These Days

I'm aware every day lately that my motherhood would look different right now if we had decided to "just" have two kids.  If that had been the case, those two kids, Megan and Bridget, would be in school for a large chunk of the day as they are now, and I would be home...with an empty house.  And, let's face it, probably a job.  When the older girls started full days of school this week, it suddenly hit me how fortunate I am to still be in this baby and "little kid" phase of life.  I have extra long stretches of day with my three little girls, without the logistics of anyone going to preschool, and I'm reminded of the same phase in life with Megan and Bridget, before Megan started school.  Our days were wide open, and we were free to take long walks, explore new playgrounds, or spend the day at the zoo.  I would run errands with little girl chatter to keep me company, and even do nothing at all some days except snuggle and read a big pile of books.  This is definitely the case all over again with the little girls, and I couldn't be happier.  Even better, Matt's schedule is such that he can even pick up the big girls at school quite a bit, which means nice, long uninterrupted naps for Tessa, Annie and Mary at that time of the afternoon.  It doesn't get much better than that!

The fact that I have these two little monkeys home with me for another year is so fun!

The main reason this time feels so sacred is that Tessa and Annie are not going to preschool, and we're all being spared the driving all over town with multiple pick-ups and drop-offs.  Preschool is a wonderful avenue for most kids in most circumstances, and I think Megan and Bridget benefited tremendously from their experiences.  They each grew as individuals and had a little escape from our crazy house for a few hours a day.  They also developed special friendships, including some with children who are still in their classes now.  However, I think Tessa and Annie will be just fine without this year of preschool.  If I ever wonder about their social skills, I don't need to eavesdrop too long on their little conversations with their sisters to know that they might even be ahead of the curve when it comes to working things out, sharing and waiting their turn.  If anything, this year may finally make them realize they're twins :)  They now have a lot of time together with no big sisters pulling them in different directions. They've just got each other, and Mary of course, and it's so fun to watch every day!

It's still a full house with these three, don't get me wrong!

But, I'm enjoying the lighter load, knowing the big girls are truly having fun and blooming at school.  I can play with and teach these three, have just three at the lunch table, put them down for nice long naps, and then be a little more charged when the troops come home at the end of the day.

We spend a lot of time reading when we're at home, and I'm slowly ramping up to more structured preschool-like activities with Tessa and Annie.  I figure I'll really get them doing more schoolwork after  Labor Day, since that's when they would start if they actually went to preschool ;)

There's also a new quiet in the house over the last two weeks.  When school started back up, we decided to be media-free during the week!  If you know us, this is big!  Before this transition, it was normal for the girls to watch at least a couple cartoons every day...usually more.  The girls would wake up in the morning and after naps, and head straight to the TV to choose a DVRed show, or even something on Netflix with one of our two iPads.  Usually they would watch something before the dinner hour, too.  It was easy for us and obviously fun for them.  (Just to be clear, I think Jake and the Neverland Pirates is about as risque as the Netflix selections get!)  But, with homework on the horizon, and the crunch we have in the mornings getting out the door, TV needed to go.  It is soooo wonderful and peaceful without that noise in the mix, and with the girls otherwise occupied and engaged in other activities!  When the weekend rolls around, they can watch either 2 short cartoons or one movie each day.  It's working so far!

I've caught the girls doing things together instead of watching things together.

No TV = more activities = more set-up and more mess.  I'm trying to do my part to deal with this as patiently as I can ;)  The girls are happier, though, and don't even ask to turn on the TV during the week.  We've also been baking together (mostly fun snacks for their lunchboxes) and doing more arts and crafts.  We even knit a scarf for Barney the Bear from Bridget's kindergarten class.  It was her turn to take care of him this weekend, and the girls have been begging me to teach them to knit, so they knit a few rows of his little scarf.

Another funny little note about our media-free-ness (yes, I made that up) is how much the girls are playing outside now when they get home from school.  I'm here to tell you that there is nothing cuter than a little girl in her uniform (or whatever pieces of it she still has on!) getting some energy out of her system in the backyard.  It's high time for a new swing set in our yard, but the girls are still very content obsessed with our little pair of baby swings.  They've perfected shimmying their way in without any adult helping:

 

And even though these BIG girls can fit in there, and have a blast,

they gladly vacate for an actual baby when necessary!

And, oh yeah, here are two more little girls swinging.  Simple pleasures!

So, things are going well around here.  It's nice to be back in the school routine. It's hectic to be packing (2!!) lunches, getting everyone ready and racing out of the house every morning.  But, once the girls are at school, it's wonderful to be out so early with longer days to fill up.  Of course, homework starts this week, so I may have a different perspective by next weekend!

For Old Times' Sake

I'm back with another out-of-order-Tahoe post.  (Hopefully, I'll have some actual beach pictures up here one of these days.)  

For the many, many years we vacationed in Tahoe as kids, we had a little Raley family tradition of getting those old-time photos taken.  You know, the kind where everyone dons Little House on the Prairie clothes, pretending to be slinging guns, robbing a bank, or "working" a saloon, and you get the photo in sepia print?  Well, we did this for the first time in Virginia City, Nevada, when Sara and I were about twelve years old, and Kyle was maybe ten and we continued every other year or so throughout our adolescence and beyond.  There's an embarrassing gallery of all of these shots up on a wall of Mop and Pop's house.  Even if I could pry those prints from their old-timey frames, scan them in and post them here, I absolutely would.not.do.that.  I need to maintain some shreds of dignity here.  

