Thanks, Fly Guy!

You know, I should have mentioned this a little sooner. But life has been crazy busy these days, and my plans to blog about it came and went. But Maya can READ! For real! She's been on the cusp for a while now, picking out words and phrases all over the place. But last Tuesday, I went to read to her class during their library time. While I was there, her teacher handed me the books I'd gotten from their recent Scholastic book order. I got a lot of "easy reader" type books because Niko likes them, and I figured Maya would, too. Among those easy readers was a set of Fly Guy books. They are all about a boy's pet fly (named Fly Guy) and the adventures he has. They're just gross and silly enough that I knew both kids would enjoy them.

That afternoon, at home, Maya begged for me to open the package of Fly Guy books so that she could look at them. She was instantly obsessed! She pulled out this one, and asked if she could bring it in the car while we were out running errands. Sure, why not?

Well, that little girl proceeded to read me the ENTIRE BOOK while I was driving!! Granted, it took a while, and she did have to spell a few words out for me to help her with, but she READ it!!!! I was amazed! And amused! Just for fun, here's a plot description:

"Buzzy Fly Guy's on his own for most of his third outing. Returning from a foray past garbage, a horse and other intriguingly scented landmarks, Fly Guy finds a note that his human buddy Buzz and family have gone off for a picnic. Away he flies in pursuit—both of Buzz, and of his favorite food, which is "brown, oozy, lumpy and smelly." Being a fly, he is of course willing to settle for any one of those qualities, but the tempting burger, pizza slice, bones and roadkill he finds are already claimed. Poor Fly Guy, shooed away from every snack. Arnold's cartoons are more pop-eyed than ever in this simply told, medium-gross episode, and emergent readers will enjoy following the muscid marauder to final nirvana atop a slice of—yes, shoo-fly pie: brown, oozy, lumpy and smelly.

So naturally, Maya loved it. :) And she has since become absolutely obsessed with these Fly Guy books-- good thing I bought a big set of them! She has read two of them to us at bedtime now, and even brought one to Niko's karate class today (and read it the entire time). GO MAYA! We are so proud of her. But this is just par for the course with her lately-- how will she surprise us next??? :)

FINALLY!!! He lost a front tooth!

Niko's front tooth has been ridiculously loose for a few weeks now. It was so loose that it was being pushed up and out of place, and it looked really funny. I've been hoping and praying that it would come out before next week, when he has his school pictures. Well, he wasn't really wiggling it or anything. BUT... my brother is visiting us this weekend (he was in town for business), and he told Niko that he would take him shopping to pick out his birthday present IF Niko could get the tooth out. And Niko told me to go for it!

I have to admit, I was nervous! I didn't want to hurt him, but I was confident that it would come out pretty easily. And it did! One good tug with some dental floss, and his tooth was bouncing across the bathroom floor. And now he has the cutest smile! :)

Backing up a bit... We've had a fun weekend so far with Uncle Grant in the house! He got to know our chickens:

And we went apple picking, despite the fact that it was 75 degrees outside...

He was also here for Niko's soccer game last night, which was (as always) fun to watch. I've been told that his team is actually stacked, which explains why they are SO GOOD. There are a bunch of little girls who are absolutely AMAZING out there. Niko is new to this, and is catching on quickly, but the girls are really quite impressive. Anyway, I took a bunch of pictures, but these were two of my favorites. One of my little soccer star, and another of my favorite goalie, frolicking and leaving the goal wide open (haha!). :)

Also on the soccer front... Today was picture day! We had Maya's team photos this morning, and Niko's this afternoon. Luckily, that tooth came out just in time! I took my own pictures before we went to take the official ones. I'll likely just keep these pics and buy the team photos. I think these two kids are pretty adorable, though!

And that's been our weekend, so far! Well, Grant and Gus and Maya went out on the canoe this afternoon (while I took Niko to soccer pictures). And we went to the store so Niko could pick out a Ninja Turtles Lego set. And we barbecued and ate dinner outside. It's been pretty nice! No complaints here, especially now that that tooth is out! YAY!

