Happy 6th Liverday!

Shayna celebrated by being at school for the afternoon after a walking pneumonia diagnosis yesterday morning. Antibiotics are amazing as she was crying with belly pain yesterday afternoon and skipping into school this afternoon. She brought her transplant journey book to share with all her class mates like we always do. Instead of a big party, we had a quiet family celebration tonight at the kids' favorite pizza place The Mellow Mushroom. We will have a small party later this month but we are billing it more as a family/holiday party. Shayna's successful transplant gave us a complete family so that's what we want to celebrate.

This last year was not as rosy as the others have been but we survived and are now working towards a healthier and adventurous seventh year for all. Shayna seems to have recovered from the rejection she  experienced at the beginning of March. She has also recovered from all the side effects of the medications, mainly prednisone, she was on. She still has one extra medication in her life that she will stay on it until at least March 2016. She is now permanently on a morning and even dose of Prograf.

I have been struggling to rebalance my thyroid, I'm hypothyroid with Hashimoto's, since Maya's birth. At the beginning of the year, it seemed like that had finally been achieved but all the stress of Shayna's ordeal brought me down as well. By March 2017, I'm hopeful I can feel the same way again just in time to have energy to get ready for a new adventure.

By the end of February, we will know if we will be able to spend the next academic year in Haifa, Israel. Nahum will have been at Virginia Tech for eight years in January so we're planning a family sabbatical year in Israel. Shayna and Elijah will be in some sort of public schools, kindergarten is still at a separate school for little people, and we'll find some morning home day care thing for Maya so we can all learn Hebrew. I don't know how fluent I will be but I'm pretty sure the kids will be by next Chanukah. Nahum has turned in all the official paperwork. Now he is working on finding the other six months of salary we need and some one to rent our house while we are gone. (He is also teaching a new class, continuing to work with his post-doc and grad students on research, and joined a department committee so he is staying very busy.)

Elijah is developing his reading and writing skills much like Shayna did at this time last year, only he's not in kindergarten yet but preschool at our local Montessori school. He has been bringing home maps, "banking" number sheets, little books he's made and lots of copies of his name and he regularly works with his teachers trying to read every beginner reading activity they have. He brings his enthusiasm home and tries to sound out the books he asks me to read to him or makes me point out each word as I read. He still loves to do his "homework", a kindergarten math book he assigned himself and play chase like a stampeding hippo around the house.

Shayna's reading and word recognition has really taken off and she's flying through math concepts at school. However, I have had to do some remedial handing writing work with her. Luckily, we started right before Thanksgiving break so have had lots of uninterrupted days to practice. We did a couple more sessions before school today. She has improved greatly in the last nine days. Now we'll see what happens when a full school day is thrown into the mix. She loves to take the easy way out so may revert quickly back to old habits so she doesn't have to take the time to think so much about what she's writing. At least Winter break is less than three weeks away so I will have two and a half weeks to make proper letter and number formation a habit of hers. She loves her make believe world both alone and when she's dictating roles to her brother and sister. She continues to improve in allowing them to participate in the making of the story. All three kids seem to love each other fiercely.

October 13: Our annual family pictures
at the Hahn Horticultural Garden.

Here is our year in review in pictures:

December 10, 2014: Elijah's favorite activity during 2013 & 2014, playing with the train table at our Chiropractor's office. He now builds his own elaborate tracks at home so we haven't been in a while.

December 20: A tub almost full of kids. It's a bit fuller these days and they still love baths together. Since it gets a little crazy with all three, I usually only allow two at a time.

Dec 20: Last year's BJCC Chanukah party. Elijah has short hair because of our November lice invasion. The whole family suffered but only the guys got their hair cut.

Dec 21: Maya "helping" me as she still does with anything that involves the vacuum.

Dec 21: Lighting Chanukah candles on their own for the first time at the Kornblith's.

Dec 23: Maya "helping" me cook without the mess.

Dec 24: Having a tea party with the Chanukah tea set from grandparents. It still gets heavy use but has lost at least 2 pieces since due to breakage.

