Cousins

Now that we are back in the States and Jason's brother is back in the states we are only two towns apart.  It has meant that we have been able to see each other more often.  We have all been trying to be able to be more casual about visits meaning that it doesn't have to be a big scheduled event in order to get together.  If we are out and about we can just call to see if they are around for a quick visit and vice versa.  The kids have really enjoyed seeing their cousins more too.  It is fun to watch them play together and as they play more together they start breaking off into groups...Alex flits in and out of groups since he is older and is on the cusp of playing with the little kids and having fun and being bored by the younger kids.  Sofia pairs off with Justin and Ali pairs off with Keira.  They come back to together and play as a group at times but when they head in different directions their playmates seem pretty consistent and it works out well.  We went over to visit for a little bit while Graham and Beth were away and Grammie and Grampa were watching the three kids.  The kids ran off to play the minute we arrived and then all came back together for lunch followed by s'mores.  The s'mores were a real treat and my kids LOVE them.  S'mores is definitely a good lure to bring all the kids back in close. 

Ankle Pain

After running the marathon my ankle started to bother me.  It didn't hurt during the race but the next day it was quite sore.  I figured it was from changing my stride for the last two mile to compensate for my knee pain so I took it easy and figured it would get better.  It got a little better and I decided to test it out on a short run 8 days after the marathon.  It was a little uncomfortable for the first 1.5 miles at which point I turned around to come home and then it hit...the excruciating ankle pain.  It hurt to run and it hurt to walk.  Unfortunately for me it was the one time I did not bring my phone with me.  My best hope was that my friend was still in her driveway waiting for the bus.  I hobbled back to her driveway but she was gone!  With no other option I jogged back home but only landing on the ball of my foot.  I managed it but it wasn't pretty.  I gave it another two days and it was still quite painful so I called the doctor.  It just didn't seem normal to me since at two days post race all my other muscles were back to normal.  My ankle did not look that bad to me so part of me felt like I was crazy to think it was anything really bad but I couldn't align that with the amount of pain I was feeling.  Anyway, I went to the podiatrist.  I told him about my test run and his response was, "I could have told you just by looking at your ankle that that wouldn't have gone well.".  That made me feel better since he could see that something was up.  He felt around my ankle and sent me for an ex-ray.  He wanted to make sure I hadn't sheared part of the bone.  Fortunately my bones were all intact.  Unfortunately my peroneal tendons are quite inflamed and my ligaments around the front of the ankle are also swollen.  The doctor taped up my ankle to provide support, told me to wear sneakers and take it easy.  I had to ice it every night and absolutely no impact sports.  I did as I was told and went back in to see him on Thursday.  The tendons are doing better but are still inflamed so its another week of tape and no impact.  He did say I could bike so I may have to do that this week so I don't lose my mind.  I'm hoping this is the last week with tape and then one week without tape and I'll be back to running.  Dang that Baxter Boulevard and its camber...it did me in on the last mile.  Oh well, at least I beat four hours!!

School Assembly

The first school assembly took place last week.  It is old hat for Sofia but all new for Ali.  Sofia's class never went in front of the whole school last year but Ali's class started off the year up in front singing Apples and Bananas.  Ali was very excited and very nervous.  She was very giddy and silly when her class first went up to the front of the gymnasium but once the music started she tensed up and her eyes darted around.  She did sing and did the hand gestures but she was definitely nervous.  The lyrics to the song are as follows:

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas

I like to ate, ate, ate ay-ples and ba-nay-nays

I like to ate, ate, ate ay-ples and ba-nay-nays

I like to eat, eat, eat ee-ples and bee-nee-nees

I like to eat, eat, eat ee-ples and bee-nee-nees

I like to ite, ite, ite i-ples and bi-ni-nis

I like to ite, ite, ite i-ples and bi-ni-nis

 

I like to ote, ote, ote oh-ples and bo-no-nos

I like to ote, ote, ote oh-ples and bo-no-nos

 

I like to ute, ute, ute u-ples and bu-nu-nus

I like to ute, ute, ute u-ples and bu-nu-nus

 

Once the kids got to the "i,o,u" the audience started to laugh and Ali's eyes got big.  I guess she didn't expect laughter.  After school she mentioned it and I told her it was suppose to be funny and that it was a good thing everyone was laughing.  She seemed better once she heard that.  All in all it was a nice was to start the year in assembly.

