and a pre-schooler

Miss Hattie Marie... or HARRIET as she now prefers to be called.  What?

Harriet has been missing school ever since she left her fantastic little school in MA.  We couldn't get her in here until fall and then it felt like she had to wait even longer when Grace started so early in August.  Harriet had her first day last Wednesday after Labor Day.  She did cry when I left her the first day, but has been gung ho ever since.

just before the tears...

Harriet's preschool is quite the production.  They require so much of their parents, it's hard to keep up.  But, I can tell she's going to have a really great year, so I can't complain.  What else do I have to do?  I mean really.

The only thing proving to be a stretch for me this year is actually the schedule coordinating.  I only have 2 kids, I have no idea how people do it with 4, or 5, or MORE.  Holy cow.  Grace's guitar and Hattie's school end at the exact same time (not planned that way) every Wednesday, just for example.  My week seems to be full of stuff like that.  Last week was anyway, I'm hoping to smooth it out as we go.  My job has become full time schedule calendar coordinator.

Harriet is the star student of the week this week.  She gets to take a big poster of pictures of herself doing things she likes to do and also take a bag of her favorite things to share with the class.  It sounds like so much fun, but I will never understand preschool teachers who think that a 4 year old can leave their FAVORITE belongings at school for the whole week.  (no, this isn't the first time we've been asked to do it!)  The very definition means that those things are carried around around all day, played with, slept with, and needed on an hourly basis.  We will not be leaving pink B and blue baby in the bag.  We are taking her "almost favorite" things.  Sheesh!  And, heaven tell me, WHAT would happen if they LOST one of said favorite things at the school???  Let's not even hope to think of it.

Other than school, Hattie is keeping herself busy by making giant messes, begging mommy to play, 

going to park days, and going to her dance class once a week.

Who knew "fall dance" started on August 1st.  I missed the first class, but now we're on track and doing well.  She is so stinking cute in her dance clothes.  I wish she'd be a little less reserved and really let herself go in class.  She's always so shy and timid with her movements.  Hopefully, she'll warm up and let loose sometime this year.

We're looking forward to having lots to report from this preschool year.  There's lots on the calendar... hopefully mommy will remember to do it all!

a second grader

I have no idea how I have a kid old enough to be a second grader, but there she is.  Miss Grace Elizabeth Chapman.

I remember second grade VERY well.  It's my earliest concrete memory of a large portion of a school year.   I went to second grade at Southside Elementary in Lander, WY.  My teacher was Miss Rogers.  She was an "old" single lady from Boston, MA with a very thick Boston accent who threatened to "rip our lips off" (sounded like "I'll rep yah leps oahf") if we talked in class.  She had us thoroughly convinced that she had a box of lips in her desk from former second grade rule offenders.  She loved cats and whales.  I learned a lot about whales that year which sparked a pretty solid interest in marine biology.  I also remember second grade because that was the year when Michael Jackson's Thriller album came out and won 8 Grammy awards.  I was hooked on Michael and I vividly remember watching him perform on TV at the Grammys.  It was the start of my committed relationship with music and MTV.

Well, I don't mean to talk so much about myself except that I can't help thinking about my second grade experiences as I watch Grace in hers.  Here, a full 27 years later, and Grace is also hooked on Michael Jackson, totally enthralled with music and rock stars, and liking school for what she can so far.  Unfortunately, this is the first year she hasn't been completely in love with school.  It's so sad knowing that she isn't absolutely excited to get on that bus every morning, but it has become a drudgery and an obligation more than something she wants to do with her day out of choice and excitement.  She does love library and PE day and has become the kid who goes to school and can't wait for recess.

Grace has had a rough start to the year.  I think it is finally sinking in that she is no longer at her beloved school in MA and has had to start life over without her completely supportive teachers and devoted friends (some remain utterly devoted, but just live too darn far away!)  She is hopelessly bored with math because it is SO easy for her right now.  She dreads having to prove one more time on a work sheet that she can, in fact, add, subtract, do greater/less than, read a graph, make a graph, and even do most fractions without the slightest effort.  Her spelling words are also so easy that she puts very little effort into the spelling activities out of spite.  Her papers sometimes look like papers I used to get from my least favorite students.  ugh.  We are having her tested for the gifted program so that she might be a little happier at school.  Unfortunately, they can't get her in for testing until October, so we're trying to teach her the finer points in doing your best and neatest work even if you hate that you have to do it at all and supplementing her where we can at home.

Outside of school, we are trying to cultivate our little Gracie garden into whatever she dreams of being.  She is still firmly set on being a rock star when she grows up and her guitar lessons are proving pretty successful.  No "Stairway to Heaven" yet, but she's got "Ode to Joy" and "Yankee Doodle" down pretty well.  She's even teaches herself each song on the piano as she learns it on the guitar.  We're working on "Clare de Lune" right now.  I'm also getting a bonus out of it because I go to all of her lessons with her and I help her practice by learning the chords and second parts so we can play together.  Maybe she and I will form a chick band someday.  Well, one of us would have to learn to sing... Hattie?