Dec 26: The view from our favorite hiking grounds Pandapas Pond's boardwalk. Any chance the weather is a little warm, we usually head out all winter long.

Hiking together.

Dec 31: Maya vacuuming for my birthday.

Jan 6, 2015: It's supper Shayna to the rescue!

Jan 20: Biking in our favorite neighborhood cul-de-sac.

Feb 11: Biking and creek playing on a trail just down the road from us.

Feb 13: Shayna is always creating extra things at school. Here she made a baby owl for the mama all the kids made.

Feb 14: Shower love: all my kids have loved showers since they were born, or at least 2 weeks old.

Feb 14: Finally some real snow to play in!

Feb 16: Heading out for some family sledding time.

Feb 27: Sweet sleepy baby.

Feb 27: My ever-present kitchen helper with her slicked back hair, she was going through a phase where she took all hair accessories out so I just slicked it back with Morocco Method hair oil.

March 2: Waiting for the bigs gymnastic classes to start.

March 4: Nahum giving a well received space presentation to Elijah's preschool class through the early-elementary class.

March 6: Everyone wanted to help make Shayna's birthday party ice cream cake.

March 14: Out for a neighborhood walk, both my girls inherited their father's outstanding hiking legs.

March 15: I wouldn't put the pool out because it was too cold so they found other water to play in.

March 18: A USA kindergarten parade finishing the end of the social studies unit on America.

March 21: Shayna and I went to the Transportation Museum for a chocolate tasting. We enjoyed playing on the trains just as much.

March 29: An egg painting party with Lynn and Gray. We all love painting eggs but this is the first year they all got eaten in time too.

April 1: Finding Cheerios hidden by Grandma Carole.

April 9: Maya and I on a morning walk at the VT Duck Pond. The 2nd to last month of enjoying my baby at home with me but without the distraction of the other two.

April 10: They really do love each other.

April 11: Enjoying a leaf-filled gulch at Pandapas, and hoping for no ticks.

April 12: Shayna showing off her new reading skills and keeping the little ones occupied.

April 14: Dr. Elijah confirming Maya is ill with Dr. Berry's experimental stethoscope. We loved them while they were in the exam rooms but I never asked him how the "experiment" went.

My children are truly becoming useful.

April 17: Maya inspecting our garden of late blooming daffodils. Despite pictures to the contrary, it was a very cold winter than involved a burst pipe in the basement.

April 19: Enjoying the warm spring and watching Shayna blow bubbles and cars go by.

April 20: A double spring rainbow.

April 19: Grandma Kathy brought another week of peace to our house again this year.

April 30: I enjoyed reading day at kindergarten and listened to a few stories illustrated and written by Shayna's classmates. What a sweet bunch of kids.

May 2: Playing in the creek in the forested area in the middle of our neighborhood.

May 3: I caught these two being super sweet with each other, again.

May 8: Our daily 3:45pm ritual of waiting for Shayna's bus with our special guest Grandpa Michael.

May 10: Playing in Douthat Lake on the first of 3 car camping trips we took last summer.

I forgot to bring pants for Maya but I think she heard "clothes were forgotten" as she wandered around like this much of the time.

May 12: It looks chilly but they must have talked me into getting the water park out anyway. 

May 14: Maya and I volunteered on Wednesdays during kindergarten centers. Maya always wanted to do whatever Shayna was doing. 

May 31: Our second camping trip, at Clayton Lake, was made relaxing thanks to friends that joined us and were great fire starters.

June 13: They all take turns spraying each other with the cold hose water, even Maya likes it.

June 23: I can never get over how happy the sea makes all my children. Of course, it has always made both their parents very happy too.

June 28: Enjoying one of the many amazing playgrounds that seem to be everywhere in Israel.

July 2: Maya always hammed it up for Nahum's parents Dov and Lea.

July 3: The high waves and jelly fish never stopped us from enjoying the beach, mainly Hof HaSharon, at least twice a week.

