Tee Ball

Where to even begin.  All summer, one game every week, so many pictures...  so many memories.  Well, really mostly the same memory over and over again!  Kate really enjoyed it, Alice, well.  She said she liked it, but she was really inconsistent in her playing. 

Kate.  She really did like the game.  It's organized, it's about taking turns, each inning follows the same routine.  The nice thing about tee ball, no score is kept.  Everyone hits, everyone runs the bases, everyone runs home.  When you field, you catch the ball if it comes near you, this unpredictable element Kate mostly took in stride.  Kate enjoyed batting, she mostly enjoyed fielding, and she was the back catcher a few times. 

Alice. Alice is of course a completely different person.  She likes less organization.  She likes taking turns, she liked batting, but the outfield... She wanted a turn to catch the ball, but she would get bored.  Instead of paying attention to the ball, she'd be digging in the dirt.  I think she was hit by a ball once or twice - thankfully not hard.  She would run for every single ball thinking that this time she would make the catch, only to be outrun by the kid standing nearest to the ball.  She did get better in the outfield - when she would go to the outfield, but she never really got it.  I kept thinking that I should have put Alice in soccer.  I think she might have enjoyed that more, but she enjoyed being outside and being around the field.

I'm glad we did it. It was our first foray into organized sports, and even with the bumps, the girls had fun.  It got us out playing, and it was only once a week.  It was pretty perfect.  We'll see what we do next summer, but I am very glad that we did it this year!  The last two games of the season are today and tomorrow.  It was so cold today.  The girls were pretty good about it considering.  We went out for breakfast after the game, and we won't go tomorrow as we have church, so today was our last game. 

Ryan Smith was our coach.  His wife Annie ran the scene "back stage", getting the batters ready, and the back catcher.  They were a great team, and they encouraged the girls and got them doing their best.

Farewell summer, hello school!

I think about this day, in the weeks before it happens.  I think, in a few weeks it will be the day before school and summer will be over, and here we are.  I had all these grand plans for this weekend.  I did get a little more work done, and a little more organization done, and a few more blog posts done.  I can't think about all the things I didn't finish because I'll drive myself insane.  There will always be things to clean, things to organize, more work to do, always.

I'm not sure what I'm feeling tonight.  Some excitement, some dread, some happiness, some sadness.  And then Fiona peeps and it brings it all back.  I wanted to write though about the Father's blessings.  We had a brief Family Home Evening tonight and Ken gave all the girls - including me a back to school blessing.  It was special.

Kate was blessed:
With strength and endurance, to face the challenges and be strong.  To not be discouraged, to think about her goals.  She was blessed to get along well with her classmates and find lasting friendships and to find ways to help her classmates when she could.

Alice was blessed:
To be able to communicate her needs, to take care of others, to be calm at all times.  She was blessed to be nice, to be respectful and to keep good perspective.  She was blessed to learn quickly, and to learn to better interact with those around her.

Fiona was blessed:
To learn quickly, to understand, to be cooperative, to be cheerful, to deal well with being apart from her Mom and family.  She was blessed to cheer up everyone around her.  She was blessed to be healthy and strong.

Me
I was blessed with peace.  That's the thing that stays with me.  That and that I would have a great influence on the kids around me at school - something like that.  The girls started miss-behaving and it didn't quite flow and I don't quite remember...

In any case, I hope that it's a great year!  I really do.  I will do what I can to make it so.  I love my life, I need to remember how blessed I am.

The Count Down is ON! (With a Zoo Trip)

Saturday.  Sunday.  Monday.  Then it all ends or begins, or both.  Earlier in the week and last week I thought I wanted to go away this weekend - mostly just Friday/Saturday.  But then I was feeling like there were too many things to do around the house, school planning pretty high up on the list.  We still wanted to have an outing today so we went to the zoo.  It's the first time that I chose not to bring my good camera. 

It was also the first time we took the three girls into the splash pad.  I chose to bring a change of clothes instead of bathing suits.  I'm not sure if this was the right or wrong thing to do, but it's what we did.  It was really, really hot today. 

Thinking that school starts on Tuesday is just weird.  Weird. Where did the summer go?!  Kate's going to French Immersion up in Alliston, the next day is Fiona's first day of Pre-school and then Alice starts Junior Kindergarten on Thursday.  Life just keeps moving forward.  Life is good, great even.  I do love my life, my family, my career.  It isn't what I imagined.  I never imagined I would work outside the home when my kids were young.  But life is good. 

I am excited about first day of school pictures and hearing about teachers and classmates.  I'm excited for the start, the newness, the freshness.  I just hope I have the energy to keep moving forward after the excitement wanes. 

The first week of September

School starts late this year, which is perfect!

Sept 1st - I really wanted to go to Scholar's Choice and there's one at Bayview and 7.  I really wanted new fadeless paper to put up on my bulletin boards, a new dry erase calendar, and maybe some new posters, or something.  I picked up some orange paper which should be bright and fun, we had lunch at Subway, and then we went to visit the Grandparents.  The girls had a spa treatment from Grandma, it was pretty cute.  

Sept 2nd - I needed to go to school today, and I needed to go to the doctor today.  I wanted to make sure that I got my doctor note so that I could be a duty parent -  at least once this year, and today seemed like it might be the only time to do it!  Fiona wanted to come with me, and I just didn't have the heart to say no, so she came.  We saw Dr. Nauth, went to the dollar store, and then eventually made our way to Blue Willow.  Kate and Alice stayed home with Ken - originally I was going to bring all of them, but I'm glad the older two girls didn't want to come.  They watched movies at home and Ken was able to work.  Fiona and I had fun.  It was good just being in my classroom, seeing the space, thinking about things.  After finishing up we went home, and then went up to Alliston, had dinner at Shoeless Joes and then went to the awesome new park in the Treetops subdivision.  SO FUN!

Sept 3rd - Today was a had to day.  It was officially a P.A. day and I had to go to school.  There are never enough hours in the day as a parent, or as a teacher.  I didn't stop all day, and I could have stayed way longer.  My room is mostly ready, and considering that most of the first day I'll be on prep, it's all good.

Sept 4th - Bus safety day!  Ann Marie - Macayla's Mom and I made plans way back in June to attend the bus safety presentation at Alliston Union Public School.  There was a video, then some practice.  We walked on the bus, went for a ride, and then walked off.  Kate and Macayla were great, they're going to be great.  They are both so ready for this new program and new challenge!  After the bus we went to the little park beside the school.  Then it was over to Zehrs to pick up my glasses - YAY, and then to the shoe outlet to get shoes.  Then it was home, and later off to Newmarket to get the last pair of shoes.  So much back to school shopping!