Time to Catch-Up

I have recently reread some of my old posts and have been amazed at the changes these 2 little girls have gone through. So I decided it was time to play catch-up. So here goes....it might be long, it's been a while!

Last September 2009 meant first grade for Kaitlyn and Pre-K for Renee. Kaitlyn had the absolute BEST teacher in the whole wide world. Yes, even better than both her parents combined. She was phenomenal!!! Kaitlyn grew so much academically but never felt overwhelmed. She blossomed as a reader and a writer. She loved every minute of first grade!!!

Renee still had some issues. Imagine that! I had worked it out with a friend that we would carpool and save us each a trip to the church. Renee had other plans. The first day Becky picked her up, she refused to get in her car. I had to physically force her into the booster and it took both adults to seatbelt her in. She's a strong littler bugger. I felt like the worst mom in the world, as I was left crying in the driveway. I won that battle but decided Renee won that war. It wasn't worth it to me to struggle with her like that again. So, I picked up Katie every Wed. and made my daily trips to the church. 6 out of 7 days we went there. As it turned out, Renee did eventually ride with Becky willingly in the springtime.

Renee's Pre-K class was 4 mornings a week. She loved school most of the time but gave me a hard time about going, getting dressed and getting her hair combed. Sometimes we combed it at school in the hallway. When I would ask her what she did at school, her response was often the same. "Nothing you need to know about." I stopped asking. She spent most afternoons playing in her room with her Polly Pockets or My Little Ponies. Some days, I would go up the stairs and she would quickly close her door. "Don't come in my room." At the end of the day, her room would be trashed with toys and then she would be so overwhelmed that the tears would start. "I can't clean it up by myself!"

She met a new friend and loved when she could have play dates with her. They were like 2 peas in a pod. We went to SeaBreeze with the friend's family in June and both little girls showed up wearing long pants (it was cool that evening), a pair of shorts over them, a t-shirt and sweatshirt and a hat. It was almost like they had secretly called each other to plan their outfits. Did I mention that nothing matched either?

Another thing that Renee did frequently was take a stuffed animal to school or church. She doesn't have 1 favorite lovey. She spreads her love out. One week it will be one animal, the next a different one. Same thing with her blankets. Kaitlyn has 1 favorite bunny and 1 blanket and they have been consistent since she was 6 months old. She's predictable. Not so with Renee!!!

We welcomed Grace and Alexandra into the extended Ziegler family in January and March. I had the honor of watching them once in a while in the spring. One day in May I had both of them and survived quite nicely.

I went to a scrapbook retreat in April and came home refreshed and a little more caught up on the family albums. Dirk and the girls survived very well without me!

In June, both of the girls danced in their dance recital. Kaitlyn was in two numbers: jazz and ballet. Renee did a tap number. Their costumes were adorable and they both did a great job.

Dirk and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary on June 30. We left the girls with family and went to Skaneateles Lake for 2 days. We stayed at the historic Sherwood Inn and enjoyed walking around the town, admiring the houses and enjoying being together. We had some great meals too. The girls had a great time and didn't seem to even miss us. (This was the FIRST time Dirk and I have ever gone away without them. They had NEVER slept over at anyone else's house even!)

Summertime meant lots of swimming in the Faro's pool and lots of days spent at the trailer. I was amazed at how well they both did in the pool. They had taken swimming lessons at the high school in the spring and it had paid off. Renee loved the lessons and did 2 sessions: Kaitlyn not so much. She only did 1. Each girl had 1 little bout of swimmer's ear but that was quickly taken care of. We had a wonderful summer and hated to see it end. I was in charge of Getaway Camp so that brought some new responsibility. Luckily the girls are older now so it was relatively easy. The week after camp we headed up to Butterfield Lake in the Alexandria Bay area for a few days with very good friends. They own an island and have built a beautiful cottage on it. It was so relaxing....I read books and the girls entertained themselves while Dirk helped to build a bunkhouse. It was so nice to not have to worry about meal-planning, either. We spent one afternoon in Alexandria Bay and toured Boldt Castle. Even the girls enjoyed that.

It was nice to get back into the routine of school in Sept. Kaitlyn once again has a phenomenal teacher!!! She absolutely LOVES school and all aspects of it! She's such a social butterfly so to be back with her friends is great. She is being challenged and loves it! One of her spelling words this week is influenza. Her recent report card was OUTSTANDING!!!

Renee is equally thrilled with school. Her teacher is very nice and sweet. In fact, when I tell people who her teacher is, that is exactly what everyone says. "She's so sweet!" I would like to hear someone say what a great teacher she is but I guess it's OK, since it is Kindergarten and not AP physics. Every night Renee prays for her teacher, that her knees will be healed. She hurt both of them this past summer and can't get down on the floor with the kids. Renee also prays for the children who have trouble making good choices. Suprisingly, she is not one of them. In school, she is the model student.

