First Week of School Wrap-Up

With the first week of school behind us, we are getting ready to enjoy a lazy Labor Day weekend! Ben had a good first week of school, proclaiming to like his teachers, Ms Ebert (homeroom, literacy and social studies) and Ms Evans (science and math). A change from last year is that they have both science and social studies every day, whereas last year they would switch off between science and social studies half way through each quarter. The homework has started right up, although so far just for literacy but a pile of it. So far his attitude is good, his assignments are getting done, and his agenda book is being neatly maintained :) We'll see how long it lasts!

Becca missed two days due to the stomach bug, and still is complaining of stomach cramps and has a poor appetite. Despite missing school she also seems to be settling into her new classroom, and had her first homework assignment (an "all about me" page and portrait) yesterday. This week was called "training camp" as far as classroom rules, discipline, and homework. The real fun begins next week :)

Not the Best Start to the School Year...

So it turns out Becca is the one who I should have been worried about yesterday; she complained of having a stomach ache when she got home from school but soon seemed to forget about it until she up-chucked all over the bathroom while I was in the middle of getting dinner ready. There followed six (I think? I lost count) more episodes of vomit during the course of the night and she is at this moment curled up in a ball on the floor of my bedroom watching tv under a blanket, complaining that her stomach hurts. She ate a few crackers and had some ginger ale and seemed to do okay with those, so I am certainly hoping the worst is behind us.

Ben came home from school yesterday tired and not feeling well, and didn't eat much dinner last night or breakfast this morning, but pronounced himself "fine" this morning despite the indications to the contrary and headed off to school. Hopefully he is doing okay!

As for me, I started to feel sick overnight but either I am 24 hours behind Rebecca and haven't gotten to the bad part yet, or, I am successfully fighting it off... not at all sure which at this point! At any rate I am trying to take it easy.

A Bevy of First Grade Girls

Watch out ELE first grade! Here they come!

First Day of School

Poor Ben has been having tummy troubles since last night and I almost didn't send him! I am a little nervous and hoping I don't get a call to come pick him up later! 1st and 5th here we come... Ready or not!!

Mani-Pedi

At the spa of Grandma :)

Too Cool for School

Ben kicked off the last weekend of summer vacation with a belated birthday sleepover to which he invited Charlie, Spencer, Harris and Jared. The boys ate pizza for dinner, watched 3 movies -- Spaceballs, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Dodge Ball --, made "trash" which is different kinds of candy mixed together in a bag and then divided up, ate popcorn, and stayed up all night playing video games. The stamina of 10 year olds amazes me! After his friends left yesterday morning Joel took him to get a hair cut, then to spend his birthday loot at Game Stop. He did have a few hours of "down time" before grandma and grandpa arrived and then we headed to an end of summer pool party at the club house. 

Post pool party photo op:

First Dance Class

The girls has their first dance class yesterday. Caroline is in a 45 minute ballet/tap combo class though by peaking through the blinds covering the studio door every now and then it appeared that after she stopped crying she spent a while being carried on the hip of one of the teachers and when she did allow her feet to eventually touch the floor, she stood off to the side a bit and watched mostly. Her teachers were very nice and assured me that there is often a little adjustment period for the first week or two 

Becca took to her 30 minutes of jazz/hip hop and 30 minutes of tap like a fish to water of course and was droopy when it was time to leave because she wanted to stay for ballet ;)

Open House

Today was Open House at ELE. I kept the kids home from their last day of camp so that we could keep the schlepping back and forth to a minimum since the K-2 and 3-5 open houses were scheduled at different times. We stopped in the cafeteria and picked up agendas and school supply packs -- Ben's was a huge box that I then had to lug around with me for far too long. After a bit of wandering in circles we found Rebecca's classroom -- she is in one of the mobile classrooms and it is impossible to find the one you are looking for. It is all a maze of identical trailers back there. We did find it though and we met her teacher Mrs. Beale, filled out some forms and unpacked her supplies. Her friends Quinn and Nomi are in her class, so she is happy.

Then we left and went to Qdoba for lunch, did a quick errand, and headed back over to school. This time we brought Ben's supplies to his classroom and met his teacher Ms. Ebert (no relation to the Ms. Ebert who was Rebecca's teacher last year), and got his stuff all unpacked. There are a LOT of kids in Ben's class, and the textbooks on the desks looked huge! Then we met up with Charlie and helped him get his supplies picked up, visited his new classroom and took him on a brief tour of the school. We finished up with italian ice (very much appreciated on this 95 degree day!)

Now it's back to work until it is time for Ben's end of summer/belated birthday sleepover!

Peer Pressure - ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

The kids succumbed to the ALS ice bucket challenge after being nominated by their friends.

Becca couldn't wait to do it.




Ben at first said he wouldn't do it but then caved after Becca announced she was going to do it.




And Caroline just wanted to do what everyone else was doing. She nominated her friend Josh, who didn't seem to happy to hear about this but his older brothers were more than happy to dump a bucket of water over his head ;)




As a footnote, Ben and Rebecca's buckets contained plenty of ice (Joel made sure of that) but in the 95 degree heat it was well on its way to melting by the time we started filming. Caroline's bucket was a much more reasonable temperature ;)

Farewell to Summer

Teacher-assignment-letter pick-up today, back to school errands this week, Meet the Teacher on Friday, and a farewell postcard and group picture from camp... Can the summer really be coming to an end??

