Mostly July

The kids were in summer school for one week, and then we headed for Buffalo to celebrate my great Aunt's life, and Amelia's birthday.  She got to meet lots and lots of family for the first time.  She did really great, except a few times when we had to take her on a walk to help her calm down a bit.  

My great Aunt passed away last year unexpectedly while visiting her daughter.  The funeral was on the east side of Canada, so none of her family on this side were able to come.  Instead, her daughters planned a memorial the last Saturday in June.  We were able to attend, and so were my parents.

That night, we had a family get together with lots of Dave's family.  We had a great time and Amelia was introduced to lots more family.  We celebrated two birthdays, hers and Nadine's.

We stayed at Mr. Rick's house (my mother-in-law's boyfriend) on the lake.  Even though it was pretty warm outside, the wind off the lake with open windows we were very comfy.  It was so relaxing to sit on the porch and hear the waves break.

Amelia's birthday was the following Monday, so we had a smaller party just for her.

What a pretty princess :)  She loved all the attention lavished on her.  I sort of expected her to get shy, but she ate it up!

Yes, Grandpa Stobie, I had to add this in as retaliation for all those M&M's you've given my kids ;)

Amelia got a lot of clothes, which she loved, fake nails, fingernail polish, sticker earings, lip gloss, and money to buy a brand new bike.

We got home on the 4th of July (planned that way) to no electricity (not planned).  Apparently the transformer (which happens to be in our backyard) blew the night before and they replaced it that morning.  We had some issues the day before we left with 4+ hour outages, but we hoped all would be well when we got back.  The transformer was replaced, but it was still a few days before we got our power back.  And it was HOT!  Like 90s and humid hot.  I. was. miserable.  I don't do hot, and I don't sleep well when it's hot.  

On the 4th, Amelia got to see her first fireworks.  A guy about 4 houses down does a really big show each year (which has always annoyed me, but I was thankful for this year).  It kept Amelia awake, and I think she was a little scared.  So I took her outside to show her what all the commotion was about.  Unlike Eli, she didn't hide or cower.  She thought they were really pretty, although a little loud.  Eli, on the other hand, was so exhausted he passed out and didn't budge threw the entire thing!  I kept checking on him, but he was out like a light.  

The rest of July was pretty low key.  It was hot-perhaps the hottest summer since the late 1800s.  We even reached 100s a few times.  And, of course, the kids learned to ride their bikes.  I'd imagine they'd do fine without training wheels, but they insist they still need them.  Next year, for sure.  

June Continued...

Back to posting about June.  The week after school was out Dave went to Germany for work.  I had planned to work at our church's version of VBS - Kreative Kids Day Camp.  The kids work on songs, drama, and art throughout the week.  It's from 9-4pm M-F, so I figured it would help keep the kids worn out; and it did.  But it also wore me out!  I got to partner with another woman to run the mini camp.  The preschool aged kids (more than 20 of them!) only come for half the day.  And then I stayed for the remainder of the day to watch the 4 or 5 kids of volunteers.  

It was during this week that we kind of put two and two together to figure out that Amelia can't handle big groups of people, period.  She gets a crazed look in her eyes and is very "active".  There was a woman, Weny, who would bring Amelia to me every once in a while just so Amelia could see where I was and what I was doing.  During the week, Amelia whacked her head - twice, got a carpet burn type injury from the big bounce house slide, put a handful of hand sanitizer in her hair, and lost most of her projects from the day.  But Wendy told me she had things under control.  She told me there wasn't a kid yet that she couldn't handle.  She has a way of understanding children, and dealing with them in a very compassionate way.  She knew Amelia's story and just kind of went with it.  She was such a God send!

I really like the way our church handles counselors.  They use the teens as team counselors, and they report to adults if there are any problems.  They have requirements that need to be met, and they move up with the kids each year if possible.  Wow!  I love that our church encourages teen volunteers, especially in the traditionally adult roles.  

And I had such a great time leading the kids in their song Friday night at the variety show.  I was so worn out, but the kids were so much fun!  I can't believe how much I enjoyed myself.  And I got to see my two crazy kids singing the songs they'd been singing to me all week.  They had so much fun :)

June 25th, the kids started their summer programs.  Amelia qualified for an English Language Learners program.  Not only was it free, but she got to ride a bus!  I was pretty nervous since she'd only been on a bus once before.  The program was 6 weeks, although she missed a few days for our Buffalo trip to celebrate her birthday and introduce her to family.

Yes, I know.  My daughter is wearing a hoodie.  And, no, it wasn't cold enough for a hoodie (it's been a very hot summer), she insisted on wearing it (instead of putting it in her backpack) because her classroom was cold.  

I enrolled Eli in a program designed to help kids transition from kindergarten to first grade.  He was having a hard time with reading; his math was pretty much on target.  Well, Eli had different plans.  He woke up one day and wanted to read.  In fact, unknown to us, he was reading books at night (instead of playing with cars), teaching himself to read with the phonics cues we'd been studying.  One day he came to me and said "Mom, I want to read this book to you."  And he read 25 pages!  I was amazed :)  His first book was Chester the Horse.  And he hasn't stopped reading since.  He loves reading, and I couldn't be more excited for him.

So that's most of June.  The next post will take us in to July.  Yeah!  Progress!