July 3: Our typical Shabbat Friday night dinners in Israel with family.

July 5: Every third day was spent swimming at the pool in Lea and Dov's complex. They would sit on the side to admire our children while we played.

July 16: Doing summer things in the front drive: riding wheels devices, making chalk drawings and blowing bubbles.

July 18: Enjoying a dinner picnic at a park in Newport with a creek with a swimming hole, hence the naked children.

July 19: We finally made it to the Cascades in Pembroke as a family, a 4mi round trip local hike.

July 29: An up-grade in pools but it now means that I have to keep a very close eye on Maya again.

Aug 6: Dancing in the rain in our front walk puddle.

Aug 7: Posing in front of my tomato garden. Shayna is the only one of the three that likes tomatoes. Luckily, she likes them a lot so was very happy having them all to herself, and Nahum.

Aug 7: Grandma Melinda and the kids in "Elijah's tree". Melinda came to see Shayna off to first grade.

Aug 8: A family snack break in the Poverty Creek trail system.

Aug 11: Shayna's first day of First Grade is complete.

Aug 19: More obligatory puddle jumping.

Aug 20: Shayna showing off some of the produce from her first garden, on the left.

Aug 25: Almost everyones' start of school picture.

Aug 31: Admiring Nahum's coconut cracking skills. We all love fresh coconut.

Aug 31: She did not like me laying down on my own so got a book and shoved me over so she could join me on the couch.

Sept 5: A very short train ride in a caboose at the Transportation Museum.

Sept 7: Maya did not appreciate the over two sitting in her carriage on our Labor Day bike ride.

Oct 3: A warm rainy day hike near Pandapas.

Oct 4: A cold rainy day Sukkah decorating with the BJCC Religious School, part of my new job. 

Oct 5: Waiting for the grownups to get their flu shots as the kids got theirs the week before. This makes us a responsible transplant family.

Oct 6: Happy 2nd Birthday, Maya Lynn!

Oct 20: Exploring a nearby house construction site on a family neighborhood walk. The top soil pile was especially interesting.

Oct 22: Playing hookie with Grandpa Michael and forest. Instead of sitting behind a desk she walked on logs, threw rocks and dragged big fallen branches through the forest. Later that day, we went for a neighborhood walk where all the kids and adults got to do outdoor shenanigans like leaf and big branch throwing and rock jumping and chase.

Oct 13: This years Halloween crew: Shayna the rainbow leopard, Elijah as Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates because "Jake's a good guy," Maya the duck because all my children must wear this suit at least two years in a row, and our neighbor Diya the busy bee. Elijah out lasted the girls by half an hour.

Nov 7: Where there is a puddle, there my children will be jumping too.

Nov 8: Elijah first North America map, he already made two world maps.

Nov 14: My brother Aaron married the lovely Brandy Lynn in Eugene, OR and gave me the excuse, and a place to stay, for a wonderful, kid free weekend on my own.

Nov 18: Replacing batteries as needed; otherwise, just checking their sizes. I think we may have an engineer on our hands.

Nov 20: Listening to students say what they are thankful for at the first grade's Thanksgiving Tea. (She said she was thankful for her family and her liver transplant "so [she] could live".)

Nov 27: A dinner-snack picnic at Pandapas.

 

Nov 27: Elijah made it across then I slipped in, oops, then Shayna made it across.

Nov 30: Shayna and I went for a wet walk before her pneumonia diagnosing appointment. We were both excited to find a slack line next to the path; though, all either of us could do without the other's help was stand in one spot for a few seconds.

Catching Up With Myself

The beginning of the school year in front of Tall Oaks Montessori School. Shayna is 6y6m, Maya is 1y23m, and Elijah is 4y7m.

(I’m flying over western Oregon watching the sunrise.)

