{homework toward the beginning of the year: I’m there on the other side of the counter, focused, and with a large coffee!}
Tomorrow is the last day of school. The end of 3rd grade and kindergarten for us. And it isn’t even a real last day, because it is only a half-day, and it is only “closing ceremonies.” I often feel quite melancholy about the bambinos’ last day of school, but not this year. This year, I am feeling nothing but happy giddy excitement about it. We are ending this year on a high note, we’re all feeling awesome about how this school year went, and we’re all looking forward to an adventure-filled summer.
And… importantly… this was our first year of serious, hard-core, real homework. And I could not be happier about taking a nice long break from that for awhile. Holy cow, I don’t know how people who homeschool do it. I just know I could never do it. Homework (i.e., our kids’ homework) doesn’t come easily for me. And homework (i.e., their own homework) doesn’t come easily for the bambinos (sitting still at home doing anything doesn’t come easily for Kyle and Owen, and Meera would much prefer to just play play play play play — if it were up to her she’d never do any school work).
But we made it through together. And, as much as I hate homework (and actually, philosophically oppose it for kids younger than high school; seriously), I do have to admit that it was quite the bonding experience for us. It came with the package of our new school, and it was something we knew we’d have to get on board with when we signed on. Especially for Kyle and Owen, homework this year was symbolic of the transition to a new, much more academically rigorous, much more serious and intense academic environment. This is what they wanted — they wanted a school like that. And they got it. Homework was the sort of direct and tangible expression of that at home.
In the beginning of the year, homework was very painful. K & O had a ton of catch-up to to do get on-track with where the other kids at this new school were. They were very far behind, and there was a lot of hard work required just to get through homework each day. Some tears were shed (mostly by me). But by mid-way through the year, K & O were pretty much caught-up and on-track and homework became easier and less painful. By the end of the year, homework was pretty much a breeze, and they were doing it almost entirely independently.
I am so proud of how hard these guys worked (all three of them — but K & O especially). And I am really pleased by the fact that this year was a resilience-building year for them. Homework was just symbolic of it, but they learned that their hard work sometimes really does pay off, and that perseverance can get them through. That made them stronger, I am sure.
Still, I’m not sad (at all!) to see homework go away for a couple of months! In fact, I’m thrilled about it! Glory glory hallelujah the homework is done!
{above: homework toward the middle of the year. note that I’m sitting with them, grading papers while they do their homework}
{below: homework toward the end of the year. note that I’m unpacking lunches, texting on my phone, but… still… drinking a large coffee!}
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I am, however, a little tiny bit weepy about the fact that our kindergartener is just about done with kindergarten. There is something about moving to first grade that just seems… well… huge. Still, though, I’m nothing but ecstatic about her, too, being done with homework for the summer. Even though it was relatively very little homework, and even though there is not much more darling than watching a little person learn to read, I’m happy to have a break from Meera’s homework too.
{seriously, she is adorable with her little finger pointing diligently at each word as she sounds it out. seriously, she is just plain adorable}
{above: whoops! We didn’t get her homework done the night before! that’s the worst: trying to get the homework done during the morning mania mad rush. on this rarest of days, big brother pinch-hit and took one for the team to get her through that homework}
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In related news: I packed the last trio-of-school-lunches for the year last night! Now THAT is really something to celebrate!
{note: yes, that’s a glass of red wine in the photo below. yes, I often try to prep the lunches the night before. yes, often at midnight. yes, I have carefully calculated it and I estimate that I made the bambinos approximately 540 packed lunches this year. and yes, a glass of wine makes all that lunch-packing a tad bit less painful}
Cheers tonight to all those care-givers out there who are celebrating the end of the school year! We deserve at least a couple of glasses of wine tonight my friends!
(Blurry, grainy, bad photo taken with my iPhone in dim light. Still, given the story, it is “Photo of the Day” worthy.)
