In Between

As I wrote in my last post, Emmy started back to daycare this week. Although I only had to work on Monday and Wednesday, we made the decision to go ahead and start Emmy back, thinking it would give all of us a chance to ease back into the routine. While I had every intention of taking her all five days even on the days I wasn't actually working, I changed my mind after spending Monday away from her. It was hard being away from her for so many hours. We will just take next week as it comes; no need in jumping back to the routine before we have to, right?

We've had a good week of 'in between.' I feel like I am straddling work and summer right now, and it won't be long until I have both feet in the school year. The two days that I worked were good days. It was fun catching up with coworkers, and it was such a different feeling than last year when I was first starting at East Surry. I am certainly sad that the summer is over, but I think it will be a great Year 2 as a Cardinal. 

With the days that I was not working this past week, we fit in several fun activities. We've continued to progress with Emmy's independent eating; this week we tried cereal with milk! We have been rotating mornings between her usual rice cereal and Cheerios, but I think we will soon go strictly to real cereal when we use up the last of the rice cereal. 

A few of Emmy's favorite things right now are doors and books. She loves opening and closing closet doors and cabinets. I had a hard time dragging her away from one of the toddler gates at the Science Center, despite all the other fun things to see and do there. I've taught her to say "Knock, Knock" when she is playing her game with the doors, which comes out more like "gock, gock". I am amazed at how she is more readily trying new words. She is starting to repeat things even without prompting, and she is also starting to say "please" as opposed to doing the sign language. When Emmy was with Grammy earlier today, Grammy made a list of all the words Emmy can say. We are over 20 now: Mommy, Daddy, no, hi, book, bye-bye, milk, go, Grandpa, night-night, poopie, doggie, eat eat, hair bow, Bobby, bird, ball, all gone, more, yeah, and baby. There are also several more words that perhaps only I can understand, for example "ow hide" -- meaning outside. She can very clearly say "book," and she likes to have one when she is getting her diaper changed or riding in the car. We made a special stop at the library this week, and she loved reading books in the children's section. 

At the end of the week, we tagged along to 'Grammy Camp.' My mom is watching Zander during the next two weeks since my sister is back to work and Maddox is back at preschool. Zander will soon be starting kindergarten on the 27th, and Grammy has something fun planned everyday with him! On Thursday, we joined along on an outing to City Lake Park. The park is in High Point, and there is a carousel, train, and miniature golf course. Grandpa and Zander played several rounds of golf, and we rode the carousel and train many times - we definitely got our money's worth! On Friday, we went to the Science Center.

Boomer's schedule has picked up again with the start of fall sports. Emmy and I had a few evenings on our own, and I tried to send Boomer pictures so he didn't feel like he was missing too much. We are all adjusting to the late nights and early mornings once again. 

We have filled our weekend with the last of the summer activities. On Saturday, Emmy and I went to the Kernersville Honeybee Festival while Boomer was writing. It was a nice overcast morning, and we had a fun time walking around through the vendors and food. The festival was at the 4th of July Park in downtown Kernersville, so Emmy got in some swinging and sliding on the playground while we were there. It is neat to see how much more confident I am now on solo outings with Emmy. I have loved all the practice we have gotten in this summer! That evening, I got together with my Wake Forest girlfriends for dinner in Raleigh. Christina is now back in North Carolina after being in Colorado for the past year, and Amy is a new [second-time] mom to 2-month-old James -- it has been a big summer for everyone! Today, Boomer, Megan, Zander, my dad and I went to the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro. It was my first time going to a PGA tournament, and it was such a fun experience. We got to see a lot of the big-name golfers: Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk, Henrik Stenson, and the winner, Brandt Snedeker. Boomer and I mostly followed his favorite, Webb Simpson, who had a great final round to finish T2. It was a sunny, hot day, but we were able to find shade as we walked along the course. Emmy was home with Grammy, and they had a fun day, too, going for a walk and playing with all the toys at Grammy's house. I think we are all sufficiently worn-out, so hopefully we will sleep well in anticipation of our big day tomorrow. Boomer has his first day with students, and I have my first teacher workday with the opening faculty meeting. The alarm will be going off in just a few hours, and we are officially bidding farewell to summer. Thank you for your prayers as we start the new school year! 

