You Know It's Almost Back to School When...

I just picked up my first stack of 'placed on hold' library books for Open the Magic in my classroom. 

Eeeek! I can hardly wait!

 

Smores ~ Breakfasts ~ Decorating

Abigail was back at her high school today for a leadership position called "link crew". They help the freshman for their orientation. It was such a weird feeling dropping her off this morning at school. It's been ten weeks! Ten weeks! 

But then Anna and I went out to breakfast -- soaking in all my moments with her before she heads back to college. 

(those are ricotta, lemon, blueberry pancakes) 

Oh and I finished decorating the living room for autumn! Bit by bit this house is almost done. Just the kitchen to go. 

 ✔ family room 

 ✔ living room 

 ✔ dining room 

I start so early because I love looking forward to a new season or upcoming holiday. It gets me in the mood and helps me really enjoy the season more! I'll share pictures as soon as I take them. 

Oh and last night was the fire pit and smores! We are really packing in all of the fun this week! 

Family Work Night

Every year I intend on taking pictures of the stages of getting a classroom up and running. You know, from that first walk in since the last day of school... all of the floors are shiny with floor wax and the desk are in one huge pile stacked to the ceiling in the middle of the classroom... to a welcoming 'home' by the first day of school.

And every year I don't. 

Because when I am in my classroom to work, I'm on a mission to get it done, not to take pictures. 

So gosh! Another year without the 'before pics'.  -  but still wanting to document our family and our life. 

Last night after dinner we all hopped in the car and headed to my school for what I called 'family work night'. There is no one there at that time so I can get a LOT done in one hour with the four of us working! 

The girls worked and put name labels on all of the spiral notebooks, composition notebooks, folders, and they filed them in their boxes. 

I ran around the room and did odd jobs while Scott did some heavy lifting for me. 

It's coming -- not even close to being ready for Monday afternoon 'meet and greet' when I get to meet my newest fourth graders -- but it will be ready by then. 

I'm a 'short burst' worker. I still love and hang on to our routine in the summer up until the very last day so I only go in after dinner if it fits -- it sure is great to be year seven in fourth grade!  

And so grateful for my family for all of their support in getting a classroom up and running! 

Last Week ~ A Reflection

This is our last week of summer. On Monday teachers go back for two days and the first day of school is next Wednesday. Anna will be back on campus on Sunday, and Abigail is involved in a program called 'link crew' which gives orientation for upcoming freshman so she will be busy those teacher days too. 

This last week the calendar is full of lots of little things. There are some doctor appointments that have cropped up and have been added in even though we tried so hard to fit them in the first week of summer back to back. 

I've already been in my classroom setting up during bits of time just here and there. I love to pop in at odd hours for just little bits. 

There are what feels like a million errands for Anna for college, for Abigail for high school, and for my own classroom. 

But we are still doing wonderful things like: 

reading on the couch after lunch

being together all day long 

having dinner on the porch at night...

I know what I will miss oh so much next week, although I'll be so busy in the first week of school to realize it. I'll miss us all being together. We scatter starting on Sunday and we're not together again until October. 

Yesterday was the last time for us this summer to be at Mass all together. And I soaked in. 

It was a particularly beautiful Mass. 

To begin with as we were walking in Sister Cristel asked Anna and I to come over to her and she was asking about college. When Anna told her where she was going, sister knew the theme song as she used to be a catholic high school teacher and many of her students went on to Holy Cross. She said, "that college is very comforting" and I added in "yes, to the families as well". That was such a sweet moment. 

The music, the homily given by a visiting sister from Uganda who spoke about her story and how 

1. Don't be mad at God for the difficulties - He is preparing you for something he has for you

2. Parents, don't give up on your children - do what you can and God will do the rest

and so much more

And truly it was just so wonderful to be sitting in our church for the last time all together for the summer. 

Summer was long. Summer was wonderful. And it's time to go back! 

Sandwich Ministry

This week Abigail and I were privileged to be a part of the Sandwich Ministry at our church. Each day our church (located in a city) gives out hundreds of sandwiches to the homeless that come to the sandwich window (a building attached to our church). 

Abigail recently joined the Sandwich Ministry because she completed the Confirmation program. Our church strongly encourages the now "adults of the church" to participate and give back. Scott and I feel that this high school age is the perfect time to them give to others. 

We gave Abigail all of the options to volunteer and she chose this. (Anna did too years ago.)

(Check out all of those loafs of bread up there! We used every single one of them!)

So this first time we headed to our parish together and were in charge of making: 

2 bins of ham & cheese

2 bins of turkey & cheese

2 bins of peanut butter & jelly 

for a grand total of 216 sandwiches! 

