A first day (of school) and a birthday (celebration)
The girls started back to school last week. It was not a day that any of us were looking forward to. But, we didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
And so, at a time when they'd still be fast asleep during the summer, they donned their backpacks and walked out the door to head to the bus stop. Abby will hopefully be getting her driver's license soon- until that happens The Big Yellow Fellow will transport them to school. They paused quickly to let me take a picture before they headed out.
My favorite first day of school picture of them is from back in 2012. They didn't pose for this particular picture. In fact, they had no idea that I was taking their picture. I hadn't planned on taking the picture that I did- that of them walking home together from the bus stop. I had brought my camera to the bus stop to take pictures of them getting off of the bus on their first day of school. Numerous parents were at the bus stop waiting for their kids to get off of the bus. After the kids got off of the bus, I continued to chat with one of the parents. The girls got tired of waiting for me so they began to walk home without me (the bus stop was at the end of our street). I looked up at one point and saw the girls walking home together and had to take a picture of what I saw: two sisters happy to be reunited after a day apart from one another. The summer proceeding that school year, the girls played for hours every day together. Being away from each other once school started for seven hours was not something they relished. Once the school day was over and they were reunited with each other, they showed their affection by walking like this towards home:
Here's a picture of them in the beginning of the school day of the same school year from above (2012). Jacob was not in any pictures with the girls because he'd begun 6th grade- which is in a different school than the elementary school where the girls were- in 2012 and so his school day started and ended at different times than the girls did.
Seven years later, those two are still super close. They don't play with American Girl Dolls like they did in 2012 and heaven knows they don't wear matching outfits, but their bond is as close as ever.
Their first day of school went OK. Alyssa said her day was really good. She has friends in all of her classes which is what the name of the game is in 8th grade. Abby's day would have been better with a better schedule. Two classes that she wanted to take are only offered during one period- the same one, unfortunately. So, she was placed in one of them (no one consulted her about the conflict and asked which one she'd prefer to be in) but she decided that the one she preferred to be in was the one she wasn't placed in. So, on the first day of school, she put her name down on a list to talk to her guidance counselor about switching to the class that she preferred. She didn't get called down to talk to the counselor until the third day of school. But, at least she was able to switch to French Honors IV, the class that she wanted to be in. Bless her Francophile heart. The class she was placed in originally that she dropped for FH IV was an AP class for which she'd done hours of work over the summer. When she picked her classes for this semester back in the spring, she had no idea that there would be a conflict; students pick their classes and just hope for no conflicts.
The short school week didn't end come quickly enough. Those poor girls slept in soooooo long Saturday morning (and they hadn't stayed up super late on Friday). Their schools' early start has an advantage in that the students are finished with their school day early. The disadvantage is that sleep is definitely compromised with an early start time. For students with evening activities (my kids and many others), going to bed early is simply not an option. One hundred seventy seven more days to go. We've got this! (Right?)
We celebrated Donnie's birthday over the weekend. Next weekend would have been closer to his birthday. However, Jacob was still here over the weekend while next weekend, he will be away at college. So, I thought it would be nice to have Donnie's birthday celebration with Jacob present. It would also be a good time for Jacob to see relatives one more time before Jacob goes away to college.
I made a few appetizers and everyone brought an appetizer and that's what we ate for dinner. Abby made an eclair cake for Donnie. He usually requests this cake for his birthday; this was the first time that Abby made it for him for his birthday. He also requested a carrot cake to which I happily obliged. I also made chocolate chip cookies- not a request of Donnie's but he does enjoy a good cc cookie and what's a birthday celebration for if not an excuse to eat ALL the sugar :). Donnie is in really good shape and indulging for a day or two or three (leftovers...) won't do any harm. We had a nice visit with family and then it was time to prepare for the week ahead.
Sunday, the day that we had family over for Donnie's birthday dawned bright and early for me. I woke up at 3:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. Church wasn't in our future that morning because Alyssa had a soccer scrimmage that would conflict with both services. After a vain attempt to fall back to sleep, I got up a little before 5:00 to go on a run. From 5:00 am to 10:15 am when we left the house for Alyssa's scrimmage, I got a ton of things done. Truly, being a poor sleeper has its advantages. I made four appetizers, made the carrot cake, made the frosting for the carrot cake, iced the carrot cake, ran five miles, showered, got ready, cleaned up the kitchen from the food prep.
One of the dips that I made- lots of veggies to counter some of the sugar we'd be consuming...
Lots of mess in the kitchen...
And not the prettiest of cakes but no one seemed to mind. The cake is really easy to make; I'm so glad that everyone likes it. Alyssa grated the carrots for me- the grating of the carrots is the most time consuming part of the process.
Donnie's mom brought guacamole from Chuy's restaurant. The restaurant gave her three huge bags of chips. It took us over a day to go through one bag. Well, I guess sugar isn't the only thing we will be overindulging on... Here are our two remaining bags of chips. YUM!
Speaking of Donnie's mom- and matching clothes- Alyssa and grandma wore their matching shirts on Sunday. They had gone shopping before school started and picked out the same shirt to buy.
