Weekend fun

Jared lost another tooth this weekend. He has such a big hole in his mouth! 4 teeth are missing. The middle teeth are coming in now but until then its a really big hole. We sat down to eat breakfast and all of a sudden he had a tooth in his hand!  We were eating monkey bread so it was a weird item to lose a tooth over.

 

Jared and Lydia's soccer uniforms came in on Wednesday and they were excited to wear them. Mark brought them home with him after practice. I was concerned that Jared would put up a fuss because Lydia's was a pretty blue and his was white with red stripes and while he was disappointed he handled it way better than I expected which was nice. They looked really cute when they got all their gear on.  This week was the first week of "games".  Lydia is on a 3/4 yr old team and Jared is on a 5/6  yr old team. Lydia ended up playing a team of 4 and 5 year olds and got totally creamed!  They were not evenly matched at all.  She didn't really care though and technically they were not keeping score.  I think she (and her team) would have had more fun if her team actually had a chance to score a goal or have the ball on their side of the field but such was not the case. She was a really good sport though and cheered for everyone and complemented both teams when they did something good which was really sweet.  My favorite was when she said to her friend Ziva, "that's the spirit!!" Too funny and cute! Jared's team just split up and played against themselves.  His team scored less goals which he did not love but he handled it really well. I was proud of him. When I was watching he seemed to be playing mostly defense and did a nice job going after the ball and clearing it. He's growing up!

After soccer we went home and got Jared and Lydia cleaned up and headed over to UVA for a picnic. Right when we moved here the well photographed Rotunda on the grounds at UVA was closed for renovations.  Any time we have gone to Grounds it has been covered with scaffolding or construction barriers so we had never been able to go in or even see the whole structure.  This past weekend it opened to the public so we went and checked it out.  It is really nice and looks great. I don't have anything to compare it to but it was fun and historic.  There was an old fireplace uncovered in the remodeling in the old chemistry lab which was dated from 1825 and some fun displays.  There are 3 levels, a visitors center in the basement, the main floor with classrooms and a loft type space up stairs which opens up all around the larger lecture room. It's more like a wide hallway that goes around the room.  Most of the rooms are ovals or circular so its a fun building to go into.  There are fun chairs and tables people can study at and we made sure to try all the different styles.  It was fun to finally get to go in there. We overheard some people talking about the "secret societies' at UVA and it was fun to hear some of the stuff you might read about or watch in a movie.  The most sought after secret society is the 7 society from what I understand.  Its a type of service society but I don't know much more about it since we really don't have a lot to do with UVA.  We had our picnic under an oak tree near the Rotunda and just enjoyed being somewhere different.

After UVA I cut out and baked 6 dozen sugar cookies. I was supposed to bring 3 dozen for the primary kids to decorate in the primary room but I am really bad at volume. I tripled the recipe and really did not need too. Oh well.  The primary kids loved decorating them.  Saturday was also the women's broadcast and I got together with some sisters before hand for dinner. It was nice to visit and spend some time with some great ladies.  Sunday was the Primary Program.  Both Jared and Lydia did a nice job with their parts.  I couldn't see  Jared very well when they were singing but he did a decent job attempting to be reverent when they were sitting up there.  Lydia on the other hand did a terrible job.  The Monday before the program we had a FHE lesson on not following other people if they are making bad choices and it lasted on her for about 10 minutes.  She and the kids right by her were not interested at all in listening to the other children speaking. There were so many times I wanted to go get her and make her come sit by me.  I think half way through she started playing some made up game on the stand in front of everyone, front and center.  She did do it quietly from what I could tell but man, that was a struggle! I understand she is still young and it is not very fun to just sit somewhere but I did hope she could hold it together better than that. Maybe next year.  I'm glad its over.  Mark and I both got released from callings Sunday. I was the Primary Secretary and he was the chorister. (He is keeping his other 2 which are Cub Scout Master and Stake Executive Secretary. I personally wish he could have been released from Cub Master not chorister but oh well.)  I am now the Gospel Doctrine teacher which will be good for me.  I need some help reading my scriptures with more purpose and this will help with that for sure. The teacher I'm replacing is a really good presenter and people seemed to really like him so it is intimidating to be following him and be ready to lead adults in this class.  I do wish there was more than one teacher.  Having to teach a class like that each week seems a bit much. I was talking briefly to the Primary president, her husband is who I am replacing and she said that he always said the class is really helpful and does a great job participating. I have maybe been to this ward's gospel doctrine class once?  Mark and I got called into primary right away so it really is a lot of unknowns.  I am glad General Conference is next week so I have a little bit more time. It was a busy fun weekend.

still hot...