Pics from the Big Camera

I hardly ever use my fancier cameras these days! Seeing as how I am constantly driving from one activity to another, my small camera (that fits in my purse) is the one I use 99% of the time. But for whatever reason, I felt like using the big camera a few times this week. So, here you go!

From soccer on Tuesday... He loves it!

My little helper, peeling apples this afternoon (we made an apple pie... second one this week, haha! We love apple season!)

And both kids, doing their homework this afternoon. Maya usually does hers right after school, but wanted to wait and do it with her brother when he got home. Awww!!

And a Halloween sneak peak! Sort of! I don't know how to tie a tie, and he will tuck in his shirt, wear black pants, and actually have shoes on. And a lightning bolt scar on his forehead, of course! But I have scrounged bits and pieces of this outfit from friends for a grand total of $6, so I'm pretty happy about that!

And while I am thinking of it... off to watch YouTube videos on how to tie ties!!

Life Goes On!

Before I get into this long-overdue blog post, I want to wish a very happy fourth birthday to my favorite nephew in the whole wide world (until nephew #2 arrives, hehe), Colton! We love you so much and wish we could celebrate with you! I can't believe it's been four years already!

Anyway... Life has been busy, as expected! As I type this, it's Sunday night. I should be feeling relaxed and ready to tackle the week ahead, but I just don't! I'm exhausted!!! And when will I get a break? Who knows. You'd think I'd have time when both kids are in school, but that hasn't happened so far. I'm always cleaning or working on home improvement projects (which never end when you live in a 184-year-old home). Or running errands, or helping out at the school. And before I can blink an eye, that time is up and Maya is getting off the bus, and the craziness continues. There is really no such thing as free time. I wish I could lay in my hammock in the sunshine for just a few hours. Maybe I will pencil that in, before the weather gets too cold. sigh.

But yes... The most time-consuming activity in our lives right now is SOCCER! Niko has practice twice a week, with games every other week. And he LOVES it. He had his first game on Friday night, and I was really impressed at how his team all worked together and how people were generally staying in the right areas. Niko even played goalie for a bit, which was something he was scared of! But it went well, and his team WON! :)

Maya only has soccer once a week, and it's done a little differently. They mostly just practice and work on skills, but they scrimmage for a little bit at the end. She loves it, though, because pretty much all her buddies are there, including Jamie (who is wearing a pair of Niko's hand-me-down shorts in this picture, I just realized!):

Yesterday, after Maya's soccer practice, we went home for a quick lunch and then headed out to pick apples. It was finally chilly enough! It feels too weird to pick apples when it's 80 degrees and humid out, which is how the past two weekends have been. The orchard was packed with like-minded people, coming out to pick apples on the first cool day. I took pictures, of course! And promptly came home and baked a French apple pie... SO GOOD!

OH! And I nearly forgot!!! LAST weekend, when it was warm and humid, we went to the fair! The kids look forward to it every year, and it did not disappoint! :)

But back to this weekend. This morning, we went for a bike ride-- Maya's first time riding on the Rail Trail without training wheels! She did great! Gus and I were just walking behind our two bikers, but a REAL bike ride (where all four of us are on bikes) is looking like it is in the not-too-distant future! I am so proud and amazed at how far she's come over the past few weeks!

In other news... both kids have very loose teeth! Maya has a bottom-middle tooth that is quite wiggly, and one of Niko's front teeth is so loose that it looks like it's in the wrong spot! So if you look at the pictures I've shared of him and wonder what's up with his smile... well, there's your answer! He hasn't lost a front tooth yet, but should very, very soon. The Tooth Fairy is prepared!

And that's what we've been up to! Both kids are loving their teachers and their classmates, and life has been pretty drama-free (not counting the ONE meltdown Niko had because he was so tired... but we've moved past that). We're very, very busy every day, but we seem to have it under control right now. Still, if I don't post again for a while, then you know why!