Renee has made soooo much progress since last year. This summer I was getting worried because she had several potty accidents. That child can hold her pee all day but when the floodgates open. look out. That was the problem this summer. She would hold it and hold it until it started dripping out and then she had NO control! She's not one to try to pee either. So the first week of school I was a nervous wreck. But, as of today, she is accident-free. YIPPEE!! There are days when she runs in off the bus so I know she hasn't gone at school but sometimes she'll tell me she actually went there.

Another huge step with Renee is the number of melt-downs that she has. She doesn't complain about picking up her toys anymore. She sits in the chair in the morning and lets me fix her hair. We pick out her clothes the night before and she usually sticks with that choice. Her socks don't always match the outfit but I don't sweat it. Sometimes she picks out her entire outfit and I let it go....I figure the color choice will make her teacher smile. The stuffed animals stay home now, although she still spreads the love out to them at night. It's almost as if she said to herself, "I'm 6 now. I go to school. Enough of this nonsense."

Another indicator that Renee is growing up. I signed up to volunteer in her classroom. Her response: "I don't want you to. It's too embarrassing." She has since decided I can come in every other week and that will be OK. She brought home a volunteer sign-up for an upcoming fieldtrip and told me she did not want me going. "I've been there tons of times and you went with me last year. I'll be OK without you." Thankfully, Kaitlyn still likes me to do things with her class. :)

Kaitlyn had an expander put into her mouth this fall. Our first experience with an orthodontic bill.....hopefully our last too. But I'm not holding my breath. She has done great with it. It bothered her at first but only took a few days to get used to. On the mornings that she had to see the orthodontist Renee got on the bus down the street. She loved doing that. Another day Kaitlyn was home sick so she got on all by herself. It never fazed her.

Dirk has a heavier course load this fall. He has a bunch of clowns in a few of the courses so it's a little more stressful. A week ago, we were in church and he wasn't feeling well. He sat down and was feeling some discomfort in his chest. So he told me he needed a doctor (although I couldn't hear what he said) and got up and moved to the front of the sanctuary, where the double doors are. He figured it would be easier for a doctor or someone to help him back there and less disturbing to the service. The doors were open but he barely made it through them when he started swaggering and collapsed to the floor. I immediately ran to him, as did a few other people, including a nurse and a doctor. He had a slight seizure then. The ambulance was called and they took him off to the hospital. Meanwhile, people moved into the pew to sit with the girls who witnessed this all. They were pretty scared. But they were well taken care of the rest of the day as Dirk and I spent the day in the ER. They did bloodwork, a chest e-ray and couldn't find anything. But they kept him overnight and did a stress test and an EEG the next day. Nothing!! He was discharged Monday evening. He followed-up with his doctor who prescribed something for heartburn and told him it was a classic case of "church faint". (I can't remember the medical term...vaso-something.) He's fine now.

I had my first case of strep throat a few weeks back. I spent an entire weekend in bed and it was a gorgeous Indian-summer weekend, or so I've been told. When I went to see my doctor, I wasn't even in their records anymore. I hadn't been there for 10 years. Thankfully I'm usually pretty healthy. I have a physical scheduled in a few weeks.

Our iMac crashed a few weeks back so we got a new one. It came the day before Thanksgiving. Hopefully we didn't loose all of our pictures from the old one!!! I had over 4500 photos on it. Dirk took our external hard drive to the place that we took the computer and they loaded all the info. onto it. Now we just have to load it onto the new computer and see what they rescued.

The girls are in the same dance classes this year and it's nice. They both are enjoying them. They have ballet on Wed. and an acro/hip hop class on Sat. Last year Kaitlyn danced for 2 hrs. on Thursday nights and it was too much for her, after being up late on Wed. for church. So we decided that we would spread it over the 2 days and it's working.

Renee FINALLY lost her first tooth this month. She was soooo excited when she got off the bus because she hadn't realized the tooth was even loose. It fell out later that evening when we were eating pizza. (She had wiggled it all during school and dance class that night.) The toothfairy brought her a silver dollar and left the tooth behind so it can go in her scrapbook.

I babysit Allie every Thursday and Friday. She is such a delightful little girl and provides me with my baby-fix. Once in a while I watch Gracie and she is a sweetie as well. They are 2 months apart.

When we get the photos put back onto the computer, I'll upload a few of my favorites from summer. Dirk took some beautiful ones at LCC, on the haybails in the field.

And I promise to do a better job keeping current with this blog. I hate to write or journal but if I don't, I will forget about this season in my life and I don't want to forget it. It will be gone before I know it!