Last Day of School

How is it possible that school starts again in just three weeks? I started writing about the last day of school a month ago and never finished. I figured a better finish it now before we start our school days all over again.

A few weeks ago we kissed goodbye to yet another school year. The last month seemed extra long to me since my whole world was building up to Harlow's arrival in the middle of April. After she arrived life paused and it seemed odd that the rest of the world (including school) kept scooting right along. Needless to say, we all had been looking forward to the end for a while.

A few days before school let out, Max's class did an end-of-the-year performance of songs/dances they had learned. Max was so adorable--especially with his dancing--that I was absolutely kicking myself for forgetting my camera. They also read their page from a "When I grow up" book they had put together. Apparently the report Reed did on his Scottish heritage (including tracing lineage back to royalty) had an impact on Max because he said that when he grows up he'd like to be a king. I thought it was an interesting choice until another little girl said she wanted to grow up to be a butterfly.

After my first camera mishap I was sure to bring it on the last day of school when I picked up the boys.

Reed and Mrs. Alspaugh. Mrs. Alspaugh is the best teacher anyone could hope for. She was wonderfully passionate about teaching the kids and just perfect for Reed. She really "got" his personality and creativity and masterfully encouraged the best from him. I was so disappointed to hear that she was retiring after this year, since otherwise Reed would have had her for 4th grade as well.

Reed and Mrs. King. Reed had Mrs. King for Math and Science and really enjoyed everything he learned from her. When we stopped by to say goodbye, she mentioned how much she enjoyed having Reed and appreciated his talent and abilities and helping to explain math and science in class from another perspective.

After I had Reed take pictures with his teachers, this is how he felt about me taking more pictures. Sorry Reed, but you'll thank me someday.

Max and Miss Kefauver. Max had quite possibly the sweetest, kindest, gentlest Kindergarten teacher ever. He was lucky to also have a few different great enrichment teachers as well, but I think having such a loving teacher was just the entry he needed to school.

I got Max out a little early and as we were leaving his class a little girl called out to him and ran after him to give him a hug. Not a surprise really, since whenever I would pick Max up from school he seemed to be friends with everyone. His stories from school often included  details about another new friend he had made.

Ruby is not one to be left of anything--especially not pictures.

Being in the picture with Max was nice, but what Ruby really wanted was the sand bucket his teacher had given him. Oh, the injustice of not being in school yet!

On our way out Reed jokingly asked Max if he would carry his backpack since it  was filled to the brim and weighed a ton. He really just wanted Max to pick it up and be amazed at how heavy it was, but instead Max just said, "sure" and  carried the heavy load without a second thought. That's my Max.

After we left school we headed straight for the Fractured Prune to celebrate the completion of another school year. The boys had also gotten their report cards and we had plenty to celebrate. Reed got straight A's (which I was very happy about), but even more pleasing was the fact that, for the first time, he had gotten perfect marks in the study habits section as well. I know Reed knows his stuff, but he has struggled with keeping things organized and using time wisely in class.  He had been conscientiously working on those areas, so I was thrilled to see his efforts had paid off. 

Max's report card was equally wonderful, not only with perfect marks, but also with advanced proficiency listed in every area...including P.E. I could not have been happier. The kids capitalized on my joy and convinced me to let them get a "hole in one", which is two donuts with two scoops of ice cream. No shortage of sugar here.

I thought I was being so clever by having the kids wear the same clothes they wore on the first day of school so I could take their picture.  It wasn't until I was looking at these pictures that I realized that Reed was wearing the wrong clothes. Oops! Even without identical clothes, I can tell they've all noticeably grown up this year...and noticeably need hair cuts.

                                         First Day                                                                        Last Day

Of course the biggest change is the addition of our sweet Harlow.

One thing I know for sure--they can all jump much higher now. Either that or the last day of school is more exciting that the first.

First Day

Last Day

Hip Hip Hooray...now off to squeeze every moment out of these last 3 weeks of freedom!

Harlow-2months

I know I'm behind when Max sees our blog and says, "What?! Mom, you haven't even put Harlow's 2 month picture on here yet!" I love that he cares... actually, they all care. In fact, they care enough to give me a moment while Harlow is taking a nap so I can finish this during the day instead of  after they are in bed at night when I seem to have no control of my eyelids.

