dave & janet horsman ::: keepin’ it real since 1998

Elijah documentented his first day of third grade on his video camera.

And then there were two…

Wowzers it’s quiet here today.  I don’t like it.  …At all.

Well, we’ve survived our first science fair as parents!  This time around, it was easy.  It was optional for K-3rd graders to be in the science fair, so we just had Elijah and Zeke do a joint project.  I can’t imagine what it will be like to have all four kids in school, all doing different projects!  Phewf!  It’s a lot of hard work!

We studied the incandescent light bulb, which was quite interesting!  We even made a homemade light bulb, which convinced me that I would not have been a good inventor.  After just a few minutes of working with all the materials, I was seriously ready to chuck the whole thing out the window, so frustrated was I with it.  Hats off to Thomas Edison, who worked on the light bulb for a year and a half till he got it “right” - a light bulb that burned for 13 and 1/2 hours.   He knew what he was talking about when he said, “Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration!”

While we worked on the project, I told them about a science fair that I had won 2nd place in.  Incidentally, their science fair was not being judged, but Zeke was preoccupied with the idea of winning.  I kept telling him that there would be no winners at this science fair, but still, he wondered out loud a few more times who would win. 

Finally, Elijah said, “Zeke…there is not going to be a prize at this science fair.  That was only in the “olden days” that they did that sort of thing!”  Ha!

P.S.  Isn’t that cute, Phoebe hanging out on Daddy’s back?  And Noah spent the whole evening sleeping soundly in the stroller, a fact which I was very thankful for.  I’m sure he would have ransacked more than one project had he been awake… and out of the stroller, as he no doubt would have been at some time during the evening, the little escape artist!  …Oh dear, I’m sure everyone thought we were sort of crazy, as we arrived there with all four of our kids in tow…and I think we are!

Well!  Talk about being in perpetual motion!  I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’ve barely had a chance to sit down in the past week.  From back to school night, to Kindergarten orientation, traipsing all over town in search of two red pocket folders – since Zeke’s school supply list specified that he must have red pocket folders.  Then a two-year-old ear infection, a trip to Valley Fair, and a chipmunk in my kitchen…  Good grief, Charlie Brown!  Is there any rest for the wicked?  And I mean “wicked,” of course, in the New England sense of the word:  Incredibly cool and awesome, not evil and malevolent.

I have, nonetheless, managed to snap a few photos through all of this.  I’ll start with the most recent; the back to school photos, since they were requested…

Here they are yesterday, looking a little apprehensive…

Elijah rode the bus to school by himself yesterday…

For the Kinders’ first day, us parents come along, so Zeke and I drove to school together.  We did a little scavenger hunt in the school together…aimed at helping the kinders feel more comfortable in their new environment. 

So, at long last, this morning, Zeke got to ride on the bus with his big brother.  They were both pretty giddy with excitement…  

It’s a huge answer to prayer that Zeke is going to morning kindergarten!  Elijah went to afternoon kindergarten, as our side of the city always had, and I really disliked it.  This doesn’t make any sense, but it seemed to take all morning to get ready for afternoon kindergarten; it’s so much easier to just get up and go.  I didn’t relish the idea of sending  Elijah off in the morning, and then Zeke off after lunch, so I began praying earnestly at the beginning of the summer that this would change.  Dave said, “But why would they change it?  Hasn’t it always been that way?”  “Well,” I said, “they’re gonna change it because the Lord is going to push them towards changing it!”  Yay!

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We spent Labor Day at Valley Fair, the local amusment park.  We had an excellent day!  The weather was perfect, the lines were very reasonable, and… ever so exciting, Elijah had grown a whole inch in the past month! …He was tall enough to ride the Steel Venom with me…

This was my first time on the ride too!  Aaaaah!

It looks like Zeke’ll have to wait till next summer to ride the big coasters though…

Or maybe, just maybe, he’ll have a growth spurt like Elijah did, and be able to ride them by the end of October.  That’s when Valley Fair closes for the season.

For now, Zeke’s favorite rides are the ones that get him soaking wet!  I went on couple with him, but by the time we got to Thunder Canyon, Elijah and Daddy were off on the big rides, and I couldn’t bring Phoebe on it with me.  So Zeke, the friendly little fellow that he is, befriended a group of adults and went on it over and over with them.  Can you spot Zeke, getting doused with water?

And Phoebe and Noah were such agreeable little onlookers.  They both just dozed on and off in the double stroller together…

And Phoebe sometimes on Daddy…

Noah got to go on a few rides as well.  It’s nice that Valley Fair has tons of kiddy rides too…and that the kiddies get to go for free…

Okay, that’s definitely enough with the pictures!  (I hope that makes up for the lack of posts lately, Mum!)

So now, here I am at home with only my two youngest for weekday mornings (Zeke will arrive home on the bus around noon every day), and a little breathing space.  But again I say, I really don’t know where the summer went!  Or, for that matter, the past eight years.  How in the world is it that I have two children in school, a two-year-old and a three-month-old?  Crazy!