Grace is also doing really well in her karate classes.  She recently switched to the "adult" 7 and up class. They meet 2x a week for over 1.5 hours each time of grueling exercise and training.  I seriously don't know how she does it, and I'm even more surprised by how much she likes it.  Mr. Kao is intense and as serious as the military.  I really respect him though.  Last week, he told the older kids that he will never let them test for their black belts if they don't carry at least a B average in school.  He teaches the kids really great values.

I think the thing Grace is most passionate about these days though, is her bike.  That girl has really learned how to ride it well this summer and constantly pesters us to go out for rides.  I know David couldn't be prouder or happier that she has lost all fears and just goes for it.  She is most excited about her new bike gloves and wore them all day, every day for a week when she first got them.

I guess that's about wraps up the second grade report.  I guess I should write about Hattie too.

summer is over, sniff sniff

Well, when you live in ABQ, summer really doesn't end when school starts (on August 18th!?) The weather is still way too nice. But, all of the impromptu, fun, and exciting summer activities are over. Gone are the days when we wake up and do whatever the heck we want to all day. We really did have a great summer this year. I was definitely not in the mom crowd who was cheering for the first day of school. I love summer and I love hanging with my kids (well, most of the time.)

This is the last of it:

A trip to Tingley Beach on the Rio Grande (paddle boat propelled by mommy - look at these 2 lazies! where are daddy's biking legs when you need them?)
a little wading in the Rio Grande

another dip in the Wixom's pool:

(mommy and Keisha poolside looking Hot!)

cuddled up in Keisha's hammock:

handsfree cell phone while driving is a must, but momma can use the camera, right? can't get enough of these fantastic desert sunsets - view from pathfinder windshield:

bike rides with Daddy - he is turning our girls into little cycling freaks! They both watched hours of the Tour de France with him every night in July.

Both girls can follow him for miles now. Hattie is sometimes attached, sometimes not. Grace has done her first off-road ride and hills are their new friends (fun to go up, fun to go down... are these kids related to me?)

ahh, our friend, "Bretty Bret" (as the girls lovingly call him):

He was kind of attached to us at the hip for a week. He came out to ride the Leadville 100 mountain bike tour in Colorado, (with David as his crew), but he had lots of down time in ABQ and we became pretty fond of our live-in nanny goat! He was great with the kids, but just a warning - this is what happens when you let Bret find shoes for your daughter on the way out the door:

We took Bret to the rattlesnake museum in Old Town. CREEPY place!

Bret went everywhere with us - school shopping, guitar lessons, dance lessons, karate, even to Galloping Grace. Looks like he enjoyed his turn scooping poop!

Hattie on Black.

Gracie on Red.

Is there anything cuter than a PINK muck fork? I mean, really.

Grace, getting expert Cowboy pointers on her roping skills. Can I just say, this guy is the sweetest cowboy I've ever met? He is so great with the kids and I just adore his wife and family too. We are extremely lucky to have found this great ranch.

The boys with their bikes on their way to Leadville. Yep, they're pretty darn cool. Babe, feel free to insert a post about the LT 100 here anytime. Or, do I need to post your pics?

The day before school started, we met Daddy for a tasty lunch at Cervantes on our way to drop Bret at the airport (bye bye Bretty Bret.) The afternoon was free, so I told Grace she could choose to do anything she wanted on our way home since it was her last summer afternoon. She chose the zoo. I love having a zoo pass so we can just come and go as we please like we own the place.

The last time we went, the newborn triplet snow leopard cubs had just made their debut and had poked their heads out of the door for us. This time, they were all napping on a ledge above momma snow leopard. It was hard to get a good shot, but can I just say - I want a baby snow leopard?! They are the cutest fuzziest things I have ever seen.

Mufasa? on Pride Rock? could have fooled me - thought I was in the Lion King movie for a minute.

Fun view of the pond:

This is kind of cheating - we actually did this over the weekend AFTER school started, but still a fun summer night outing... Feast with the Beast at the zoo (you know, because we had only been to the zoo ONCE that week!)

They invite zoo members for a festival on a Friday night. It was pretty darn awesome, although, I wish they had mentioned that they would be closing zoo exhibits BEFORE they closed the festival. We kind of missed some animals - we wanted to see what they were like in the evening as compared to the daytime. Still, we got to see those snow leopard cubs again - awake this time. The jaguars were pretty spry too - looked like they were ready for a hunt. But, the polar bears - they were a snoozin'.

