other two were scrubbed and sent to bed. I’m not sure about any other positives to this…and with that. Good night? Want to come over and scrub some walls with us?
I can hardly believe it, but we are at the end of our preschool journey. No more toddlers or preschoolers reside in this house! I’m not sure it’s hitting me so hard simply because they are growing up so quickly, or because my brain recognizes the fact that I only get to do this transition once, because they are all the same age and we have no other children. After two different classes in two years at their current school, we are beginning the grade school journey with three little ladies starting kindergarten this week. It feels both surreal and like it took forever to get here; but mostly pulls a bit at the mom heartstrings knowing they are growing up and becoming more independent in this next phase of childhood.
We began the preschool journey at home when the girls were a few month shy of age three. With the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing and our decision to exit out of an unsupportive daycare environment, the girls stayed at home while Craig and I both worked full time; a scenario that lasted about six full months. We rotated work meetings, working bright and early and many late nights, to get our hours in and tasks done all while entertaining three small tornadoes at the same time. Reading over the blog I posted on that transition over two years ago, I remember feeling mighty overwhelmed physically and mentally, and very tired from getting up multiple times every night, all without the “break” of a kid-less work day. Not everyone would call that a break, but it certainly was for both Craig and I, allowing us to focus on work while sitting still, in quiet, and enjoying warm meals and hot coffee, something we didn’t get to do for a long time when the girls were very small.
Several months past age three, three spots opened up in the three-year-old class at Anchor, called the Ladybugs, and the rest is history. The transition into a new class environment went better than expected, something I was super stressed over initially, and I’m certain Miss Tawni and her kindness and support played a huge part in that. Emerie had several surgeries over the course of the first year and with each event, the school supported and helped us when we needed it and it was much appreciated. Her continual morning patching is still an ongoing challenge and their support- I’m not exaggerating here- has greatly contributed to the eyesight she has and is retaining in her left eye. Without all the patching and effort to keep her on track; it would be a much different story.
It’s ironic that changing life situations for your kids is so very stressful on the parents, and yet most of the time the kids ease into it like it’s no big deal; looking back and making you wonder why you were so stressed in the first place. I strongly felt this way as we moved into the four-year-old class last August, the Butterflies, and once again feel this same stressful anxiety as we transition out of preschool and into grade school. Luckily I know it will pass eventually and I just need to get out of my own anxious headspace. Deep breaths!
Looking over the past two years, SO much has changed in our day to day as well as in personality and life skills:
Potty training: We went from amateurs to pro status on all levels. Accidents are far more infrequent now. So glad to pass that stage!
Walking to the car: This was an epic (and potentially scary) task at pickup everyday, especially on solo trips. I am thankful to report within a month or so of going to preschool, they started going to the car and not running off and trying to take on the parking lot in three directions. Now all three know they are supposed to go to the car and are usually pretty obedient about it. At least they don’t run straight at oncoming traffic!
Adventuring and getting out and about: It is SO much easier to be out and about now and doesn’t take three hours to get out the door. Less structure means more opportunity to do things on a whim, something Craig and I really missed doing for a couple of years. This is likely the largest change we’ve had so far.
Napping: We lost our beautiful home naps when the girls transitions to toddler beds during the summer of age three. We had a bad track record for naps at the first daycare, whether that was my kids or some of their unreasonable rules, we will never know. All three eased into it fine and continued to nap almost every day for two years! I still don’t know how the teachers could convince them to doze off in the middle of the school day.
The talking….oh the TALKING. It’s constant. And endless. And some days I wonder why we taught them verbiage and nouns (and expletives!). Over the past few weeks I’ve really noticed how excellently they use sentence structure, adjectives, and even adverbs. Goes to show talking to kiddos without the baby talk goes a long way to helping them pick up more words and use them correctly.
Less structure– it took years, and I mean years, to get to the point we could go do things on a whim and do them safely.
Writing and coloring: The girls have all loved to color since they could hold a crayon, and this love continues to grow into pictures, shapes and letters, and now real words. We are mostly skilled at name writing but progressing on recognizing the alphabet and sounding out what different words start with.