Instead, I'll just subject the girls to that everlasting sort of embarrassment, the kind that will forever and always be on the web...or whatever they'll call it in 20 years!  In order to do that, we decided to get one of these photos taken this year while my whole family was in Tahoe together.  Our Raley family is a teensy bit bigger now, with 8 grand kids 6 and under, and when we all traipsed in to the little photo shop in South Lake Tahoe, I'm sure the teen aged photographer/cashier shuddered a little.  There were a lot of little people to dress and get smiles out of! 

Pop, on the other hand, no matter how grumpy he looks here, loves this stuff!  

The girls got to work choosing outfits for themselves, and the photographer didn't mind at all if we broke the rules and snapped some pictures while everyone was getting dressed up.  These pictures are way cuter than the picture we came in there for ;)  Megan and Joey's cute cousin love knows no time boundaries!  Even in 1800's get-up, they still want to marry each other.

Of course, Bridget loved every minute of the dressing up!

And, what kind of western pictures would these be if we didn't get Annie with her gun? ;)

Even Mary got in on the action :)

Thanks to Mop and Pop for forcing us the great idea to keep this tradition going with the grand kids!  Do they look like they could possibly have 8 grandchildren?!  No way :)

The final result is sufficiently embarrassing, and will hopefully provide some good laughs when the girls are older.  Most embarrassing, though, is the PDA going on in the back row between Uncle Kyle and his then-girlfriend, who managed to spice up the background in the one photo (of course!) in which all of the kids are looking at the camera.  We'll have to get Sara on the task of doing some Photoshop work to rectify that, but in the meantime, here is the time-traveled version of our Raley family!

And, in the event that we start a gallery of our own one day, here is the first in our Stecher collection!

Five Goofy Little Girls

It's been a long time since I've asked the girls to lay down on the carpet to get a picture like this.  I just love how these pictures capture them being a little goofy.  And this is the first time I've subjected Mary to this craziness!  

The first picture has everyone smiling, but I think I like the outtakes even more.  Bridget cracks me up, and I didn't even notice her expressions until I uploaded these pictures.  She's a sneaky little actress :)

When I told them I was done, they went a little crazy.  And I kept taking pictures.  I love how Megan is fascinated with what Mary is doing: putting her little brown dog on Bridget's shoulder.

They shared a little smile over that.  Big M and little M laughing at the same thing.  This is not the first little joke they've shared, and I'm sure it won't be the last, either :)

Little Cougars

It's that time again! Megan and Bridget started back to school on Monday, so we officially have two grammar school kids.  They are incredibly excited to be at the same school now, and I'm thrilled to have two little girls in uniform.  These pictures don't really do the whole uniform justice.  The cutest part is the little sailor shirt they wear under the sweater.  Of course, when you start school at the end of the summer in San Francisco, you need a sweater!

Here are the uniforms in all of their glory, though, nice and neat the night before!

Unbelievably, Megan is now in first grade and Bridget is in kindergarten.  It's so nice to have them at the same school.  One drop-off and one pick-up!  And, of course, three at home!

Somehow, I didn't get a shot of Megan by herself, but here is Bridget.  She donned her uniform at about 6am, all by herself, before anyone else was awake.  (She normally sleeps in the latest, so she must have been a little excited!) She even tied her own shoes, which she'd been diligently practicing every day over the last week.  What a big girl!

Thankfully, the girls started school before Matt this year, which meant that he was along for the big day!  We were able to take our time, too, since we didn't need to be there until 10am.  Talk about easing our way into the school year :)  Bridget was ready way ahead of time, needless to say!

We had plenty of time for pictures in front of the school, including our sister shot.  I can't help but think about the many years they'll all be in uniform for this one!

When it came time to file inside with their classmates, Megan was ready.  She looks so confident and happy here, and such a big first-grader!  At the end of the day, though, she was slightly less confident.  She waltzed out of her first grade classroom just as her old kindergarten teacher was handing Bridget, and each of the other new kids, a little bag of goldfish as a treat.  Megan got weepy right there, and had tears streaming down her face, wishing that she was still in kindergarten with Ms. Connolly again.  I think the transition to her new classroom, complete with desks and little lockers, finally caught up with her.  Change is hard :(

Bridget, who had been waiting all morning for this moment, was ready, too!  There were no tears from this little kindergartner, although she reported back at the end of the day exactly who had been crying.  She also recounted more detail from her day than any 5-year-old should notice or care about, but satisfied my need for information.  I love that she's so like me in that way :)  She relayed entire conversations that she had, who's "mommy has a baby in her tummy," exactly what seat she was assigned and whose shoes she tied three times.  Yes, she tied another kid's shoes...and apparently told everyone at her table that they needed to wash their hands before lunch.  I'm hoping her classmates are not as observant and that no one else is noticing a bossy gossip emerging here.  Homework on day one:  Tone it down a little, Bridgey :)

Back at home, I've committed to home-schooling the twins instead of sending them to preschool this year.  As a plus, I'll have much more time with them, and less schlepping to do.  Every day from 8-3 will be "little girl" time!  We started with an informal lesson on the letter "A" and were interrupted by Mary over and over again... I'm not sure if I'm cut out for this!  Although Tessa and Annie are sold on going to school at home, and love that I'm their teacher, Tessa asked me, "Mommy, when you're our teacher, will you still be my Mommy?"  :)  I plan on soaking up little moments like those, and fully appreciating this year with my three at home, knowing they'll be in little uniforms before I know it!