I'm a Kindergartener!

After a fun summer in Maine with mama and yehyeh, ending with daddy's graduation from Navy Officer Training in Rhode Island, it's already fall and I find myself back in Michigan. This year I started kindergarten with Mrs. Roth at Wines Elementary -- a momentous occasion! I love it there, and while kindergarten is technically only half-day, on Tuesday and Thursday I go to an extended K-care while mom goes to her classes. Both kindergarten and K-care are really fun, and it's great to be able to go to school with Ethan each morning. Sometimes, when we have time, mom even takes us to school on our bikes!


Yep, I'm definitely growing up, but it's not like I don't have lots of time to play still. A couple of weeks ago it rained really hard, but it was a warm kind of rain, so dad took us out on a rain walk. Normally when it's wet out, dad and mom are always telling us not to splash in puddles -- on this walk though, we were let loose and got to splash as much as we wanted -- it was so fun!

Fall Blues

Summer is over *sniff sniff* -- but what a fun summer it was! Isaac and I spent 5 weeks in Maine staying with mama and yehyeh while Daddy was at Navy Officer Training, which included three weeks of daily swimming lessons and one week at the Bangor YMCA day camp, not to mention numerous outings with mama and yehyeh on the weekends. We got home at the end of July, but still talk about it occasionally even now, two months later. Mama and yehyeh were great -- I hope we can go back next summer!

I'm back in school now -- Gr. 1 at Wines Elementary, and while I really like my teacher, Mrs. Kennedy, I'm not terribly happy about missing out on so much playing time each day, not to mention having 5-10 minutes of homework to do each day! Gr. 1 definitely isn't quite as fun as kindergarten, although we do learn a whole lot more. The holiday season is just about here though -- I can hardly wait!

A Change of Pace

When people find out that I (nominally) maintain five blogs -- one for me and one for each of the kids, the inevitable question asked is, "Wow, how do you have time to do that?" And, as should be obvious by the sparse, intermittent posting I do, the truthful answer to that question is, "I don't." So, for the sake of simplicity, starting today, I'm going to try consolidating all our blogs into one, which hopefully will get us enough posts up so my mom stops wondering aloud every couple of weeks if we're still alive or not... :)

The first year of residency is officially over! Actually, it's been about a month already, but I'm only now getting around to posting about it. Started med school in August and boy, let me tell ya, the change in pace is remarkable. No call, no patient responsibilities in the hospital, just classes, exams, and evenings/weekends at home. Enough time to host visitors,


grill a scrumptious birthday dinner for Wifey (okay, I admit it -- I didn't make the cake!),




work around the house,


go for walks in the rain,


and, of course, Saturday movie night (which we've moved upstairs to take advantage of the upstairs sound system)!


I'm not the only one who's had a change of pace, though -- everyone else (but James, that is) started school the day after Labor day, and since then, we've been busy adjusting to the new routines. Ethan in particular had a hard time with starting Gr. 1, feeling like all-day school seriously cut into his playing time. Isaac has enjoyed being in kindergarten -- his teacher loves how helpful and considerate he is. Lilly started two-day-a-week preschool at Gretchen's House, and James stays at home with his daddy on those same two days while Annie is brushing up on her English and Math at Washtenaw Community College.

As the faithful followers of our family milestones may remember, a little over a year ago, soon after we moved into our new house, "Annie razed the backyard to her neighbors' chagrin.". It had been... shall we say, "left fallow" over the year since then.


No more! After a failed attempt to recruit what turned out to be a rather unreliable landscape company earlier this spring, we finally succeeding in getting a (different) landscaping company to come this past week to bulldoze down our weeds, spread new topsoil, dig in a row of fence posts, and seed a new lawn! I stayed home two days in a row to "supervise" (not that I was needed much, but it's always helpful to be available to ensure the laborers get the particulars right).

The neighbors on all sides are ecstatic -- 3 of 4 of them approached us at one point or another to say how excited they were for us, but the last told us he's really going to miss the weeds (haha). I never realized how much attention the state of one's yard attracts!

DAY 1:

Bulldozer grading the yard



Bobcat moving topsoil from the street to the backyard



Our neighbors admiring the bulldozer operator's "blade work"



DAY 2:

Marking out the shrub/garden beds


Installing the fence posts


All seeded and ready to grow


Ever since they seeded the yard, I've spent 1-2 hours each day dragging hoses around the yard (trying not to sink too far into the mud while I do so) to make sure the seed stays nice and moist. They say it'll be mowable in 10 days, but I'm not sure I believe that: Today is day 4, and the yard still looks pretty much the same as the day it was seeded -- which is to say, a big mud hole. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic, but to go from mud to mowable grass in only 6 more days seems a bit of stretch! I'll keep you updated, though...

So long, ODS!

Not that I didn't enjoy my time at Officer Development School, but by the end of 5 weeks, I have to say it was really starting wear on me to be away from home. I can't believe the guys in OCS (Officer Candidate School), who spend 13 weeks there (I met a couple of them at church -- nice guys, all, but sheesh, 3 months away from their wives and children!)

Graduation was supposed to be outside on the astroturf field, but it rained the night before, and all goose poop on the field got soft and "muddy" as a result. Oh well. The gym was fine, I guess. The white uniform is very classy, except for the cover, that is. Makes my head look like a mushroom. All the same, here are some of my graduation pics, compliments of my dad, who attended with my mom, Annie, and all the kids (she won't let me post a photo with her in it though -- says it was a bad hair day). All in all, a great experience, but I'm glad it's over now!

Here at last

After a sad parting in Michigan and over a thousand miles of driving later, Ethan, Isaac, and I finally made it to Bangor yesterday evening, where we were greeted by the always-studious mama.


Other than one missed turn, whereby I ended up on I-80 instead of I-90, the trip was long and uneventful, punctuated only by the occasional, "Dad, are we at mama and yehyeh's house yet?" As usual, Ethan and Isaac were great travelers, amusing themselves with toys, food, and fighting. We stayed the first night in Waterbury, CT, continuing on the next day to Bangor, finally making the turn off Ohio Street on to Sunny Hollow Place accompanied by the crescendo of Ethan and Isaac's Chant of Anticipation -- "green car, green car, green car, YAAAAAYYYYY!!!" as they spotted mama and yehyeh's CRV. Upon arrival, Ethan and Isaac wasted no time settling in, promptly taking over Nancy's old room and the rest of the house with their toys, books, bikes, and clothes.




Various friends have wondered if the boys will be okay being left with mama and yehyeh for 5 weeks, but considering one of Ethan's first questions when he saw me come out of the downstairs computer/guest room this morning was, "Dad, why are you still here?" I think they'll be okay. To be honest, I'm more worried about mama anda yehyeh being able to handle two active, noisy boys in the house without going crazy!

Zorro, the yard boy, came by to mow the lawn today, but so far no yehyeh sightings have been reported. Hopefully I'll have a chance to see him before I leave tomorrow morning for Rhode Island!