 

Weekend in Maine

We decided to go up to Maine for the long holiday weekend.  It was nice to see Jason's parents and the kids always have fun at their house.  We also took the chance to go to the Fryeburg Fair again this year with the kids.  They enjoyed it so much last year and we enjoy the fair as well so it is a fun activity to do together.  We had to indulge in fair food...dough boys (fried dough), hot dogs, sausage, fries and maple sugar cotton candy.  It is always yummy at a fair.  The kids love cotton candy and it is definitely better when it is made from maple sugar in the sugar shack!  This year the kids really wanted to go on some of the rides so we bought our tickets and headed to the ferris wheel.  This always seem to be the first request for the girls.  Now that they are older it isn't quite as stressful for me to have them up there (with me of course).  We ended up having perfect timing for the ferris wheel since when we were on it we could see the fair parade around the track.  It was a perfect view with no one blocking the kids.  After the ferris wheel we headed to the area with most of the rides for the younger kids and the girls chose to go down a slide.  The slide was FAST!  Ali ended up getting some air off of one of the bumps but really seemed to enjoy it.  With $25 spent on ride tickets they had one ride left to choose and they chose to go down the slide again because it was so fun.  Here is the video of their first trip down the slide.

After using up all our ride tickets it was time to make the rounds of the fair ground.  We headed to the school house where Jason's grandmother went to school.  She donated the school to the fair grounds and they moved it there from Jason's parent's land.  It is always fun to be in that school house knowing that many of Jason's ancestors went to school there.  Grammie's picture is up on the wall and I like that the kids have this public place where they can always be grounded in their family history. 

A little blurry but the here are the girls with
Clementine

After the school houses we headed to the tractors and animals.  It is an agricultural fair so there are a lot of animals...pigs, cows, oxen, sheep, goats, horses etc.  This year we didn't go into all the barns but we did see a lot of them.  The main focus this year was to find Clementine, a horse they had seen last year.  Clementine is a black Clydesdale with white fur on her feet.  She is a beautiful horse and the kids just loved her last year.  I was surprised that even a year later how vivid their memory was of the horse.  We went through a few barns looking for her.  On the third barn Ali stopped short and said "that's Clementine".  I didn't have as vivid a memory so I asked the owner if it was Clementine.  Sure enough Ali was correct!  I'm not sure what about Clementine stood out to her since we had walked past other black Clydesdale's but she got it right.  They were also happy to see Clementine's baby in the stall next to her since she was pregnant at the fair last year.

The fair was a hit but after four hours of walking around we were all tired and ready to head home.  We checked out the pigs on the way out and played one more game in hopes of winning a bigger stuffed animal and then headed for the car.  Another successful year at the Fryeburg Fair.  I'm sure we will be there next year!

On Sunday we decided to go apple picking again since we had already eaten all the apples we had picked on our last outing.  We went to Pietree Orchards which is nearby and which Jason's parents have been to before.  The farm store was great with fresh baked cookies and apple cider donuts, fresh coffee and hot apple cider.  We were excited before we even got out to the orchard!  It was pretty late in the season for apple picking in Maine but we were apple to pick red and golden delicious as well as macs and cortlands.  We took the hayride out to the orchard for fun since it really wasn't that far.  The kids had fun using the picking rakes for the first time to get the apples up at the higher parts of the tree.  I let them do most of the picking and just held the bag open for them while I enjoyed my hot apple cider.  After picking apples we hopped back on the hayride to go back to the farm stand.  They had a hay maze that the kids wanted to do so we watched as they headed in to the maze at two different spots.  We weren't sure which was the start and the finish so we just let them go.  It was funny to watch them figure it out.  Sofia figured it out first and crawled under some hay to complete the maze.  Ali was not down with getting her dress (very appropriate attire for apple picking) dirty so she kept looking for another way out.  When it was time to go Sofia ran through the maze and under the hole in the hay while Ali decided she was making her own path and climbed over the bales of hay!  I can't say I blame her though since I would not have gotten all muddy either.

