The Zirschky Family Adventures

Anna started preschool this past Tuesday.  She has been so excited to start school.  I told her back in the spring that she would start preschool next school year and that she would start in August.  All summer long she kept asking if it was August yet.  So sweet.  Then when August rolled around and she asked I had to start saying, yes it’s August but you start August 16th.  So she preceded to ask me everyday before the 16th if it was the day.  Finally the 16th was here and she was so excited, and a little nervous.  But once we got to school I walked her into her classroom and she immediately sat down at the table and started playing with some pretend food.  I made sure her stuff was put away and that she was settled and said goodbye.  She just kept on playing without even looking at me.  I went out the door and peeked through the window and she still sat there playing very contently.  I was teary eyed and left to go back home.  I couldn’t wait to go pick her up and see how her day went.  Anna said she had fun and gave me her art project and backpack.  I love that her school writes pretty much their entire day on a note that comes home.  They write what songs they sang, books read, how much lunch she ate, when she went potty and how long she napped plus all kinds of other things about their day.  I love it!  That makes me feel so much better.  And then I can ask her questions about her day from the sheet.  She goes Tues./Thurs. from 9am-3pm.  What a big girl she is now.
Today she had show and tell.  She was all prepared with what she was going to say about Ballerina Bear but she told me she just showed the bear and didn’t talk.  It might be a while before she talks but am so glad she is loving school!

We just got back from 8 days at a camp in North Carolina.  Amazingly this was one state that none of us had been to so we were excited for our new adventure.  Andrew was asked to speak at a youth conference at Kanuga Conferences and so we all tagged along to join in the fun.

We stayed in a little cottage on the campground that had two bedrooms, a living space and a closed in porch with a porch swing.  It was a cute little cottage built in 1909.  The first few days Andrew was pretty busy preparing for the conference and was in meetings most of the time.  So the kids and I went on hikes, played at the playground, went out on the lake in boats and went shopping in the historic downtown of Hendersonville.  We had a great time getting to know some of the other kids and parents that were there for the conference and it was nice to get away from phones, TV, and computers and just enjoy each other.  On Monday, the kids activities started.  They had three different times throughout the day they had activities.
That meant free time for mommy!!!!  Although most of the afternoon activities I had to keep Anna home for a nap.  She was just too tired to continue on.  But I still got some nice moments to myself which was much needed.  The kids had fun making crafts, swimming, hiking, visiting the nature center, gardening, and much more.  They did tons of stuff and made cool tie dye t-shirts.  There were kids Evan and Anna’s age and it was so fun for them to meet new friends and see what camp life is all about.  On Wednesday Andrew had some free time so we headed to Sliding Rock which is a waterfall that has formed a natural slide.  It was great fun hanging out together and seeing the beautiful sights.

One thing I hadn’t anticipated about the trip was how hilly the campground was.  I don’t ever use a stroller anymore so I didn’t even think about bringing one for Anna.  But the hills got to Anna a little bit.  Along with the amount of steps we had to climb up to our cottage each day.  She frequently was saying things like “Will somebody stop leaving me” or “my legs hurt, I can’t walk anymore will you PLEASE carry me.”  Needless to say, she had to be carried a little bit which is also hard to do going up and down hills.  Anyway, overall it was a great week and we have lots of great memories from our time at Kanuga!

(By the way, if you click on the pictures you can see them bigger)  Spring has been most amazing here which I mentioned in my last post.  It has also made me completely preoccupied with my yard and therefore forgetting about my blog.  Anyway, I just wanted to play catch up on a few things that have been happening lately.  So here goes. Yard work has taken over our lives as we have aerated, seeded, fertilized, and tried to kill the weeds in our yard.  It takes work to have nice grass here and the people living here before us obviously didn’t take care of the yard so we are trying to get it as nice as we can.  Right now it’s looking quite nice and I think all the hard work and weeks of staying off the lawn has payed off.  I must mention though, Andrew started this process the Friday before a beautiful sunny spring break and I couldn’t allow the kids to play outside for a long time.  But in the end it was worth it.  I have been busy pulling weeds, planting flowers and spreading mulch.  Everything is really growing and looking so beautiful.  I love the early spring time here.

Anna has been busy at gymnastics and hanging out at the rec center childcare room while I exercise.  She is my shy girl.  I have been going to the rec center about 5 days a week for the past month and she still has not talked or even hardly played there.  She just walks around or sits and waits for me.  It’s really sad, but she says she has fun.  One of the workers there keeps telling her she is going to get her to talk one of these days.  Of course at home she is my crazy dancer, singer, gymnast, you name it.  There is no shyness here.  She is constantly doing one or all three of these things and is so fun to watch.  Anna also is obsessed with naming things around the house and saying what letter it starts with.  For example she says, pillow, pillow starts with p.  And keeps going all day long.  I love that she loves to learn but I feel like I am going to start talking to adults saying the beginning letter to each word as I talk.  I am so excited for her to start preschool in August and can’t wait to see all that she will take in.  She is really quite the sponge.  Oh, and in case you CRW people were wondering, yes, she still loves to swing.  And still wants to swing for hours at a time.  I hope her learning abilities will extend to physical activity and she will learn to pump at an early age.

Evan is about ready to finish 2nd grade.  I can’t believe it.  School is out in less than 3 weeks.  Crazy.  He is enjoying reading now and is very much in to Pokemon.  Not something we really wanted him to get into but it just has been his desire for so long and he is really interested in the game side of it.  So we have let him enjoy parts of Pokemon.  He also loves to sing and just had a 2nd grade concert at school last week.  He did a great job and I was so proud of him.  He really has a good voice but is too nervous to actually sing alone in front of anyone except at home.  But I’m trying to encourage that more and get him to branch out a bit.  This is the only area that he is shy.  Anyone who knows Evan knows shy is definitely not related to him.  He has always had an outgoing personality.  He is also excited to get to join Grandpa’s 5th grade classroom for a week in June where he will join them in their study on robotics.  Grandpa is retiring this year so it’s Evan’s last chance to visit his classroom and we have never been able to be there while school is still in session.

So that’s a bit of what’s going on around here.  We will travel to North Carolina and Oregon this summer and the kids will participate in VBS and Anna will be taking a dance class.  We hope to be swimming a lot and playing outdoors.

Yesterday was Evan’s 8th birthday.  We had a fun day relaxing, making chocolate buttermilk bundt cake and having some of Evan’s friends over for a small party.  We started at the house because Evan wanted time to play with his friends in his playhouse and show them his room and everything.  Then we decided to do things backwards and start with cake and ice cream and open the presents from his friends.  I didn’t want to have to take the cake and ice cream to the bowling alley so this seemed appropriate and everyone of course agreed.  Then we headed to Franklin for pizza, mini bowling, and arcade fun!!  The kids and Andrew had a blast bowling and playing games in the arcade.  They all walked away with lots of tickets and and fun picking out prizes.  It was a very nice evening of fun and friends.  After dropping the kids off we came home to open the rest of his presents from family.

I am so thankful for Evan.  He is such a handsome, loving, imaginative, curious and expressive young man.  I can’t believe he is 8 already.  Overall he has adapted really well to our move to Tennessee and has enjoyed getting to know kids in our neighborhood, at school, and even had fun hanging out with some of Andrew’s coworkers and students.  He most recently completed his involvement in something called Destination Imagination which is a problem solving team where a group of 2nd graders learn to work together to solve problems, write stories and design sets.  He did a great job and we are so proud of this accomplishment.  He also received an award at school last week for his achievements in mathematics.  We look forward to what the future holds for Evan and can’t wait to see the adventures to come.