It may have cooled down 4 degrees this week but it was still way hotter than I would like. September is half over! One day after school Jared and Lydia begged me to spray them down with the water hose when I commented that the car thermometer read 95 degrees.  Yuck.  So we did and it was great.   I'm glad they have fun ideas like that.  Lately they have been super into our sand box.  It basically sat untouched by them for the last 4 months or so but for whatever reason this past week it was the place to be.  After I sprayed them down and let them spray each other for awhile they went over and played in the sandbox for over an hour!  Seems so random but so great.  They have played it almost every day for the last week.  Playing in the sandbox while still soaking wet made for a sandy mess throughout our main floor when they came in for dinner but oh well. I'm glad they are enjoying it. 

We had kind of a marathon day Saturday.  Friday was Constitution day and since we had just been to Independence Hall last month we decided to celebrate the Constitution a little more. Within in 35 minutes of Charlottesville there are 3 former presidents houses. Jefferson's Monticello, Monroe's Ash Lawn Highland and Madison's Montpelier. To celebrate Constitution day free tours were offered at Montpelier.  We had never been out to that property before and decided to take advantage of the free house tour.  I really liked how that house is laid out and presented.  It was fun to do a quick tour and then play some colonial games on the back lawn.  They also have an active archeology site which was fun to learn about. Once upon a time I wanted to be an archeologist and Jared and Lydia loved doing some digging in their archeology lab. The Madison's loved to entertain so when we walked up to the house to meet "Mr Madison" we looked back over the lawn and saw lots of people playing and walking and visiting and it made me think how this would have been a common site during their time there. It was a fun outing.  We have not done any other house tours with Jared and Lydia and they did pretty well.  They especially loved playing the games.  

As I mentioned it has been really hot here and we have not had much rain unlike last September when it rained all the time. So VA is starting to look really dry which is odd to see, makes me feel like I am back in Northern CA. I am glad we could head out there. 

Mr. Madison himself. 

I talked to Jared about asking him questions and we talked about a few options and he eventually got enough courage to talk to him.  I was surprised that Lydia was as willing as she was to go by him. 

Signing the Constitution. We all left our "John Hancock's".

We had quite a bit of soccer yesterday too.  Jared and Lydia had their games at 9:00 and thankfully it was at least cooler than the previous week.  Jared really enjoyed it and scored a goal which made him happy. Lydia had fun playing different games with Mark to practice drills and then they played a little scrimmage too and she seems to really be figuring it out.  She scored 3 goals. I am not sure there was actually a goalie there each time but she dribbled it down the field and scored. I was walking back and forth between both fields and got to see one of her goals and a really good pass by Jared which was great. For more soccer fun we headed over to UVA for the men's soccer game.  We met up with some friends and had fun watching the game, visiting, and watching all the kids run around and roll down the grassy hill.  The game started at 7:00 so thankfully the sun set soon after we got there. Unfortunately, the game didn't end until 2 over times.  We left at the end of regulation time and it was tied 3-3.  20 minutes later it was still 3-3.  I am glad we left when we did.  Jared and Lydia didn't get to bed before 9:45 which is really late for them. 

We also stopped by Toys R Us for a little LEGO project.  They were handing out free Cogsworth sets so we got one for Jared and Lydia each. Jared built his and then made Lydia's.  He then proceeded to take his outside and start tossing it up in the air. I told him it was a really bad idea but he did it anyway.  He tossed it up, it landed on the sidewalk, broke into many pieces and now he can't find all the pieces.  It was intact for maybe 14 minutes?  I went out to help him look for a few minutes but I am fairly certain we will never find all the pieces.  Maybe he will learn from this?  Either that he should not throw LEGOS up into the air or even better that he really should listen to his Mom.  I am including this because Jared and Lydia always want stories about them when they were young.  Mark commented that if they ever needed stories for talks or lessons or projects when they get older they should have a decent source here on this blog.

Hannah and Matt came up from Lynchburg to stay the night and we had fun visiting with them.  Matt can start looking for jobs in January.  It will be a bummer when they head out.  Jared and Lydia really love them and baby Norah.  They came to our Sacrament meeting and Jared and Lydia loved having Norah to watch. Next week is the Primary Program, we will see how they do! 