The rest of the day was just time to play at Jason's parent's house.  Fortunately the rain that had been called for all weekend held off and the kids could play outside.  Since the leaves had already started to fall the kids had a blast raking them up into a pile and playing in them.  They jumped in them, buried themselves in them, snuggled and napped in them and made themselves a nest.  It is amazing the endless imaginations they seem to have.  It also makes me happy that they get along so well. 

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was my birthday.  It's not quite as exciting anymore but I still enjoyed the cake!  I went for a morning walk with my friend Margaret.  Yes, I said walk.  I know that is unusual but after running the marathon on Sunday and my ankle still sore I decided a walk was about all my body could deal with.  It was nice, as always, to be with Margaret and have a good chat.  Since it was my birthday I tried to be as laid back as possible but the kids only have a half day.  While Ali was off at a friends house after school, Sofia was home with me.  I thought it would be good for her to have some down time and it was give her time to read, do math facts, and practice piano and still have time to do what she wanted to do.  Of course this meant it wasn't particularly relaxing for me but such is a birthday of a mother!  Jason worked from home so I was able to pick Ali up from her play date and leave her at home when I took Sofia to swim lesson.  One of the highlights of the day was after swimming when Jason cooked and did the dishes.  I didn't have to lift a finger which was very nice.  I got to enjoy veal saltimbocca with spinach followed by chocolate cake with cannoli filling.  A nice way to finish off the day.  Here is  picture of me with my jewels and crown courtesy of Sofia and Ali.

Maine Marathon and Half Marathon

This last weekend Jason and I headed to Portland to race.  I ran the marathon and Jason ran the half marathon.  Ever since running the Newport Marathon I knew I would run another marathon.  I was just not satisfied with my race time from the Newport Marathon.  My time was way below what I had trained for which was disappointing so while I knew I should just be proud for finishing the marathon I was not happy.  I wasn't sure when I would be ready to run another marathon but I knew it would happen.  I began looking for marathons within driving distance of home.  I had considered the Maine Marathon because it was close to home and it had a bump out in the course than made it run through the neighborhood that Jason grew up in.  It was a fun thought to think I could run on the same roads that Jason ran around on as a kid.  I had tossed around the idea for a little while but the September 30th race date made me hesitate since that meant my longest runs would be in the height of the summer heat.  I decided to start my training program after I had completed the triathlon and if I stayed with my training program until my sixteen mile run during beach week then I would sign up.  Beach week came and I completed my sixteen mile run in the ridiculous humidity of Point Judith and signed up.  My training went great.  I was able to train at a good pace and with only a minor hamstring issue completed up to a twenty two mile run.  I was ready for the race.  I knew that I should break the four hour mark.  That was my goal and I wanted it!  I was a little nervous since I felt pretty confident that I could reach my goal I knew I would have some bitter disappointment if I didn't make my number.  Jason put in his training time as well and really stuck with his running plan despite losing a few toenails along the way. (I'm glad my toenails don't turn black on long runs!) He had to overcome his disappointment from his first half marathon when he became dehydrated just short of the finish and had a finish time over two hours.  This was his chance to really see what he could train for and complete. 