While more fighting occurs everyday than prior to preschool, so much of that relates to the thoughts and opinions they more easily convey to each other now, and the disagreements that branch from it. Growing pains that happen for every sibling, I suppose. That, and being in permanently close proximity with family members.
The vivid imaginations also expand on the daily basis. They free play independently so much more every day, and come up with fun and random games with one another. We worked hard to limit the screen time, not allow iPads or video games (yet), and encourage creativity. Playing “kitties” and “mom and dads” are still the favorites, and soooo many weddings occur in our house.
The girls went to their 5 year old check ups in July- yes several months after their birthdays- and all have majorly grown since last year. Emerie and Reagan both had several vaccines, meaning lots of band-aids but overall good attitudes during it, and Harper wanted to know why she didn’t get to have them too, forgetting she did hers the week prior during an ear infection visit. Here are the latest stats for your viewing pleasure:
Harper: weighs 46.2 pounds (77%) and is 46.5″ tall (94%)
Emerie: weighs 42.4 pounds (56%) and is 45.25″ tall (83%)
Reagan: weighs 44.6 pounds (70%) and is 46.5″ tall (94%)
To put this into perspective, that means Harper gained 8.6 pounds and 4.25 inches in a little over a year; Emerie gained 8.2 pounds and grew about 3.5″; and Reagan gained 7.2 pounds and grew 4.25″. Considering the fact that they all trend on the slender side, that’s quite a lot! This is the first time with a significant (if two pounds counts as significant) difference in any statistics between Harper and Reagan, who have remained consistently the same for most of their lives on everything. And Emerie is working her hardest to catch up and eating everything. Her height gain puts her the closest she’s been to her sisters in quite a while.
HarperEmerieReaganTriplets!
Grandma Sue and I took the girls back-to-school supply shopping last week. The girls were excited to fill their grocery bags with all the goodies, including folders and glue and markers. Apparently I am old enough now that my recollection of school supplies is no longer reality. For example, as a kid peechee folders, themed like Hello Kitty or Transformers or really anything currently “in” were sought over and collected for school…how is that no longer a thing? I could only find plain, primary colored folders and certainly no My Little Pony styles. Instead the girls decorated those boring folders with a million stickers, because why not! Everyone was also given the opportunity to pick their own backpack; Reagan chose a teal star style, Emerie of course opted for light purple unicorns, and Harper looked right over the pink princesses and selected a teal and purple Little Mermaid one. Last year everyone had a matching princess backpacks and I’ve found it is easier to have each kiddo carry a different one so I don’t have to find the name tag to know whose is who for gear each day.
Emerie & Harper looking at books quietly!
We also visited Barnes and Noble, a first for the girls, and each picked out a book and all agreed on a princess (Sleeping Beauty, Tiana, and Merida) Lego set that we built later that day. All three did fantastic in the bookstore until we had to wait in line; as I perused books, I found Emerie and Harper sitting quietly on the floor, thumbing through new material and Reagan a few steps away playing with the assembled train set. I believe we finally found Emerie’s happy place: a bookstore!
Sue and I then organized all the crafting and artwork, puzzles and miscellaneous finds from the front hall closet and craft bins while the girls put the stickers and other cool finds to good use. The living room ended up completely destroyed that afternoon, but now I have a much better functioning front area, all ready and organized for school.
Are the girls excited for kindergarten, you ask? That is a resounding YES followed by shrieks of enthusiasm. There were countdowns. There were requests to know how many sleeps until the start! There were many questions about it. These requests started occurring the day they turned five; so you know…questions for months! All three were so proud to be in the big kids’ class for two days before we left for adventuring for two weeks prior to the year starting. Everyone enthusiastically shared they didn’t have to nap and went outside THREE times in one day. Another highlight- big kids are allowed to go to the bathroom unsupervised, and that one was quite exciting. Another epic piece of this life change is their 3-year-old classroom teacher is teaching kindergarten this year and we are beyond thrilled. I’m not sure who is more excited, the parents or the kids! This solidified our choice to keep them at the same school and not go to our zoned public school down the road, knowing they adore her and will hopefully start off their grade school experience growing a love for school and learning. We are also thrilled that only seventeen kids are in their class; and we make up three of them!
Their favorite teacher, Miss Tawni!
