first day of school

First of all, sorry. No pictures. When you wake up 30 minutes late, and your husband even later, with 4 kids to deal with, there's no time for luxuries in the morning routine. The good part is that I did make it to school before my students, and it was all handled reasonably calmly. Only one kid ended up waling out screaming and without a shoe! Of course, as the day started with stress, it had to go better from there!
The day went pretty well in my classroom ,  with me running the show and the other two observing. The kids were clearly filled with lots of excitement, but for the most part contained it well. I did go ahead and have a bit of a preemptive word with the oldest students, who were the biggest culprits, though. Then it was the last stretch to 6 pm and my 10.5hr workday came to a close.
And then back home, with all four and minus Wellington ( he had a soccer meeting to go to). Lows: Ilori screaming, Zafirah screaming, Naeem screaming, no baths. Highs: Ilori pulled himself back together again, Kalil followed through with directions INDEPENDENTLY, Naeem calming himself and spending some good time playing on the rug.
So overall a good day. Now it's time to get to work...again. Gotta prepare for tomorrow, communicate with parents after all!

...and here we go for real!

So, tomorrow it becomes real. It's not just work, with Naeem, and schedules that are irrelevant because they stretch to whatever time the job is done (ie. the classrooms are ready for the kids). Tomorrow is the real deal. Everyone up early, off to school, drop offs, kids in the classroom, Naeem in the Nido and away from me for extended hours. Yikes!
HOWEVER, this is the first time I have managed to get clothes laid out for the kids for them to wear tomorrow. And bags with clothes for their cubbies packed. All with them participating (well, less on Zafirah's part). That's got to count for something! My goals this year is organization, organization, organization. With enough planning, step by step I will make it through!
Wish me luck!

So proud...

In all this in-service madness, I may have not kept up my exercise, but I HAVE kept up my garden! And I have the peppers and sprouts to prove it! Add to that the fact that I am actually posting something here...

Back on the roller coaster!

Today was not only Naeem's 3-month birthday, it was also my first day back to work. He cooperated beautifully, sleeping well and only getting fussy at around 5pm. When I took him home to see the other munchkins, who did a lot of playing all day with the babysitter, he spent time pushing up and looking in the mirror. He also rolled over for the second time!
I really need to charge my camera...

time on my hands

It's amazing what I can do when I have a little time on my hands. As prep for school's in-service, the entire upstairs of the house was re-organized. It looks great now! If only I could get the whole house looking like this all at once. Sigh.
BUT, after experimenting with keeping plants alive, I finally felt we could handle a little vegetable garden. We are presently growing golden berries and peppers (thanks, P2!), carrots, lettuce, peas, and summer squash. All in little planter boxes on our deck. I'm loving it!

Swimming!

This summer, 9 out of the 12 cousins took swimming classes. It was amusing to see people's reactions as we showed up with 11 kids in tow (Naeem and Loenn were with us, but didn't swim). It varied anywhere from admiration to slight horror. As the summer comes to an end, we are down to only 4 kids in the pool. They've made great progress!

And the summer is winding down

This past weekend was the last time that Liana and Loenn will get to Camanche this summer. Kaitano and Malena are off traveling with their parents. Wellington and I are preparing for in-service. Yes, the summer is really coming to an end.

At least Liana and Loenn's last weekend was a spectacular one - temperatures in the low hundreds! It was wonderful. Everyone spent time in the water and lots of fun was had.

Naeem took his first swim.

Ilori discovered the "deep" isn't so bad! In fact, he took off swimming across the channel.

Grapes!

Taxi!

A perfect dinner. 

Look what I found!

Looking for more.

Today was a lot of fun!

Thumbs...

Someone has discovered that thumbs are SOOO soothing! You wouldn't believe how much of it he gets in his mouth.

And then there were 12.

The summer started with a solid week of fun, including a trip to Fenton's

  and 9 days at Camanche!

By the beginning of July, all 12 grandkids were united and things got even more interesting! These last 3 weeks have been packed with swim lessons, trips to the lake, family dinners, etc. Pictures to come.
Although it is slightly exhausting to constantly be herding 12 kids around (with others, granted), it is also incredibly rewarding. What a pleasure to see my kids go bike riding (and Kalil learned to ride with no training wheels!), learn how fun it is to build forts, play ball, go swimming and kayaking. I know that the memories they are making this summer are priceless!
It has also been my personal pleasure to spend time with 2 of my sisters - we don't get to do that enough. At this, the midpoint of the summer, I get to look forward to spending time with yet another sister in just one short week!

New beginnings?

I am hoping that, possibly, perhaps, maybe this year I will be able to start and keep up a blog on our adventures as a family...now with 4 kids. Although he's colicky, which makes my life complicated, I certainly am enjoying the youngest one!