End of summer

I have recently come to terms with the fact that I have written all I am going to about our Europe trip.  I kept thinking that I would finish writing about it, but it seemed overwhelming to try to reconstruct each day, especially when my mom had already done such a complete job with that in her travel letters...and I managed to post a bunch of photos of our travels on Facebook, as well as making a book for our family full of all the pictures we took, but, again, never managed to transfer them to the blog.  If anyone out there is (1) still reading this and (2) isn't friends with me on Facebook and (3) would like to see photos, leave a comment and we'll work it out!

In other news, summer is ending fast!  We have had an amazing summer.  It has been fantastic.  It would be hard to overstate how great it has been.  We have had time at home, time to explore our region and overseas, time with kids in day camps, time with our whole family together, and time to connect with both sets of our parents and my extended family.  It has been everything a summer should be and more.  The combination of sustained beautiful weather, our new play structure, and our suburban patio allowed us many, many lovely dinners outside while the kids romped in the yard.  And, because of some focused time in her classroom at the beginning of summer and at the end, Sacha hardly had to work at all. 

Suddenly, here we are at the beginning of the school year again, and it is going to be a big one for several of us!  Sacha is in a new position at a new school.  She's going to be teaching a blended class of two different grades.  She is back at work, organizing and setting up desks and madly studying the two different sets of standards and curricula. 

Mateo is going to be starting kindergarten on Thursday.  Our baby!  In kindergarten!  How can this be happening?  We're very excited for him, of course, and thrilled and relieved to have him in a school that fits him so well.  We played there this evening, peeking into the windows of his classroom and talking about all the things he might do in the coming year.

And, Natalia has already had her first week at her new preschool!  Again, cue the thrilled and relieved feelings that we have found a school that seems to be such a good fit.  It is a very small (12 kids in her class, with two teachers and a parent helper every day), nature-based school with a real live forest right across the parking lot.  They are based in the lower level of a church, with a cute classroom that has lots of opportunities for art projects and pretend play.  They also get to spend time exploring their wooded surroundings, which Tali has already enjoyed a lot.  Moreover, she has already befriended a couple of little girls in her class, which is really, really big for her.  She seems much more comfortable there than she did at her first preschool, and we hope that this will be a great year for her there. 

As for Rosie and I, we are going to get to spend lots of one-on-one time together this year, while the bigger kids are in school.  I'm looking forward to doing some of the baby/toddler things with her that I used to do with her older siblings, but haven't been able to do with her yet.  For example, we wil now be able to go to the storytime for one- and two-year-olds at the local library, to which I never could have brought all three kids.  I have to laugh a little at how overwhelmed I sometimes felt when Mateo was a baby, and how blissfully easy spending time with one baby seems now.  I guess it's all about perspective!

I'm also hoping to do some running during the days with Rosie in tow.  We got a jogging stroller this summer and I've used it a few times already.  I'm getting ready for another half-marathon in October and have had an easy time fitting in training time while Sacha has been home, but that is about to change!  Here's hoping the jogging stroller lets me get in some miles while the big kids are at school.

That's about it for now.  Happy end of summer and new school year to everybody!