 

  

Summer Break 2018: Week 8

This week marked my last full week of summer. Where did the time go?! Emmy will start back to daycare tomorrow, and my heart is already heavy as I think about dropping her off in the morning. We will soon go back to our regular routine of Boomer doing drop-off, but for just this week, we are easing back in with a modified daycare schedule for Emmy. I have a county-wide full day professional development tomorrow, but then the other days this week will be short. It is not until the 20th that official workdays start. Hopefully this week will serve as an easing in for us all. I was reminded on Facebook that on August 11th of last year, I worked my last day at UNCG and Emmy wrapped up her very first week of daycare. I think about how challenging that time was, and I know that the transition this year surely will not be as hard. We have done it in the past, we can do it again, right?  

To wrap up our summer break, on Monday, we had a pool day at the YMCA, followed by a matinee movie after naptime with Grandpa, Grammy, Megan, and the cousins. We went to see the Adventures of Christopher Robin, the new Winnie the Pooh movie. All three grandchildren were a little more interested in popcorn than in the actual movie. It was a cute movie, but the adults had to mostly piece together the story between picking up messes, doling out popcorn, and making trips to the theater lobby. It was slightly less successful than the movie we saw earlier in the summer, but still fun nonetheless.  

Tuesday and Wednesday passed by with walks around the neighborhood, a dentist appointment, a couple of workouts at the Y, and all of us coming down with a summer cold. We are all still sniffly but on the upswing. There have been several evening thunderstorms this week, which meant a failed attempt at a dinner picnic at the pool and getting caught in the rain after an [indoor] dinner at Red Robin.  On Thursday, I worked a full day between textbook distribution at my school and the New Student Orientation at the community college that evening. It was a long but productive day. On Friday morning, Emmy and I stopped by her daycare to drop off her things (diapers, wipes, spare clothes, etc.) I could tell Emmy recognized where we were, and at first, she wouldn't let me put her down. As we familiarized ourselves with her new room (the older 1s/younger 2s), she wiggled out of my arms and started playing with the toys. The other kids were outside playing, so Emmy had all the toys to herself - just how she likes it! Luckily we are familiar with both of her teachers, Miss Jewell and Miss Melissa. One big change in this new room is no sippy cups - yikes! Miss Jewell showed me the small disposable cups that the kids drink out of. I must have looked surprised, because she assured me that they all pick it up very quickly. We'll see! I didn't tell her that I may still use sippy cups at home...sshh! Daycare has always had a way of keeping us moving along with the milestones, usually for the better, but often before Mommy is quite ready. After our visit to the daycare, we then went to Forbush to have lunch with Daddy. I have been saying all summer that we would come to visit and bring lunch, and here we were, the last day of summer! Boomer was dressed down after a morning of campus clean-up...neither Emmy or Boomer were very cooperative for the picture! Emmy turned on the smiles when she got to sit in Daddy's desk chair though :)

Summer 2017 vs. Summer 2018

Since football will be starting soon, we enjoyed a rare Friday night at home. On Saturday, we had a fun evening at the Dash stadium. Earlier in the summer, Boomer had dropped his name in a drawing for a free box suite - and he won! In addition to the air-conditioned box and 16 free tickets, it was a nice surprise that Chris Paul was throwing out the opening pitch. Go Deacs! There was a great crowd, and it was a muggy, but overcast summer evening. Boomer's parents came, and everyone had lots of fun!

We wrapped up our weekend with an after-church lunch at Taco Bell with Great Gma. 