Tonight we went to Carrabba’s for dinner. There was a 30-40 minute wait for a table, so, like we often do, we found 3 seats at the bar. The bambinos sat in them, and Braydon and I stood behind them. Before our drinks had even arrived, Owen had struck up a full-blown, very-interactive, very energetic-and-engaged conversation with an older couple who happened to be seated at the bar next to him. There was golf on the televisions of the bar, and before we had even had two sips of our drinks, Owen and the man were on a first-name basis, and were deep into a very spirited and animated discussion about golf. Over the next 20 minutes Owen and the man exchanged golf stories, belly-laughed at the telling of each other’s funny golf-related-tales, gave-and-received golf pointers and tips and tricks, and discussed the finer points of the Carrabba’s menu. The man and his wife were probably in their mid-60s, and seemed very much alone and reserved when we first had the kids sit down next to them. But quickly they were smiling and chatty and completely charmed by Owen. Soon we got a table, so we got up from the bar. About halfway through our meal the couple from the bar found us, and came up to our table to say goodbye to Owen before they left the restaurant. This is Classic Owen.
That’s all five of us together. We have very few photos of the five of us together. So, for no other reason, I put that up at the top of this blog post. A post which will be pathetically superficial and shallow and very-non-representative of our real life. Because. Well. Because that’s all I’ve got right now. Our life has been so over-the-top fast-paced that I just haven’t been able to fit in reflecting upon it via the blog (regular readers might have noticed: for the past several weeks there’s been just about nothin’ from me on this here old blog). The way I look at it, superficial and shallow and very-non-representative is at least something.
The truth is, sometimes I am just too dang busy to blog. I know, I know, “busy”…. ugh…. “busy”… busy is a relative word (what is “busy” to some is not “busy” to others)…. and “busy” is such a loaded buzz word these days. I refuse to get into that ridiculous, and oh-so-very-popular, “busy competition” of who is more busy that who — God, do I ever hate that game. But, fact: I am super (ridiculously) busy (“busy” defined: “having a great deal to do”). And, fact: I am proud of how much we cram into this short little life we’ve got to live. If we didn’t take time to smell the roses as we go, then it would be highly problematic. But, we do, indeed, take time to smell the roses, so I’ll defend our lifestyle and good and the right kind of life for us. I am known amongst three certain kids on this planet to be regularly reminding them that “you only live once!” and, thus, you should “go for it!” and “make the most of it!” And I’m not ashamed of that way of approaching the one life we’ve got to live.
Make the most of it we do. But lately, there’s been so much, moving so quickly, that I truly could not take the time out to blog it (forcing myself to spend the time to blog would have meant sacrificing those too-few moments of stillness). But I do want to blog it. Because I want to remember at least some of it — I want to try to chronicle some fragment of it — no matter how pathetically superficial and shallow and very-non-representative of our real life that “some of it” might be.
So, here goes. In absolutely no particular order (not chronological, or otherwise). A quick catch-up, barely scratching the surface, on a little bit of some of what we’ve been up to over the past few weeks.
Just as spring gets really beautiful the academic grind gets really ramped up to a grueling and impossible pace around here. I am so grateful to have Dash now, for many reasons. But one of the big reasons is this: using him for a good excuse, I take a walk in the woods every morning. Lehigh has more than 2,000 acres of protected woodlands, right outside our door, with incredible paths throughout. This is one of the reasons I really love living here on campus. Every morning, as soon as the kids are off to school, at 7:30am, when all is very quiet on a university campus, Dash and I head out into the woods.
So, despite the fact that I was more crazed than ever this spring (the ratcheting up of the end-of-academic-year insanity seems to be getting worse by the year), for the first time in many springs, I was able to fully immerse myself in the beauty of it, and appreciate it very fully, for at least 30 minutes every morning. After a very long winter of trudging through the snow and ice in these woods, it was just an astoundingly beautiful experience to watch spring bloom day-by-day.
