Cousin Time in Vermont

…was fun!

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Tucker!

Tucker turned six a week ago, and this is the only picture I took at his party.  It wasn’t mere oversight: it turns out have lots of five and six year-old boys indoors for a party on a rainy day is a bad idea!  No one got hurt or lost, thankfully, and Tucker had a fabulous time.  And as for the adults--well, it was memorable. 

Tucker is loving school, especially gym, recess and lunch.  (I hear a lot about lunch especially.)  He enjoys the other kids in his class and is making lots of friends.  He says it’s even better than preschool.  He isn’t as tired as I’d imagined he’d be when he gets home in the afternoon.  And he isn’t as bitter as Austin used to be about how much school cuts into his free time.  He is making great strides with swimming and riding his bike and his favorite things to do these days are to construct elaborate forts and make paper airplanes.  Fishing and playing soccer are also high on his list.  He and Austin are reading through the Swallows and Amazons series now which he loves (lots of sailing, camping and adventures!).   

At the beginning of the school year, his teacher asked parents to share some of their child’s strengths and weaknesses with her.  Tucker’s strengths are his enthusiasm, his kindness and what a long attention span he has.  This little boy can focus!  (I was reminded of this at the party last week… so many other little boys could not focus!)  He has such a sweet spirit, too.  He was telling me the other day how he and his friend Gray will hold hands from when the bus drops them off to walk back to their classroom together.  Awwww….

I love you, Tucker!

Quotes of the Day

The school bus comes into view, to pick Tucker up.

Me: Can I give you a kiss?

Tucker: Yes, this is a good time.  You can’t kiss in school.

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Yesterday, Molly picked out my skirt to match hers.  She was disappointed that I didn’t have a pink flamingo on it like she did, but she settled for the fact that both of our skirts were green.  She paired her green-and-pink skirt with a yellow, white and orange flower shirt, and pink cowboy boots.  I selected a plain white shirt and light blue cardigan to go with my green skirt.

Molly: Mommy, you not match.

Hmmmm….

Quote of the Day

Molly and Tucker were playing hide-and-seek yesterday.

Tucker finds Molly hiding behind a tree.  “I found you!” he says.

“I found YOU!”  Molly replies.  “Hug!”

And they hug in the middle of the yard to cap off their game. 

Tucker's Thoughts on Faith - Summer 2013

Tucker has a camera that will also record video.  He sometimes plays around making videos of himself during rest time.  Sometimes they are very sweet.

Quote of the Day

Tucker is a big fan of Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world.  He and I were watching a tape of the world championships from Saturday.

Tucker: I think Satan Bolt has already run.

Me: Who?

Tucker: Satan Bolt.

Don’t worry, we’ve clarified that his hero is NOT named Satan.

Quote of the Day

I was helping Tucker comb his hair for school yesterday when I noticed some dried on gunk. 

Me: When’s the last time you washed your hair?

Tucker: Ummmmm….

Me: You know, when you take a shower, do you ever use shampoo?

Tucker: No.

Me: Can you remember the last time you washed your hair?

Tucker: Ummmm, three weeks ago?

[Tucker has no sense of time, so this was a pretty funny answer that mostly indicated he thinks he probably washed it sometime this year.  I did confirm later that Austin had helped Tucker wash his hair within the past two weeks.  So that was a little consolation--but I think we’ll be teaching shampooing skills in the shower now that he prefers that to baths.]

Quote of the Day

Molly: I married.

Me: To whom?

Molly: Henny’s church.

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Molly: I married.

Me: To whom?

Molly: To me.

 

She has a different answer each time she tells us she’s married—I’ll let you know if she marries anything else interesting.

Tucker’s First Day of Kindergarten

Tucker’s first day of kindergarten was yesterday and he loved it.  He says it was better than the Kindergarten camp the schools held this summer, and better than preschool too.  Apparently, he got off the bus this afternoon and ran around to Austin’s truck where he got in and said “I liked it!” and then paused for a moment and said, “okay, I loved it!”  (Or something to that effect.)  Other highlights included drinking chocolate milk at lunch (he has decided to buy lunch every day) and making cookies in his class.  He seemed a little disappointed that gym class didn’t like up to his expectation yet because they didn’t play REAL sports there. He also mentioned that the kindergarten classes eat in the cafeteria together, but without any of the older students, “the graders.” He was also looking forward to not having rest time like at home, and getting to play on the playground both of which he did end up enjoying.

He didn’t seem that nervous, just marched right up on that bus and sat down in the first seat.  After school, he explained to me like an old pro that he sits in the first row by the window on the bus and made a new friend who sat next to him.  He said they picked a few more kids up on the way to school, but we lucked out with our pick up time—7:34 as opposed to 7:13 for the other girl in Tucker’s class that rides bus #8.

As soon as he got on the bus and I watched it go out of sight, I started crying, of course.  I feel like I have a glimmer of understanding now of why some parents homeschool—his life is now going to be as much or more out of our home than in it during the school year. 

  

Fairy Stone State Park 2013

We just got back from a week at Fairy Stone State Park near Martinsville, Virginia.  I love that Virginia state parks have cabins so that we can enjoy it all without really having to rough it.  It makes it feel like a real vacation.  It was a busy week of fishing, hiking (Tucker hiked 4 miles one day, and it wasn’t flat!), swimming, boating, looking for fairy stones (staurolite crystals that form in the shape of crosses) and more. 

We came back to a letter from the school with Tucker’s kindergarten teacher assignment—he starts in only a week and a half.  What a fast summer!