A Good Sunday!

On Sunday morning, we woke up to temperatures in the high 50s and clear skies. It seems, that overnight fall moved in. The cool morning turned in to a gorgeous day with sunny, blue skies and  a fresh breeze (daytime high was 74F). Fall definitely has arrived in our neck of the woods. And I'm loving it. So to celebrate this seasonal change, I started to decorate the house appropriately.

Next to gorgeous weather we also had a blessed and fun Sunday worshiping the Lord and enjoying the company of friends. It was Heritage Sunday at our church (Fairview was established in 1896) and the bishop for our region was delivering the sermon this Sunday. Afterwards the church offered a Potluck lunch with all kinds of delicious foods and desserts. 

This Sunday evening was also our turn to host our bi-monthly Family Bible Group Meet (Familienkreis). Us and three other families decided to get together to talk about christian principles (i.e: how to raise christian children, family values, parenting advice, etc) and to get to know other couples better while the kids play. Unfortunately, only one other family was able to join us this weekend but we still spent a great evening with friends. 

The kids loved playing together, especially Elliot who couldn't get enough of playing with his older friend Noah (9 years old). He wanted to do everything Noah did and got upset if anybody came in between them. Too cute. 

 

We are blessed and thankful to have friends here and a great community where we can get together, relax and learn from each other.

On Friday was 9/11, a date surely everyone remembers and what tragedy it caused. To honor those that serve us daily, the kids and I decided to bring some donuts, snacks, and a big thank-you card to our local fire department. We appreciate their service and dedication and pray for their safety. We are happy to know that they are right around the corner in case of an emergency but hopefully we won't need their services any time soon. 

First Week of School

On Tuesday, Amelia started her first day in transitional kindergarten. She was excited and ready to go.

We sent her off knowing that she loves to learn, discover new things and make new friends, so I held back tears when I said goodbye to her in the car. Instead of crying, I prayed for her that she will strive to always do what's in the best interest of everyone surrounding her and that she will enjoy this new part of her life.

Her backpack fastened, she walked off and didn't look back once.

She will be in preschool Monday thru Friday for 4 hours each day. There are 5 girls in her class (Leona, Vera, Nia, Sophia, and Amelia) and her great teacher Ms. Susan. When I picked her up on the first day, she was sitting at the table and was learning to work the scissors correctly. She was so proud of herself. 

Each day they do some kind of project (arts and crafts or science related) as well as work on their reading and writing, go to the playground and have story time. The day ends with circle time. Here is a snippet of what they did this first week (they painted Pete the cat this week and Amelia's is on the bottom left): 

While Amelia had fun at school, Elliot was missing her at home and honestly, I was ready to have my little girl back at 1pm too. But every day this week Amelia went happily and excited to school and I pray that this excitement and love for learning lasts her all thru her school years and beyond. 

We are so happy for you and proud that you are eager to try new things and open minded to all new things and new people. We love, Amelia!

Farewell to Summer

Over the long weekend (Labor Day was on Monday), it felt like fall is moving in slowly with a bit cooler air, the first leaves changing colors and the start of football season. We were outside all morning yesterday: running, gardening, playing, reading a book and eating lunch (soup, of course) on the deck. It was 72 F (22 C), overcast and a little breezy. My kind of weather.

But before fall starts off, we had enjoyed these last few summer days. So on Thursday, we went once more boating on the lake (and I bet you we will go again soon, its not too cool yet) and swimming at the beach there. Since having the boat, we all became big fans of going out to the lake and the kids adjusted great to being on the water. 

The beach was a hit with the kids. And so empty.

Labor Day weekends are usually filled with lots of events and so we had a few fun things planned too. On Saturday, our church hosted their 4th annual car show with antique cars, BBQ, bounce house and a silent auction.  

On Sunday evening, we attended a free concert on the lawn in the town of Davidson. We brought a blanket and picnic basket and enjoyed listening to the band BackBeat playing a tribute to the Beatles and some other 60's songs. Of course, ice-cream for dinner was a must. 

But the best event of the weekend was going to the Iredell County Agricultural Fair on Monday afternoon.

The kids were excited about seeing rabbits, cows (and milking a wooden cow) and riding some carousels. Despite a cool morning, it got quite warm in the afternoon but we still enjoyed the Fair and all that comes with it. 

Elliot's favorite ride was the fire truck. He rode it 3x and only once in the train. Amelia liked the bus but loved going on the big slide with Mommy.

This BIG slide was way high up but we made it and as you can see, it was lots of fun coming down.

Hubba Bubba, the Clown, did a show too and Amelia was chosen to be one of his assistants. He wanted to turn her in to a clown as well.

I think he succeeded:

We finished the night off by watching Go-Karts (or lawn mower powered cars) race on a dirt track while eating funnel cake. What a great night/weekend, indeed! It sure will make us miss summer as it was one of the best summers we had in a long time.

So it is time to bid our farewells to summer and say hello to fall. We are so ready and excited for this upcoming season and all the fun stuff that comes with it.