Somewhere tucked into that jam-packed spring was our favorite event of the year at LU: the Community Service Office’s outreach festival for the South Bethlehem community — Spring Fling. Because Kyle and Owen play baseball for their actual local team (based on their actual residential address; i.e. not fudging it like many families do) — South Side Little League is our team. And as a result, Kyle and Owen have real friends, who are their teammates, in South Bethlehem. One of the highlights of the year for me was watching my boys (professor’s kids) run around the lawn of the University Center with a pack of their good friends (South Side kids). To say that this (genuine relationships between Lehigh faculty folks and South Side folks — let alone their kids) is rare is the understatement of the year. In fact, for real, I think it is unique. We love it in its entirety. Here are K & O with a few of their friends at Spring Fling — somehow Lehigh photographer Christa Neu was able to get these guys to stand still for half a second in order to capture this amazing photo ~
And here’s Meera, doing her thing at Spring Fling (she also rode a mechanical shark like a champ, but that’s a whole other story) ~
We also went to another of our favorite campus spring events: the International Bazaar ~
And there was the 3rd Grade Wax Museum at the bambinos’ school. This was the culmination of weeks and weeks of hard work studying “famous Pennsylvanians” (OMG how am I ever going to survive so many more years of school projects?!?!). Owen chose (and ultimately, became) Kobe Bryant ~
Kyle was Ben Franklin ~
Classic choices for these two very similar, and very dissimilar too, twins. (Note: in a similar vein, earlier this year, for a different project, Owen chose Walt Disney, and Kyle chose Abraham Lincoln.) Anyway, the thing that struck me the most about the entire “Famous Pennsylvanians” project was when I saw Kyle’s drawing of Ben Franklin. One of the (many) parts of the project was to “create a postage stamp portraying their chosen person.” I was awe-struck by the fact that Kyle portrayed Ben Franklin very purposefully with clearly dark brown skin. Fascinating!! Right?!! Fascinating I tell you! Everyday absolutely fascinating stuff is going on left and right all around me with these three incredibly interesting kids of mine.
Meera’s big spring school project was the Kindergarten Science Expo. I was awe-struck at that too — but this time by whoever had the stroke of genius to plan for the kindergarteners’ ‘5th Grade Buddies’ to partner up with them during the expo. Meera’s big buddy was there with her every minute of the expo, helping her to field questions, make her science experiment run, manage the messes, and sooth the nerves of a little girl doing her first big expo event. Genius I tell you! I love this school. They are pure genius at work there!
Oh. And the boys got new bikes this spring. So, yes, there was that. And of course, with new bikes they can now take their biking to a whole new level.
This photo is deceiving. It looks pretty tame, but if you look closely you see that both wheels are actually off the ground ~
Meera falls more and more in love with this dog every day. They have a special relationship ~
There was a trip to the dentist. This seems mundane, I know. The dentist. But it was so not mundane. Because, of course it was not. After Owen’s cleaning was done it was Meera’s turn. And Owen politely requested to be able to observe. The dentist’s office was excited about his interest/passion for the subject of dentistry, and thus were extremely accommodating to what they saw as a potential-future-medical-professional. They placed a chair next to Meera and talked Owen through the entire check-up and cleaning, explaining every tool, and answering all of his (many, many) questions. The dental hygienist and the dentist were both in on this, and caused quite a stir throughout the entire office. (Meanwhile Kyle sat in the waiting room playing with an iPad; he has zero interest in watching people scrape plaque off of his little sister’s teeth.) It was seriously the craziest trip to the dentist I’ve ever experienced.
And there were lots of other trips this spring too. We had our annual Easter pilgrimage to Worcester, Massachusetts for the yearly gathering with MorFar’s side of the family. We love getting together with these cousins. Here’s the crew of them at the hotel swimming pool ~
The main reason for this trip has always been to spend Easter with Grandpa Les. This year it was an especially poignant and memorable visit. Grandpa Les was in decline, and I think we knew it would be the last time we’d see him. He was about to turn 99 years old. And we knew his time with us on earth was coming to a close. Here we are with my beloved grandfather on Easter Sunday 2014 ~
We all returned to Worcester 5 weeks later for Grandpa Les’s funeral. It was a beautiful service honoring and celebrating his long life. We didn’t take photos on that trip (for obvious reasons). But Braydon did snap this one of Meera with two of her “cousins” (my cousins’ kids; I guess that makes them Second Cousins?) ~
There was a trip to Washington, DC to get together with Braydon’s side of the family to celebrate Auntie Sabrina’s 40th birthday. We spent a beautiful spring day at the National Arboretum, which was in full bloom at that time.
