Boston, New Hampshire, Rhode Island

Here's a post that I started a while back but never finished (and one that I'm drooling over right now).  A trip back East with friends. Tickets have again been purchased to get our fill of each other, as well as Fall, happening in about a month here.  Something I can't wait for after having just sat through Jaden's 8:00 pm soccer practice at a sweltering 98 degrees.  And there's no reprieve in sight.  So I'll just wait for October to arrive so I can cool off in the East because it is just not in the cards for the deep south, not until December, at least.

(Against the wishes of that sign in the pic, we are totally trespassing.  But honestly, this property was just begging to be trespassed.  It was a mad dash to get out of there.  Plus the Confederates were coming.)

This gorgeous trip took place back in October of 2012.  I desperately needed to smell and see Fall.  I needed to visit with long lost friends and even hometown friends because, frankly, we are all too busy running circles around our kids to get together.  It literally took us leaving the state of Texas to finally catch up with each other.  Also, I need leave town more often so that Kyle and the kids can eat at Golden Corral (without me).  So I (easily) convinced my friend, Brenya, to let us invade her parents' vacation home in New Hampshire.  It was a picture perfect five days with bright fall foilage, delightful company, fine dining, and a bit of history too.  We hit up half of New England anyway and I can't wait to return and hopefully add the other three states of Maine, Connecticut and Vermont to our travels.

Boston Commons

Lobster in Rhode Island.

Touring the historic Newport, RI mansions.  They served as summer homes for the very wealthy from the 1800's - 1900's.  We felt like we were walking through Downton Abbey.  

This tree matches my pants.  North Conway, New Hampshire.

Boston, MA

Fine dining in North Conway, NH

Harvard Libary 

Harvard Square

The democrats of the group.

Owling in Boston for Denise.  Can't you tell?

Old North Church

A random light house in Rhode Island.  I'm so glad Jen made us drive all over tarnation to find that thing.  It is pretty cool, Jen.  And it was a gorgeous drive all along the way to find it.

Some of us are worried about bears in this picture.  I'm not.  Not really anyway . . .

 Combining all of our smart phone pictures over cups of hot cider in the crisp and chilly New Hampshire air.

New Schools

Getting back on the blogging horse.

I can't let this first week of school end without recording it.  We are experiencing all things new this Fall.  New city, new home, new schools, new church, new sports, new friends, new toilet paper and paper towels.  (Why don't they have a Costco in my new town??  Yes, there are worse things.)

We've had a whirlwind week as most do when heading back to school.  Ty was the Lone Ranger from our family on the first day of school.  Neither Reese or Jaden made it out.  Long story short Reese had fever the night before and Jaden was without a schedule.  It is now Friday and the girls have four and Ty five days of school under their belts.  And I just have to say how extremely proud I am of each of  them doing hard things this week.  This applies to the older two more than Reese. The hardest thing Reese had to endure was not attending the first day, when she so desperately wanted to be there!  But the older two had bigger things to hurdle.  They each had bouts with nerves and both were drawn to tears.  Ty's tears came that first night as he lay in bed reminding us that he could have started back at Mary Marek Elementary with all of his old friends that day.  Oh how much different would his day have been, said Ty.  And he's right.  It would have been very different.  At lunch he wouldn't have sat with a table full of strangers (all girls, no less) resting his head on the table and wishing an end to lunch.  Jaden's tears came as she and I, holding hands, waited just outside the Junior High car line while she gained her composure and gave permission for me to hop back in the drop-off line.  It's just a Junior High that holds one-thousand 7th graders and one-thousand 8th graders, respectively.  And then, that was it.  I didn't hear another thing from either of them after that.  They just bucked up and went to school each day trying to look for others who looked new or out of place, lonely or sad.  Because they know first hand how it feels.  Also,  I loved witnessing both of them come to each other's aid in their saddest moments.  I'd be hard pressed to find two more sympathetic siblings right now.  They built character this week in doing hard things.  Which is all their dad and I could ask of them.  Here's to a fantastic year you three!

Ty's first day.  Reese looks healthy enough to go, right?  That's the funny thing about fevers.  They leave as quickly as they come.  But I wasn't going to take any chances on her first day.

The Lone Ranger.  Ready to seize the day.  Spike-y hair first.

This pic was actually taken just outside of Ty's school.  At this point we didn't know if we'd get a schedule in Jaden's hands by the end of the school day.  So she's ready to go just in case. The reason she was without a schedule on the first day of school you ask?  Well, very long story short, we have taken advantage of the opportunity to retain Jaden in the 7th grade (her true age group) with this move.  Something that we weren't granted (by the placement committee) until the Sunday morning before the first day of school.  Hence the scramble to create a schedule on the first day of school.  But it could've been worse, as Jaden and I witnessed while sitting in the front office that morning.  A girl with gorgeous, purple hair was sent home in tears, a boy and his mother requesting his schedule were at the wrong Junior High, a mother came to pick up her daughter who had apparently broken her arm and another boy had arrived to register himself for school, all alone.  So that put things in perspective. : )

Reese is officially a Kindergartner on day two of the school year!