Hot September

This hot Summer weather is sure taking it's sweet time to move on.  Typically I put up my Autumn decor by Labor Day weekend but it has been so hot lately I haven't felt that special Fall feeling. I have faith that the past week was the last hot, hot week and the 10 day forecast is backing me up, kind of.  There is only one day above 90 degrees in the 10 day forecast. It would happen to be Wednesday which is a bummer because soccer started this week and Jared and Lydia have practice on Wednesdays.  They both loved their first practice and mostly enjoyed their "game" today.  Both of them but Lydia especially would have enjoyed it more if it had been cooler. I think hot weather tends to affect her more than it does Jared.  Mark is coaching Lydia's team this year and Jared has Coach Trent and Coach Justin who are both awesome coaches who work really well with the kids.  They know what they are doing and the kids reposed really well to them. He totally lucked out.  His team is made up of 5 and 6 year olds so I am pretty sure he is the oldest as he will be 7 right after the season ends. At first I wondered if I should have put him on the 7 yr old team as his birthday is so close to the season but now that I have seen him playing and met the coaches I am really glad he is on this team.  A girl we know from the 1st ward is Mark's assistant coach (although she has way more coaching experience than Mark, she is also pregnant and her husband is a resident so has crazy hours so she opted to be the assistant) which is a little weird but mostly just fun.  Her daughter Lucy is on the team and 2 kids from Lydia's Sunbeam class so the team is like 1/3 Mormon.  There are actually a lot of LDS families who play JAG soccer so its kind of fun to have a chance to visit with people we used to see all the time in the 1st ward.  It's a nice laid back soccer league and Jared and Lydia will both enjoy it and Jared especially will learn a lot which is a nice bonus.  

Her team is the Falcons

"Go Dragons!"

We attended the Bike Rodeo at Baker Butler last night, also in gross hot weather. We missed this event last year and are glad we could make it this year.  Jared loved being able to ride around with tons of kids. We were impressed that there weren't more accidents and injuries as it got pretty crowded but everyone seemed to know what they were doing.  It's fun sometimes to see kids in situations like that and see that they can handle it, they can make it work. Sometimes you just don't know what will happen. On one lap I was riding with Jared on Julie's scooter and a girl lost her balance and veered into Jared.  She started to fall and I was able to help stabilize her bike. I was happy to see Jared stop riding and check to see if she was okay instead of just rushing past. Mark kindly took Lydia around for a few laps.  She did not master riding her bike before the event like we hoped she would but was willing to try yesterday and did pretty well.  They both scored some cool spoke pegs for their tires and had a good time.  I think Lydia could learn to ride her bike any day now.  If the weather would cool down for real we would be even more motivated to make her practice.

In the two days that were actually nice weather we made sure to take advantage of them. One night we headed up to Carter Mountain for the Sunset Series and the next night we went downtown for the Paint the Town Orange Pep Rally for UVA.  We met up with the Lenox's and the Shaw's at the Sunset Series and again with the Shaw's for the rally.  Those two evenings had beautiful weather and we had a great time.  There were a few other families we knew from the 1st ward at the Sunset Series and the rally and it was fun to chat with them. We have really enjoyed the Sunset Series up there and hope we can go one more time before they stop for the season.  

Downtown Mall. There was an amazing sunset this night. 

 It's a bummer you can't see it more here. 

Tyler and Jared. 

 This is what I got when I asked them to put their arms around each other, like they were friends. 

I'm so glad he has Tyler as his buddy. 

April and Tara. 

I'm truly grateful for Mark who puts up with my grumpiness/moodiness better than anyone

 and who sadly receives more than his fair share of it. 