We returned from Israel to a flurry of day camps and swimming lessons for the big kids, missed a good friend’s Colorado wedding but still hope to see the brides before married life becomes commonplace for them, finally enjoyed a slow week with a visit from Grandma Melinda, then Shayna took the bus on August 11 to start 1^st grade. Melinda was finally able to leave most of her work behind and gave the kids her most grandma-esk visit ever plus helped me make a pair of pants, twice, for Shayna. The younger two and I said good by to her on the same day school took Shayna from us. Fortunately, everyone parted with joy and gratitude, looking back on a wonderful visit and new adventures to come.

(I’m loving the way some cloud wisps are curved over the mountains.)

August also brought the responsibilities of my new job in earnest. Around the close of spring, I accepted the Religious School Director position at the Blacksburg Jewish Community Center (BJCC) upon one of my best friends’ vacating it as her family moved to Austin, TX following a new job for her husband. During the school year, the BJCC runs a small Sunday morning school for preschoolers through Bar/Bat Mitzvot (6^th/7^th grade) teaching about Jewish tradition, culture and history based on the Bible and begins teaching Hebrew in Kindergarten in preparation for the children’s Bar/Bat Mitzvot using a handful of wonderful college students as teachers. I was skeptical of the school until we started Shayna in Kindergarten last year and then was amazed at how much Jewishness and tradition it added to our home. Since this is how we want to raise our children, culturally Jewish, it was obvious I needed to step up to take on the responsibility of the school. While I had no misconceptions about my inability to fill Leslie’s shoes, I have enjoyed the flying leap out of my comfort zone the position has required. I’m still amazed with what Elijah and Shayna gain from the lessons. Shayna seems to want to know everything about everything so it stimulates new questions and topics of discussion with her and she seems to be picking up Hebrew easily as well. It’s incredible to listen to her read and progress in a new language.

Rainy Sukkah decorating at the Religious school.

Maya started pre-preschool at Tall Oaks Montessori at the end of August. (It’s where all our children have gone with Elijah currently in his last year there.) After the first couple weeks of adjustment and germ exposure (they had 5 or 6 sick days between them in the first 10 of school), both Maya and Elijah are thriving. Maya loves greeting each person she sees in the morning and being with the eight other little people in her classroom. Her favorite buddy seems to be the little brother of Elijah’s best friend at that age. Luckily for the teachers, these two don’t run around each other like squirrels the way the older two did, and still sometimes do. Elijah has stopped all crying about going to school, a power trip he tortured Nahum with for most of the previous year, and even takes some responsibility with Maya by walking her to her room on days I don’t have time to park and walk them in. (Having a little sister has been a boon for Elijah as it pushes him outside himself in the need to respond to and care for another person.) While Maya assembles puzzles, builds Lego towers and sorts plastic apples, Elijah has decided to learn to read and explore every work associated with numbers in his classroom, which includes the two preschool classes and kindergarten. Through the end of Shayna’s last preschool year, she still preferred to paint, draw and work in the life-skills area of the room. While Elijah has also brought home two world maps, one pencil colored and the other painted, the vast majority of his work is numbers and now some letters as well. Maya continues the tradition of each of my children being uniquely and definitively their own person. It is a joy to be on this journey of self-discovery with each of them. The bonus is that they all still love and like each other and enjoy each other’s company.

(I’m beginning my 4 hour wait at Denver International Airport.)

Maya turned 2-years-old one month and 10 days ago (October 6). She entertained the others by saying “cake!” to every birthday question they could ask. We had a little party that had friends for all the kids and adults. She has continued to blossom as an independent and opinionated little person. She likes to play teasing word games and joke around with me. She follows her brother and sister in their jump-off-the-bed and chase games and plays with water every chance she gets (don’t ever give her a full cup of water). She has been out of diapers for over a month now without any nighttime accidents. I was able to donate all the nicely packaged diapers we had accumulated over the years and thus happily begin the clearing of baby stuff from our house.

