Ah, September

The learning curve of our new life seems to be leveling off.  The transition of summer into September was relatively painless.  It helped that we had already adjusted to Will being back to work for quite some time and that the girls really are becoming quite independent.  That's not to say that Will's first day of school wasn't without it's hiccups at home.  Don't get me wrong, it was nothing like Will's first day back to school last Fall.  However, it did have me mopping and cleaning up after my independent girls for a good part of our morning.  Why is it that the moment I am on the phone, Lucy and Emma devise all sorts of new and creative ways to get into trouble?  I needed to answer a call regarding the sale of some of our math posters and the girls were ignoring my wild hand gestures to be quiet and leave me alone.  So naturally, I locked myself into the office closet where they could no longer see me and I could no longer hear them.  I emerged no longer than five minutes later to a quiet house.  Suspicious, I found the two of them in the kitchen, standing on chairs pulled up next to the counter cracking eggs.  Emma turned when she saw me and proudly told me, "Mom!  We're making scramble eggs!"  My heart sank as I realized that they had discovered the full basket of about two to three dozen fresh eggs on the counter.  My heart slipped and splatted on the ground when I saw the egg yolk dripping off the counter, the bowl of scrambled eggs with finely shattered egg shells and the pile of cracked eggs on the counter.  They had even added milk to the eggs.  The below picture does not do the mess justice.

There was nothing to do but start cleaning and of course heat up the eggs.  We had scrambled eggs for lunch and neither girl commented on the crunch.  As I was cleaning up, I couldn't help but have this deep thought about parenthood - there really is no free ride.  A quiet phone call is paid for in egg yolk counters, cupboards and floors.  A kid-free night out is paid for with both kids waking up the minute we come home and spending the rest of the night in our bed.  Distraction-free time to pay the bills is paid in double by the destroyed house, toys and household items strewn everywhere.  Ah, parenthood.

But then there is Ah, childhood.  And watching Ah, childhood definitely helps equal out the Ah, parenthood parts.  Kids sure know how to let go and live in the moment...

They know how to embrace joy from the smallest of things.  And watching their excitement over each new thing learned is an amazing feeling.

Their silliness...along with their dad's...

...as well as watching their imaginations unfold is something I wouldn't miss for all of the uncracked eggs in the world.

Since this is Lucy's last year before going to Kindergarten, I have been reading lots of books (big shock, I know!) about kids, how they develop, and their natural curiosity and love for learning.  It's not so much about me teaching Lucy, but more about me providing the environment for learning to naturally unfold for her.  I am keeping my mind open to all possibilities for next year, including the wonderful public school three doors down from us, private school options and homeschooling.  In the meantime, I am trying not to take having Lucy home with me for granted, even between the time-outs, sassiness and her being over naps.  It is also nice that Lucy and Emma have each other as well.  Their relationship is as follows - Lucy is constantly practicing self-control and the consequences from losing said self-control when Emma doesn't follow Lucy's directions on how to play, and Emma is constantly rebelling and then minutes later doing whatever it takes to make Lucy happy again.

We were able to find a dance studio that let Emma join, despite the age range of most beginner studio classes being for three to five year olds.  We are really happy with the studio we found, and Lucy and Emma's good friend is also in class with them.  Emma is so proud to be in a class with the big kids.

I have been trying to find practical applications to various skills that Pre-K kids should learn and fell into embroidery this summer.  The girls love sewing with yarn through burlap, which has enough holes evenly distributed throughout the fabric to make pushing the needle in and out doable for their little hands.  It is amazing to me how fast Lucy went from random stitching to being able to follow a pattern and sew in backstitch.  I am thinking this could be a good way for Lucy to learn her alphabet - through stitching.  Emma enjoys being along for the ride.

Friends of ours invited us to a Family Fun Day at a park by their house this past month, and we had a great time.  Here the girls are below after getting their face painted.  Lucy was super excited about having lipstick for the first time, but found out that there must be an art form to eating a hot dog while wearing lipstick because when the hot dog was gone, so was her lipstick.

We also enjoyed live music, wagon rides, cricket catching and t-shirt painting with our friends.  It was a great morning.

Our fall harvest is in full swing and I have to say that I am ready for the garden to be done.  I am at the point where I am OVER green beans, pears, tomatoes, apples, potatoes and anything else our garden seems to be tirelessly producing still.  Will is going to be hard-pressed to find me running out to cover the crops before a frost this fall.  A frost will be nature's way of letting me off the hook of all of this food production!  Canning, freezing, drying, fermenting...I'm over it!  This is an important milestone for us to remember next spring when we ambitiously plant our garden.  We have reached our maximum capacity!  The below picture I am most proud of is the crock pot of stew in which all of the ingredients except the beef were from our garden.  That is a really nice feeling, despite my exhaustion with homegrown produce.  Also, I must note that the apples are not from our yard, but from the courtyard at Will's school.  Our apple trees didn't do so hot this year so I think we are going to give them one more year before we decide if we should pull them out and plant something a bit more hardy.  The five apples from each tree were delicious, but too little for the space they are taking up.

Ah, September!  We are already enjoying October and looking forward to the first frost!