Music to my ears

We bought a piano today! I don't know how to play a piano or read music but I am going to learn. My sister Susanna is a great piano player and my Mom gave piano lessons but somehow I ended up skipping the whole piano thing growing up. I am not sure if my Mom asked me and I wasn't interested but I so wish I had taken lessons.  I would love to be able to sit down at a piano and start playing songs. Not super complex songs but to be able to open up a music book and play would be so great.  I plan on teaching myself the very basics then looking into lessons.  I know I want Jared and Lydia to take them when they get a little older. Mark took lessons when he was growing up and can play one hand but would like to learn more as well.  I decided a few years ago (I really have been wanting to play for a long time) that there was no point in taking lessons until I had a piano to practice on and the day has finally come. I am really excited. I really am not aiming to become this awesome player and do crazy songs or solos but to be able to play sounds really nice.

When we moved into our house this summer we talked about decorating and looking for a piano. Since we plan on being here the next 5 - 7 years it seemed time to finally get that piano. Mark really wanted to hang up pictures but I did not want to: 1. put holes in our nicely painted walls and 2. if we were getting a piano I didn't want to hang anything till we knew where it would be sitting, what it looked like, how big it was etc. Now we have it and Mark is excited to hang up more pictures.  I can't wait to start figuring out notes and paying scales! I hope my enthusiasm rubs off on Jared and Lydia.

We had 4 friends come help move it and are so grateful for them. I think it fits the space very nicely.

Soccer

 First Practice

We signed Jared up to play soccer this Fall.  He started 2 weeks ago and has been enjoying himself. It is the first organized sport team we have participated in and so far it has been a nice experience. Mark is his coach and our friend Tom (Lenox) is the co coach. We are going through the JAG program (military law program).  It is pretty low key and relaxed which we wanted. We had him signed up for a 5 year old team but moved him up to a 6 year old team (the person in charge asked for volunteers of older 5 year olds who could move up) because there were too many 5 year olds, the teams were huge.  He is turning 6 during the season anyway. He had his first game today as the one scheduled for last week got rained out which was good for us since we were out of town and Mark is the coach.  His team name is "the Giants".  This was not Jared's choice but he has moved on. They ended up winning 5 : 2 and Jared was pretty pumped about it.  I was happy that he (the whole team really) did a good job being good sports and not rubbing it in the other teams noses.  They were excited but not gloating.  We will see how he does when he is not on the winning team.  Its a nice venue to teach about these things.  Good sportsmanship and how to deal with losing. The season ends October 31st so its not a huge commitment. It is hard for me to have something scheduled every Saturday at 9:00 in the Fall.  There are so many fun activities and such amazing weather. I think it will be good for Jared.  We asked Lydia if she wanted to play when we signed Jared up and she was not interested. Then when we went to his first practice she asked why she wasn't playing. Silly girl.  We will see if she wants to try it out in the Spring when they do it again.

HIs blue socks make it easy to spot him. 

 Jared and Mark. 

Jared was super excited, they had just scored. I don't think he made any goals but he went the right direction and ran his heart out. 

Magic Tree house, Frontier Culture Museum and camping

I am so happy to have Fall weather coming!  So happy! I look forward to it all year.  We have not gotten to use our backyard fort as much as I would have thought because of bugs (ticks mainly I am so paranoid) and humidity but a few Sundays ago we had a most beautiful afternoon and so we went down to our fort tree house and read a Magic Tree House book.  Jared and Lydia have been really digging those books.  It is our first chapter book series and it is fun to read to them and then have them plead for me to read more chapters before bed or anytime I read really. I don't even think it is a delaying tactic. They really enjoy them. I am getting a little tired of them but will push on.  We are on #12.  Soon I will look for a new series.  We took our camping chairs down and enjoyed the book and fort.  I hope we will do it more in the next few months.

Labor Day weekend we had plans with some friends to drive over to VA Beach again and spend the day but ended up not going.  The weather had a 70% chance of thunderstorms and rain for most of the day which was really disappointing even though I enjoy a nice thunderstorm. Just not when we were supposed to spend a fun day at the beach.  Instead we met up at the Frontier Culture Museum. It is about 35 minutes way and basically has little houses that are replicas from different time periods.  We "visited" homesteads in Africa, Britain, Ireland, Germany, and the United States, (1600, 1700, and 1800 and an Indian Village which was Jared's favorite).  It was fun to see the animals and changes at the houses with the time periods.  The beach would have been more fun but we rented a golf cart to drive around and enjoyed visiting the sites.