The porcupine was apparently hungry:

Grace getting mauled by the UNM mascot "Lucy the Lobo." (makes us think... will Grace be a Lobo, or a Ute? As long as she doesn't end up a Cougar, we will be fine ;-) )

The best part was the face painting:

Did Grace just lose tooth #8 in the face painting line? yep.

Fierce Tigers:

Happy Tiger! (because she gets to go rock climbing)

Sad Tiger :-( (because she is 1 inch too short to go rock climbing)

TIRED TIGERS! The kids always beg me to let them sleep in their face paint and I always make them wash it off, but it felt a little mean to make them wash this off after they had JUST been transformed into such awesome tigers. I tried to have them sleep on towels... even though it was smeared the next morning, and Grace's sheets were full of makeup anyway, it was worth getting to put 2 tigers to bed.

Farewell sweet summer. We will be dreaming about you.

Summer Vay-Cay part 3

The post-getting home from a trip week is usually a downer. The kids are so used to having giant and repeating feasts of entertaining activities and lots of different people to do the entertaining. When the dust settles and the suitcases get put away and the laundry finally makes its way back to the bedrooms, things seem pretty darn boring and ordinary. Mom as the ONLY form and source of entertainment is just a plain let down.

Our first week back was filled with constant sibling fights and little patience from me as I wistfully and more faintly remembered those few days of sitting on a balmy beach with a tropical drink in one hand and a book in the other.

Still, on with summer since we have precious few weeks left before the dreaded school year.

Task#1 - teach those kids how to swim!!!

Last summer, we had the kids in a total of 3 sets of regular swimming lessons. At the end, neither one could come close to being safe in the water. We pulled out wads of cash and paid for private swim lessons for the rest of the summer hoping to pay for that miracle. Still, when school started, they were both non-swimmers (although improving from the private lessons.) I would still have to be in the pool with both of them hoping that one wouldn't drown while I grabbed or watched the other.

Somehow this month, good fortune brought us to Kami and her parents' back-yard pool for a 2 week session of swimming. They had lessons every single day for a whole hour. Unlike community lessons, the kids were in the pool for that ENTIRE time every day (not sitting on the side of the pool waiting for their 45 second turn with the instructor.)

At first, I couldn't see much structure to the lessons and was doubting that they were learning anything specific, although they were getting much braver in the pool. The structure got more solid each day within a fairly relaxed environment. But by golly, those kids could swim across the pool on the last day! Granted - Hattie is still wearing floaties to do it, but we are talking MAJOR improvements here. She wouldn't even get IN the water at the beginning of last summer, let alone put her face in. She would cling like a barnacle to her swim instructor and refuse to try any strokes. Grace could NOT figure out how to take a breath while swimming.

(About 1/2 way through these lessons, I forked out for snorkel masks for both kids so that they could swim "hands free" without trying to hold their noses all the time. Worked like a charm.

They have turned into fish!)

(all the kids from all the morning classes)

Now, both kids can get in the pool without me and I can rest more at ease knowing that they are much less likely to drown. It is such a relief. Check that off the list.

Task #2 - squeeze in as many activities as possible before that glorious sunshine starts dipping too far south again. Here are a couple so far:

our first Albuquerque Isotopes game:

SO MUCH FUN! For me, a non-baseball fan, this was just as much fun as seeing the Red-Sox at Fenway park. Actually, it was way more fun because I didn't have to drive an hour (or take the subway) into Boston, spend $30 to park, a couple hundred on tickets, and another hundred for 4 hot dogs, walk 20 minutes, sit in a hot/humid over-crowded stadium, and get home at midnight with kids who were way too tired, hours ago. Instead we parked for free in the lot right in front of the stadium, got there AT game time, didn't miss opening pitch, sat in great seats in the cool shade that were $8.50 face value (a friend actually gave us the tickets), watched the whole game, and were home by 10:30. I'll go again babe.

an impromptu trip to the aquarium and botanical gardens: when our session at Galloping Grace Youth Ranch was canceled due to rain (yep, these desert folk don't have proper wellies for ridin' in the mud), we made a quick decision to head down to the aquarium.

Grace came prepared with pencil and notebook to make some biological drawings (her two favorite things- art and science mixed into one.)

We spent a couple more hours walking in the botanical gardens. This is truly an oasis in the desert. It's one of the few places I've been in ABQ where you can feel lush and green and blooming all around you. The gardens are meticulously done and there are absolutely hundreds, maybe thousands of different kinds of plants, gorgeous sculptures, interesting fountains, and even a working farm that we had never found before. It reminded us a lot of Drumlin Farm back in MA.

this part of the garden was still set up for a wedding - what a gorgeous place to walk down the aisle under a canopy of trees (picture doesn't do it justice):

super cool fountain totally concealed by plants:

kids making a wish on their tossed coins:

very pretty little duck who volunteered to let us feed him for a while:

we'll see how much more we can squeeze in before August 18th - first day of SECOND grade!!!