Nahum submitted his sabbatical request almost two weeks ago as one of the first steps in our attempt to spend the next school year in Haifa, Israel. Nahum would work at the Technion, concentrating on his research. Shayna would be in a regular Israeli public school for 2^nd grade, or kita Bet. Kindergarten is still in a separate school and is more like kindergarten should be but it will most likely be a public school as well for Elijah. We would like to find a home daycare type place Maya could go to a few mornings a week to be surrounded by the language. The goal is for everyone to be fluent in Hebrew by the end of our stay. I should be picking up my studying again in the next month or so since it will take more for this old brain to learn a new language. We’re all very excited but there are still many, many things to do to make a year in Israel possible.

I had my first kid-free vacation, just a long weekend in Eugene, OR but still a long overdue break. Thank you Aaron for marrying the lovely Brandy this weekend so I could have a solid reason to get away. It was a beautiful, intimate ceremony. I was hooked up with wonderful friends of theirs as hosts that put up my two married parents as well. It was great to spend so much time with Michael and Melind. I also got a big dose of time with my mom Carole in a long walk along the Willamette River and to reconnect a bit with my odd but fun aunts and uncles. I met Brandy for the first time and her incredible daughter. It took me 36hrs before I started to relax but after that I could feel the tension and worry of everyday life with three small kids begin roll off of me. I knew the stress weighed me down but it has been eye-opening just how much it does. I am now working out ways to hold onto some of this peace.

Visiting with Saba and Savta

Maya cuddles talks with Saba Dov.

Nahum is working at the Technion in Haifa yesterday and today so the kids and I are without a car. (We're staying in an apartment in Kfar Saba, the village Nahum's parents live.) We spent a lot of yesterday walking around and playing at different playgrounds (they're plentiful here as are walking paths between streets). Today Dov and Lea came to visit us in the morning after we spent the non-sunburning hours at the closest park. The kids love showing off for Saba and Savta. Maya takes the cake with her goofy grins and playful cuddles but Elijah did melt Savta's heart with his kisses (one for each cheek) and big hug greeting. It was to hard to get a good picture of them all together but I did get a few with Maya and her Israeli grandparents.

I also let them watch a little tv this morning. Maya doesn't let me get away with much as she gets bored after 5-10 minutes and I have to be a responsible parent again. (The tv in the apartment doesn't have a dvd player attached and I didn't bring the cables to attach our portable player so the kids watch on the little tiny screen.)

Dov took a few pictures of us at his pool earlier this week. My phone is my camera so it's a little tricky to use for an 86-year-old. Still, I think we have a few good shots showing Elijah actually "swimming." It looks more like barely not drowning but we're all quite proud of him and he thinks he's amazing. (Shayna and Elijah took a week long swim class at the Blacksburg pool two weeks before coming to Israel.) None of them want to wear water wings as Shayna wants to be able to dive under water, Elijah just wants to be under his own power and Maya feels the same from her perch on the steps.

While Shayna is in the center of these pictures, the series depicts Elijah's new skills as he dives off the wall and swims around Shayna to the steps.

 On the left, Shayna spends time underwater without holding her nose, one of the few bad things she learned from watching Curious George. I outlawed it starting with the swim class and she proudly rose to the challenge. On the right, Shayna swims from the wall to Nahum and Elijah swims from the stair's pole to the wall while Maya climbs on the stairs.

 Maya bobs in the water on her steps.

 This is as close as we've gotten recently to getting all five of us in one pictures.

I have been practicing my Hebrew as much as I can. It takes a lot of bravery I don't usually have since I'm guaranteed to always get something wrong. Maya is starting to recognize a lot of words and even says some things in hebrew, like cat, fish, moon, and water. It's fun how quickly she picks things up; though, I hope my butchering the language regularly won't cause too many problems later on.

I'll close with this video of Shayna's and my new teeter totter trick: the teeter-totter balance beam. She and I can both make it across regularly; thought it's still a tricky trick.

When Grandma Comes to Town

Carole and Maya read "Doggies" for the 26th time.

There have been many enjoyable grandparent visits during my blogging absence. Our latest one ended today when Maya, Elijah and I put Grandma Carole on the SmartWay Bus to the Roanoke Airport this morning. There were no tears but their was much sighing by Elijah about wishing "Grandma Carole could stay forever" and wishing "Grandma Kathy was here right now" and wondering how long he had to wait before Kathy and Grandpa Michael visit.