It took us around 2 non stop hours but we got it done! 

Here's one bin done... 5 more to go! 

 

Lovin our hair nets -- this was when tired was starting to set in, ha! (look at all those loafs still to gooooo) 

Overall it was an awesome morning with Abigail. I am so blessed to be a part of such a beautiful faith community that gives back. (one sandwich at a time) 

Adoption Day

Anna's adoption day was nineteen years ago today. 

The memories so vivid in my mind and yet as the years pass I have to concentrate to hold on to all of the details. 

Today I don't have a grand post with lots of pictures I've put together. Just some feelings. 

I've written the story of Anna on this blog of mine, and at the end of this post I'll reshare all of the old links. Mostly the videos that Scott made after we came home. To be honest, they are difficult to watch. 

They were created by two young parents, just 30 and 31 years old. Babies ourselves. 

So much has unfolded since then - so much wonder and wonderfulness. So much goodness and love. So many memories and much happiness. 

But also

There has been pain; pain as her mama having to watch her walk through some parts of life that you wish your child didn't have to. 

When I was 31 I didn't think about race. I just wanted my baby home from China. 

And while I won't go into the details, Scott and I know that being a biracial family has challenges we didn't know as young parents. 

Anna is an Asian American living in a white family. She is surrounded in our little house and with extended family with no one she looks like. Over the years it has created issues, questions, impressions on her heart. It's not nothing to not look like your family. 

And then apart from adoption there are race issues. Asians are quiet. Asians are smart. Are they? Do they have to be? Is that what is expected? Or is it what is ingrained in our culture so we just believe it pushing those unrealistic expectations on to children who are Asian. 

Anna is twenty years old now, and adoption day was nineteen years ago. So much time has passed. So much love. So much healing. So much love that brought healing.

But

Adoption is not a fairytale. Adoption means there was loss. And pain. 

And nineteen years ago, yes, my heart was filled to brim. I couldn't love anyone more on the planet. And the moment she was placed in my arms I would have died for her. 

But it's not about my dream of becoming a mama or Scott's dream of becoming a daddy, or our dream of becoming parents... a little family of our own. 

This day is about Anna. 

And although I can't erase all that she has and will endure in this life, I can love her oh so much.

And grateful. I feel grateful today for the story God began writing all those years ago. And so grateful that we were put together. 

Anna, I love you so much. My heart sometimes just thinking about it can barely hold the amount of love I feel for you. I adore being your mama. 

Happy adoption day sweet girl. 

Here are all of the links: 

Here is a link to 18 years home

The 'story of Anna' part 1 

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

part 6

part 7

part 8

part 9

Adoption Day Videos

How to Teach Children to Play

"Seeing all those toys made me realize what a good childhood I had. Thanks mama!" Anna 

We've been meaning to get to this clean out project for around three years. Our room that is filled with toys have never been packed up/given away/organized. All of the girls toys were basically left just as they were last played with. 

We have a huge part of our basement that we ended up calling "feels like new"; named that when Anna was around two years old because when I would rotate toys she would say, "wow... it (the not new toy I was taking out) feels like new" (said with a big huge smile).  So we called it 'feels like new' all of those years. 

It was pretty organized in there because I was so careful with the toys they had. We had clear bins that were all the same size -- great for stacking and labeling and seeing inside. 

But we didn't need to keep every single toy, but we wanted to keep those that we loved. So the task began. And it basically took from July 11th through August 3rd. That was the biggest chunk of time we were home this summer. (Anna's summer job I talked about was back here) 

We took everything out in stages. Here are a few pictures of those stages. And oh my gosh, it was a mess for a long long time! 

Then we thought through, what: 

💚 sparks lots and lots of memories of playing together as sisters = keep

💚 valuable and will withstand the test of time / a classic toy = keep

💚 personally meaningful = keep 

All of those things we decided to hold on to we wanted to pack differently than they were (even though they were already in bins). Scott is the ultimate packer and his motto with this project was, "if we ever have/ want to move, let's have it ready to go". That mean consolidating a lot. While all of Abigail's Legos were in separate bins according to the project they were (many many bins) we put them in baggies and then somehow fit all of those baggies into two bins. 

So on and on it went, all four of us working all day on a rainy Sunday. And then Monday. And then every evening for a month! 

A few things got thrown out (not much) and then a lot that we wanted to donate went into Scott's school for teachers that have young families. Here is a beginning pile of that: 

Scott took a picture for me when he put it all out at his school. Love this little display: 

Here are some things we decided to just throw out: 

💚 We kept American Girl dolls, their clothes and all of the sets of things that we had but we donated the 'booster seats' (the girls never used them much) and the doll carriers (not that much for those either) saving space for the part of A.G. that we did want to keep

There ended up being five long bins just like this plus the huge restaurant that had to be boxed separately. 