The first day went surprisingly smooth. It probably helped that we attended “meet your desk” the day before and they saw the new room set up and greeted their beloved Miss Tawni. With all the late nights the past few weeks, we accidentally managed to reset those internal clocks to sleeping in a little later in the morning too, from the typical 7 AM (or earlier!) wake up call for the past two years. If you are wondering, sleeping in generally means to 8 AM, and with school drop off about 8:45, it is a nice reprieve to have a quiet house for longer in the morning. I expected a little resistance at drop off, but after all the pictures and enthusiasm from the morning and seeing so many classmates from the preschool class, as well as new back-to-school dresses and hair ribbons, they were more than content checking out the new classroom and letting us head off to work. No parental or kid tears occurred, and that’s probably a milestone in itself! All three simultaneously answered the first day was FUN and that is about the only description I received. When asked if they sat at the same tables, I received three different answers and have no idea what actually happened.
I asked each kiddo their favorite part of their first two days of kindergarten: without a beat Reagan responded playing with Miss Tawni (although I’m guessing the 10+ drawings are probably part of that list too); Emerie thought about it and responded playing with Miss Tawni while she worked. We didn’t cross the line by her desk; she said we couldn’t cross the line. Nothing else was her favorite thing today; and Harper said only playing with Nicole! I managed to ask this question to all three so they couldn’t hear each others responses, but overall they all end up being quite similar.
Headed to meet their desk!
On a random and funny side note, on the drive home from pickup yesterday the girls were asking for the millionth time when it will be their birthday now that they started kindergarten. We listed off the family members ahead of them…Papa Lon, Uncle Will, cousin Jaren, Papa Cliff and then Craig, cousin Chatum and me, and cousin Corbin, and then it will be time for their party. After grumbling sighs that it’s too far from now and will take forever, Reagan went off on a tangent about knowing other families at school who have 3 kids in their family and they have three kids but don’t have to share their party. They all have their own birthdays. It doesn’t make sense! (her exact words). It doesn’t make sense that I have to share my birthday party with Emerie, she’s littler than me. When I retorted with everyone is the same age, she disagreed. Funny to see her brain churning and trying to figure out how their age sharing affects their birthday. Everyone was then arguing over who is oldest, youngest, or “middlest.” I’m not sure I fully convinced her to agree with me. More discussion is ahead of us I’m certain.
The third day of school I attempted drop off at the front door and not taking them inside to the classroom. Everyone gave me a hundred hugs and kisses and stood on the curb as I drove away. My prompting to go inside was not helping and eventually one of the school staff shuffled them in the door. Now we just have to learn what gear and shoes need to come home each night and to remember to bring lunch boxes each day. We will be there in no time!
After several requests to know what new activities happened each day and no success on a real answer; all the practice drawings and writing came home on Friday. Reagan had the most, as usual throughout preschool, and a compilation of coloring pages in addition to practice pages. Harper was excited to show off her rainbow drawings. Emerie brought one drawing straight into the car and demanded instant attention to look at it and hang it up at home.
Even after the first week, their letters are already changing slightly with the adorable curly cue for Reagan’s “g” and Emerie’s “e.” I looked through the workbook pages and all three did pretty well, marking out bad behavior on the one pictured here and hopefully following directions during class. I’m excited to see what else they work on; after all, I’ve never had a kid in grade school before, let alone three of them at once!
As I finish writing this blog, we are officially out of all things preschool and diving into the next stage of childhood. I’m excited to see vocabularies continue to expand, improvement on reading and writing skills, and the ability to do more things without as much pre-planning and total chaos. It is already a game changer from three months ago and finally feels almost fun to adventure to new places and try new things, without as much stress involved.
And how much they’ve grown in only a year. At least we haven’t yet lost the requests for hugs and kisses and willingness to see parents in public. If anything, they are asking for more snuggles after being gone all day in a new experience. Here’s to Kindergarten!
And just like that, the final two weeks of summer vacation; meaning the time before our first school year kicks off, means some family adventures and activities to round out the season. I started day one of fourteen with kids home off with a bit of a bang- while Craig went into the office at the crack of dawn, I worked a couple hours before everyone woke up, made requested zucchini muffins during breakfast, completed a couple loads of laundry, packed up lunches and the car, loaded everyone up and drove down to explore the wildlife conservation center about an hour away, AND made homemade, puffy chalk paint, that the girls proceeded to make a HUGE mess with on the driveway (and themselves).