Let the Madness Begin!

I realize I haven't posted in a while, and the fact is that school has begun and life has gotten busy! And it's about to get even busier!

Starting tomorrow, Niko has soccer practice on Mondays and Wednesdays, with games on alternate Fridays. He continues to have karate on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and will likely have Boy Scouts (Tigers) on Fridays as well. Meanwhile, Maya has ballet and tap class on Wednesdays (starting tomorrow!), soccer on Saturdays, and Girl Scouts (Daisies) on Mondays. Oh, and the kids are supposedly starting Greek school in there somewhere, but we don't know the schedule yet. And of course, both kids have SCHOOL in there, and all school-related events coming up (ice cream social, curriculum nights for both grades, fall festival, etc.). In other words, we have activities pretty much every single day but Sunday, and I am not sure how it is all going to work out. Yet I have faith that it will, somehow! It will be a lot better once soccer is over at the end of October. But thinking about it now is enough to give a person a panic attack!

In preparation for the madness, I spent the day making dinners that I can pull out of the freezer, toss into the crock pot, and serve at dinner time (since soccer ends at 6:30pm and I need to get everyone fed right away). So I feel a little better about it now. And if we get pizza a few times from the place across the street, then so be it. We will survive. DEEP BREATHS.

Anyway... Change of subject... We had a nice weekend! On Saturday morning, we all went over to the track so that Maya could practice riding her bike (and show her daddy her skills for the first time). She had done great when we'd gone over there with my parents... but had gotten even better in the few days since then! I was amazed! She really didn't need us for anything other than moral support. She was starting, stopping, and pedaling on her own. Like so: And ever since we started this whole effort (of getting her to learn to ride her bike), we've promised her that she could get a pink and purple big girl bike once she mastered the little one. So... she got her new bike on Sunday! And she was nervous about it, but took off like a pro! She still needs to practice on it a bit more to get comfortable, but I think we really might have family bike rides in the not-too-distant future. And I can't WAIT! We live in a great place with miles of trails! It is going to be a blast!

On a related note, Maya has really amazed me this summer. She is only 18 months younger than Niko, but she is also a girl... and she has been hot on his heels whenever he learns something new. When we were working with him a few years ago, getting him to wipe his own bottom after using the toilet, she started doing it on her own, too! When I taught Niko to tie his shoes, she learned a few minutes later. It's happened time and time again. When it became clear that Niko was a skilled bike rider, she suddenly felt compelled to learn, too. It's almost like having twins, because they learn everything at almost the same time. They're close enough in age that they have this peer pressure thing going on. But it's been amazing. When one learns something new, they both learn it! Incredible!

Anyway... the rest of the weekend was spent running errands and going to two birthday parties-- both pool parties. Niko is a fish these days. He was trying to do flips off of the diving board and everything! That's one thing Maya is still working on: swimming. But she is so close!! We might sign her up for indoor lessons this winter/early spring-- and I'm pretty sure that she will be good to go after one session.

Today, however, it was back to the school routine. Both kids are LOVING school. Maya has a few new friends she's been talking about. Niko, too. The guest list for his birthday party gets longer by the day, with these kids I've never even met! He loves his teacher, and came home SO EXCITED to do his first homework assignment today (haha! We'll see how long that excitement lasts!). It's due on Friday, but he's already done. First graders get specials every day (art, music, gym), which he LOVES. And he loves recess, which he didn't get as a half-day kindergartener. He still plays with all his old buddies, plus his new ones. I'm fairly certain they just run around like crazy the entire time. And he has enjoyed eating his lunch at school-- he even bought pizza last Friday for the first time. He's getting so big. I can remember a kid not too long ago who would have been way too shy to even consider buying lunch. But he did it and was so excited! We told him he can buy lunch once or twice a month, so we will look at what's on the menu each month and pick out a few days.

Anyway, it's all been going very smoothly. Both kids are happy-- I just hope they hang in there when their schedules get crazy for the next 8 weeks! Fingers crossed!!