New beginnings

The first day of school. Every year it has a different energy than any other school day. The kids are excited about being back in school after the long hot summer. And I'm excited about getting some time alone with Holly for long leisurely walks in the morning or just doing errands without rushing. But I already miss the big kids. Meged is starting first grade today - her first day of "real" school. Brit and Zach will be turning 10 this year. Double digits. Holly has pretty much weaned herself recently. All of these major milestones are hard for me to take. My babies are growing up way too fast.

But this year is also going to be really exciting as each day takes us closer to the US for our big adventure. Brit and Zach are progressing at such an amazing rate in their English studies. Sure, they still have a way to go in order to get up to speed with the kids their age in the US, but I am so proud of the effort and seriousness they put into learning. They're learning American social studies, history, and science as well as their regular language arts topics - all of this on top of the work they get from school. Brit read a condensed Heidi and one of the Ramona books this summer. Zach read a condensed White Fang and several short stories in English. Meged is already reading in Hebrew and halfway through our English reading book. At this rate, by Christmas, she'll be reading in English at a 2nd grade level. Then we'll have more than half a year to work on other subjects 1st graders in the US are expected to work on. I'm not saying there won't be things they'll still need to learn and get used to once we move, but all of this preparation is going to make the move so much easier for them.

There are big changes in after school activities this year too. Zach has been excelling at gymnastics since he started two years ago and even chose to take a gymnastics camp this summer and last. So I expected he'd want to continue taking classes to increase his skills and he would have if all else were equal. But we can't put him in endless classes every year, so he wants to try something slightly different this time around - trampolines! He also started getting into chess over the past year, so he'll be taking a chess class too this year.

Brit was also in gymnastics for two years, but really it wasn't her thing. She went to an art camp over the summer and really learned a lot even though not much time was spent on drawing - which is really her forte. She had been excited about doing a drawing class this year....or so I thought. It was actually me who thought it would be great to have someone professional guiding her, but she was just going along with the idea. She finally told me that she doesn't enjoy drawing what someone else tells her to draw. It has to come from her heart. What a true artist! Even though I do think she'd get a lot out of it and learn new techniques to improve her skills, I was so proud of her for telling it like it is and not letting anyone sway her artistic aspirations. She is such a happy soul when drawing and I wouldn't want to do anything to risk sullying the joy she gets from it. In any case, she's been coveting a spot in the trampoline class as well, so she and Zach will be in the class together this year.

Meged was in gymnastics last year and although she enjoyed it, let's just say that her talents lie elsewhere! This year she wants to do something artistic - preferably painting. But whatever it ends up being, I'm sure she'll get a lot out of it. She just likes creating stuff, no matter what it is - like her Mama!

Holly has taken on Meged's previous Elmo obsession. A day just doesn't start out right without an Elmo DVD. She has also turned out to be quite the helper both in the house and the garden. Whatever it is I'm doing, she's right there pitching in to help. Of course, half the help makes more work for me, but it's great fun to watch her slaving away in the garden or "mopping" the floors. Such a funny kid.

So all in all, life goes on - ever changing and ever evolving. Sometimes that's a sad thing, but even when you want to hold on to the kids being little, you really can't deny how lovely it is to watch your child blossom.

Thoughts of Home

My husband recently announced that he's now finally agreed to relocate to the US for a few years. He still hasn't even started looking for a job in the US yet. But now that the announcement has been made rather than just some obscure promise of "someday", it has the feeling of being real and I can't say how much this means to me - the chance to go home. Since before my kids were even conceived, I've dreamed of showing them where I grew up. I want them to see me on my own turf, not just always as a foreigner unable to speak the language properly. I want them to see fireflies and listen to cicadas chirping in the summertime. I want them to know what the Christmas Season really is, even for non-religious or even non-Christian Americans. I want them to know about Haunted Houses and candy corn. I want them to experience hay rides and swimming at the lake. I want them to see a rodeo and go to baseball games where they can eat corn dogs and root beer floats afterwards. I want them to know what Monday night football is and to have a favorite team to root for. I want my kids to go to summer picnics where potato salad and macaroni salad aren't weird foreign food. I want them to know what a Peanut Buster Parfait and a brownie fudge sundae are. I want them to go to a school where P.E. class can be done indoors in the auditorium on cold rainy days. I want them to know what a Sonic Drive-In is. I want them to know what caroling and hot spiced cider are and to be able to make snow angels in their own front yard. I want the kids to have a neighbor bring Christmas cookies over in December and the kids in turn not think it's weird, but rather be glad and invite them in for some hot cocoa or this year's running of The Grinch. I want them to know what it feels like to go on a real Easter Egg hunt. I want them to know what Easter Peeps are...even if they end up thinking they're as disgusting as I do. I want to be able to fill their Easter baskets with all of those candies that you can only get at Easter time. I want them to know what it feels like to walk in the rain on a warm summer evening. I want them to go Trick-or-Treating, even if it does end up just being in the mall. I want them to experience a five day school week and a two day weekend. I just want them to know my kind of normal life. So, here's to this promise and the desperate hope that it will materialize into a reality. If everything goes as planned, this time next year I'll be writing a blog post from the US detailing how successful our move has been so far. Until then, I'll just do my best to keep my excitement under control.

...the living is easy

Ah, summertime. I love this time of year. Especially before the August heat waves hit! But seriously, I could practically sing the song about my own life. All except for the cotton. Not much of that growing in my garden. Not any, to be completely honest. But we do have fairly tall butterfly weed attracting all sorts of pretty things, so it's not all bad. And Daddy may not be rich financially, but rich can come in so many other forms. My family is my most precious commodity and they make me endlessly wealthy.

Speaking of butterflies in the garden, Meged (my six year old daughter) brought home some caterpillars from her after school garden class. I had to actually resort to pilfering a few leaves from the garden center to feed the little guys before they started construction on their little cottony condos. But I digress. It's so nice to see Meged enjoying these little babies of hers, checking on them every day after school, giddy with excitement about the day they'll finally emerge from their cocoons. I don't know if I should tell her that the chances of her actually standing next to the box on the day they begin to unfold their wings are pretty slim. I figure it's best to let her enjoy this while it lasts and hope for the best. Next year we'll construct a proper butterfly hutch so she can be sure to witness their first day out in the fresh air. Or I could stop putting it off and just make one now for her. I just hope it's not too late.

... pause for summer ...

Funny, I just found this draft from back in May. I guess I forgot to complete the post after I went out and made aforementioned butterfly hutch. It turned out rather rickety, but Meged didn't care or even notice as far as I know. The butterflies sprang forth from their cocoons a few weeks later and in a splendid display of anticlimax never left the box....but rather went about their business making more babies and then died. Meged was, fortunately, not too devastated by this suicidal behavior.

It's now just a blink away from September and the beginning of the school year. This was our best summer ever. Hence the utter lack of posts since May - we were too busy having fun to sit down and blog! I'll miss the kids when they go back to school. We truly had a lovely time together these past nine weeks and more than ever I feel so blessed to be mother to these four most amazing children.