This was our first conservation center visit in quite a while and it was probably the nicest, least windy weather we’ve ever had there. The girls played with stuffed animals and counted waterfalls on the drive down, and saw the train twice! The shrieking for a train sighting woke up Emerie, who had drifted off to sleep. She excitedly watched it out the window and went right back to sleep. Everyone was more excited to pick dandelions and other flowers than get up close and personal with the rescued animals. Emerie walked around the center announcing I’m a triplet! to anyone nearby, whether or not they wanted to know or were remotely paying attention to us. Silly girl. We ate packed lunches at the picnic table by the playground; at one point a hornet- or some kind of massive bee related bug- drove all three away screaming. Now every time anything even close to the same species flies by; everyone scatters. Even dragonflies and mosquitos. Needless to say, there is more reactive screaming now than previously.
By the end of the day I was TIRED from overdoing it a bit, and the girls were asking to go to bed by the end of the night. Reagan and Craig picked up Grandma Sue at the airport and everyone snuggled into their beds afterwards and drifted right off to sleep.
The following day Sue and I packed up the car and headed down to the Kenai Peninsula for a few days of adventure. We are getting quite good at long drives with the kids and made it down in one straight shot, only stopping once for a random traffic backup. No naps, no screens, a lot of snacking and music, and of course, coloring. Tiny notebooks and multi-color pens are great for drives. The tunes for this whole week were the new Little Mermaid soundtrack- the girls ask for the songs Prince Eric and Ursula sing, not Ariel- and a lot of My Little Pony, the movie and the show. I recently introduced them to some “old” techno with Cascada, and they now ask for her by name, and a couple songs from Imagine Dragons. It’s cute that they fight over the band name; Emerie is convinced it is Magic Dragons and Reagan argues it’s Imagine. Harper just asks me to play the magic in my bones song!
Great photo with Grandma Sue
The girls were SO excited to see Becky and spend a few nights at her house on the lake. After asking for a solid year, you know since our last stay, they were more than excited to play in the yard and run up and down the stairs. Becky made her fancy pasta salad and brisket and all was well in the world! I may have eaten that salad for breakfast the next day…it was THAT good.
With no agenda for the trip other than to do whatever we felt like whenever we felt like it, we spent day two traveling down to Ninilchik for a quick visit with Cousin Brian and an afternoon in Homer. The farther south we went, the nicer the weather, so by the time we arrived on the spit, it was glorious. After a fantastic late lunch of burgers and fries (and soda sips courtesy of fun grandma!), we explored the docks and looked at boats, walked on the boardwalk and took pictures in about every cardboard cutout, checked out the catches of the day, tested out some sorbet, loaded coat pockets with shells, and reluctantly checked out the swing under the boardwalk, with a high tide underneath. All the random strangers entertained the girls questions and comments, especially those cutting or hauling fish caught that day, and we stopped to ogle at the 109 pound halibut hanging at one of the charters. The girls watched the experts fillet fish and toss the bones, with both interested and horrified expressions. Emerie announced a number of times to a crowd of fish professionals, that she hates fish and it’s DISGUSTING. Harper and Reagan watched with interested but also wouldn’t go anywhere near any of it. Maybe someday we will get them to like salmon…but for now they will eat halibut, especially when told it is chicken!
Cousin BrianLunch timeEw, fish!
We left the beach with less shells than our last visit, mostly with instructions that only whole and unbroken shells couldn’t come with us. You can tell the beach is one of their happy places the moment they see one. Emerie is instantly throwing rocks in the water with loud giggles of pleasure, hefting big ones with joy and watching the splash; Reagan immediately hunts for a good stick and scrutinizes the sand for treasures; and Harper hollers after finding each big shell and random bird feathers, which made it all the way back to Anchorage with us. Oh yes.
We tried Face-timing Craig on the return drive and they were so wild, it was just screaming and three kids yelling into the phone all at once. We stopped one time at the only solid fireweed patch we spotted the entire drive, and the girls entertained their mother’s request and smiled and wandered through it for a few photos.
