Rhymes and Riddles

August has been a whirlwind month for us.  It started out with Granny visiting, school starting, and then – closing out the month – a five day visit from Wayland’s sister, her husband, and two precious baby girls.  (I’m glad 2 1/2 year old Reece can’t read, because she would be totally offended that I referred to her as a “baby.”  I mean it in the nicest way though, I promise).

And now for your reading pleasure (ahem!), here is a quick recap of our week together.  In rhyme.

TEAMThompson played host to the Riddles.  The honor and pleasure all ours.  Giggles and smiles were aplenty;  playing house, hide-n-seek, trains and cars.   

Exhausting but exhilarating.  Ten people in one modest house.  While daddies were insurance schooling,  the rest stayed as busy as mice a mouse (it’s gotta rhyme y’all, or my title is shot!).

Dining in, dining out – we did both.  Football practice and games (Philip’s team is now 4-0! Yea!) we saw too.  Went creek stomping and forgot the camera.  Cousins played and the fights – they were few. 

Seeing family is always a blessing.  Rachel, Scott, Reece and Rynn, oh so sweet.  All the memories made we will treasure.  The gift of your presence a treat!

Okay, that was kind of corny, but I liked my title so I was bound and determined to make it work!  We have been so blessed this summer to have seen so much family.  The kids have had the wonderful opportunity to play with all their cousins, see two aunts, two uncles and a grandma to boot!  We are truly grateful! 

Although he wasn't around much, those girls loved the time they had with cousin Nate

 

"Yuker?" (as Reece called Luke) "Are you my friend?"

 

"Of course I'm your friend!"

 

"Oh, good."

Jean Jacket Twinkies

The most smiley baby I've ever seen. I nicknamed her "Grinny Rynny."

I don’t know what’s up with all the red eyes.  This user doesn’t know how to fix it though – I’ve tried.  Just picture everyone with beautiful blue eyes, unless you’re picturing Reece.  Hers are brown.  Or if you were picturing Philip (who I didn’t get any pictures of ) you would picture hazel green – like his momma.  Speaking of Philip, we have exciting news on the horizon.  I’ll post more on that soon. 

Is it May, Yet?

Today marks the kiddos ninth day of the 2009-2010 school year.  This morning when the alarm went off all I could think was, “Is it May yet?”  Seriously, it feels like I’ve been doing this for months already.  This week has been filled with “Meet the Teacher” nights, Middle School Open Houses, and Athletic meetings.  I feel like I haven’t seen Nathanael at all this week.  He leaves for school so early, gets home so late after practice, and then I’ve been sticking him at babysitter while I run around from school to school and class to class equipping myself with loads of information on how to make my child’s educational experience excellent.  All that information is now in a large stack on my desk and will be sorted through at a much later date.  Much, much later.

Anna Elizabeth came home on Tuesday with her first spelling list.  When I told her we were going to sit down and study the words, a scene erupted that could have earned an Emmy nomination.  Even I thought it was an insurmountable task in getting her ready for today’s test.  Surprise of surprises, this morning when I quizzed her over a bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats  (I knew we were going to need all eight layers for such an important day), she spelled all her words correctly.  She even threw in the comment that they were “easy” words.  Same girl that told me on Tuesday that “life with homework is just too hard.”  I’ll let you know how introducing addition and subtraction flashcards goes next week.  I’m gearing myself up right now. 

I completely crack up when I think of the difference between the boys as first graders, and their precocious little sister.  Nathanael read and did a book report on Jack London’s, Call of the Wild at six years old.  Philip was reading some challenging chapter books as well, and did a report on the Titanic.  Anna E. is going to be doing good if I can convince her to read more than three pages of her library book at a time, and  I’m thinking the only report she’ll be interested in giving is “How to Do a Cartwheel and  Handstand” or “How to Wear White Shorts and Decide to Play in the Dirt So Your Mother Gets Close To Losing Her Witness”  (not that she would know anything about that or anything).  Oh sweet variety.  I love it! 

Football is going well.  Philip is doing great, his team is 2-0 and they play again tomorrow morning bright and early.  Nathanael is getting stronger and stronger in practice and (as of today) looks like he will be starting on both the offensive and defensive line.  His first scrimmage is next week and we are counting down the days.

Handsome #12

This was taken at last week’s game during a blood sugar check.  (I take what I can get).   Aunt Rachel and Uncle Scott sent the boys both a set of eye black stickers for this football season.  Philip took the ones that said Phil 4:13.  Everyone thinks we had them personalized especially for him. 