For my part, I love taking advantage of having physically fit grandparents visit. Carole helped immensely with my raised bed renovation with dirt moving, 8'x4'x1' raised-bed installation, deconstruction of existing beds, and salvaging with reconstruction. In between all the digging and heavy lifting, Carole read Maya's favorite book "Doggies" (a dog counting and barking book by Sandra Boynton) many times a day (Maya says, "Aah, Aah, Aah?" for dog while she helps find the book or helpfully shoves the book into your person in case you missed the hint she wants it read.) and generally kept track of Maya while we were outside anywhere. Maya in turn helped Carole haul my garden grass clippings around the house to the compost bin, stopping to admire the wonderful contents of the bin with each visit. Carole played trains with Elijah, read with both big kids, and "watch this"'ed while they road bikes up and down the front path, neighbor's long drive and the grass hill to the other neighbor's driveway. We managed a visit to the Roanoke Transportation Museum with the littles and have a bikes and 'burgers lunch at the Heathwood Pond with all three. (Elijah continues to master all things biking and Shayna has improved her control and comfort dramatically over the last two weeks.) Carole even managed to save Passover Seder on Friday as I made a last minute dash to the pediatrician with Shayna for an ear infection at 4:30pm with dinner prep in full swing and guests expected at 5:30. Nahum pitched in once he arrived home and promptly put David to work once David, Laura, Genny, and Claire arrived. We managed to sit down to a delicious, festive Seder celebration by 6:30 with a truly wonderful evening had by all.

Shayna's liver numbers have been improving over the last four weeks with one concerning check two weeks ago that interfered with her prednisone weaning. Yesterday's numbers were stellar so we get to drop another 5mg of prednisone and move to only having a morning dose. Currently, the prednisone makes Shayna over enthusiastic about everything, a bit hyper all the time, not good with impulse control and cry uncontrollably at the slightest perceived insult which isn't that bad considering other people's experiences but I am ready to have normal Shayna back. Luckily, her belly stopped hurting too much after we increased the pepcid dose three days into treatment; however, she does have a steroid moon face and round belly. We have had to work hard keeping her hunger under control. We were advised to keep her on a diabetic diet while on prednisone since it interferes with blood sugar management leading to a prolonged elevated blood sugar level ("no white food" per Dr. Berry). Shayna is looking forward to the family pizza party we will take to the Mellow Mushroom once she has been weaned off the prednisone and to losing her moon face as she doesn't like her "squishy" cheeks.

Other notable happenings: We stopped Elijah and Shayna's Thursday gymnastics classes and will be adding a Monday modern dance class for both on the 20th. When Maya was helping me make scrambled eggs with cheese this weekend, I asked her to bring me two bowls. She climbed down, walked over to the kids dishes, picked out two bowls and brought them back to me. She turned 18-months-old yesterday. I haven't gotten my seasonal allergies yet that I've had for the three years prior. Nahum will finish his "March madness" with the submittal of three proposals Friday at 8pm. We will all be very happy to have him home again in the evenings.

Opening Easter eggs. Maya doesn't like candy but she loves to open the eggs to discover their contents so Carole put one Cheerio in each egg, load the basket, Maya enthusiastically opens each egg, then hunts down the Cheerio as it always came flying out of the egg to eat. I think they played this 2-3 times that morning.

The obligatory surprised-Carole-eating picture I always seem to get and sisters enjoying breakfast (it melts my heart to see how much those girls love each other).

Elijah riding down the hill to Micky's driveway, because that's what every responsible mother should teach their barely 4-year-old to do. A week later he taught Shayna and now they both come racing up the drive way and down the grass hill.

My raised beds before Carole and I began work.

Carole after our first afternoon of work.

Carole, Maya and I watched the kids race around the backyard after we all watched the rain storm on the back deck.