And so, at a time when they'd still be fast asleep during the summer, they donned their backpacks and walked out the door to head to the bus stop. Abby will hopefully be getting her driver's license soon- until that happens The Big Yellow Fellow will transport them to school. They paused quickly to let me take a picture before they headed out.
My favorite first day of school picture of them is from back in 2012. They didn't pose for this particular picture. In fact, they had no idea that I was taking their picture. I hadn't planned on taking the picture that I did- that of them walking home together from the bus stop. I had brought my camera to the bus stop to take pictures of them getting off of the bus on their first day of school. Numerous parents were at the bus stop waiting for their kids to get off of the bus. After the kids got off of the bus, I continued to chat with one of the parents. The girls got tired of waiting for me so they began to walk home without me (the bus stop was at the end of our street). I looked up at one point and saw the girls walking home together and had to take a picture of what I saw: two sisters happy to be reunited after a day apart from one another. The summer proceeding that school year, the girls played for hours every day together. Being away from each other once school started for seven hours was not something they relished. Once the school day was over and they were reunited with each other, they showed their affection by walking like this towards home:
Here's a picture of them in the beginning of the school day of the same school year from above (2012). Jacob was not in any pictures with the girls because he'd begun 6th grade- which is in a different school than the elementary school where the girls were- in 2012 and so his school day started and ended at different times than the girls did.
Seven years later, those two are still super close. They don't play with American Girl Dolls like they did in 2012 and heaven knows they don't wear matching outfits, but their bond is as close as ever.
Their first day of school went OK. Alyssa said her day was really good. She has friends in all of her classes which is what the name of the game is in 8th grade. Abby's day would have been better with a better schedule. Two classes that she wanted to take are only offered during one period- the same one, unfortunately. So, she was placed in one of them (no one consulted her about the conflict and asked which one she'd prefer to be in) but she decided that the one she preferred to be in was the one she wasn't placed in. So, on the first day of school, she put her name down on a list to talk to her guidance counselor about switching to the class that she preferred. She didn't get called down to talk to the counselor until the third day of school. But, at least she was able to switch to French Honors IV, the class that she wanted to be in. Bless her Francophile heart. The class she was placed in originally that she dropped for FH IV was an AP class for which she'd done hours of work over the summer. When she picked her classes for this semester back in the spring, she had no idea that there would be a conflict; students pick their classes and just hope for no conflicts.
The short school week didn't end come quickly enough. Those poor girls slept in soooooo long Saturday morning (and they hadn't stayed up super late on Friday). Their schools' early start has an advantage in that the students are finished with their school day early. The disadvantage is that sleep is definitely compromised with an early start time. For students with evening activities (my kids and many others), going to bed early is simply not an option. One hundred seventy seven more days to go. We've got this! (Right?)
We celebrated Donnie's birthday over the weekend. Next weekend would have been closer to his birthday. However, Jacob was still here over the weekend while next weekend, he will be away at college. So, I thought it would be nice to have Donnie's birthday celebration with Jacob present. It would also be a good time for Jacob to see relatives one more time before Jacob goes away to college.
I made a few appetizers and everyone brought an appetizer and that's what we ate for dinner. Abby made an eclair cake for Donnie. He usually requests this cake for his birthday; this was the first time that Abby made it for him for his birthday. He also requested a carrot cake to which I happily obliged. I also made chocolate chip cookies- not a request of Donnie's but he does enjoy a good cc cookie and what's a birthday celebration for if not an excuse to eat ALL the sugar :). Donnie is in really good shape and indulging for a day or two or three (leftovers...) won't do any harm. We had a nice visit with family and then it was time to prepare for the week ahead.
Sunday, the day that we had family over for Donnie's birthday dawned bright and early for me. I woke up at 3:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. Church wasn't in our future that morning because Alyssa had a soccer scrimmage that would conflict with both services. After a vain attempt to fall back to sleep, I got up a little before 5:00 to go on a run. From 5:00 am to 10:15 am when we left the house for Alyssa's scrimmage, I got a ton of things done. Truly, being a poor sleeper has its advantages. I made four appetizers, made the carrot cake, made the frosting for the carrot cake, iced the carrot cake, ran five miles, showered, got ready, cleaned up the kitchen from the food prep.
One of the dips that I made- lots of veggies to counter some of the sugar we'd be consuming...
Lots of mess in the kitchen...
And not the prettiest of cakes but no one seemed to mind. The cake is really easy to make; I'm so glad that everyone likes it. Alyssa grated the carrots for me- the grating of the carrots is the most time consuming part of the process.
Donnie's mom brought guacamole from Chuy's restaurant. The restaurant gave her three huge bags of chips. It took us over a day to go through one bag. Well, I guess sugar isn't the only thing we will be overindulging on... Here are our two remaining bags of chips. YUM!
Speaking of Donnie's mom- and matching clothes- Alyssa and grandma wore their matching shirts on Sunday. They had gone shopping before school started and picked out the same shirt to buy.
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