First Day of Kindergarten!!

Today was Caleb's first day of Kindergarten and it went great! Everyone was up early and ready to go, so we decided to walk to school. As we were leaving, Caleb's new best buddy Will was heading of to his school where he is in first grade. 

 Caleb and Daddy saying good-bye. So sweet!

 We got to school with plenty of time to spare and caught up with a few friends while waiting for the school bell to ring.

Thanks to Alison for these pictures of the boys once line-up started. Caleb did great with a quick good-bye and he marched right off to his teacher. I shed a few tears after we got home, but had a nice morning with Lina and Levi. 

 Lina and Levi were very excited to go pick up Caleb from school. I wish I had gotten a video of their reunion. Lina was overjoyed and literally jumped into his arms. We had planned for lunch at Spice Thai Kitchen in Melrose per Caleb's request and was happy for a lunch of seaweed salad and pad thai...so Caleb! He was quite talkative about his day and is very excited to go back next week. I can't say enough how proud I am of our little guy!

Thoughts about Kindergarten

Six years ago, I was heading into my third trimester of pregnancy with Caleb and thinking about childcare options for when I returned to work. There was a childcare center right around the corner from my lab in Charlestown and I would see the kids there happily playing and going for walks, but I never felt 100% about that option. After lots of thought and talks with Randy, we made the decision to go with my gut and that I would take a year away from my training to stay at home with Caleb. Now here I am, six years and three kids later, still at home and getting ready to send our first baby to Kindergarten. Needless to say, I'm very emotional about this new phase of life. Besides a few hours a week at preschool, Caleb has been with me every step of the way through my journey into motherhood and he has matured into such a great kid (he's always been great, but I digress). From those first few frightening weeks adjusting to life with a newborn, to countless play dates where we both developed friendships, to doctor's appointments and not-so-fun errands, through morning sickness, swelling bellies and new siblings, to our many fun adventures and days that I thought I couldn't handle being a mom...he's been right here close to me. We've had ups and downs, laughter and tears, shouts and whispers, good days and bad. I know that this part of our relationship will never change, but will continue to evolve and deepen. But our day-in-and-day-out routine is about to change in a big way. I keep wondering if I'm making too big of a deal out of him going to Kindergarten...I mean it's just Kindergarten, not college! Caleb will no longer my right-hand man for the majority of the day. He's stepping into a new and exciting world...without me. And I'm going to miss him terribly...and I guess that is why it's such a big deal for me. I know Lina and Levi are going to miss him too-but it is my hope (especially for Lina) that while Caleb is spreading his wings at school, they'll be spreading their wings at home. It's been a wonderful summer for us and we've made so many great memories. I'm looking forward to seeing what this fall, winter, and spring will bring us but a part of me will be counting down to next summer, with all the kids home with me excited for a summer's day adventure...

August 2012 NC Trip: Duncan Family Reunion

On Sunday afternoon, we went to Uncle Larry's house for a "hot dog party" (as the kids deemed it) and a little family reunion. It's been several years since we'd been together with lots of the Duncan family and it was so nice to finally do it! The kids got to meet lots of Randy's family and a special second cousin Nate, who is almost four. Cousin Sherrie brought giant bubbles and the kids never seemed to tire of chasing them around and popping them. Of course, the hot dogs didn't disappoint for dinner and Aunt Kaye surprised the kids with a cake with all of their names on it. It was a very special and fun afternoon. 

August 2012 NC Trip: The Carson Family

On Sunday morning we took the kids to NC State for a walk down memory lane. The campus looked great and it was so fun to be able to show the kids where we met. 

We then proceeded to the Carson house for a long overdue playdate! The kids really enjoyed one another and I'm so regretful that we didn't get a picture with all six of them. Adelina really loved Clara and it was cute to see her follow Clara around.

I have a picture like this of me holding Caleb and Clara when they were at a similar age. It's hard to believe they'll soon be in kindergarten.

Getting a little rowdy at the kids table!

One thing is for certain, the Carson and Barnes kids love books. It seemed like one kid had a book in hand the whole visit! It was so awesome to see the kids get along so well and to catch up with Emily and Brec face-to-face. And of course, it was wonderful to finally meet sweet baby Meghan!

August 2012 NC Trip: Baby Everett

One of the highlights of our NC trip was getting to meet 3 week old baby Everett! The kids were so excited to meet their first cousin and Randy and I couldn't wait to get our hands on our nephew. Everett did not disappoint....he was simply adorable and very cuddly. Caleb really enjoyed holding him and seemed very comfortable in the role of first cousin! It was great to see Emily and Tate as parents and it is clear they are doing a fabulous job. We all can't wait to watch this little baby grow. 

August 2012 NC Trip: Time at Grandma GiGi's and Pa Pa's

We got home today from a whirlwind long weekend in North Carolina. We had a wonderful time visiting with family and catching up with friends. 

Per usual, I never take enough pictures of the grandparent time....but the kids had the best time with Grandma GiGi and PaPa. Everyone enjoyed lots of home-cooked meals, time playing with toys, and lots of time outside walking around the garden. Caleb took up his spot at the kitchen table and drew lots of pictures and Adelina was able to have some "girl time" with Grandma GiGi and got a mani/pedi out of it. 

One of the most popular events was the "pool party" we had on Saturday afternoon. The kids splashed in the baby pool and had lots of ice cream. The little slide on this pool was a big hit. 

 After the pool party, Caleb and Lina took one of their walks into PaPa's garden and picked a few tomatoes, squash, and peppers. They were so proud to have produce to contribute to our dinner.

 Another big hit was PaPa's riding lawnmower....or tractor. The kids literally ran it out of gas--having PaPa take them for laps around the yard. We had to pry Levi's fingers off of the steering wheel. The boy loves a tractor.

 A little pre-dinner party with PaPa was getting kind of wild....but everyone was having fun!

Caleb the teacher

Caleb was helping Lina with her letters and numbers yesterday. Another cute moment. 

North Point Park and Science Museum

We met my friend Robyn and her kids Gemma and Russel at North Point Park on Monday morning. The kids had a great splashing in the water, playing hide-and-seek, and picnicking under the jungle gym. We had parked at the museum's garage, so after everyone had gotten their fill of park time, we headed back for some museum time. 

 Since the Curiousity Rover just landed on Mars, it was "Mars Month" at the museum. Caleb was thrilled to see this replica of a Martian rock and even more thrilled to have a chance to drive a replica rover around the rocky planet.

 This is unrelated, but I noticed when we got home that this houseplant had been completely shredded by the kids and the cats. It was too funny not to take a picture.

Story-time with Caleb

One great thing about having a reader in the house is that I can utilize Caleb as the storytime leader when I'm trying to do fun things like cleaning the bathroom. We had a very busy day on Wednesday, so I was very grateful when Caleb volunteered to read some books to everyone while I finished cleaning the house. They were all just so sweet! Caleb has been amazing this summer with his reading. He signed up for the library's summer reading program at the end of June and since then he's read around 105 books. The more books he reads, the more chances he's got to win a sleeping bag (which has been very motivating). The last day of the program is tomorrow and he'll find out next week if he's the winner of the sleeping bag. 

Family Fun Day

Today we took the T into Boston for some park time and lunch at Galleria Umberto's in the North End. Somehow we'd never been there for pizza, but we are so glad that we went. It was delicious!

 After lunch we headed to the fountains to cool down. Of course Lina promptly needed to go to the bathroom and it just so happened that the closest bathroom was at Ernesto's, so we came home with pizza from both Ernesto's and Umberto's! It was a perfect summer day!