Little Dance Shoes

Laying Low

The Kaplans took it easy this weekend! Well, except for Joel who had to work and do the food shopping. I have been recovering from a nasty cold, and Caroline was participating in the Diarrhea State Championships. I must have gone through 20 diapers. We think that she had a stomach bug since we cannot think of any food she ate recently that wasn't safe. She seemed much improved yesterday from Saturday, and made it through the night without any diaper changes, and ate her breakfast, so I sent her to preschool today. We'll see if I get "the call" or not ;)

Ben and Becca accompanied the Robinson cousins to the pet store yesterday to pick out a playmate for Swiper. Meet Snitch:

Caroline, happy despite the tummy troubles:

Required Reading

A Wrinkle in Time. With his trusty lab Fortinbras, err, Clara. 

Dance Class

After a bit of a hiatus (and a lot of  nagging), Rebecca is heading back to dance class beginning August 23rd and ending with a recital in June. This time, at Miller Street Dance Studio which offers tons of classes six days a week. I signed her up for 30 minutes of Jazz/Hip Hop followed by 30 minutes of Tap. I kind of think she would prefer those to ballet. And since we're going to be spending our Saturday mornings there for the foreseeable future, I signed Caroline up for a 45 minute 2.5-3.5 year old combo class. Because, honestly what could possibly be cuter than Caroline's chunky thighs in a pair of pink tights? The good thing about this dance studio, although it is not located terrifically conveniently (about 15 minutes south) is that the price does not go up much the more hours of instruction you add. So if she really gets into it and wants to add additional classes after school or in the evenings when she is older, each additional class is only a few extra dollars a month.

Doggy PT

Laser therapy and the water treadmill! (Wait, how much is this costing me, again....?)

Newton's First Law of Carpet Cleaning

No sooner than the carpet cleaners are out the door, the dog will go upstairs and make a bee-line for the only room on the second floor whose carpet got cleaned and will proceed to knock over the two day old Smoothie King smoothie that your ten year old left up there, unbeknownst to anyone. The dog will then not even bother to lick it up, and will just leave a pile of pale purple dehydrated smoothie mess on the floor until you decide to come upstairs and check on the drying-progress of your freshly cleaned carpet. *SIGH*

Finally Got Her on the Zip Line

But is it wrong that I had to tell her we put it on the "slow setting" in order to get her to go? After skipping 20 turns and being the only kid too scared to ride the zip line, I felt I was justified ;) She pronounced it "awesome" and is not afraid to go on it anymore. Hooray for little white lies ;)

Got My Boy Back! And my House Back! And, Took Ben for a Checkup

On Sunday morning we drove the hour-ish from the Lake Lure area to pick up Ben at Camp Blue Star. I will overlook the fact that he didn't seem *quite* as happy to see us as we were to see him ;) He had an awesome three weeks at camp, said it went by very quickly, he wasn't homesick, and pronounced it to be "the best camp ever" and is already asking how long he can go for, next summer ;) I did a lot of laundry when we got home to our EMPTY house! Yes the Robinson clan moved into their own house yesterday, and while they are surely taking a while to get all set up in their new house, we have been getting settled in as a family of five again :)

Ben's laundry smelled rather funky, and so did he despite swearing that he showered every day at camp. He came home with several stained-beyond-repair t shirts, one of which I held up for his inspection and he replied "Ohhhhh.... wing night!" He also managed to lose his Keens and his Under Armour sweatshirt (probably the two things I would have told him not to lose if I had my choice about what he was going to lose).

This week Ben is home with me, having rejected my suggestion to sign him up for basketball camp for the week. He goes back to Camp Mindy for two more weeks starting next week. Caroline started her first day in Ms. Betty's three year old preschool class today (or rather, the all-of-us-turn-three-between-September-and-December-class ;)

I took Ben for his 10 year old well checkup today, and he is 60 1/4 inches and 79.4 pounds, which is still tracking along at >97th percentile for height and 70th for weight. The doctor said it would be nice if he could do some "good eating" between now and when he goes back on his ADHD meds when school starts. Otherwise it was an uneventful checkup and Ben was happy to know that he does not need any shots until next year ;)

Chimney Rock

A fun and photogenic day of hiking at Chimney Rock state park!

Lake Lure

We found it :) and our little log cabin too!

More Recent Ben Sightings

Joel and the girls and I are heading up to the Chimney Rock area later this afternoon, about 30 minutes or so from camp. We will spend the day tomorrow doing some sightseeing, and then head over to pick up Ben Sunday morning! Can't wait to see my boy!!!!

Last Day of Camp

Where has the summer gone? Well I guess it is not quite over yet! But Caroline wraps up six weeks of camp today and starts back to preschool on Monday!

Big Girl Bike!

Meant to post this pic earlier this week and I forgot! We got Caroline a "big girl bike" last weekend and she is already a pro! Well, almost.