Here she is just after Teddy Bear Tea the Friday before school began -- and a day before fever set in.  And would you believe me if I told you that they withdrew her from school that first day?!  Yep, I got a call from the registrar that afternoon that she had been withdrawn from their system because she did not show.  Texas policy.  From birth certificate to proof of residency did I have to register her again.  That policy should die an ugly death.  Silliness.

A Nutcracker photo shoot

  Christmas Eve 2012 at Houston Ballet's, The Nutcracker
Where else would you be in short sleeve dresses in December?

Oh they were stinkin' cute subjects that were very patient with me that day.  In fact they began to stage themselves after a while.

Above: Our Christmas card that went viral and not to your mail boxes.  

Okay, they've had enough.  It's time for the Nutcracker to start.  Even running away from me they look adorable.

Love

There was a lot of love to go around this Valentine's Day.  It started with Kyle making a yummy breakfast.  Over breakfast Kyle was brought to tears after receiving a jar full of love from Jaden.  Little slips of paper with written messages of love and appreciation written for both myself and Kyle.  It was very thoughtful but wasn't unlike something we know Jaden to do.  Kyle was extra sentimental that day as it was the first meal together after nearly 7 days of tiresome and emotional work that involved a company gas explosion where a father of three young children lost his life.  It hit close to home.  He was grateful to be with each of us and we were grateful to have him safe at home making us french toast and such.  

I've decided that if Kyle were a Care Bear -- he'd be Tender-Heart-Bear.  (He'd bury his head in my neck with embarrassment right now if he knew I were writing this.  Not that that revelation doesn't bring it's own string of humiliation!  But these are things I want to remember.)  As an illustration I'll share this sweet memory I have on a cold December night at a rest home in Provo, Utah.  Where Kyle, Pat and I sat introducing a four-month-old, Jaden, to Kyle's grandmother, Lavone.  Not long after placing Jaden on Lavone's lap did we witness tears well up in Kyle as he sensed the magnitude and significance of that event; two worlds colliding -- a life just beginning and the other near its end.  It brought all of us to tears.  A Tender Heart Bear he is.

Reese was beyond thrilled to have pulled Kyle's name from a hat allowing her to make him a conversation heart love note.  However, in true sibling rivalry Ty announced that he really hoped not to pick Jaden's name -- which made it all the more frustrating (for him) and hilarious (for us) when he picked Jaden.  He ended up making a comical and sweet card for her in the end.

Reese's Valentine's for her classmates.

 

Lunch at school with Ty.  We broke from eating our Taco Bell to send a heart and a kiss to Kyle midday.

Dinner.  A request of Reese, the love of all our lives.

Crave

I volunteer at Texas Children's Hospital on Fridays.  With the kids out of school for the Christmas break (which I will soon post about, as well as Thanksgiving) I decided that I trusted my brood well enough to go ahead and volunteer -- leaving Jaden to babysit for 5 hours.  Our kids get along fine, for the most part, but when we leave they always have access to electronics and basically they're en route to bed.  Yet leading up to that particular Friday it sure seemed like we had had our fill of electronics.  And so I made the questionable decision that there would be no electronics while I was at the hospital that day.  Instead there would be chores and good old fashioned play.  

As I whisked out the door my manifesto went something like this:  "Morning, get yourselves breakfast.  No electronics today.  Here's a list of chores as well as a list of ideas for play.  As in, you should play together, of course.   It's a long time for me to leave you all to your own devices, so please get along.  Call your dad if you need anything.  And lastly, be grateful you are home for the holidays, happy, healthy and entirely capable of playing to your heart's content unlike most of the little children I'll be visiting today.  When I get home I'll ask each of you how you felt you were treated by the other.  If you get a good grade from your siblings then I'll have a good reward.  So go and do, my little pretty's . . . "  Or something like that.  

Upon my return, I was pleasantly surprised to have found a seriously cool Master Planned Community for Lego guys and Polly Pockets, chores completed, as well as the house kept up and positive sibling relationships still intact (or at least as much as they would have been had I not left).  I was really proud of those three that day.  As you can see they were rewarded with their favorite cupcake from Crave.  Which is fitting because after visiting with sick children and run-down parents I most certainly Crave my three hooligans and the average day.  I can't wait to get home to them.  There hasn't been a Friday pass that I haven't been slapped with a good dose of reality that undoubtably helps to keep things in perspective around here.  I'm so grateful for my children's health first and mine and Kyle's second.