Standiford Family

I didn’t get a single picture of Meg today.  She left a little early for me and when she came home, well, I’ll get to that soon.  When Meg left for the bus stop it was still dark out.  Her bus comes 40 minutes before school starts.  She may start getting a ride with a friend the lives nearby.

Here are the reds waiting for the bus.  When the bus pulled up the kids took off to climb into the bus.  They didn’t even care that it was the wrong number.  They were just excited to get on and get to school.  It was the right bus driver driving a substitute bus because the regular bus broke down.  Something related to a full moon last night.  Mickey and I introduced ourselves to the bus driver and he to us.  Then they were gone.  I couldn’t believe they left without saying good bye.  I felt a tear coming but then realized I had Mickey all to myself all day.  That cheered me right up.

The reds came home happy.  Kade has the teacher Mat had for Kindergarten.  Mat has the teacher Meg had for 4th grade.  Familiar is good.

Later we walked down to Meg’s bus stop and waited and waited and waited.  The bus finally came but no child got off the bus.  What the heck?  I walked back to the house while Mickey waited to see if she just missed the stop and the driver would drop her off.  Nope.  I get home and see that someone has tried to call the house and my cell.  I call the number back (something I never do).  It’s Meg’s school.  She missed the bus.  The office lady hands Meg the phone.  She told me what happened and that since she couldn’t get me (or her dad at work, or either of her grandmothers) she called her friend’s mom who lives down the street.  At least she had someone else to call.  The friend’s mom showed up and took her home with her.  I went to pick her up and told Meg she needs to learn her dad’s cell number since he always has it on him.  Afterward I was a little concerned with the school allowing Meg to go home with someone not on her emergency card.  Huh?  Thanks again, Amy.  Meg did enjoy her day at the new school.  We met her teachers last night.  One is the athletic director.  One is the softball coach.  And the orchestra teacher seemed glad to have her.  She knew four students in her home room from her elementary school.  Like I said, familiar is good.

Mickey thought I should include this picture.  Mat clicking her heels three times and saying “There’s no place like school”.

Summer is coming to an end.  Next week school starts.  We filled our day with all kinds of activities.  This morning we had to go to Meg’s new school because somehow they didn’t have her in the system at all.  Then they made a schedule for her only to have it be for a 5th grader and not 6th.  She now has the right schedule.  Today was the last day my kids would get to play with our little friend Finn, since they’ll be in school when he comes over.  They played on the trampoline, the neighbors’ playset, and blew bubbles.

We had lunch, dropped Finn at his house, and went swimming with our friends in green water.  (I forgot the camera.  I’m sure it would have made an interesting picture.)  We spent two hours at the pool and headed home.  I had some girlfriends coming over and Mickey decided to take the kids out for the evening.  They went to dinner and then watched Shrek Forever After.  They came home and went to bed after getting the mandatory snack.

I chatted with my friends until we were all very tired.  (I also found out that I might have poison ivy.  No idea where I got it from.)  Then I posted this lovely bit of news and now I’m heading to bed so I can start another busy day.

Are you or someone you know into Pokemon?  Our three kids are.  Meg is the one that started it all a few years ago.  Mickey has tried to understand and play some games with her.  I, on the other hand, cannot seem to grasp the purpose of a world with weird creatures that evolve into different forms.  Which is odd because I like sci-fi/paranormal stuff.  Anyway.

Somehow big sister Megan has influenced the reds and they all have Pokemon paraphernalia laying around.  There are even fights (can you believe it?) over what card belongs to who.  Very common occurrence.  When we go to the library Meg almost always gets Pokemon movies, if one is in.  I swear she’s probably watched all of them 10 times already.  It makes her happy.  So that’s the potd.  A Pokemon movie.

Tonight was my grandma’s viewing.  We visited with lots of family and some friends.  It was nice.  The best part (for the kids) was a room off the entry called the lounge.  There was a table set up with food and some comfy places to sit.  While enjoying the chips, cookies, and brownies (why would they think of eating anything healthy) the kids had some free entertainment.  Their cousin, baby Kaleb.

Besides chasing the crawling cousin around I’m not sure how Kaleb kept their attention other than the normal baby things he does.  Which are cute.  I’m sure his big brother Sabe helped keep them occupied too.  I wanted a picture of them all doting on Kaleb but it turned into a posed and unnatural thing.  Oh well.  I’m still preserving our day.

