Entering the High School Zone

Samuel becomes a freshman at South Anchorage High School in just 13 days. A freshman. In thirteen days. Yikes. Soon the early (early) mornings begin. He'll have to be up by 5:30 at the latest to catch the bus at 6:15. Yuck. Our night owl son will be hurtin' for a little while, until his body figures out that going to bed earlier rather than later is what's necessary. His parents will be hurtin' for a bit, too, I imagine, as we navigate a whole new set of rules and processes.

Samuel and I tried to go in to register today. We had planned to hit the freshman picnic for a bit and then do all the registration-type stuff needed to make him 'official'. About 20 minutes into our drive, we hit a line of traffic. I was just thinking of calling Jim to ask if he knew what was up when he called me. The traffic was backed up because of a bad accident that resulted in two fatalities (sadly, the 5th and 6th deaths on the Seward highway this summer). The Seward Hwy. is the only way to get from Girdwood to Anchorage and emergencies like this completely shut down the road. There was no way the highway would open in time to register and make it to x-country running practice, so turning around was the only thing that made sense.

I called the school as soon as I got home and put a 'hold' on his class schedule. I also talked to a staff person who wasn't all that helpful but who did tell me that full registration wouldn't be possible tomorrow. She kind of blew off my concerns about how that might impact Samuel starting school and didn't seem to understand that we have no idea what to expect with high school stuff. I did ask some specific questions and got some answers, but I'm still pretty much in the dark.

So, I'll be off to SAHS in the morning to register Samuel. I hope. And I may just know more after I get there. Maybe.

This and that

I have video of Moriah and Susannah playing at their piano recital on Friday night. Both are over 90 seconds, I think, and I am not sure if I can upload videos that long here...gotta do some research before attempting that. Anyway...both girls did really well and played beautifully. I'll have to ask them what they played (I just can't remember right now) and edit it in later. Moriah played blank and Susannah played blank.

Three more days of school for the kids, four for me. Then we hit the ground running on our room switcharoo. Move Samuel out of his room and all the way downstairs (as much stuff as we can), paint his (old) room a lovely soft yellow, move babies upstairs into their new room, paint the babies' (old) room some as-yet-to-be-determined-shade-of-blue and move Samuel into his new room. All of this before our best friends come on the night of the 28th. It'll be a busy week!

Oh! Samuel is now employed. Well, almost. As of the 28th he will be, when he turns 14. He'll be working at The o> Shop (remember, the word 'Ice Cream' is represented by an ice cream cone) and will be strengthening his wrist muscles and developing basic barista skills (or would he be a baristo?). The girls are already wondering if there's a family discount (no) and Jim is angling to get Samuel to make him lattes at home (maybe).

Moriah has her second game tomorrow night. She's not sure she'll be pitching because she said she didn't do well at practice today. Too many coaches giving too many tips, I think, and she's now a little confused. We'll see.

Random baby cuteness:
Abigail was naked from the waist down at naptime today. I kept hearing playful sounds after laying them down for nap so I went to check on them. She pulled her blanket aside a little and there was her bare bum. Thankfully she consented to put the diaper back on. Could have been messy otherwise (we experienced that with Samuel...he'd probably like it if you asked him about it someday. really!). But she did keep her pants off. She's the kid who likes less clothes. Maybe she'll be a streaker someday.

Bethany LOVES to swing. LOVES it. The other day while at Little Bears, the little kids had gone to the ball field to play and then walked over to the playground. The entire walk over Bethany was beside herself, almost chanting the same words over and over. Blue swing. Blue swing. Blue swing. (I'm guessing it really sounded more like bwoo fwing. bwoo fwing. bwoo fwing.) Her caregiver wasn't quite sure what she was all riled up about because she wasn't sure if she understood Bethany correctly...until they got to the toddler area and Bethany raced over to the blue swing, making sure to have the first turn.

Today we went out and played in our tiny little yard (where the snow is all melted!). The babes had a blast blowing bubbles. And are fairly good at it. Bethany got the hang of blowing long enough to get several bubbles to come out of the wand. Abigail was more of a spitter, but did get some bubbles to appear. Bethany is showing more and more that she may be a leftie, holding the wand in her left hand, dipping it alllllll the way into the bottle (gotta get those fingertips soapy too!) and then trailing bubble solution over her right arm as she blew the bubbles. Lots of solution. All over her arm. A slimy, soapy mess. Perfect on a warm (almost) summer day. :)

Samuel's possible summer job

Samuel has now officially applied for his first 'real' job--at The Ice Cream Shop. Hmmm. The name looks funny all typed out because the logo for the business has an ice cream cone instead of the words Ice Cream in the name. The O> Shop might be more accurate? Or maybe it faces the other way? (which I can't type here because blogger thinks it's html code or something and some of my post disappeared)

Anyway, I digress....

The O> Shop is one of the few places teenagers can work here in Girdwood and Samuel's been talking about working there for several months. One of his classmates thought he was nuts for wanting to work there because he'd 'have to talk to people' (gasp). Samuel said, 'um yeah, I'd like that' (no surprise there, huh?).

Samuel even had a chance last weekend to 'advertise' himself to the owners. Samuel was volunteering at a pancake breakfast fundraiser and made sure he was the server for their table. And made sure no one else touched their plates...hovering at the pass-through window to grab the plates as soon as they were ready.

