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* Posing in their new Mount Anville coats! * |
As vacation came to and end, we all had to come to grips with the summer also turning to fall. But a another adventure was beginning for the girls... their first day at our new school! The girls officially started school on August 26. The first day was met with all kinds of emotions for all of us, sadness for the girls that the summer was over, joy for Russ to have more than 12 minutes per day to himself, nervousness for me as we started a new routine with new teachers, friends and environment. The first day was great... and consistent with our experience here to date, everyone was very welcoming, warm and eager to help the girls become acquainted with their new classrooms.
The girls look beyond adorable in their uniforms and haven't put up too much of a fuss wearing them. Annelyse as commented that "the school as too many rules." But aside from that, not much from the fashionistas. We did find out that Lo can wear anything under her smock, however, in an attempt to avoid any fighting or conversations regarding unfair treatment... we found her 'uniforms' which closely resemble the older girls. Needless to say the morning routine is much easier thanks to 'the rules'.
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| This child... I don't know why I try to get a good picture and only post those... all the ones leading up to "the keeper" are so much better!! I would like to think she saying, "praise the Lord" for school to be starting, but doubt that! |
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| Best Friends... or at least they pretend to be when they are at school! |
We thought the girls were going to be in the same class, however, they are not. Loralye has Ms. Helen and Annelyse has Ms. Siobhan (pronounced Shee-von). In some ways, I think this will be better and discourage the constant competition. Within a week, they both made a few friends and seem to be settling in just fine. Loralye has always had a tougher time separating, but by the end of the day, she is eager to show us around and appears happy to be there... this is what I keep telling myself anyway. :)
I ask the girls each night what they did that day and attempt to use more probing, specific questions to avoid the "fine", "good" or "nothing" response. One day last week, I asked Annelyse if she did any math work that she found interesting. What followed, was quite funny. She said... "Oh... yeah, Ms. Siobhan asked me if I could do this worksheet that had really easy pluses and minuses work... and I told her I didn't know how to do it because I wanted to finish my insect work." I explained that even though it was easy, Ms. Siobhan was likely trying to understand what type of math work would be appropriate for her. If she told her she didn't know how to do the easy problems, she would probably give her even easier work. To which she replied... "that's fine, I would rather do the easy work." Any suggestions on how we change that perspective now, would be much appreciated :)
Another little situation we have going on with Ms. Annelyse is a loose tooth. Russ had promised them a treat in the afternoon at pick-up to help with the separation woes (Yes, we bribe our children quite often and the results to date have been quite great!) I am sure what we are setting ourselves up for ugly things in the future. One afternoon, Russ gave them a Shopkin.. a tiny, plastic, figurine that they collect and serve ABSOLUTELY no purpose, except to cause pain almost as excruciating as a Lego when you step on it. I digressed, anyway... Annelyse decided to use her teeth to rip open the package and managed to loosen her tooth in the process. Now while this tooth is quite wiggly, I am not sure it would be without the excessive gnawing she did on the bag to get to the Shopkin. I also find it no coincidence that she is eager to loose a tooth, given one of her little friends back home (Anna) just lost her first tooth which Annelyse found out about during a recent Facetime session. Needless to say, she is excited to be just like Anna!
The girls have caught a little cold since returning back to school (which is always expected.) On Thursday both of them were quite sneezy and I think at one point before heading to school, Annelyse sneezed 6 times in a row. Following the last sneeze, Lo said to her... "If you keep sneezing you are going to sneeze your tooth out!" They crack me up... sometimes I wish there was a recording running constantly to capture all the funny things they say! However, it would also capture all of my reprimanding, which is not nearly as funny or endearing.
Some great news to report is we FINALLY got a car! Now, it isn't Russ's dream car and really isn't what we expected, but it is transportation, which we desperately needed to get the girls to and from school... so in my eyes, it's PERFECT! It has also allowed us to venture out, which make the options endless! Should it be concerning that Loralye seems petrified about Russ driving away? And I'm sure she doesn't even know his full history of driving incidents!
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We figured just being back to school, the weekend should be simple and close to home. Of course, our carefree, spontaneous journey (the type of journey never, ever do) would be met with some unpredictability We had a destination in mind about an hour north of us, Newgrange. On our way we noticed a castle on the map in a small village called Slane. We made a slight detour to explore the place and found it was closed on Friday's and Saturday's. We found that odd. We still took a silly picture for the memory!
Newgrange was a dual purpose destination, a farm for the kids and some history for us... and hopefully the kids :) The farm was a HUGE hit! Of course the visit resulted in a commitment to getting a puppy (or puppies depending on who's recollection of the story you choose to believe) when we get back to Kzoo. We single-handedly fattened-up every single animal on the farm and made lots of furry friends along the way. Much like myself, the girls have inherited the Italian mother gene from somewhere in our genealogy and excel at showing affection through food.