With all our hope in mind we headed north to Portland on Saturday.  We met Jason's parents at our hotel in Portland and moved car seats and duffel bags to their car and sent the kids with his parents for the night.  We went out for an early dinner and hit the bed early to get a good night sleep.  When we woke up in the morning the weather man said that the rain should hold off until after most of the racers finished.  This was great news...an overcast cool day for a long race...perfect.  Unfortunately the weather man was wrong!!  As we stood at the start line it started to rain.  The rain got progressively heavier. By the time I was out by mile 8 it was down right pouring.  My shoes were completely waterlogged and I could feel them squishing around with every step.  I didn't let it get me down though.  At least it wasn't hot and sunny!  I kept to my pace and just kept telling myself I could do it.  By mile 22 I knew I had it and could make my time.  At mile 24 my right knee started to hurt so bad and my leg started to feel a little numb.  I wasn't going to let it stop me from finishing and I wasn't going to let the last two miles beat me and put me over 4 hours so I just sucked it up and ran through it.  As I came around the final bend to the finish I saw my family.  I called out to Sofia and she ran out with me followed by Ali and they ran with me to the finish.  It was awesome to cross the finish line with my girls and know I had finished under four hours.  I got what I trained for....3 hours, 56 minutes and 33 seconds!!!!  Now I'm satisfied...the marathon didn't beat me!!!  I won't say that I will never do another one but I don't feel the need to complete another one since I reached my goal.  Jason and his parents reached me at the banana table.  It was great to have everyone there.  After getting a few things to eat Jason and I headed back to the bag check while his parents took the kids back to the hotel.  We picked up my bag and walked the 3/4 mile back to the hotel which, while still raining and cold, was a nice way to cool down my legs after running for so long.  

Jason made his time goal as well and finished his half marathon at 1 hour 44 minutes and 16 seconds.  Once we were in the car I had to laugh when Jason said, "maybe I'll do a marathon".  This is how it happens...you make one goal and you see the next accomplishment and the seed is planted.  If he does decide to run a marathon it will be fun to be the one on the sidelines cheering him on knowing all the work that goes into it.

After School Activities

With the school year kicked off so did the after school activities.  This year Sofia is swimming, doing gymnastics, playing soccer and piano.  Ali is doing gymnastics and soccer.  Our schedule is crazy but the girls don't want to give up any of their activities and while we feel they can maintain their schedule without their school work diminishing we will let them continue to be as active as they want to be.  I was going to have Ali swimming as well but she really hates swimming laps and I can't blame her since I don't like it either.  I don't know where Sofia gets the love of swimming laps.  Since Sofia has the extra sport of swimming Ali gets to take a an extra day of gymnastics.  Sofia swims three days a week, has gymnastics twice a week, soccer practice one a week and one game a week, and piano once a week.  Ali has soccer practice and game (fortunately they are on the same team) and then gymnastics three days a week. 

The first swim practice of the season was a tough one after having not done any lap swimming for two months Sofia had to get in the pool and swim laps for an hour.  She was tired and her stomach hurt but surprisingly it took her only a week of swimming to get right back into the swing of things.  Yesterday at practice I timed her fifty meter freestyle and was impressed to see she swam it in 55 seconds.  I really don't know what the standard is but that seemed pretty good to me!

Gymnastics started off well for both girls.  They both moved up into the intermediate one level class.  Unfortunately the Tuesday Intermediate one class was not available so they are in the lower class on Tuesdays.  Fortunately both of their coaches know that they should be in a hire class so they push them more than the other girls.  They only have a couple things to achieve such as the back bend and handstand to bridge before they can pass into Intermediate Two level.  I'm not in any rush for them to change though because it means juggling the schedule around and they are happy with their current instructors.  Ali has Sergy again for her Friday class.  He loves her and always has good things to say about her abilities.  I was happy when Sergy ended up teaching a Friday class since he was not originally on the schedule to teach any girl classes since his schedule was full teaching boys.  I had to laugh last Friday though when he commented again on how good Ali was and that she will be a champion and then he followed it by asking me if I had any boys.  Apparently he was hoping I would have been breading multiple gymnasts and one that he could teach every session. :)  I had to disappoint him though and tell him I only had girls.