This year was Kyle and Owen’s 2nd Annual Weekend Away with MorMor and MorFar (this was their birthday present, and cousin Sadie’s birthday present, from their grandparents). This year they went to Boston for a Red Sox game at Fenway Park (huge deal for K & O!), and then on to Cape Cod for a whale watch! From all accounts it was a great time (photos thanks to MorMor and MorFar) ~
While the brothers were away, Mommy and Papi took Meera for her own special weekend away in Baltimore. This was just as much for Braydon and me as it was for Meera — a little lux get-away for just the three of us. Our rule for the weekend was to do absolutely NOTHING we would do if Kyle and Owen had been with us. According to Meera, “No Sports!” was the golden rule. We vowed to not even eat in a restaurant that had sports on tv. We had an amazing weekend full of art, fashion, shopping, and eating (wow, we had some good food!). Meera’s favorite thing to do in a hotel is to order take-out Chinese food and eat in the hotel room while watching tv; we have done this a few times in the past, and seriously, she loves this… so, we obliged her wishes and did that one of our nights in Baltimore). The whole weekend was sort of heavenly for us three. It is so special to get time alone with one of our kids, and doing it is always a reminder of how important it is to do.
Dash had to stay with friends for most of these trips. He had some fun himself, getting spoiled rotten by various people who doted on him while we were away (he stayed with three different people/families over the course of these various trips). His favorite memory, though, I’m sure, (or maybe it was just my favorite memory?!?), was when Liana and Mike took it upon themselves to take Dash on a day trip to the beach!
Sometime later this spring, Kyle and Owen did their first triathlon. They had been wanting to do a triathlon for a couple of years now, but I hadn’t been able to find one that would work for us (schedule-wise). Finally I found one that worked out for them to do. They placed 3rd and 4th (10-year-old twin girls beat them!!!). They had a blast and they are now chomping at the bit to do another one. Swim. Bike. Run.
In a totally separate experience, a few weeks before that triathlon, Meera had her first swim race. The bambinos have been taking swimming lessons this spring, and Meera — especially — loves swimming (not just playing in the water, but actual swimming). When she found out about the swim meet, she was eager to do it. We entered her in the freestyle event and she did great! You go Meera! (This was a big moment for her — the discovery that she, too, not just her brothers, can participate in competitive sports and do well). I was super proud of her ~
Speaking of athletes, I was so incredibly proud and gratified and just beaming-with-joy as one of my favorite students of all time, Mackey McKnight, graduated from Lehigh this spring. It was a special honor to be invited to celebrate his graduation with his family the night of commencement. Last year we went to Sarah’s graduation party (that was so special), and it was so special again this year to be invited to another student’s party (it is uncommon at Lehigh — to say the least — for professors to join students’ families at their private graduation parties). Mackey’s family are from New Orleans and Texas, so the party was a dinner out at a very nice restaurant. The bambinos and I went, and it was truly one of the greatest experiences with a student I’ve ever had. I cannot articulate how proud I am of this kid. (“Kid” = misnomer, for sure. But to me, he’s one of my “kids”) ~
Somewhere in there was Grandparents Day at the Swain School. MorMor and MorFar were the bambinos’ special guests ~
And then there is baseball, of course. Spring = Baseball. Our experience with the South Side Bandits Little League is an experience large enough for a full-length book. I cannot even scrape the surface here and do any justice to it. So, I won’t even try. Suffice it to say: our full immersion into South Side Little League is a big part of our family life.
