Back to School

Jackson and Raina have been back to school for two weeks now, and have made the transition from carefree summer days to the routine of school. Sixth grade looks to be a busy year as Jackson has already gone on an overnight school field trip to Wolf Ridge, has joined the School Patrol, and is looking into starting band.
The school board voted to have a four day school week to save money, so they're going to school Monday through Thursday most weeks. I'm not letting them slack on Fridays, though, and we're doing music lessons (piano for both and guitar for Jackson), math enrichment, and other fun learning activities together.
Ollie takes a good afternoon nap every day which gives me time to do things with just Remy. Last week we painted with apples. Raina had a little fit when she found out Remy got to paint and she didn't, and I had to explain that she does lots of fun things at school that Remy doesn't get to do.


When I see the kids day to day, I don't always see realize how much they grow in a year. Here's how they've each changed in the past year:

Ollie, 8 1/2 months

Ollie, 20 1/2 months

Ollie would not stand still, he kept running away or crouching down, so I made him sit instead

Remy, 2 1/2

Remy, 3 1/2

Raina, Kindergarten

Raina, First Grade

Jackson, Fifth Grade

Jackson, Sixth Grade

Summer Recap

Here we are at the last weekend of summer. The kids go back to school on Tuesday, and I'm sure we'll quickly settle back into that routine again. Here's some of what we've been up to since I last posted in July:

Running through the sprinkler on a hot day

The sand table has been an endless source of entertainment

At a rest stop off I-35--I guess no one wanted their picture taken

After eating pizza at Do North in Two Harbors, we watched a ship come in

Sometimes we split the kids up--Raina and Remy had breakfast with me at Betty's Pies, we went on a little hike along the lake, and then we went grocery shopping

The garden looked like this early in the summer, but flourished enough to produce plenty of veggies to go with our summer grilling:

Peas, which the kids ate raw straight from the garden

Green beans, lettuce and more peas

Roma tomatoes
and also some stubby carrots and round cucumbers

I made freezer jam for the first time out of raspberries from my mom and blueberries (I bought a case)

Remy has been attached to Woody most of the summer after seeing Toy Story 3

And my buddy Ollie

Fourth of July Weekend

Root beer floats

Kiddie parade in town

Fruit sparklers

Water balloons

Sliding

Jackson had a Little League game today, and the younger kids have a hard timing lasting through a whole game, so I took them to the playground and let them slide to their heart's content.

Snippets of Summer

We started out the week on Monday by signing up for the summer reading program at the local library. The kids can earn small prizes for reading and do fun craft activities at the library.

Back from the library with their bag of goodies

On Tuesday, Raina lost her front tooth. How cute is that?

I went grocery shopping on Wednesday with Raina, Remy and Ollie (Jackson was out of town with Barry). I've found the best way to shop when I have the little boys with me:

Apparently, I can't get both boys . . .

. . . to look at me at the same time!

Tuesday and Thursday the kids have swimming lessons. Swim caps are required at our pool:

Jackson and Raina are on their own, and then I take Remy and Ollie in for Aqua Tots. One of their favorite things to do is sit on the edge of the pool and jump to me. Except on Thursday, I had just caught Remy when Ollie jumped in before I was ready to catch him. My heart skipped a beat, I let go of Remy to grab Ollie, then grabbed Remy again, and it was all over in a second or two. Neither boy was upset or choking on the water, but it was a little scary for those seconds.
It wasn't the worst part of the day, though. We changed out of our swimming suits after lessons and were just about ready to leave when I heard Remy start crying. His finger got stuck in the locker room door, and he was bleeding all over the place. Thankfully another mom I know called the EMT, took care of Ollie for me, gave me a rag to hold on the bleeding finger, and was a calm presence in the chaos. Barry was home and got to the school in a few minutes, just as the EMT arrived. She wrapped his finger up with gauze and suggested we take him to the local clinic where they would be able to x-ray and assess the damage.
The x-ray showed a small fracture on the very tip of the finger, and because it was an open fracture (skin was broken), they sent us on to Duluth where they're better equipped to handle young children.So I left the other kids home with Barry and took off with Remy. At the ER, the doctor said his fingernail was only hanging on by about 10% and would need to be removed completely. The side of his finger was also cut pretty deeply. He had stitches there and along the nail bed where the nail ripped off. They had to numb his finger with lidocaine (injection) and the nurses did a great job distracting him with stickers, a popsicle, bubbles, and a glove blown up to look like a turkey. Remy entertained them by saying, "Mom, get me out of here," and when we were ready to go and he had all his treats in hand, he said, "It's my lucky day!"
I have to keep his finger bandaged and try to keep it clean and dry. Stitches will be removed next week Friday. It only seems to bother him when I have to change the dressing.
It was a tough afternoon, and I'm so glad he's handling it so well.
Jackson had his first baseball game, also on Thursday so I couldn't watch, but his team won and Jackson had a couple hits and also scored two runs for his team.

Ollie is as busy as ever. On this day, he tried to climb into the cabinet.

Kohl's Clearance

Raina needed some summer clothes, so when I heard about Kohl's clearance sale online, I found some things for her: plaid capris and matching green shirt and a butterfly skirt. These three pieces were just over $11 when I used a discount code from retailmenot.com. The original retail price for all three items was $48, so I saved 77%.

Garden

We've already harvested the first radish from our garden. It's not super impressive, but it looks like we'll get many more. The only thing that hasn't sprouted is the spinach--maybe I got a bad batch of seeds. We've had plenty of rain the past few days, so hopefully we'll get lots of sun this week.