This past week has really flown by. I think having Monday off and doing training all day during the week really made it fly by. It has gone by so quickly I hardly remember all the interesting things that did happen.
Claire had four days of school. It has started to sink in with her that this is every day for six hours. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday she cried and was sad when we went to school. She knew that she wouldn't see mom and wished she could stay home with mom, Abby, and the boys. When I drop Claire off in the morning, I've been trying to avoid the 'drive thru' routine, at least until she feels better about the whole situation. I've been parking the car, getting out and walking with her. We sit by the church and talk for a minute. We say a quick prayer asking God to help us do what he wants us to do at work/school. Then I walk her the rest of the way to the school doors, wish her well, remind her the mom will pick her up at 3, and say goodbye. If you haven't seen any pictures of Claire on her first few days of school, then check these out.
On the flip side, Abby wished she could go to school with Claire. I think that deep down she misses seeing Claire during the day. Michelle will start doing some early home schooling projects with Abby in a little while. Right now she may still be a bit too young. I don't think we started with Claire until she was 4 years old.
Michelle substitute taught step class for Joanne last night. Unfortunately she forgot her battery. She decided she would have to use the batteries that the YMCA provides for instructors. True to form, the batteries started to wear out about 2/3s into the class. After class we hurried home. Michelle got the boys down to bed while I quickly got some burgers for the girls and I. When I returned home with the dinner, Michelle rushed off to join some other moms for a 'moms night out' at Margaritas restaurant. She had a nice time and the kids behaved well while she was gone.
I wish the same could be said for today. The boys had awful naps today and so weren't always in the best of moods. In addition Abigail fell off of her trike, hard as that may seem, and got a fairly large bruise on her face... right on her cheek. It looks as if I punched her. Folks will see her and me and think to themselves, "hmm, watch out for those quiet ones..." By the time I got home from work, Michelle was pretty burnt out. We had just received a copy of the CCL Family Foundations Magazine, which is one of Michelle's favorites. I told her to take the magazine, a picture of her kids, and some money and go and have a quiet dinner by herself so she could collect herself a bit. So that's where she is now as I write this.
I have some pictures in the camera of Claire in her school uniform. I hope to extract and post them soon. It's all just a matter of time. I think she looks very cute in her new school uniform. I think you'll agree.
One last thing to mention is that Claire seems to be getting more confidence about swimming. I took her to the YMCA pool last Monday to see how she is doing. She did have some floatation aids on her, but nonetheless was quite good with putting her face in the water, swimming around, and jumping in. Tomorrow she starts some more swimming lessons at the YMCA. This will be her first swim class where the parent isn't in the pool beside the child. We gave her a couple of sessions of break after last winter's class so that she wouldn't get burnt out. Not to mention the twins complicate things a bit.
So that's about all that I can think of as far as highlights. We'll see how the weekend goes. It's supposed to be sunny and in the upper 80's. That's a bit warmer than I like for September, but it beats having thunderstorms. Besides, "The Big One" ice cream stand is closing after this weekend. The warm weather will add some motivation to get one last "Nor'easter" ice cream treat for the season. ;-) Before I know it, I'll be dealing with real Nor'easter storms instead.