Little Luker is a constant source of joy.  I have not taken him for a hair cut since Tales From the Clipped.  You understand.  Yesterday he told me he had “Nacho Libre hair.”  I knew I had crossed a line and had to face my fear.  Actually, I didn’t want to face it, so I let Wayland.  He and Luke went for haircuts and Luke came back with his Libre fro gone, and in it’s place a nice, handsome little boy’s haircut.  Oh thank you, Jesus.  Wayland came back with something different.  After looking at himself in the mirror for a while he said, “I bet you ten bucks someone asks me if I’m a marine.”  Nathanael cracked up.  Wayland said, “If I suck in my stomach, you’d totally think I was a marine.”

Much better than the fro

Hoo-rah!

 This weekend looks to be like another crazy one, followed by more family coming to visit on Monday!  YEAH!!!  I’m sure in between football, cookouts, church and life group, I’ll be frantically trying to clean the house.  One of my dear friends reminded me that sharing and showing love was more important than a spotless house.  I’m going to remember that!

Back to School in a Nutshell

Yesterday must have had at least  36  hours in it.  By the time I went to pick Nathanael up from football practice at 5:45, I had forgotten that when I sent him off at 7:10 that morning, it was his first day of 7th grade.  It took me until we were about halfway home to ask about his schedule, his teachers, and most importantly…who he was sitting next to in each class.  That was okay with him though, because up until then we had been talking football – which, of course, took precedent.   One of the things I love most about Nathanael’s personality is that he always comes home “loving” his teachers.  He’s so positive about all of his classes and his teachers; he is sure he is on the best team in his middle school.  I hope so.  After a hot shower and some food, Nathanael vegged on the couch a bit before he came in and went through all the details of his day with me.  It was so much fun – I love more in depth conversations with my kids when the opportunity arises.  Here is a picture of Nathanael on his first day of 7th grade (I just captured what I could).

Always the charmer

Where Nathanael jumps in with open abandon, Philip approaches the first day with a bit more reserve.  Newcomers in his life have to prove that they are trustworthy, nice, and generally deserving of his approval.   Although he had a good first day, today was even better.  Anna E.’s teacher from last year moved up to 5th grade, so we have the privilege of having the same teacher twice.  He was already aware of Philip’s diagnosis, and met with both the school nurse and me on Monday to make sure he knew how to keep Philip as safe as possible at school.  I am really grateful for such wonderful school personnel.  Philip had some exciting news waiting for him yesterday when he got to school.  Each morning, a crew made up of seven fifth graders writes, produces, and delivers a live school news program on television.  Just like his big brother before him, Philip found out he will be a desk anchor this year and will have the opportunity to write his script and deliver the school news ten weeks this year.  Way to go Philip!  Who knows, we may have our own version of the Gumbel brothers in a few years!

I got my first call from the elementary school nurse (also had dealings with the middle school nurse yesterday concerning Nathanael’s aching feet and ankles) around 11 am yesterday morning.  I assumed it would have to do with Philip and his blood sugar (those calls came later) but the victim was none other than Little Miss.  “Mrs. Thompson, Anna Elizabeth is starting her first grade year off with a bang.  Literally.”  Seems that while playing at recess she jumped off the jungle gym onto a poor unsuspecting little boy’s head.  Caused her tooth to put a pretty good size hole in her lip.  When my response was complete UNalarm, the nurse said, “You don’t seem too surprised.”  “Nope.  Not with Anna.  We go through several bumps, bruises, cuts, and scrapes a day.  I’m sure she’ll be just fine.”  I did make a quick stop at the school to make sure she was able to eat her lunch okay.  When I walked in the cafeteria, she had a gauze pad wadded up under her lip and my eyes about popped out of my head when I thought it was swollen up to the size of an egg.  Good thing I sent pudding and applesauce because that was about all she was able to handle.  The good news is she was just fine by the time she got home, although it didn’t stop her from asking for some ice cream “because that would really help it.”  She thinks her teacher is “really sweet” and seems very excited for the year ahead.  She was also very excited that the only one who had homework last night was me.  She laid out all my papers to sign and played ”teacher” for a while.  Then she wanted to switch roles and actually asked me to give her some homework.  I can’t quite figure her out?!?

Little Teacher

The infamous nails. A little boy in Anna's class told her how pretty they were.

Luke and I are loving our one on one time together, but he is miserable without his best buddy at home.  By 10:00 yesterday morning, he was in tears asking me, “How much longer ’till Anna gets home?”  He asked again at 11, and 12, and you get the picture.  We were waiting for the bus after school yesterday and when Anna got off, she and Luke hugged like they hadn’t seen each other in weeks.  They ran inside,  started playing, and didn’t stop for about three hours straight.  They also wanted to play outside, but the red fox that lives in our neighborhood is back (bigger and more menacing looking) and currently has control of our backyard.  I’m going to have to remember to start shutting our garage door so he doesn’t decide to make a den inside.