 West Africa

 UK

 Ireland

Native Americans

Last weekend we went camping at Sherando Lake.  We met up with our friends the Lenox's and had a lot of fun together.  We had planned on staying there Friday night then swimming at the lake and hiking all day Saturday but again ran into rain. We knew it was in the forecast but wanted to go anyway. We set up camp and had dinner and attempted a campfire.  We brought firewood from our property that Mark had cut down this summer but apparently wood will not burn as well if it is freshly cut.  We had no idea so our campfire was kind of a bust.  We were still able to make S'Mores and visit around the embers. It started raining around 2:30 in the morning then stopped around 6:30.  Jared and Lydia were up for the day by 7:00.  We were fortunate to have a break in the weather to make breakfast and pack up camp. We went on a hike around the lake and when we were almost done it started pouring. It was not what we hoped for but we are glad we went.  Jared and Lydia loved using our tent and eating as many marshmallows as they could manage.

 Mark has wanted a camp stove for awhile and loved using it for the first time. It worked so well.

Waiting out the downpour. 

Preschool

 Preschool starts on Tuesday! I have been thinking about starting an in home preschool for a long time and can't wait to see what its like. We had our preschool open house last Tuesday and it went so well.  We read the story the Kissing Hand, made a Kissing Hand craft and ate a special kissing hand snack.  (Handprint sugar cookie with a hershey kiss in it-- I was going to win those kids over!) I will have 4 kids including Lydia.  2 girls and 2 boys. My schedule is set, books are checked out, the classroom is set up, the outside space is set up, parents have paid, and my first 2 weeks are planned. Its been a long process and taken a lot of time (and money!) but I am excited to begin this new adventure. Lydia is super excited too.  After our open house last week she told me that she loved preschool! I reminded her that preschool is 3 hours not the 1we just spent together. I hope she does well with sharing our stuff with these preschool kids and realizing that she won't get to just play with whatever she wants when she wants. We will have lots of play time but we are going to do other stuff too. Each morning since Tuesday she has asked me if the day was a preschool one.  We have a chain counting down but she just wants it to start. I do too!  My preschool is fairly traditional with a little Montessori thrown in for good measure but really focuses more on social skills than academics. They are 3 years old, not getting ready for kindergarten. 3 of the 4 kids are the youngest in their family so all their sibling have gone off to school so I think it will be nice for them to have some other kids to play with and somewhere set to go. The oldest little boy will turn 4 in October and the youngest girl will not turn 4 till after preschool finishes. Again, I am excited to see what it is like to teach preschool!

Mark has been so helpful with all my little projects.  I have always "worked" since I have been staying at home but my other "jobs" didn't involve making things, or set up, or spending money to do it. I feel so fortunate that I got enough kids signed up to run preschool and that Mark has been so supportive of me.  Working from home has been a real testimony builder for me. I always planned on staying at home with my children while they were little and going to work outside of the home once they were older. It was what I wanted. When I got my patriarchal blessing when I was 16 there was a part that said I would have many opportunities to help provide for my family in and out of the home. I was so disappointed when I heard that. I didn't want to have to provide for my family. I wanted to marry someone who would have a job that paid enough.  I wanted to be secure financially without needing to work outside the home. When Mark and I began dating with both of us going into education I knew this part of my blessing would play out.  We really have been blessed with opportunities for me to work and be at home with Jared and Lydia.  I never make very much money. Its always just enough to cover what Mark's salary did not. We have had so many prayers answered and know that me being able to find jobs to allow me to stay at home was a direct result of us paying our tithing and the many prayers we said about finances.  We have always been able to take care of ourselves.  When we didn't think we would have enough money more always came.  It been a huge testimony builder and starting this preschool is one more example of it.

Here are some photos of our classroom. I am very happy with how it turned out.

Circle Time space (minus the TV it's  not really part of preschool) 

Reading Center. I love these bookshelves!  Bookshelves that have the covers facing out are my favorite. I was very happy with how my ABC banner turned out. I know I could have bought one but this one makes me happy. 

Literacy Center.  

That rainbow cart is full of fun things for it. I love how these pom-poms turned out. I had never made them before and I think they make the spot look nice and cheerful. 

View from circle time area.  Looking at Block Center first then Dramatic Play Center. 

Mark helped me make these 2 boards. One for hanging pictures or papers to take home and one to hag up backpacks and coats. I love them.  They make the space feel more professional to me. I also now have a little shelf under them for shoes.

