Madalyn

I know many of you have heard this story... but I still must document it.  Sadie needs to read it when she's older.  Of course Sadie wouldn't be Sadie if she didn't keep things interesting.  Sure enough we didn't make it too far into the school year before I got my first call from the principal--day #8 to be exact.

I walked Sadie to school in the morning and dropped her off as usual.  We made it back home.  Around 9:45 my phone rang and it showed up as the school.  I answered and the secretary said she was calling to find out why Sadie was absent.  I replied "I brought her to school this morning" (probably with a note of panic in my voice).  She quickly replied, "It's probably just a mistake, stay calm while I check and I'll get right back to you."  She put me on hold.

At first I thought, "That makes sense.  She's probably been in her room the whole time."  I waited... and waited... and waited... after about 3 or 4 minutes I started to get more panicked.  By that point I figured they must be looking for her or trying to figure out what to tell me.  I was trying to stay calm but my mind was racing with possibilities.  After 5 minutes of being on hold she came back and assured me that Sadie was in fact at school and safe.  I promptly thanked her and hung up before letting out all the tears I had been fighting back.

After I was able to pull it together I started wondering what had happened--if she had indeed been in her room the whole time.  I grabbed the iPad to e-mail her teacher but before I could get started the phone rang again.  Once again the school's name showed up.  This time it was the school's principal calling to explain what had happened.

When students come in first thing in the morning they sit down in the cafeteria in a line with their classmates.  Apparently Sadie had been trying to get into other lines but had always been put back into the correct line.  On this particular day she got into the line of a new Kindergarten teacher--I believe it was her 2nd or 3rd day.  (Sadie's school started with 4 K classes of 25 students each and the district decided to add an additional class to lower the numbers.  They pulled kids from each class to create a 5th class).  The teacher didn't notice that Sadie did not belong in her class when she picked up her kids and walked them to her room.  Apparently Sadie followed along with the other kids and hung her book bag up.  There was a little girl absent from this class so Sadie sat down in her seat.  She then proceeded to copy the name off the desk and write "Madalyn" on her papers.  She hung out in the class for over an hour as Madalyn!

When the school called and I told them Sadie should be there, they immediately buzzed her teacher who told them that Sadie had not been in the room all morning.  They then alerted the principal who did an all-call over the intercom.  At that point Sadie looked at the new teacher and said "I'm Sadie Gorsch."  They returned her to the correct classroom and said she didn't have too much to say.  When I picked her up that day she admitted that she knew it wasn't a good choice and that she just "wanted to check out the other class."  She also told me that she really likes the name "Maddie" (which is true).  As we continued to talk about her day I asked her if she had received a "key" that day (a school-wide incentive for good behavior).  Her reply, "Not in my real class but in the classroom I visited I did."  The teacher had rewarded her for good behavior when lining up to use the bathroom.

Not a dull moment with Sadie... I know she will keep us on our toes always!

Just Like Big Brother

She LOVES to do things just like her big brother...

Loves to play with him...

And dress like him!

She makes a pretty cute little girl too!

Back Yard Camp Out

 One day we will go camping... for real!  Until then, we love having "back yard" camp outs!

 We made hotdogs and s'mores over the fire pit...

 We laid on the trampoline to go stargazing...

 We played games and read books in our tent...

 And the kids "camped out" on the living room floor... in a blanket tent!

First Day of Kindergarten

 Kindergarten Meet & Greet:  August 20, 2012

Sadie in her Seat

Sadie & her Teacher Ms. Z

First Day of Kindergarten:  August 22, 2012

Eating Monkey Bread on "Gorsch Family Star" Plate

Daddy went into work late so he could walk Sadie to school!

My Kindergartener!

Ms.  Jennifer and Kyra surprised Sadie by coming to pick her up from school!

Macey loves to wear Sadie's backpack and carry her lunch box every day.

"Fun Week"

I will easily admit that I was a little sad about Sadie starting school this year... sad that I was losing the freedom of having all of my kids at home... the freedom I've enjoyed the last two years that I've been able to stay home.  I knew I would still be able to do things with Kinnick and Macey but I also knew that I would miss Sadie... SO--we declared "Fun Week" at the Gorsch house.  For the entire week (and a half) before Kindergarten I completely disregarded all household chores and we made it a point to do something fun each day.  Here's what we did:

Monday:  TWO play dates... (okay these were both actually "working" play dates for me, but the kids didn't know the difference!)  We started at Ms. Kelly's in the morning--she has the MOST toys ever!  Then we went to Ms. Sarah's for lunch and more playing.

Tuesday:  We went to Brookfiled Zoo (free kids' admission!) with our friends, Carson & Logan.  Tuesday night we enjoyed ice cream  in the driveway (and later a trip to the ER!)

