Second day of School

I am not very good at this kind of thing. Growing up I don't think we ever took a picture on the first day of school. This seems to be more of an Ashurst tradition, which I really try to uphold. The problem is that I just simply forget to take the picture. So this year I cheated, and took a picture the second day of school. Almost good enough right?

Here are all the kids right before Winter and Sterling went to the bus at the end of the driveway. The picture is kind of bad, because I had it on the wrong setting, and didn't realize it until they were already gone.

It's fun for me to see Winter and Sterling walk down our long driveway together. They look so cute! Sometimes they fight, but usually they play with rocks and look at the cows until the bus arrives.

Since the bus doesn't always arrive at the same time, they often have to wait at least 5-10 minutes. The one day I don't send them out early, the bus is bound to get there early. So, I send them out, and they wait. For now that's not a big deal, because the weather is still nice, but as soon as it gets colder, or rainy, I'll have to start driving them to the end of the driveway and waiting there with them for the bus to come. I'm not complaining though, because it sure is nice to have someone that picks them up and drops them back off. It saves me a lot of time and gas. Plus the kids have a lot of fun on the bus. Any time I try to drive them home, because I happen to be at the school at the end of the day, they throw a fit.

Kindergarten

Sterling had his first day of kindergarten today. He has been so excited to go to school, and has patiently been waiting for months now!
On Friday night I took him to the school to meet his teacher. Ms Watson is such a nice lady! She is really good with kids. I don't think she has any kids of her own, but she sure knows how to talk to them, treat them, and deal with them.
She was so cute, she made these little gift bags for the parents "survival kit".It had tissues in there, as well as hugs and kisses chocolate. As you can see my Kleenex 's are still closed. Personally I don't know why people cry when their kid goes to school. I know that Sterling is in good hands, and he gets to learn so many new things. But I sure enjoy the chocolate!
When I walked outside, I heard another mom say that her child cried every day for a week her first year. Sterling would never do that. He is so excited.
I thought I would dump him straight in the pool (so to speak) and let him ride the bus home. Winter picked him up from his classroom (she's right next door) and took him to the cafeteria where the kids wait for the bus.
I haven't seen such a happy Sterling since he bought his bionicle.
Tomorrow Winter and Sterling both get to go on the bus both to and from school. So fun! (although tiring for me)

Black eye

Sterling has a knack for getting black, swollen eyes. Usually his eye is big and puffy from a mosquito bite, but this time he has a genuine black eye. Here's an excerpt from Joe's blog:

"The kids were jumping on the trampoline over at my friend Tyson's house this afternoon (June 27th) while I installed a new lower radiator hose on the trusty(?) Metro which we had parked there on Friday. Suddenly Sterling started wailing like a stuck pig. Of course, he does this more frequently than we would prefer and has created his own little "sky is falling" situation so we merely yelled up to him that he needed to stop it forthwith. Usually, the wailing is a result of a group of children excluding him from their play or hurting his feelings or something. This time, had we only known, we would have gotten up there sooner.

After finishing the car, I walked up to the house to find that Sterling was under ice and when the ice was pulled back, his eye was almost completely swollen shut. Apparently he and Winter collided on the trampoline and he came off with the short end of the stick. Here's the result after an hour or so of ice. Notice how happy Sterling is. He was tough (after the initial wailing) but he certainly didn't want anyone thinking that he was pleased with the situation.

We have way too many pictures of Sterling with an overly swollen eye (usually from wasps.) If we keep up this rate, we are going to be able to compile a complete photo album of images of Sterling at all different ages with a swollen eye."

I took a picture the next day:
Then Joe took a picture on day 4.
"Sterling is looking fine - swelling gone, but a fantastic color. Luckily today was our homestudy where the adoption agency comes by to make sure we have a suitable home for a state-child. It is always nice to have some nice color in the kids eyes when they come by :rolleyes:"

This last picture is from today (day 5)I think Sterling was really lucky to get such a "pretty" black eye. The bruising is mostly above his eye, and if he was a girl, I would have just put make up on the other one.

Swimming

The whole family had a blast swimming today. I can tell that the kids are really getting used to the water. While a few weeks ago Sterling would just sit on the steps, he is now to the point that he jumps in the deep end. Ginger has figured out how to go down the slide by herself, and does this cute little prep before she runs and jumps into the water. I tried to capture some of this in this video. Winter is also getting better and better at swimming, and can now easily swim from one end of the pool to the other. Her and Joe like to race.