View from stairs of whole space. 

Outside space.  I love that we have this whole deck to play on.  We have a water table I found at  garage sale this weekend.  A small slide, a chalkboard Mark and I made, (its under the lattice on the far side of the picture) and our sandbox, plus some big trucks, balls and a bubble machine. The sandbox is just around the corner of the house, behind the opening between the deck and lattice.  It would have been nice to have it on the deck but I also wanted deck space for when we are not having preschool. I plan on standing near the chalkboard so I can see the whole space. I would actually like to get a cute little bench for the area but kind of don't want spend more money....

I hope we all have a great experience.  There will be some rough moments I am sure and it will take some time to get used to it but I can't wait to try it out!

happenings.

We met up with some friends and rode the trolley together. This was while we waited at the bus station. I am looking forward to my hair growing out. Its been a nice change but I really prefer it longer. 

Awhile ago we bought a new net for the basketball hoop at our house. We were excited when we saw they had a cemented in basketball hoop. Mark and I both spent a lot of time shooting hoops growing up. My family and I played PIG of course, Around the World and Poison. Mark probably played actual games.  I am sure my brothers and their friends did but I did not.  Anyway. We have a lot of great memories with our families our playing ball and yesterday we starred making some with Jared and Lydia. The weather was beautiful yesterday giving me such hope for Fall.  It was not beautiful today but it will come. I know it will. Jared and Lydia had a great time playing and Lydia made sure to look very fashionable in her new snow boots. (We found boots for both of them at DI last week, 3 dollars for snow boots!)

Jared sadly has been dealing with a pretty bad cold this week.  He seemed fine when he went to bed Monday night but he had  really rough nights sleep and was not well in the morning.  He woke up twice in the night drenched in sweat so I think he was fighting a fever. He stayed home from school Tuesday and Wednesday and took a 4 hour nap Tuesday and a 3 hour nap Wednesday. I do not doubt that being extra tired contributed to this cold.  That and all the new germs he is now exposed to. We spent some time yesterday relaxing in our hammock chairs then playing basketball and I think the resting and fresh air really helped him. I am so glad he is doing better not just because I don't like it when he or Lydia are sick but we are headed to the beach with some friends this weekend.

He was happy to go to school today.  Each day has been better then the last which is so encouraging. I am so glad he is enjoying school.  We have been doing the drop off line and he loves walking into his classroom by himself.  It is so nice to see him enjoying school after such a rough start. I have noticed that Jared really needs some alone time when we get home from school or an outing we go on after school.  I am not sure if he needs to decompress or just wants to be alone. (which I can understand) I can't quite remember why but he got really irritated with Lydia and I and told us we were not allowed in his room today.  Lydia and I went to play in her room together.
Jared said: "You guys are not allowed in my room ever!!"
Me to Lydia loudly: "We can go in Jared's room while he is at school and he will never know!"

This made Jared quite mad so he made a No trespassing sign and then put booby traps in his room! I heard him talking to himself saying he "needed something sticky to put on the trap so I would get stuck." His solution? Drip milk on it from the cup I gave him. After he played alone for awhile we were best friends again.  Tonight before bed he said that he "loved me even more then he loved Daddy" so I think we are good.

I do really enjoy seeing how he sounds out words. I love that he is trying to instead of just asking.

The other day we were down in the basement and Jared started writing a story. This is the first time I remember him doing this so I was really excited.  We have written cards to people before but he has never just sat down (Or stood in the instance) and written a story.  He did a nice job. It is fun to see him expanding his choices.  He even drew a picture at school that had nothing to do with Pirates!  He drew a cat and a dog.  Today he brought home a paper that had him fill in the question: "When I grow up I want to be...."  He wrote President of the Untied States and drew a picture of himself as president.  This was a new one to me. He still loves pirates though and spent some time a few days ago building a very fancy pirate ship with cannons, sails and sleeping quarters.  We have been reading lots of books about going to kindergarten and preschool for both of them and in one of them the main character is at school and makes sailor hats. Unsurprisingly Jared thought this was a great idea so the other day Mark made hats for Jared, Lydia and himself.

Cat at the Beach. The cat loves to the beach. the cat played at the beach. 

Cannons loaded. 

That about sums up the last little while. I need to write about my preschool open house but first I want to take pictures of my preschool. I have been working on lots of little classroom projects and getting some planning done which feels so good. Class starts on Tuesday!