He's excited about the possibility of working there and I really hope he's hired. I have heard great things about the all-around job training the kids receive. I know that this would be a great first job experience for learning people skills, money-handling skills and responsibility skills. Not to mention the one-cone-per-shift benefit!

I'll keep you all posted!

Samuel update

Samuel had a completely normal no-headache no-nausea day today, so I do think we're past any danger time. We'll still watch him a bit longer for any weird symptoms, but I think we were fortunate that he just had a bad fall and nothing else.

Samuel's tumble

Samuel took a header this morning while x-country skiing. He attempted a jump, caught the tip of his ski wrong and went down hard. He felt a bit dazed and nauseous, so he headed to the nurse's office. The school nurse gave him a once over and noted his pupils were fine, his cognition was fine, the pain he was feeling was an appropriate amount, etc. The nausea he was feeling, however, had us all worried (esp. in the wake of Natasha Richardson's death, which I noted in a previous post).

The school nurse suggested a trip to the ER, but our pediatrician's office and local NP said it was okay to watch and wait. So I brought him home and Jim watched him and babies climbed all over him while he tried to rest on the couch.

Thankfully, 12 or so hours later, he seems to be totally fine. The nausea has remained at a dull roar all day but nothing else seems to be wrong. I will probably set my alarm to wake him up at least once during the night, just to be totally annoying and cautious. Jim usually wakes up around 3:15, so I'm going to ask him to check on Samuel, too.

Certainly wouldn't hurt to say a few prayers that he is truly fine, so please join me in praying for our precious boy. (thanks!)

Artie madness

Instead of heading to bed like a good girl, I decided I needed to blog about the new scheduling nightmare for our household. The three older kids all have roles in the school play, King Artie and the Knights of the Rad Table. Practices began today, as did the awareness that life will be busy for the next six or so weeks.

Samuel will be playing Merlin, Moriah is the town crier and Susannah is the dragon.

Samuel initially thought he'd rather be the main guy, Artie, but agreed that he probably couldn't pull off playing a 'skater dude' as well as he could play Merlin. Now he's looking forward to being the 'wise' guy.

Moriah has a large part in one of the early scenes and has a solo, too. She gets to announce competitors who will try to pull the sword out of the stone. She thinks it's funny that she has the same role that Samuel had when they did the play four years ago.

Susannah will be playing the dragon later in the play who has captured some damsels in distress. Her dragon is a refined creature who enjoys tea, and she also has a solo where she will sing about a lovely spot of tea.

I'm going to be helping the school's music teacher in whatever capacity I can, whenever I can make it to practices. I was her 'assistant' director for the Girdwood Community Theater's The Music Man in December, so she knows I make myself at least marginally helpful.

The performances are May 6 and 7, so buy your plane tickets early to catch the performances. *grin*

(Oh, and P.S. Bethany is still fine today after her tumble. She's got a bump under her left nostril but it doesn't seem to be bothering her much.)

Snow!!

It's Spring, you say? Really?

About two feet of snow fell between Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, deepening the already deep snow in our yard. Samuel was inspired to create a little snow cave for his littlest sisters and after dinner the kids all went out to play. (I should add here that the babes heard the word 'outside' and wanted nothing to do with their dinners...just wanted to go play outside.)

The babies LOVED it and couldn't get enough, even as they stumbled and tried to keep their footing. The older kids decided that jumping from our upper yard to the deep snow below was the thing to do--trying to see how much of their bodies would still be visible once they landed and sank into the snow. Samuel also tried to break a new trail down another part of our yard, rolling and pushing his way through the snow. He eventually ended up on his back, head buried and facing downhill, legs barely visible. He loved every minute of it.

I was outside as the photographer, not dressed for playing. Of course, I got wet anyway--at one point my right leg sank all the way up to my hip. Took a little effort to get me out. None of the kids really wanted to come in, but wet and cold clothing and bedtime for little girls meant an end to the fun. Abigail, especially, was quite put out about coming in. I took a lovely photo of her angry, tear-stained, snotty-nosed face but I won't cause her future embarrassment by posting it here. Just know that she REALLY wanted to stay out and play.

Here are some highlight photos:

Samuel and the babes in the snow cave


Susannah and Moriah waist-deep in snow


Samuel mid-jump (not a great shot unfortunately)


Moriah taking off


Susannah jumping high

We have an awesome son

Tonight I spent a little over five hours with my wonderful Samuel. About an hour and a half of those were in the car to and from Anchorage. About an hour was spent eating bacon cheeseburger pizza and breadsticks at Pizza Hut (yum!). And about two and a half hours of it was spent sitting in an Anchorage Assembly meeting (and standing in line for a bit) while we waited to testify about a bond proposal that included Girdwood School.

The reason I am celebrating our awesome son (besides the fact that he stood before our Assembly and spoke fairly well) is that he didn't really want to go. But he went anyway. He respected my authority (who hears Cartman in the background?) and he acquiesced to my 'request' to speak pretty readily. He knew it was important for our school's 'voice' to be heard and he (mostly) willingly came along. There were a few grumbles, yes. But I'm fine with his expressing his frustration if it's done respectfully, which it was. He's an awesome kid.

We are truly blessed.