Clowns

This afternoon 2 clowns from the Ringling Bros circus came to the Leonard library. They did some fun tricks and made the kids laugh. I have never seen so many people at that library! Out of the 3 kids, I think Sterling liked the clowns the best. He was just grinning from ear to ear. After their little show, they announced the summer reading program. If the kids read 5 books this summer (should be easy) they get free tickets to the circus. Winter got so motivated and has been reading all night. Of course the down side to them getting free tickets is, that I still have to buy tickets for me and Joe. That's ok though. I think it will be great fun. I can't remember going to the circus as a kid (my mom tells me we actually went twice) so I'm kind of excited for myself too.

Fish in the water

Winter is like a fish in the water. Since the weather has gotten much nicer, we have been using the pool a lot. After naps, the kids love to go out and swim. After just 3 days this week, Winter can now swim all the way across the length of the pool by herself. She still insists that she needs to wear her goggles (with nose piece), but sometimes she forgets to put it on, and still does great.
It's interesting to see the difference between the kids. Winter loves to swim. Sterling is petrified of the water. Ginger takes after Winter and is already jumping in the deep end. Joe is really good about getting Sterling to explore though, and he got him to go in the middle of the pool with arm bands and a noodle. I'm hoping that by the end of the summer all 3 kids will swim as good as Winter does.

Sterling's Tackle

Sterling has been wanting to get a tackle box like mine for some time. His mom didn't want him to spend his DisneyWorld savings on it, so she let him work for some extra spending money. He earned $0.25. We figured we would cover him on the rest. The other day, it struck me that going to the Bass Pro Shops (a HUGE fishing store so large that there are actually fishing ponds in the store!) with his grandpa could be a real fun experience. So I called gramps and asked him if he would be willing. He was, and on Saturday, while all the kids were being cared for by the grandparents (while we were in our adoption training classes) grandpa took Sterling and grandma took Winter and Ginger.
Apparently grandpa and Sterling had a great time and not only bought a tackle box, but could not pass by the opportunity to buy Sterling a new fishing rod combo kit that included:

• rod
• reel
• fishing line
• assorted hooks, bobbers, sinkers, lures, plastic worms, etc.
• stringer line

He was super excited and tonight we used it for the first time. We had a few bites and even landed a small bass using one of his new lures. Good times.

Turtles

We have turtles in our lake. At first I didn't believe it. I mean, turtles live in zoos and pet shops, and Florida... not in OUR lake! Sterling found the first one last week. It was a pretty good sized box turtle. A few days later he found another one. Then a few days ago the kids found a good sized "red" turtle. They like to keep them in a box by the back door and think it's hilarious when its head shoots back in when someone walks up.

Farm Work

The kids really like helping out whenever they can. Ginger and Sterling braved high-90s temperatures and very high humidity to help load our ailing bush-hog into the back of the truck.

Jumping fun

Grandma and grandpa Ashurst came to visit. Grandma had some fun with the kids on the trampoline.

Quote of the day

Sterling: "Why do people put seeds in watermelon"?

Pronunciation

Winter started hear journey into speech with dual fluidity (speaking both english and dutch.) Jessica was determined that Winter would be able to speak to her great-grandparents. It worked, as Jessica spoke Dutch to Winter and Joe spoke english. All seemed fine until Winter started going over to friends houses to be babysat. She would ask politely for "mucka" and nobody would understand what she saying. She would talk about the "fokachas" and the response was the same. She would get frustrated and Jessica decided to let go of dutch (for a while.)
It appears that one of the consequences of Winter's early language proficiency was that she had a real ear for pronunciation and rapidly learned to pronounce things with remarkable clarity. She never had problems with her "R"s or "Y"s. Sterling and Ginger (on the other hand) who have never learned any dutch to speak of, show signs of being a bit slow to learn to pronounce things properly. Did the Dutch lessons early on help? Who knows.
One other little tidbit is that Sterlings tongue was "tied" and we actually took him in for surgery as a youngster to have it loosened. It is conceivable that that may have affected him as well, but Ginger seems to be following closely in Sterlings footsteps.