The Lenox's are moving to Texas at the end of October which will break mine and Lydia's hearts. Tara and Tom headed down to Texas this past week to look at houses and we had Lainey stay with us.  It was fun to have her here and I'm glad we could help out Tara and Tom.  Lydia loved having Lainey sleep over.  We picked up Tom and Tara from the airport Friday and then dropped them all off at their house.  On the drive home Lydia talked about how much she would miss Lainey and how she was her best (x10) friend and when she leaves she won't have a best friend anymore. I tried to point out all her other friends but I wanted to complain and be sad right there with her. We love getting together with them, they are such good, fun, easy to be around people. Mark enjoys getting together with Tom and Jared has a great time playing with Jessie and Tegan, their older girls. It will be truly horrible when they move. This may seem dramatic but we really love them. Tara was one of the first people I really became close to here in Charlottesville and I love being around her.  She makes me feel cool and smart and fun. As an adult, having friends has been different for me than it was when I was younger.  In Colorado I had people I enjoyed getting together with but I would not consider them close friends. I mostly just wanted to be by myself and do whatever I wanted after being at home with my sweet Jared and Lydia all day.  But with Tara it was one of the first times I as an adult with kids had a "best" friend. We do our weekly "Monday Fun-days" so Lydia and Lainey can play and we can hang out.  They are as much for us as they are for Lydia and Lainey. She is funny and smart and a great example to me and I will miss her dearly and Lydia will miss Lainey too. 

Preschool has been going really well. The kids are fun and I am happy to be teaching again. I am still trying to get the right amount of activities in my lesson plans but so far the kids have all been happy to be there and the parents are pleased with how its going too.  We have 2 field trips planned in the next few weeks which will be fun.  We didn't go on any last year and I think it will be a nice change.  I am really trying to add things that will make it more like school will be for them but still just let them play and learn from each other. I am loving my weekly schedule. I wondered if going three days back to back would seem like a lot but I actually like it more and again I feel like it is good prep for school next year.  Last year I would teach Tuesday then have a day off then teach again but now there is no "break" so it feels like it goes faster. Weird but true. I am so grateful it is going as well as it is and so grateful I have these families to teach. 

Back to School!

School has been in session for one week now. Over all I would say it's going pretty well for Jared. He gave the first day a 7 which is better than Kindergarten last year.  He has Mrs. Geer for a teacher and most people I have talked to really liked having their kids in her class. I hope he will have a great year.  He is really sad about not having Tyler in his class but is doing okay.  We were talking for a bit after I tucked him in tonight and he was sad that he didn't have any friends in class. I told him that he needed to talk to the kids in his class and try to get to know them and I hope he will feel brave and do it and that kids will respond well. One day last week he came out of class thrilled because he talked to a boy named Marcus and ate lunch with him. He only has 2 kids in his class from last year and they are not kids he knew well. Fingers crossed he can make some good friends.  He is still pretty sensitive but is holding it together much better than last year.  Yesterday he took a chocolate zucchini muffin for snack and the kids at his table told him it was gross so he then wouldn't eat it in class.  We talked about it and he made a plan to bring in one more today and offer to share it so they could see that it taste good, that you couldn't even taste the zucchini but they were not interested and then the teacher said dessert could not be eaten in class so he felt bad because he didn't know it would be considered a dessert.  Today was given a 4.9 which was the lowest day yet. It almost always corresponds with how he interacted with his peers, so I know if its low there was some kind of incident. I hope he can be confident and do well. He is a good kid and I hope he can get into a good groove. I know he is starting to feel the stress of being gone from home all day and missing Tyler and trying hard to be good all day and it's hard for him.  We will all need a little extra patience and love in the coming weeks. We did take some fun pictures and he lost a tooth this week too. Mark pulled it out Monday before bed.  He has quite the whole in his mouth now.

Lydia and I started school today, and had a fun day.  She did a nice job and said she liked being with the new kids. The preschool kids all seemed to have fun and got along well together. I had too much prepared and didn't do a whole activity but it is not a big deal. It will take some time for us to all get used to each other but I feel great about my students and lessons. It was strange how having 5 students instead of 4 really made a difference. I liked it, it is just an adjustment from last year.  I have 4 girls and 1 boy.  When the Lenox's move I will be back down to 4 like last year which will be a bummer. It will also be an adjustment to go 3 days in a row. Its weird to me that I have school tomorrow since last year was just 2 days a week. I am so grateful I can teach preschool and have such nice families.

School seems to be going well for Mark too.  He does a geography unit at the beginning of the year and the first test is to name and label the 50 states.  His school has a large United States map out in the parking lot and he likes to take students out there and play a version of "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego" where he gives them 10 states and they race to see how fast they can find them.  He added a fun incentive this year for kids to score 100% on the labeling test.  If they could do it within the first 2 days it was offered he gave them a frosted sugar cookie.  When we were at Reading Market he found a cookie cutter in the shape of the United States so we bought it.  His students loved it.  Hopefully he enjoys teaching these kids this semester.