Loralye did not like any of the animals which "made noise." Every half hour they would bring out bottles of milk to feed the sheep and cows. Just before feeding time, the animals would start making their respective noise in anticipation of dinner... Annelyse ran right up and got a big kick out of how aggressive they were with the bottles. Loralye in turn stood there with her hands on her ears asking to leave. It always amazes me how different they are and how one can love something and the other hate it. They had go-cart pedal cars which were quite fun and a big hay maze that was good for lots of laughs and scares.
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| But we couldn't resist lifting them!!! |
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| Annelyse feeding every creature in sight... they loved her! |
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| Loralye not enjoying feeding time... baaaaaa!!!!! |
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| Feeding the babies... we were really shocked Lo didn't want to partake given her strong mothering tendencies. |
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This was the only animal Annelyse thought was questionable... the cow kept trying to lick her coat...
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| I was glad (and surprised) the donkey's didn't try to nibble on her while taking this picture! |
The farm had this little
wagon ride that took us past the River Boyne. The Battle of the Boyne, a major battle in Irish history, took place along the Boyne near Drogheda. Interesting to us, but not to the kids... what was interesting to them, was all the stories the Irishman on the wagon was telling as we bounced through the fields. One of the stories was about the Leprechaun that lives out in the field and his castle with the red door. The best part is when we rode past the Newgrange monument (which we planned to visit after the farm) and they guide explained it was the home of the tooth-fairy. Given our little tooth situation, it was of particular fascination. We also were a bit nervous how the conversation was going to go, when we made it over to the "toothfairy's" house and all the little white 'teeth' on the outside were actually stones. Needless to say, Annelyse must have been tired or not on her game, because she didn't seem to notice that the toothfairy's house and the Newgrange Monument were the same thing :)
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| The River Boyne |
After the farm, we headed over to the Newgrange Monument. Newgrange is a tomb dating back 3,200BC (older than Stonehenge or Pyramids of Giza, which the Irish are quite proud of!) The mound covers a single tomb, which consists of a long passage and a cross-shaped chamber. The most famous feature of Newgrange is the small opening or ‘roof box’ situated above the passage entrance. At dawn on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year (December 21st) and for a number of days before and after, a shaft of sunlight enters the chamber through an opening in the roof box. The winter solstice marks the start of the New Year to those living in the valley... a sign of nature’s rebirth and promising renewed life to crops, animals and humans.
What started with us setting out just for visit to Newgrange Farm, ended up including seeing another neat castle and a tour of a fascinating Neolithic monument. There is no shortage of things to see and do here... All in all it was a nice little day trip and another great week!
Lots of love,
Russ, Lyndsey and the little Leprechauns
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Loralye did not like any of the animals which "made noise." Every half hour they would bring out bottles of milk to feed the sheep and cows. Just before feeding time, the animals would start making their respective noise in anticipation of dinner... Annelyse ran right up and got a big kick out of how aggressive they were with the bottles. Loralye in turn stood there with her hands on her ears asking to leave. It always amazes me how different they are and how one can love something and the other hate it. They had go-cart pedal cars which were quite fun and a big hay maze that was good for lots of laughs and scares.
The farm had this little wagon ride that took us past the River Boyne. The Battle of the Boyne, a major battle in Irish history, took place along the Boyne near Drogheda. Interesting to us, but not to the kids... what was interesting to them, was all the stories the Irishman on the wagon was telling as we bounced through the fields. One of the stories was about the Leprechaun that lives out in the field and his castle with the red door. The best part is when we rode past the Newgrange monument (which we planned to visit after the farm) and they guide explained it was the home of the tooth-fairy. Given our little tooth situation, it was of particular fascination. We also were a bit nervous how the conversation was going to go, when we made it over to the "toothfairy's" house and all the little white 'teeth' on the outside were actually stones. Needless to say, Annelyse must have been tired or not on her game, because she didn't seem to notice that the toothfairy's house and the Newgrange Monument were the same thing :) 
After the farm, we headed over to the Newgrange Monument. Newgrange is a tomb dating back 3,200BC (older than Stonehenge or Pyramids of Giza, which the Irish are quite proud of!) The mound covers a single tomb, which consists of a long passage and a cross-shaped chamber. The most famous feature of Newgrange is the small opening or ‘roof box’ situated above the passage entrance. At dawn on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year (December 21st) and for a number of days before and after, a shaft of sunlight enters the chamber through an opening in the roof box. The winter solstice marks the start of the New Year to those living in the valley... a sign of nature’s rebirth and promising renewed life to crops, animals and humans. 
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