As my girls got outfits for their dolls through the years we always kept them in a baggie with the shoes, the tights, the little book... we have all of it! 

💚 We kept all of their Calico Critters. Excuse the crazy amount of pictures -- they (me too) wanted to remember how it looked when it was all set up. 

Yup, all of those sets are bagged up and put in bins all neat and organized. 

And so now it is all tucked away. All except for their play kitchen with is attached to the wall. We attached it when the oven almost fell on a playdate friend years ago. It fits so snug in that little nook of the playroom that for now we'll just leave it. 

It feels good to have all of that organized. Is is sad? Maybe a bit. When I was living in those years when I was home and they were playing (and all of those summers) I 🌟 K N E W 🌟 I was living in the 'good old days'. I used to say to Scott all the time, "these are my favorite days." I'm so glad I knew it then. I feel proud of those days. Here are a few thoughts on their playing years and if I could go back in time I would do again: 

💗 I kept them off screens 

💗 We had a rule/understanding that Santa would only bring toys that didn't need to be charged

💗 No screens meant long hours as a child to build what I called 'worlds' -- they created deep, intricate worlds -- feasts for their imagination 

💗 I bought, cared for, and featured 'open ended' toys like magnatiles, big card board 'bricks', legos that allowed them to make anything 

💗 I rotated the toys to keep them feeling like new

💗 I provided and cherished lots of time for them to play. I made it a priority. And play together. They are best friends because they were always together creating those worlds. 

So sad? Well I guess, it wouldn't be honest if I said I wasn't. But mostly I'm grateful. 

☺ I'm grateful for thirteen years as a stay at home mama to value, nurture, and cultivate play. 

☺I'm grateful for the memories of the sounds of them playing

☺I'm grateful for the messes and the way the playroom looked all of the time {all those 'worlds' took up a lot of room}

☺ I'm grateful for what playtime in our home created. It created a young adult and a teen who are ⭐ creative ⭐ open minded ⭐ not addicted to their screens ⭐ and most of all  B E S T   F R I E N D S

So those years are over, but I have the memories and my daughters now. 

Right now this room (yes, we still call it the "playroom") looks like this: 

And that built in area that once housed a whole world of Calico Critters I'm using for a few things

1. Things that need to be brought into my classroom

2. My journal/planners (I can make the pages there and store them there to look back at once the month is over 

But just in case you wanted, a little trip down memory lane. Here are a few blog posts you might like: 

The Dollhouse

When the TV Goes Off, Life Begins

Toys We Love

How We Start Vacation (shows a glimpse into the playroom)

Four Day Weekending (show their worlds) 

Playroom - Just Stay Little 

Anything You Need, You Can Come to Me (love this to tears) 

Around the House Today (shows them playing in the playroom)

One Not So Ordinary Wednesday (oh Calico Critters play)

Catch Up

Surprise Snow Day (crafting and dance party in the playroom) 

Weekend Recap (oh that mess in the playroom makes me so happy) 

16 Days of Summer 

Summer, Day 6

The Dishes Can Wait

Our Home September 

Simple Things 

Oh Vermont ~ part 6

Last days are hard 

and

last days are wonderful...

The feeling of all filled up is there - all that just the four of us time

And the feeling of home coming. 

I especially love the coming home feeling at the end of a summer vacation because that means all of the newness of a new school year is coming, and autumn is coming too! 

So on that last day we got up early and had breakfast at the Cafe on Main 

 We popped into the bookstore one last time and then drove through the mountains home. 

Oh Vermont ~ part 5

We went to Burlington and ran into their cousin -- not literally, but basically. We were driving near the campus on our way to an area with restaurants and shops and the girls shouted out the window, "there's Emily"! 

I didn't know she could be on campus already but texted and found out she was there. So of course we figured out a time to take her out to lunch. It was short because she didn't have a lot of room in her schedule but oh so fun!

We asked her for a good recommendation and she was spot on with her suggestion of a French restaurant! The food was amazing and it was great to catch up with her. 

Scott had to drive her back to campus so the girls and I ordered dessert (I ordered a cheese plate for dessert!) 

Then we went shopping on Church Street with tons of cool shops. 

I love the Vermont Flannel Co and have a shirt from there. They are the softest flannel shirts ever! Scott and I went in and found the most amazing patchwork blanket. It's like 100 pounds of cozy and decided to treat ourselves. I told him it was an investment for cozy Connecticut winters! 

When we got back to Stowe we walked around the darling town one more time so that we could remember all of it. 

And of course there was tea time - dinner out - and the pool and firepit until dark!