Here’s Kyle at bat ~
Here’s Owen pitching ~
We are still going strong with Little League. We are now in post-season play-offs and the Bandits are holding their own. And once that ends, the “All Star” season begins (heaven help us, K & O have been invited to play on the All Star Team this year, so baseball season is even more never-ending than usual now). Poor Meera. She is dragged to baseball constantly (the schedule is grueling). Luckily there are lots of other little brothers and sisters being dragged to baseball too. They either do this (iPad) ~
Or they do this (run around like little crazy people; if you look closely you can see Meera in a dark dress, playing with all the kids, running down the hill) ~
As I look through all the photos I’ve taken over the course of this whirlwind-of-a-spring (note: the vast majority of our photos these days are snapshots taken with our iPhones), I see lots of food photos. Yes, we are those people who take photos of our food. Often. I’m sure that this means something about us, I’m just not sure what (other than that we have a great appreciation for food?). I have tons and tons of food photos on my iPhone. On this particular night (photo below) we had take-out from Wegmans. Deep into eating sushi and dumplings and green beans (3 of Owen’s most favorite foods), Owen exclaimed: “It is like heaven is in my mouth!”
Sometimes Braydon and I steal away for a lunch date, just the two of us, mid-week. Here’s our Thai lunch and tea one of those days. That is my version of heaven ~
Here are the boys, out of Mexican food, the two of them thoroughly enjoying a bowl of queso dip ~
Lots of food at home too. Spring is the quintessential fresh artichoke season. These two are artichoke lovers (or are they just anything-dipped-in-butter lovers?) ~
The end of May/early June is the height of strawberry season here. The seasons and months and time-passing are marked by certain foods for us. Strawberries are a big right of passage from late spring to early summer for us. The bambinos especially love our annual ritual of eating these beautiful berries dipped in sour cream and brown sugar.
We take photos of our drinks too (!). On this night, Braydon and I were out at one of our favorite places (Molinari’s), celebrating our 20th anniversary of graduating from college (we did not go to our college reunion, but we did go out for prosecco!) ~
But don’t get the wrong idea. There are plenty of nights that Braydon and I feed the bambinos macaroni and cheese from a box, get them to bed, and then eat something like this for our dinner ~
Moving on from food… there has been lots of flying the remote control airplane that K & O got for their birthday ~
And lots of playing in the sprinkler ~
One day I kept the boys home from school and we played hooky together. Here they are at the start of our day, at Waffle House. That was a special, memorable day. I hope this blog helps me to remember some of these amazing times long after they happen. These are moments I don’t want to forget.
Meera’s end-of-year kindergarten picnic ~
K & O’s end-of-year final 3rd grade field trip ~
Oh, and in there somewhere were the birthdays. Kyle and Owen’s, and Meera’s, and the big birthday party (which would be enough in and of itself to keep me from blogging). May is all good, but it is a crazy-kind-of-busy-good. We couldn’t do a whole year of May’s, but we can do one month of May. And I wouldn’t trade that crazy-whirlwind-of-a-spring for anything.
So much, so fast, so that it all goes by in a blurry haze of ups and downs and highs and lows and joyful painful all-around-good-living life. By the end of the spring, as we are entering summer, the woods now look like this ~
And we are ready for summer to really kick in. Tomorrow’s the last day of school! And we’ve got an amazing summer planned!
- Number of Guests: 137
- Cakes: 3
- Total Birthday Candles: 26
- Bounce Houses: 2
- Pinatas: 3
- Bouncy Balls: 300
- Balloons: 90
- Gallons of Rum Punch Consumed: 6
- Faces Painted: many
- Requests for Balloon Figures Granted: loads
- Fun Had: much
- Memories Made: unquantifiable
Every year I go crazy with birthday party planning for the bambinos. As with most things I do, if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it all the way. The birthday parties are big, even for me, and I absolutely adore the entire process of throwing these shindigs (Kyle and Owen’s birthday parties have a huge history (backstory here); and of course Meera’s do too (remember the Fancy Pink Tea Party when she turned 3?!?!). This year, breaking with tradition, we decided to do something different and throw one huge party for all three of our May-birthday-bambinos. Kyle and Owen and Meera were thrilled with this idea (they all agreed, “the bigger the better!”), and I was too (planning one is easier than planning two!). So we went for it. As usual, I went all out.