 A wonderful Seder.

"Will someone push me all ready!"

"Look at all that amazing, rotting food!"

Elijah and Shayna bike around the pond while Carole and Maya eat lunch on a park bench.

Saying "good-bye" to Grandma Carole.

Our next grandparent arrives on the 23rd. What awesome projects will I have planned then?

Cheated and Determined

It's hard facing this again: rejection. It's hard because I feel like the last five years without was a cheat or that I was cheated because it was a trick to a false sense of security. It's been nearly five years since Shayna's last official rejection and four since we really had to work hard for her health. There's no reason for this rejection; it just is and it just sucks. (By "reason" I mean there really is no medically known or even guessed at reason for her to be in rejection; it just happens.) It also sucks because Shayna gets a real taste of the hand she's been dealt. I get to begin to teach my precious, precocious, beautiful, brilliant, spunky, creative six-year-old just how delicate a balance her life can be. (She sang a song on the way home from Pittsburgh about how she wished she had never needed a liver transplant.) We talk a lot. We keep it at her level but we also don't hide from any of it. With all this, that old fire has been rekindled: I will do anything for my child. I remembered the determination I used to have and wondered, since I didn't feel it as much recently, was something wrong with me? No. I just didn't need it. Now I need it again so it's back. I am determined to do anything for this child to give her as healthy, strong, and full a life I can.

We have labs tomorrow and at least every week as we hope to begin weaning her from the steroid prednisone. It's only been a day, but she already needs less sleep and more food. I'm going to start a Tuesday lab day routine next week so I hope we'll be able to begin weaning by then. Otherwise, Shayna is happy and feels no worse for wear. After riding bikes out front with Elijah today, she played with Maya in the back yard, "chasing" her around, both of them laughing. Shayna's face was also beaming with pride when she spotted Nahum and I smiling at them from the window.

From a warm week a month ago, but so appropriate for today.

A Day of Firsts

Shayna started Kindergarden today at Kipps Elementary School with an 8AM bus boarding.  We got a late start on the day but made it out front with 30 seconds to spare before bus #17 came around the corner. Shayna and her friend Amanda climbed aboard without a backward glance. After a few minutes of indecision, I put Elijah and Maya in the car to meet the bus at school to get a few more pictures of Shayna on her first day. I was in luck when she got off her bus first and again when I peaked into her classroom 5 minutes later. Shayna was sitting at her desk studiously working on whatever drawing project the teacher had asked her to do. I am so proud of how she has embraced this next step in life. Her attitude has also made it much easier on me. It was hard watching my baby mark off to Kindergarden.

Amanda's three-year-old brother Ben met the bus with us this morning so Elijah asked Ben's nanny if Ben could stay to play now that the girls were gone. We made plans for a playdate after my visit to school which quickly morphed into a movie date when some other friends invited Ben to $1 movie at the local Cinema. Alaina took Ben and Elijah to their first movie on the big screen: Turbo, about a snail who wants to race. Apparently, the boys got bored half way through and started playing instead of watching the movie.

Waiting for the coming bus with Amanda, and Nahum, Ben and Elijah as spectators.

She didn't even look back and luckily Elijah didn't cry. In fact, he says he's ready for Kindergarten too.

I love the I got her getting off the bus at school. I got to give her a hug before she went inside.

Shayna, already hard at work, didn't even notice me.

Elijah was rewarded for his morning patience with his first donut hole while I met some more people at Shayna's school

Maya, who is 10-months and 1-week-old, has become quite the little adventurer. I think she'll take her first unassisted steps by next Monday. Her first day involved stairs. I was putting away groceries in the house and garage when she decide she didn't want to crawl around the garage anymore. She climbed up all three steps unassisted. I turned around to find her happily climbing into the house. Luckily, she still won't attempt to go down yet.

Aug 2: Maya enjoyed watching Shayna in the sand box while I did some garden work.

Aug. 7: Maya enjoys some corn on the cob. She doesn't eat much of anything but she enjoys trying everything.