It's been WAY to long (November 2014!) since my last post. I've found myself combining Antonio news in with my While the Doodlebug Sleeps blog and I apologize.
To very briefly recap since then. Antonio finished Kindergarten with flying colors and I was so glad we decided to send him "early". He did great and his teacher didn't think he would have any trouble in 1st grade! A few weeks after school got out Ms Rosemary closed which was a little tramatic for all of us. Rosemary had been a HUGE influence in Antonio's (and our) life. She taught him so much and loved him as her own. She was a blessing in his life, and ours. She happily recommended another place to send him, so checked it out. At the time, we knew he probably wouldn't be there past Fall since at the time we knew I would eventually be staying home full time. Antonio was happy there but it lacked so much that Rosemary had and gave. I was disappointed, but knew she had big shoes to fill after Rosemary so I went with it. Sure enough, as of August 28th he wouldn't need to go anymore! Yay!
Antonio had his 6th (!!) birthday and requested it be Lego themed. He was able to invite 4 friends from school and per his request, Lucas, his friend from swim. His cousins also came. Unfortunately he only had 2 of the 4 from school come. I had games planned in case it needed structure but it turned out that the balloons Nelly and Eva blew up the night before were the hit of the party! They played with those pretty much the whole party! Yay! We did play musical chairs once, which some liked and well, some did not. The whole losing thing is still hard to swallow. :( Immediately following his friends party we had a family party. At the time, I wondered if I was crazy to do it that way but decided it was perfect. He had a blast and I'd like to think the party was a success too!
Lego party!
Friends and their masks!
Blowing out his candles at his family party!
We went on two short family trips this summer. One to Ocean Shores and one to go camping. Both were a blast. They are so different from each other there isn't really a way to say one was better than the other. First we went to Kayak Point for camping, which is so close yet it still feels like a "trip"! Every single time we have camped it rains, at least some and this year was no different. It hadn't rained in literately a month or more and yet the morning we left it started to rain as we were packing up, and hard. We put Antonio in the car and we pretty much threw stuff in the car and left. There was a burn ban and were didn't think we would be able to have a campfire but when we pulled in the campsite we saw and smelled campfires. I asked the park ranger and sure enough we could! Hooray, s'mores after all! Antonio was so glad as were we. Besides the rain, it was perfect weather, really warm during the day but not to hot! The campsite sits up on the hill a bit from the water so during the day we walk down to the beach. We spend a lot of time watching all the boats go in and out at the boat launch and searching for little crabs and other sea life. We had gotten a new, bigger, tent for Christmas last year and got to use it. It was great! Perfect size for us and we could even stand up in it!
Family pic!
Antonio and I on the trail to the beach.
A couple weeks after camping we went to Ocean Shores! Again, perfect weather. The beach can be tricky with weather, usually it's sunny but cool. We were lucky though, it was warm enough to wear shorts on the beach and the wind wasn't to bad or cold! This time we drove on the beach with our car which was fun, no hauling all our stuff down a path. I think Albert also really enjoyed driving on the beach! ;) We stayed two nights and like usual we wished we had one more night. I've always loved the beach, there is something so calming about. It works out great, Albert does his run on the beach, Antonio builds sandcastles, then the two of them play in the waves and I just take it all in. Wake up, eat breakfast, spend ALL day at the beach, eat dinner, swim in the pool then got to bed. Best days ever! A lot people do other things at Ocean Shores, and maybe as Antonio gets older we will too but for now, its perfect this way!
Love this little family of mine!
Those couple weeks before school started and I wasn't working, Antonio and I got ready for school to start again. We checked out books at the library about 1st grade and got back into doing "homework". He was nervous but ready. I was worried about the lack of nap time/quiet time, which he got every day at daycare. He may not have napped everyday there but he got quiet time and in 1st grade there wouldn't be any or even the option. I was worried that that first week would be awful for him. Thankfully I was wrong.
First day of school!
It's been a week and a half into the school year and he hasn't shown any sign of being extra tired or worn out. It's weird, but I'll take it! He is loving school except for the fact he does "to much math". Unfortunately, none of his friends from last year are in his class this year. In fact, only 1 from his class last year are in it! I thought the odds were in his favor for at least a couple. Oh well, just more of a chance to make more friends. He does say he's sees his friends Brody and Diego at recess sometimes, but not very often. :( A girl from Ms Rosemary's is in Kindergarten this year (she's also 6 and has a summer birthday but her parents kept her back a year before starting school) and apparently she lives close to us because she rides the same bus. Antonio is relatively excited about that. She seemed like a nice girl but a talker so I have the feeling the conversations are very one sided! ;) Regardless, another "friend" who he sees on the bus and occasionally on the playground. This year his teacher is Mrs. Gilmore. She, unlike Mrs. Rusher, has a ton of experience; she's been a teacher at Sunnyside for 37 years!! So she knows what she's doing, how things work, what 1st grades are all about; and her communication skills are already an improvement from last year's experience! I'm guessing this is more like how it should be. I start volunteering in his class Wednesday and hopefully then I can get a better feel of how things are going.
Hopefully I can update here more often since I will have more free time to do so. No promises, but I'll try! :)