Making up for lost time

School Days

I would say I’ve missed blogging, but that would be a lie.  I’ve been far too busy to miss blogging.  Far too busy to miss anything except sleep. 

Granny has been visiting TEAMThompson the past nine days.  I am so thankful for my mother-in-law.  She is truly a joy to have in our home and we are always sad to see her go.  She left this morning before any of my little sleepy heads even thought about waking up.  It was a whirlwind trip, but loads of fun.  It was great to have an extra set of eyes to watch the kiddos while I ran errands to get us ready for back to school.  It was also great to have an extra pair of hands to load up school supplies when we went shopping with our three lists last week.  School supplies are crazy.  I know I have to have fourteen pairs of Fiskars scissors around here somewhere, but every year I buy another pair in a different color to add to the collection.  And pencils.  Seriously?  I bought 75 pencils for the three scholars, and I guarantee you they won’t have any left by January. 

Wayland did try to do a post this weekend recapping our last couple of weeks, but it totally messed up our blog, so we didn’t publish it.  It essentially had some cute pics of the kids taken by Granny, some pictures of us all hiking in beautiful Brown County, and a great football update which I will go ahead and blog about since I have control of the keyboard right now.

Philip had his first game on Saturday.  So far football season has not disappointed in the Thompson household.  We had four days of practice last week, meaning we left our house at 4:45 each afternoon and didn’t return home until almost 8:00 each night (and then had to eat, bathe, etc…).  This schedule has been ridiculous for our family of six (seven last week), but even more crazy on Philip’s numbers.  I’m sure we’ll start to get the hang of it all right around November.   Anyway, the game on Saturday was super exciting.  Not in a “nail-biting, anticipation” kind of way, but in “woo-hoo, we’re back on the football field” kind of way.  Wayland had lost his voice by halftime.  I could hear him yelling before I even got out of the car in the parking lot.  His voice was echoing all over the fields.  And just to be clear, he is not yelling in a “mean, demented way”, it’s more of a “pump-you-up, demented way.”  (Honestly, he is the best coach in the league and I’m not just saying that because he’s my man - many kids in 5th grade were hoping to get Coach Thompson this year!)  Philip is playing QB and Cornerback again, and looked really good for the first game of the season.  He had a beautiful 25 – 30 yard run for a touchdown, in which his crazy mother ran/hopped/galloped down the sideline beside him screaming unmindfully of the many other people around her.  It will be a good thing when I am confined to a bleacher.  I really think I’m going to hurt someone one day if I keep up these crazy antics.  I even had one parent come over and ask where the splits and back flips were.  I told her I was a “base” in cheerleading and never quite mastered the tumbling aspect of the sport.  Anyway, our team, the NotreDame Fighting Irish (Wayland’s first choice was Texas A&M, but they were unavailable) is now 1-0 with a 18-6 win over the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday.  Way to go boys!

Nathanael finally started practice yesterday afternoon.  When I picked him up he was hobbling across the parking lot.  He came home, took an ice-cold bath, ate dinner, laid on the couch for a while and then crashed.  He was completely worn out.  This morning, when I woke him up for the first day of school, he didn’t seem much better.  He looked super duper handsome, but he had a certain gimp to his gait and when he crawled up into the bus he looked like he was at least seventy-seven years old.  The bad thing is, I didn’t even get a picture to memoralize the occasion.  Seventh grade?!?  It honestly doesn’t seem possible.

Philip was pumped and ready for fifth grade this morning.  He also looked super handsome, and I did get a picture in his case.

Don't let the expression fool you - he's ready for this year!

 My sweet little Anna E. was a little more nervous about 1st grade.  At the breakfast table this morning she asked me, once again, about homework.  It is a scary, larger-than-life image she has floating around in her mind that I’m hoping will vanish over the next few weeks.  I so wish I would have gotten a close-up picture of her fingernails and toenails.  Granny took us for some “girl time” yesterday and spoiled us with a manicure.  Actually Anna E. got her feet done as well.  I don’t know that she has ever been still that long.  She could hardly keep her eyes open as the lady was painting her fingernails.   They were precious.  Purple nails with pretty flowers on her big toes and thumbs, and white polka-dots on the rest.  I’ll try and remember to get a picture later.  Here is my princess on her first day of first grade.

Not sure about that smile

First Day of School 2009

Luke and I are heading up to the school in a bit to check on Philip and Anna Elizabeth.  I can’t believe summer is gone and we didn’t go camping, or to the beach, or even make it to the pool as much as I would have liked.  Just doesn’t seem quite right.  Oh well, hopefully next summer.  Here’s to another year of reading, and writing, arithmetic.