The following day we wandered around the area and searched for treasures at random garage sales. Nothing crazy, but some great scores and a good way to explore Kenai and Soldotna. Grandma spotted an amazing old dollhouse with tiny furniture that was worth more than the fifteen bucks we spent on the house. Packing that into the back of my SUV, with all our trip gear and bikes, was quite the adventure in itself.
After a delicious lunch at a recently discovered restaurant in Soldotna with Craig’s cousin Jamie and Steve, with noodles and oodles of egg rolls, fried rice and broccoli for the girls, we meandered over to the park across the street and did the traditional stroll down the riverbank boardwalk. The riverfront beach area that we played on in June was completely submerged underwater, so instead the girls checked out each fishing group at the bottom of the access staircases. One group caught and released several red salmon and everyone sat quietly at the top of the stairs and surveilled. Another kind lady brought her catch over for the girls to see up close.
Jaren and Savaya stopped by after a bit and broke out their fishing poles, so we put life jackets on the girls and let them carefully walk along the riverbank while the experts reeled some fish. Harper had the one snafu of the afternoon, who lost her footing going down the grated, metal stairway and would have tumbled fifteen feet down and into the flowing river, except that I happened to be standing several steps below her. Some tears, a bloody knee and bruised leg and foot later, and they were back to exploring.
The rest of the day was spent playing on the dock and in the yard, soaking in the sun. With only a light breeze and intermittent clouds, the lake was smooth as glass. Over the three day visit they must have biked the driveway loop a hundred times, enjoying the hill and practicing how to balance on the way down while in traffic. It stayed warm enough for swimsuits and Jamie’s kiddos Amber, Hayden and Maddy swam in the water and played on the floats with the girls. Hayden attempted to catch a fish and bucketed minnows for them to play with. You could hear goofy giggles from afar on the float as the girls sat with Amber and devoured a snack, and also somewhat tortured her! The girls wouldn’t commit to swimming, even given the warm weather and great water temperature- well Reagan tried for thirty seconds and was not a fan- but they did enjoy splashing their feet, scooping buckets, and playing with the dock ropes. Watching Hayden jump off and into the water was also quite the hit; about as much them torturing him on the float out in the water or later on the grass. Lots of snacks, chit chat with family, and silly kiddos made for a nice and relaxing afternoon. It’s wonderful now that we are at an age they can play and mostly entertain themselves and the adults can actually converse with each other! For the most part they fully entertained themselves and played with family. Other than the minor whining and meltdowns throughout the day, everyone was mostly on good behavior and having fun and everyone patiently waited to go down to the dock until adults were ready to go. Kids don’t float!
Enjoying the sunFinally broke out the rompers!Silly kids
In case you were wondering, Harper also learned how to whistle this week. She now walks around whistling about as much as Reagan breaks into random song, and it’s pretty cute. She is very proud and also announces to strangers at the store that she can whistle! Reagan and Emerie are less thrilled that they haven’t quite figured it out yet; Reagan’s missing front tooth certainly isn’t helping her learn it. Reagan managed to find all kinds of cool treasures this trip, that would all end up in my pockets somehow. She picked unripe cranberries and put them in her purse, green pine cones, and tons of clover and other flowers so she could use them later.
I also discovered that Emerie still chatters in her sleep; at one point I woke up enough to hear her snap I told you the color was purple! and then settle back down with a grunt. She said another phrase at some point that night, but I wasn’t awake enough to remember it the next morning. Emerie was also a good sport about patching a couple hours each day of the trip, since she does that for the mornings at school. Throughout she was still biking and running around doing her thing, her only request to sit behind me or in the middle in the car, so she can see out the window with her left eye.
More fun activities continue during our staycation before kindergarten starts next week, including a visit to the you-pick farm in the valley and meeting up with more cousins, this time Tyler and Chatum, for a quick lunch and minor torturing. We also snapped a couple photos sitting in Uncle Chris’ vintage teal truck (Reagan has told me it’s hers but I don’t think the boys will agree with that!) and everyone is looking so grown up. Grandma taught them how to climb up the side of a less vintage truck in the driveway (since you know…Tyler has multiple options!), and now all three proudly pull up on the tire and hike a leg over the side of the truck bed and taunt us to come get them.
The Douglets 