Mosquito allergy

Sterling has a really bad allergy to insect bites. Whenever he gets stung, the bite swells up into a large bump. The first time he got stung on his face was in 2004, he was only 18 months old. We were on a little hike in the mountains, when Sterling wandered off and stepped on an underground wasp nest. He got stung right between the eyes.Then, in 2006 when we went to the mountains for a day, he got stung by a mosquito. This time right above his eye. This caused his tissue around his eye to swell up so much, that we took him to the doctor. The doctor made me think he had some kind of infection, and that he could go blind if we didn't go to the emergency room. All they gave him was benadryl! I was so mad. $700 later, I decided that if it ever happened again, I would start by giving him Benadryl myself. Then, if the swelling wouldn't go down, or got worse, I would take him to the doctor.2 days ago I noticed Sterling's eye was a little bit swollen. Upon further investigation, I found he indeed had a mosquito bite. Again, right above his eye, on the eye lid. I started a strict Benadryl program, every 4-6 hours, especially before bed. Yesterday it was the worst, but today it's practically gone. I guess I've learned a thing or two since I first became a mother.This allergy must have come from me. As a kid, when I lived in Holland, I got stung by mosquitoes literally thousands of times. It was never a problem. The minute I moved to the US, every bite swells up like a wasp sting. You can even see the poison that is deposited under the skin. I must have passed this allergy on to Sterling.. I don't know how American mosquitoes are different than Dutch mosquitoes, but when I went back to visit Holland, I didn't have the same adverse reaction.

Capes

The kids always like to use their blankets as capes. Sterling will come to me with his blanket and one of those large black paper clips and beg me to make a cape. The paper clip really doesn't work! So today we were out of those big clips, and I had the genious idea to just use hair bands. Turns out, they are much easier to work with, and don't fall off! Sterling and Ginger have gotten to the point where they start dancing and posing as soon as I pull my camera out. I never ask them to say "cheese", but I guess it was ingrained in them early on in life so much that they say it anyways. At first I was taking pictures of Sterling. Then Ginger came and started posing while continuously saying "me, me, me"

Water fears

When Sterling was 2 years old he went to his first swim lesson. He didn't really like it, but didn't seem to hate it either. The next year we tried again. This time around though, he screamed every single day, for 2 weeks. He seemed genuinely scared of the water. It was frustrating for me to watch. Here I was at swimming lessons, I spent $50 for 2 weeks of swimming, and he just flat-out refused. So last year I gave it a brake. No swimming lessons. Although Winter had been asking for it, I just wasn't up to it.
Now we live in a house with a pool. I keep thinking that one day he'll just get used to the water and start swimming. So far it's either very slow-going, or not going at all. He'll get in the water, at the edge and play, but he will not put his face in the water. I don't know whether to push him, or leave it alone. On the one had I want him to have fun, but on the other hand I also realize how important it is for him to learn how to swim.
The funny thing is, that his problem with water isn't just restricted to the pool. He hates taking showers too. After I wash his hair, he just hates rinsing it out. When he washes his face, he uses minimal amounts of water.
Maybe I'm silly to even think about this as a problem. He'll probably just grow out of it, right?

5 year old Sterling

Sterling has a lot of energy

He loves his collections; rocks, dirt, snails, keys, or any other small objects
He is a sensitive young boy
He loves to tease his sisters
He has beautiful blue eyes
I'm afraid he'll brake many girls' hearts
He loves bugs more than T-ball
He learned how to write his name
If you can get through to him, he is very loving and cuddly
He misses his duck (he accidentally killed it)
He loves to ride his bike
If he eats any sugar at all he instantly transforms into an energizer bunny.. keeps going, and going
Sterling loves his grandma Ashurst
He loves doing projects with his Grandpa Ashurst
He will play outside on the swings for more than 10 minutes!
His favorite activity is doing chores with his dad
His second favorite activity is checking for eggs with his mom
He loves his John Deere quillo and would take it everywhere if I let him
His dad lets him play with knives, his mother WON'T
He loves candy
He is as tall, or taller than his big sister Winter
He wears a size 6, and only just turned 5
He has learned to run with one hand on his pants.. to keep them from falling off
He asks for food all day long
He still puts his shoes on backwards 90% of the time
He is so excited to start kindergarten next fall
He challenges me as a mother on an hourly basis, but I love him like nothing else

The beginning of a Journal

My objective for this blog is to keep a sort of journal for my kids.
I found out today that a blog can be printed into a book, and decided that it would be cool to make books for my kids, so they can remember things that they won't otherwise. I will try to write a bit about each kid individually, as well as combination posts.