October 15, 2013 at 03:37PM
A Tweet: C stayed home from school today. G told her that he missed her today and that jus “eyes teared up a little” when he was doing his work.
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Category Archives: houlenbabies
A Tweet: Gabriel: I don’t want to have a job when I’m older. Robyn: Why not? Gabriel: because I want to stay home with my kids when I’m married
September 25, 2013 at 09:26AM
That Went Quick!
It’s really hard to believe that it’s already been a full school year for the kids. They’ve really grown in so many ways since September. They’ve learned a lot although the big changes have mostly been social, I think. Chloe has developed close friendships with some of her classmates and grown closer to her friends in the neighborhood. Her new obsession is talking on the phone and via messaging with them. She loves to communicate!
Chloe’s last day of kindergarten
Gabriel’s last day of kindergarten
Gabriel has definitely found his own “voice” independent from his sister and made his own friends even though they’ve been in the same classroom.
When talking to them before bed last evening, both kids asked if they have to be in the same class in first grade. They’re definitely craving their separation and hopefully the school can accommodate this next year.
When we asked Chloe how her last day of school was, she said her eyes got teary when she said goodbye to her teacher because she’s going to miss her so much. I hope Ms. Barrett enjoyed our kids as much as they liked having her this year because she’s retiring after this academic year.
Now it’s time for summer!
Flying down the slide!
I love this shot of Chloe going down the slide at Modick Park in Hopatcong. It’s quite a steep slide and her hair is flying out behind her while her face shows how surprised she was. It had been a while since we were at the park so I guess she forgot about how fast it was.
My latest Instagram: Domino adventure
on Instagram: http://instagr.am/p/VXEEQGLfq_/
Dominoes marching into the cave of death. Love the colors in this shot!
Kindergarten Orientation
Today was the kids’ orientation for kindergarten in September. Last night Robyn and I went to the parent orientation where we met the principal and she explained what to expect over the next few months and we had a chance to ask her any questions that we might have. Towards the end of her presentation she showed a slide show of some past students with some sappy music that had everyone tearing up. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place.
Today, we came back with the kids for their orientation. Both Chloe and Gabriel were excited but they also squeezed our hands as we entered the building. As soon as we got down the stairs into the school Gabriel said “I’m scared” and began rubbing his eyes and crying. He got his name tag and we walked over to the little rugs that they had assembled in the auditorium but he did not want to let go of my arm. The principal talked to him and explained that we would be in the room right next door while he and Chloe sat with the children but he was still scared so we walked over and showed him where we would be. After we came back to his mat, the principal gave him a hug and I said bye and walked away. He was crying but not too bad. Robyn and I went and sat down and we were happy to hear that he wasn’t screaming or see that he was running out of the room. In a minute, we saw the principal out in the hallway so we knew he had calmed down a bit. Within 10 minutes she came and told us that he was fine. Yay! The kids got a tour of the school and Robyn and I sat with the other parents and chatted. After their tour, the kids got to ride in a school bus and then came back for a snack. They both enjoyed their day and seem excited for school!
My latest Instagram: Boy & bike
The little guy has been having fun on the bike that Gram and Harvey gave our kids. Late last summer he used to ride the thing like crazy up and down our driveway. He was practically unstoppable. Then, suddenly, when all his other fears kicked in, he stopped riding it because he said he was afraid to fall. We put the bikes away for the early part of the winter hoping that he would get over it in time for the nice weather. The winter weather was practically non-existent this year so we busted out the bikes in late February and early March and took them out to ride up and down the road while Harvey and I watched. Chloe was never really gung-ho about the bikes in the first place but she got on and gave it a try, too. It took a while, but Gabriel seemed to get his “mojo” back and was riding cautiously. He was really proud of himself.