My parents came to help, as they always do (thank God for them! and thank them for putting in the hard work and for putting up with my crazy-birthday-party-nonesense!). Whatever happens down the road of life, one of the fondest memories I will always remember are those nights-before-the-birthday-parties, having drinks and blowing up balloons with my fabulous parents.
The morning of the big bash, the bambinos were ready to party! In anticipation of the big event we had shopped so that they could each pick out a brand new outfit just for the occasion (that has become an annual tradition for us). They felt like a million bucks, and I think that is a good thing. It is good, every once in a while, to feel like a rockstar; like the world is your oyster; like your mom adores you in a way that defies your imagination; like your whole community is coming together to celebrate nothing but you — just you — and you’re the grand star of the show, the center of attention, the coolest kid around; the reason for the celebration, the life of the party. You definitely wouldn’t want a kid to feel that way too often (we do have to stay grounded), but… once a year?… well, that’s fine (actually, good) by me!
Soon, our guests started to arrive, and total complete happy chaos ensued! The next three hours were some of the best three hours of the bambinos’ lives. Bouncy houses, face painting, custom-made-balloon-art, and unlimited popcorn and punch! I mean, really, what’s not to love about that?!?!!!
We sang “Happy Birthday To You” three times. Three wishes were made. Three sets of candles were blown out. It was “strawberry shortcake cake” all around (vanilla cake, with fresh strawberries in the center, and whipped cream “frosting” — thank you Lehigh Catering!)
By the end of the afternoon we had three overdone, overstimulated, overexposed bambinos and one completely tired puppy! This is the telltale sign of a good party: pure and utter exhaustion! There were no goody bags or party favors at this party (unless you count the bouncy balls that poured out of the pinatas)… but instead, we gave a gift to each and every parent: an early bedtime that night for every kid who was at that bash — kids who were way too tired to put up a bedtime battle (you wouldn’t believe how many thank-you emails I received from grateful parents! now that’s the party favor every parent wants!).
Most importantly, I had three bambinos who went to bed that night grateful, appreciative (I wouldn’t do this if they weren’t), thrilled-beyond-belief with their party, and happy. Deep in their souls I am 100% certain they felt special and adored. I am not the world’s greatest mother, I screw up plenty, and I do lots of stuff badly, but once a year I do something really, really right. And it is moments like this that let me know that is the truth:
There is no doubt that The Big Bounce Birthday Bash of 2014 will go down in our family history as one of our best birthday parties ever.
We had to stop by my office today to pick up and drop something off. We hung out for a few minutes while Meera worked.
Kyle, Michael, Meera, Sarah, Owen, Jon
It is a pathetically quiet Friday night on campus. We’re the only ones here! The students have long gone, and we’re so over the peace and quiet, already so ready for them to come back! We miss all of the Sayre students so much. But a few we miss terribly.
Tonight I’m going through the birthday party photos from last week (big post on that soon to come!). This one almost made me cry when I saw it. It is pure love that we have for these three. Sarah was our Head Gryphon* our 1st year on campus (and we got to know and love her boyfriend Michael very well too). And Jon was our Head Gryphon this — our 2nd — year (his girlfriend Marissa we also adore, but she couldn’t make it to the bday party). We couldn’t invite a whole slew of students/alum, so we had to limit it to just these very special ones. And so they were invited, and they came, and they partied down with the bambinos like only they can. And they continue to amaze me with the awesomeness of just who they are.
To say that we absolutely love these three is an absolute understatement. Sarah and Jon are more like the bambinos’ aunt and uncle than like family friends. They go way beyond simply people who used to be our Head Gryphons. They will ALWAYS hold a very special place in our hearts. And we look forward to many more celebrations with them in the years to come.
*Note for non-LU folks: Gryphon = RA
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