That was the theme of the day but the potd doesn’t reflect that at all.  First about the pool.  The girls were invited to a birthday/farewell party for their friend Grace.  The party was way south of town so I decided Kade and I could spend some quality time with my sister-in-law and her kids that live close by.  Everyone had a lot of fun.  The girls did not want to leave when I went to pick them up.  They somehow managed to get an extra 30 minutes of swimming out of me.

We made the ride home dropping off a few friends along the way.  We ate dinner and had Family Home Evening.  Meg had the activity for the night.  She picked a bike ride.  Mickey and I didn’t know how this would work since Mat doesn’t really want to ride her bike and Kade’s bike no longer has training wheels and didn’t want to do the whole ride being held.  Long story short, we made it around a huge block without anyone getting hurt.  (That’s a big improvement from our last attempt at a family bike ride.)  When we came home I noticed a butterfly fluttering around the butterfly bush we have out front.  I ran for the camera because I have been waiting for an opportunity to shoot one.  Here it is.

The little bike ride had left me wanting a longer one.  I put Kade to bed after he and Mickey finished putting my new dresser together and went for a ride around the neighborhood.  It was so much fun.  There are all kinds of hills and curvy roads to drive on.  I think a third of the ride I got to coast but I really had to work to get up the next hill.  The only way it could have been better is if Mickey had come with me.  Maybe next time.

The child swap from yesterday resulted in lots of fun and four tired out girls.  To make the swap back we went to Jan & Doc’s house to swim for a while.  It was fun to be back at our temporary home and visit with Michelle and Jan.  The kids enjoyed playing with the neighbors’ dogs and splashing around in the lake.

I never got a picture of all five kids together.  This will have to do.

Kade was a little bummed he didn’t get much at IKEA over the weekend.  We did find him something at Target though, but ordered it on line.  It arrived today instead of next Monday like the order confirmation said.  Kade was whooping and jumping around with excitement.  He and Mickey had a project to work on together.

In the meantime, we had a rather busy day.  This morning Joey and Evie (my nephew and niece) came over to play for a few hours.  Then we went out with our Virginia cousins to see “How to Train Your Dragon“.  The movie was much better than the book.  Probably because the screen writers only used bits and piece of the book.  Then we decided to do a child swap.  Meg went to spend the night with Abby while Emma came to spend the night with Mat.  We’ll meet back up to swap again sometime tomorrow.  I’m sure we’ll have some tired girls tomorrow.

Back to the apprenticeship…whenever Mickey is working on some project that requires tools Kade gets as involved as he can.  Today he helped put his headboard together.  Tomorrow they’ll do the nightstand.

I’m sure these hands will have loads of experience by the time he’s a teenager.  Especially with the way we buy furniture requiring assembly.

Added the next morning.  Kade:  ”Mom, sleeping in my new bed was awesome.  And I didn’t fall out.”

All of our kids are messy.  Is this the norm?  We have one pack rat, one that likes clutter, and one tornado (making messes and leaving them).  One bedroom has never been clean since we moved in 2-1/2 months ago.  The job finally got done today so I thought it deserved to be the podt.

Now that Mat has cleaned up her mess maybe we can start adding some personality to this bland room.

I love it when my hands are busy.  I think it has a calming effect on me.  Yesterday the girls learned a new skill to keep their hands busy.

Crocheting.  The girls learned at Activity Days.  They both seem to enjoy it.  I don’t really know how to do it but I can fake it somewhat and help when mistakes are made.   They were making all kinds of chains and bracelets last night and today.  It’s nice to see them walking around with a hook and yarn instead of a DS or iPod.  And it’s something quiet they can take along in the car.  Mattey wants me to teach her to knit.  I think she needs to experience crocheting for a little while longer before I introduce something new to keep her hands busy.

This afternoon we went to my brother and sister-in-law’s house for a double birthday party.  My nephew is 4 and my niece is 2.  The party included a water balloon fight (where Mickey was a frequent target),

a pinata was beat to death by 13 children, and there was rowdy swimming in the pool.  We were also fed dinner and delicious cake and ice cream for dessert.  You can’t really beat that on a hot sunny Saturday.

The best part was Mat voluntarily donated her non-played with Barbies for my niece’s present.  I think she ended up giving away about 8.  That made E. very happy.  Mattey is such a sweetie.