House Update

On the house front, our renters moved in yesterday. Or rather, they arrived yesterday and their stuff arrived today ;) Hopefully they are getting unpacked/settled in nicely. We walked over to give them the keys etc yesterday and brought them a couple of pizzas, since they were arriving around dinner time. Rebecca met their daughter, who is her age, so hopefully they will be friends! And hopefully nothing will break and the whole renting-our-house-and-moving-3-doors-down thing will work out well! Fingers crossed.

Catching Up

This last week has been very hard on everyone, but we're trying now to get through with the last week of school for the kids, and then heading to Hilton Head for a week on Saturday. The kids have dealt with their grandmother's passing differently; Ben has been scared to go to sleep at night, even almost pulling an all-nighter a couple of nights last week. He stayed home from school Tuesday because he was too tired after not sleeping Monday night, and stayed home Wednesday for the funeral.

Ben and Rebecca both came to the funeral and seemed to handle that aspect of things pretty well. We tried to sit down with them that morning and explain everything that would happen ahead of time, so there wouldn't be any surprises.That seemed to help. Despite the circumstances, they enjoyed their first limo ride, and especially the ride to the cemetery, where we had a police escort and got to run all the red lights. That kept them distracted/entertained for a while.

At home we've had about a million visitors bearing food, neighbors bringing dinner, etc. I am hoping this is coming to an end soon, although the kids seemed to enjoy the visitors, the disruptions to their routine and the reminder of why the people were here seems to make things more difficult for Ben's sleeping habits. He seems to be improving and now is only requiring someone to sit with him for a few minutes extra at bed time. Rebecca seems a lot less scared/more matter-of-fact, due to her age I think. Hopefully this week will bring a return to some normalcy, and next week, a much-needed vacation.

We will miss you, Nanny.

Ready to Swim

In an effort to get the kids back into a more normal routine and take their minds off the loss of their grandmother, we returned to the pool this weekend for the CJP annual end-of-year pool party. Here's Rebecca, all decked out and ready to swim with her buddies.

Early Birthday Party

Since this is Ben's last week of school (!) so he won't get to celebrate his actual birthday at school with his friends, we celebrated today at lunch by bringing him lunch from Chik-Fil-A and sharing a cookie cake with his classmates.

Joan Ruth Kaplan - November 7,1943- May 28, 2012

Joel's Mom passed away unexpectedly last Monday. It has been a very difficult week for Joel, his Dad, and the whole family. I will catch up on the blogging as time allows over the next few days.

Ben Vs. Nachos

Nachos won.

Pool Season

The pool opened yesteday and since Joel is working all weekend I took the kids by myself, which I counted as a success because there was minimal yelling and no one drowned ( always a hallmark of a successful pool trip). Caroline seemed to love the water!