Soccer is also going well.  I thought for sure this would be the girls last year of soccer since they have never seemed to love it.  I was wrong because this year they both love it.  Sofia has really picked up the game and gets right in their to take the ball away, defend the goal, or dribble all the way down field to score.  She has been practicing her sliding kick and really enjoys playing.  Ali enjoys the game and the practice.  She gets into the mix much more often this year but isn't quite as aggressive yet as Sofia.  When she is given the chance though she does a pretty good job of taking the ball down field. 

Piano has been amazing for Sofia.  She stumbled a little bit with her practicing when the music didn't come to her with ease but we have worked through it and fortunately I can read music and can help her when she gets stuck.  She is already playing Lean On Me and the first four pages of Memory which just seems crazy to me.  Her teacher is great with her and pushes her to be better without making it seem like he is pushing her.  He sets an expectation and gets her to agree to it without any problem.  When we first mentioned that there would be a recital in January I thought Sofia would put her foot down with a strong "NO" but she only hesitated a little bit.  When he explained it to her she became excited to perform in front of others and started thinking about who she should invite to the recital.  I couldn't believe it!

 



 

Next up....Softball.  Sofia requested after being at sports camp this summer that she be able to play softball in the spring.  We agreed she could play.  I found out a couple weeks ago that there were tryouts already for spring softball!!  A friend of mine remembered that I had mentioned Sofia's interest and called me to tell me about the tryouts since her daughters were going.  We immediately went out and bought Sofia a helmet, ball and glove.  Jason took her out back and played catch with her to prepare her for the tryouts since she has never played softball before.  She was a little nervous at first for the tryouts but she did great.  Her pitching was not the best which upset her but she recovered and did well catching some grounders and pop flies.  Now we wait to see if they put her on the 8U or 10U team.  Both have there pros and cons so we will see what comes our way for the spring.

Cooking/Baking

Since the girls started school and they have so many activities at night I decided that they needed to have a nice big breakfast.  Often times by the time dinner comes around the girls are tired and don't want to eat a big meal.  With all their activities though they need to intake of calories so I would make them eat their dinner.  Now that I can feed them their big meal at breakfast I don't mind so much if they go light on dinner.  Of course this means I have to be prepared at night for the following morning and I have to get up and get downstairs while the kids are climbing out of bed but it is worth it.  They really enjoy it and I know they are getting the nutrition they need.  They would like to have french toast every day but I do not oblige.  Their breakfast ranges from scrambled eggs, fried eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, french toast, overnight baked french toast, to breakfast burritos.  I add ground flax and nuts into all the bready products so ensure they are getting their omega 3, proteins, and fiber and they don't even notice it.  On the weekends we let the kids have a little more leeway and we let them make an apple/cheese pastry.  They did a great job following the instructions right up until the end when they smothered the top in cinnamon rather than the light dusting but at least they had fun making it.  We did find out though that the recipe definitely tastes better with berries rather than apples.

During the week I try to keep dinners healthy and quick.  I also try to ask the kids if they have any dinner wishes.  I love that they really enjoy bruschetta.  With our farm share we started to get a lot of tomatoes at the beginning of September so bruschetta was on the menu regularly.  As I was also trying to find ways to use up all the lettuce we were getting from the farm share we also occasionally had BLTs for dinner.  This picture was a night I couldn't decide what I wanted the kids wanted different things.  Since both are easy to prepare Ali had bruschetta and Sofia a BLT.