Here is a quick recap of Harlow at 2 months...

I don't know if Harlow is actually the best baby ever, but she sure is the best baby of mine.  Her sweet temperament and calm aura have been present since her birth and even 3 months into it I am in awe daily that the serenity continues.

She almost never cries, and, when she does, it is better described as a quiet whimper that can quickly be calmed. In fact, the only time I can really expect anything but smiles from her is in the car seat--which it turns out she is not a fan of. Even then, her car seat cry is pale in comparison to Ruby's consta-scream in the car seat when she was a baby.

She sleeps at night like a pro. She has slept for 5-6 hours at night almost since we brought her home from the hospital with little coaxing from us. In fact, it used to stress me out to have her sleep so long at night when she was so little, but now that I've been spoiled I don't know how I could do without it. After her 6 hour stretch at night she will wake up, eat and go right back to sleep for another 2-3 hours. This might be normal for some people, but certainly not for me. I haven't necessarily done anything too different this time either, so I'm going to have to give her all the credit for this one.

This was  a big month for Harlow. She went from being a squishy little bum-in-the air sleeping lump of a newborn to the full-fledged baby of our family (sorry Ruby!), melting our hearts on an almost hourly basis with her huge infectious smile and easy peaceful nature.

Here are a few other moments from Harlow's second month:

1. Max's adoration of her has only grown. He dotes over her and freely showers her with compliments as only Max can.

2. She's found her hands. It has been so fun to watch her surprise herself with what they are capable of. The kids go crazy watching her swat at her toys like she's the first baby to perform such a feat.

3. This month she also received her quilt from my Grandma. All my kids have a blanket from their Great Grandma and they were so excited for her when it arrived in the mail.

Here are all my kids with their quilts from Grandma. This picture definitely has me humming the Brady Bunch theme song.

4. When Harlow was born I was worried she looked too much like a boy. Sam always disagreed. When I took this picture, I sent it to Sam at work and told him that I was wrong about my sweet little girl. (Sorry Harlow...you're mother is a little crazy after she gives birth)

 5. Reed has been super helpful with Harlow and she is definitely recognizing him as one of her favorite people.

 6. Harlow is a super smiley baby, but she is still getting used to my camera. She'll be grinning from ear to ear and then when I disappear behind the camera she will wonder where I've gone. Sometimes I'm able to catch her joy and sometimes I catch her perplexed wonder instead.

7. Harlow has been an alert gal from the beginning. She may be the youngest, but I don't think she plans to miss out on anything if she can help it. 

8. During her second month, she also suffered through a rough bout of baby acne. It seemed to be worse and last longer than any of our other kids, but I don't know if that is necessarily true---any time with baby acne seems long.

9. She's the sweetest little talker. Sam and I both agree that she has been the most eager "talker" of our bunch. When we talk or sing to her she coos and oohs right along. It's my favorite.

I think it's Sam's favorite too.

10. She's a tall one. She started out tall (21. 5 inches) and seems to be keeping on that course. At her 2 month appointment her height was still in the 99 percentile, but I don't need a growth curve to tell me that she's a tall. The 3 to 4 inches of leg hanging out most of her clothes do a pretty good job letting me know she'll be passing me up one of these days.

11. If you think seeing Harlow hold Reed's scriptures is a funny sight you should hear him trying to explain what he's reading to her. I love that boy and he sure loves his sister.

12. First matching headbands.

A few other non-pictured things about Harlow at this age include the following; She's got super strong legs and loves to stand. Standing has always been her preferred position when holding her. 

While Harlow has been the "perfect" baby,  feeding her has not been so perfect. This month it was particularly difficult keeping her on a track with a steady weight gain. She started out huge, but for whatever reason (I've driven myself crazy trying to figure it out) I just couldn't keep her steadily moving forward from that point. It's been the only low part of my experience with her but thankfully it's something that at this point we have mostly resolved. I would never call her a chunky baby, but I think we have decided that she is going to be just fine doing what she's doing. (See mom, look at that double chin.) 

We sure love this happy girl...

...and even when she's not so happy too. (Actually we see this face so rarely that I think it's pretty cute too.)

Happy late 2 months Harlow! Now on to your 3 month post...