Even though work is creeping up on us, we are not quite ready to say goodbye to Summer 2018! It's been a good one! <3

Summer Break 2018: Week 7

As the calendar has changed to August, the days of summer are winding down. It was a mostly rainy week, but we still managed to pack it full of indoor and outdoor activities (weather dependent). This week included a trip to the Science Center, two Children's Museums, and a ranch & petting zoo, just to name a few. Here is a full run-down of the week: 

1. On Monday, we went to the Greensboro Science Center with the cousins and Grammy. We are getting our use out of the annual membership! That evening, we celebrated my grandfather's 89th birthday followed by dinner and playtime at the Chick-Fil-A. Emmy is keeping up with her cousins more and more these days, although she didn't like being sandwiched between them on the slide. 
2. I had a meeting for work on Tuesday, so Grammy came over to watch Emmy. There was a break in the rainy weather for them to go swing at the neighborhood park. 
3. I cooked several times this week! I even made a homemade peach cobbler from the last of the Kalawi Farm's peaches. 
4. There was a good amount of sunshine on Wednesday, so Emmy and I spent time outside both before and after her nap. You'll notice that I took a lot of park pictures this week. Emmy loves swinging and going down the slides. She will usually go down the slides on her tummy but has recently switched to also going down on her bottom. She has become quite familiar with the park in our neighborhood and several of the other parks in downtown Kernersville. Free entertainment!
5. On Thursday, we went to the Greensboro Children's Museum with the Beuters. Emmy and Lyla moved about from room to room and generally kept us parents on our toes. 
6. Emmy was so proud posing in her new pajamas. Her 18-month pajamas have turned in to capris and the tops barely cover her belly, so we moved up to Minnie Mouse 24-month pajamas. While we were swapping out pajamas, I also took some time to organize her closet and pull out the other 24-month and 2T clothing. It is hard to believe that she will soon be phasing out of the "-month" clothing, with everything ending in a "T"! 
7. This week marked the end of Boomer's four-day work weeks, so I planned a special Friday for the three of us. We started the day with the Superintendent Special at Fitz on Main (a 3-egg omelet with hashbrowns, biscuit or toast). Then we went to the Winston-Salem Children's Museum called the Kaleideum. We arrived just as it was opening and had the museum practically to ourselves for the first hour or so. As Emmy gets a little bit older, I think she will enjoy even more the "make-believe spaces" like the grocery store, donut shop, log cabin, and vet's office. Despite being on the younger side, she tinkered around in each of the rooms and liked having free reign. She is a little explorer! We ended our field trip with a short walk through Old Salem and then lunch at Twin City Pizza in downtown Winston-Salem. Whew, we did all of that before 1PM!
8. On Friday evening, Boomer and Emmy stayed home while I had dinner with a few of my former Spartan Guides. It was so fun catching up with these driven, enthusiastic, hardworking ladies. Several of them are working fulltime, a few are setting off to grad school, and one is planning a wedding in December. I'm thankful for these relationships that I made during my time at UNCG. 
9. Saturday was another full day. We went to Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville with the Houstons, Grammy, and Grandpa. My sister arranged for a 9AM wagon ride, and since we were the first group out that morning, the animals were all eager and excited to see us. Many of them ate right out of our hands! We got to see up close all types of animals: water buffalo, bison, deer, antelopes, emus, ostriches, giraffes, cows, zebras, kangaroo, camels, llamas, and sheep. We had a particularly close encounter with a large black cow, which required consoling Emmy for a few minutes until we moved on. After the wagon ride, we walked through the other areas of the petting zoo. Zander and Maddox did a great job holding out their hands to feed the animals, while Emmy mostly observed. She was content being in her stroller or on Daddy's shoulders. It was a fun day and something I want to do again with her in the years to come. 
10. After naps on Saturday, Emmy and I met Caroline for dinner at Osaka and then fit in our 4th (or 5th?) park of the week. The rain finally moved out but was replaced by some pretty hot temperatures. Today was also hot. This evening, we went out to dinner with my parents and then to a food truck festival in downtown Kernersville. We didn't last long in the 90+ degree heat; just long enough to scarf down a funnel cake and then get back in to the air conditioning.
11. Two last things: 1) we were in the newspaper this week! And 2) after Boomer's request to go to the arcade at the beach didn't pan out, as a consolation I agreed to dusting off our Wii. We have played many rounds of Mario Kart after Emmy has gone to bed, and it has been an even split between the two of us. I forgot how competitive we both can be!