The Next BIG Step

On Friday, Amelia had a her open house at the preschool she will be attending this year. She is very excited and ready to go and has been asking for weeks now when school starts. Well, only a few more days and then she will start on Tuesday. 

Originally I had signed her up for 3 days a week (from 9am till noon) in a regular preschool class with other 4 year old children. But when I took her to the pediatrician a couple of weeks ago, she recommended to us to put her in Kindergarten (Vorschule in Germany) instead of preschool based on what she knows (mainly reading skills and counting) and how well she communicates. She is worried that my girl will be bored next year in Kindergarten. We did spoke to a principal at the elementary school and I consulted other parents, but because she just turned 4 (and other kids in Kindergarten are between 5 and 6 years old), she is just so young for Kindergarten. Therefore, I talked to her preschool and after an assessment last week, the teacher, director and I decided to put her in the transitional kindergarten class. 

The transitional kindergarten class is designed for children who need a little more time to adjust to the demands of a long school day and schedule, as well as those who just missed the age cutoff for kindergarten and can benefit from a more challenging academic environment (Amelia is almost a year younger than the other kids). Amelia will attend this class 5 days a week from 9am till 1pm. Her class size is much smaller than that of a regular preschool class, which allows for individual attention and instructions. Learning is hands-on and play-based with an emphasis on pre-writing, counting (some addition and subtraction), reading lessons and activities are designed to hold the interest of youngsters. They also learn social aspects and skills needed for school such as cutting with scissors properly. 

The Open House started out with a welcome from the preschool director at the church sanctuary (most preschools are part of a church; thus, often include chapel time etc) and an introduction of all the teachers before everyone headed to their designated classrooms. Amelia's class is called "Busy Bees" and it consists of 5 girls and one teacher. 

Ms. Susan is very nice and loves to do science experiments (i.e. the kids will do lots of fun things involving slime, play-doh, and other things I don't like to do often at home) and Amelia as well as I like her already.

While the parents and teacher talked and the preschoolers played, Elliot decided to have a snack like a big kid. I think he assumes that this is his class too. He loves the toys (they have Thomas the train) too. The girls seem to get along well already. 

Anyways, I think this transitional kindergarten class will be great for Amelia and it won't overwhelm nor bore her. So I'm happy that we found a good match for her. She can't wait to start school in 3 days and I'm sure she will love every day she goes there. 

Too Busy?

It is the start of a new school year and even though Amelia hasn't started Pre-K yet (only 8 more days though), we have been quite busy here for the past 2 weeks. Lots of meetings, appointments and last play dates before all the kids head off to school again. Don't get me wrong. I love being busy and to have a full schedule. I dismay sitting at home and do nothing because it feels like I'm lazy. It seems like that mothers (especially SAHM) see busyness as a validation for being a good mother. The more we can do, the better of a parent we are to our children. Except it is not true because we exhaust ourselves, our resources and our children in the process. I have done this many times and in the end of the day, it seems like I have done nothing useful because I was busy doing too many things.  

The other thing is that when I do too many activities, I feel like I'm not good enough at any of them because I do not invest enough time to figure out what I'm great at. And that applies to my kids too if I keep rushing them around from place to place just so we can catch up with everyone or won't have to turn down a fun activity.

And then there is social media and all those great posts and ideas of things one can do themselves and how so many mothers are great at this and that. I would love to be a great writer, make my own laundry detergent, cook only whole foods or monogram my kids' clothes. But I can't and I'm realizing slowly that that is ok too. I don't have to do all these things to be a better mom or wife and even though I may try some of them, it doesn't mean I will be good enough to make a business out of it. All I want/ have to do right now is to raise my two children, support my husband and create a home we all can be happy in.

Even though our schedules are already filling up with activities to do over the next few week (and I'm really excited about trying out new things), I will make a point to not overload us and leave room in our schedules so that we have some down time to enjoy each other instead of chasing from one thing to another. This may also give me the opportunity to find out what I'm really good at. I can spend more time on things I love instead on many things I only like.

The other day at a Mom's Mentoring meeting we talked about having a busy schedule vs. a full schedule. I liked the idea of saying full instead of busy because if my schedule is not busy what am I then? Lazy? On the other hand, a full schedule can mean full with activities I want to do ( i.e fulfilling) or just full because I decide that it is enough for me. As moms we are always working hard so we don't have to emphasize it with a word that makes us more stressed and anxious. Thus, I decided to use the word "full" more often now and put "busy" on the back burner.

So for the past few days our schedules were mostly blank and we did what we wanted to do: go to the playground, play outside, color, read, wear our pj's all day, etc. It feels good to be flexible and relax some in between more hectic days and also to allow our children to decide if they want to go somewhere or not. Today the kids and I walked to our neighborhood playground and then made some pretty chalk pictures while Daddy went fishing. It was nothing fancy, nothing stressful but a pretty perfect morning in my book.