My latest Instagram: This could have been me 33 years ago except I would be playing Pong!
on Instagram: http://instagr.am/p/VCDsL/
Big Kids’ Beds
Yesterday, the kids’ new beds were delivered. Robyn and I have been talking about moving them up to bigger, more comfortable beds but we have been putting it off due to the size of their room. We mulled over getting bunk beds (too high) and captain beds with storage drawers underneath (too pricey) and every layout variation (not that there are a lot of options for the size of their room!) we could think of. Since I got a nice bonus this year and we got our good tax refund we decided that this was the time to make the move.
Finally, we serendipitously found a great solution in a newspaper ad – box spring mattresses with drawers built in! They were not much more expensive than standard box springs and they are normal size so we don’t have to deal with them taking up more room than they need to. Of course, Robyn found a great deal and we bought them and all the necessary items to go along with them. We paid for the delivery and set up and everything went quite smoothly – even getting their old convertible cribs into the attic for storage:
How to store a crib in the attic
We were able to Freecycle a ton of stuff and throw a lot of other old toys and puzzles away to make room and tidy up before the delivery. It took all of about 15 minutes for the guys to set up the bed frames, bring up the mattresses and box springs, stack them on top of each other, dispose of the plastic and shipping stuff and head out. Well worth the delivery fee and $20 tip (I can’t let those guys leave empty handed…maybe I should have asked if they needed an some old toys or cribs?). Robyn set about prettying things up with sheets, pillows and comforters and we were finished by about 3pm!
Big Kids' Room
The kids’ first night didn’t go as well as we might have hoped. They were so excited about the beds and screwed up by changing sides of the room and the whole new situation that they had a hard time falling asleep. When I got home from running a few errands (Chili’s for mom and dad!) around 9:30, Robyn told me that the boy had just fallen asleep! Yikes!
Sidenote: Apparently, I am unable to eat an entire Chili’s hamburger with fries anymore. I was so stuffed after that meal that I was uncomfortable and then woke up this morning with heartburn, which I never have! I think I’ll have to cut those things in half next time!
Tonight was not much better. We had an early Spring snowstorm today that left us with a few inches of snow and about an inch of hale around dinner time. On top of that, we saw a few flashes of lightning and heard some thunder as the kids were going to bed. I sat with them for a while and Chloe drifted off. Gabriel, however, gave us a hard time. We tried to be sensitive but firm and he finally went to sleep around 9pm.
Another milestone down!
Ready for their first night in big kids' beds
Goodbye Discovery
The kids and I took a few minutes out during the bedtime ritual the other night to gaze up and watch the Space Shuttle Discovery’s last visible flyover of our area. It was followed about two minutes (and about 500 miles!) later by the ISS. This is the second time that Chloe and Gabriel saw the ISS – the first time was the night of their 4th birthday party. They seemed to be a bit more interested tonight – probably because they understand a little bit about planets and space (thanks to Chloe’s new favorite TV show called “Bubble Guppies”). After the flyover we spent about 30 minutes looking at photos of the shuttle and space station. Their excitement and amazement when I told them there were astronauts who were sleeping and eating and working up there was so obvious and they wanted to know more.
The next afternoon I watched STS-133 come to an end as Discovery landed safely at Kennedy Space Center for the last time.
Space Shuttle Discovery touches down for the last time on March 9, 2011
The moment was bittersweet for me because it seemed just as my children were old enough to show an interest in manned space exploration we in the US are on the verge of cutting our manned programs to a minimum due to a lack of clear direction.
I am not one of those people who ask “why are we spending billions on space exploration when we have so many problems here in our own country?” but I can understand why some have that opinion – they think that manned space exploration has no tangible benefit to our lives here on Earth. They don’t realize that without the past programs they wouldn’t have their GPS, home water filters, laptop and cell phone batteries and a lot of other things that we now take for granted. If space exploration doesn’t get the kind of attention is deserves, I think a lot of kids who would have been motivated to study science won’t take it up and that’s only going to push our country further back in the pack of nations who do have active space programs.
NASA will continue to make advances and there is a lot of potential in the private companies who are taking up the challenges of getting people and cargo into orbit and eventually to the Moon but it’s very sad to me that we don’t have a clear path for the continuation of manned space exploration.