On the weekends we like to make bigger meals for dinner and let the kids try their hand at baking.  Jason made a coq au vin that was delicious.  It was a challenge since the recipe usually calls for onion and I can't eat onion.  He left out the onion and put in extra mushroom.  It was so yummy and a huge hit with the kids.  I was doubtful Ali would like it since she is not a huge mushroom fan but she loved it and asked for seconds.  Jason was going to take the leftovers for lunch the next day but then forgot it in the fridge.  It was lucky for the kids though since it meant when they came home and asked for the leftovers for snack they were available!  This recipe definitely made it into the "keeper" cookbook.

First Day of School/ Settling in

Yes, this is a month late but better than never!  The girls started off the 2012 school year at the beginning of September.  Ali started 2nd grade and Sofia started 3rd grade.  Since our town splits the schools up this is the "together" year when both girls are in the same school.  This is exciting for them becuase they have the chance to see each other in the halls or at lunch or at recess.  It is exciting for me becuase they get to get on and off the buss AT THE SAME TIME!!!!  This means I get a longer day to get all my jobs accomplished.  It means that after school activites can be scheduled earlier.  It means I don't have to crock pot meals 4 days a week!!

Since there are so many kids in our town there are about 230 kids per grade which translates to about11 classes per grade.  With that many teachers I had no way of knowing what to expect from the girls teachers this year.  When you ask around it seems nobody ever had the teacher that your children have that year.  Towards the end of August however the teachers send a letter home.  This was my first insight into the teaching styles we would be looking at for the next year.  Ali's teacher was very loving and community togetherness and Sofia's teacher's letter came across as very kind but all about business.  There was no expectation of chit chat or playing around.  There would be no whispering to your neighbor through the day as Sofia had last year.  I personally like this approach better.  It teaches the kids discipline, the rewards of hardwork and focus, and respect.  It was however, a tough tranistion for Sofia. 

We knew Sofia was struggling with the transition to third grade but we assumed her acting out was happening only at home or at sports.  (I know, it seems ridiculous in hindsight!)  When I went to curriculum night I asked Sofia's teacher how she was doing and was shocked to hear that Sofia was acting up.  She wasn't listening, drawing on her fingernails during math lessons, playing with her pencils and pencil sharpeners, talking to other kids in class during lessons, etc.  I was shocked and incredibly angry with Sofia for behaving in such a way that she knows is not acceptable.  Fortunately for her and for me she was in bed when I got home so I had time to calm down.  The next night Jason and I had a long talk with her about appropriate behavior and tried to help her figure out what was going on within herself.  Come to find out she was deathly afraid of the MCAS test which I find so maddening.  The schools stress the MCAS so much that it scares the kids when the reality it isn't a test for the kids at all but a test to see how well the teachers are teaching.  So let's stress out our children because we don't know how to assess a teachers ability!  Anyway, she was also having trouble making new friends.  Again our town makes kids change schools every two years.  You would think since Sofia didn't have to change schools this year she was be all set in the friends department but she wasn't becuase not only do we change schools every two years, the kids change classrooms every year.  Sofia went into her 3rd grade class with only knowing one girls from last year.  There are three lunch periods and she didn't have any of her friends at her lunch either accept for Ali and Ali's frind Maggie.  It was like she was starting all over again.  While Sofia portrays herself as a confident child she is actually shy in many ways.  She is afraid that kids don't want to play with her or that they will say no if she asks to play.  We gave her advice on this and how to approach other kids.  We discussed consequences if bad behavior continued in the classroom and that I would be checking regularly with her teacher.  Fortunately, our long talk had a positive impact.  She is doing well in class and has made some new friends.

Ali did not seem to have any trouble settling in to second grade.  She had the luxury of moving to a different school in a different classroom with her best friend.  Her best friend was in her class last year and is also on her bus which made the transition so easy.  She even lucked out and had her best friend sitting at the same table with her in the classroom.  She seems happy to be in second grade and she likes being able to see Sofia at lunch and recess.  They both seem to like being able to chat about things that happen in the school as well. 

We are looking for a fun year ahead now that we have worked out the kinks of the first month.