Wednesday:  We started our day bright and early at Urgent Care (to fix K's chin from the night before).  The kids were awesome so we went to Dunkin' Donuts as a special treat.  After that we went to the library, the park, the Mall, and met Daddy at McDonald's for lunch.

Thursday:  We made pancakes for breakfast, cookies to take to Daddy's bank, and did a painting craft.  For the afternoon we made a blanket fort and snuggled inside to read.

Friday:  We had a "backyard camp out"... (more to come on this)

Saturday:  My friend Stephanie and her daughter Mikenna came up to spend a girl's day with us.  We went shopping for new school clothes and then took the girls to see "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" at The Palms Theater.  It's a dinner theater--the girls enjoyed ordering their lunch during the movie and both picked some movie candy for dessert.

Sunday:  I took Sadie to the mall for a free haircut at JC Penny's... she was not too thrilled about getting a trim.  Luckily the lady worked quickly!  That night we took the kids out for pizza with some coupons they earned during summer reading.

Monday:  We played games in the tent, attended Sadie's "Meet & Greet", and had family Wii time that evening.

Tuesday:  I took the kids to a new park for a picnic and that afternoon we had a marathon of books about Kindergarten!  We of course read "The Kissing Hand" and also "The Night Before Kindergarten."  

I enjoyed this week of making memories!

Kinnick's Chin

The week before Sadie started Kindergarten, we got to take our 2nd trip to the emergency room for child needing stitches.  After going with Macey last fall, I was not nearly as nervous this time!  I took a look at the gaping cut in Kinnick's chin and thought "Pretty sure he needs stitches, let's go!"  Kinnick's fall took place in the bathroom.  Marc got him out of the tub and wrapped him in his towel.  He started to run toward me and slipped and hit his chin right on the tile floor.  (Because his arms were wrapped up, he couldn't break his fall.)  He started bawling and Marc scooped him up--I noticed the blood leaking from his chin.  I scooped him up while Marc went to retrieve butterfly bandaids for me.  I secured it best I could with 2 butterflies and got him cleaned up and in pajamas.  At this point, Kinnick was very calm and actually excited about the prospect of visiting the emergency room and getting stitches (he thought it was cool when Macey did it and he was pumped to get a "bracelet" from the ER!)  He decided to add a badge to his pajamas and told me that he wanted to wear it so he could show the Dr... 

 Needless to say, our ER trip was nothing like the amazing experience we had with Macey.  We went to the same hospital but ended up there on the worst possible night.  The receptionist told us when we checked in that we would be waiting for awhile (in my mind that meant an hour or so in the waiting room).  This hospital has a brand new pediatric ER that is totally separate from the regular ER--their goal is that kids would never (or rarely ever) sit in the waiting room... and we didn't with Macey.  This particular night the waiting room was packed with a mixture of adults and children (and we arrived at about 9 pm.)  I brought the Ipad for Kinnick and a book for myself and he was happy to sit and play.  An hour passed with not too many people leaving the waiting room (and even more coming in).  There were a lot of people complaining (and not quietly).  As we approached the 2 hour mark I began to wonder just how long this was going to take.  I started texting with Marc and he let me know that the urgent care we have gone to opened at 7:30 am and they do stitches.  After that I called a friend who was an ER nurse for years to ask her opinion about staying vs. leaving and waiting till morning.  She assured me that they would do stitches within 24 hours if he needed them.  I decided to check the front desk to see how many people were still in front of us.  At the 2 hour mark of waiting there were still 4 children in front of us (that was just to get in a room!)  I decided to call it quits and make a plan for morning... (This was actually our 2nd ER visit in 2 weeks and both times we ended up leaving without care.  The previous was with Macey.  To make a long story short, we thought her arm was hurt--she screamed for almost 2 hours.  By the time we checked into the ER she had calmed down and after sitting with her for about 5 minutes she seemed completely fine and let me move her arm so we decided to leave and wait till morning... she was fine!)

Back to Kinnick... I covered his butterflies with a gauze pad overnight and Marc helped me get all the kids up in the morning.  We headed to urgent care right at opening time.  Marc took Sadie with him to his office (which happens to be right next door).  We didn't wait at all--we were with the Dr. in less then 5 minutes.  They numbed his cut with a topical cream and then cleaned it real good.  The Dr. said that the butterflies did a nice job sealing up the cut--there was one small area that was still open and she said gluing should work fine.  When Kinnick heard glue he gave me a worried look.  I said "It's okay buddy, that means you don't have to get any stitches."  He replied, "Aww... I really wanted to get stitches!"  The Dr. laughed and said we could do one stitch, but I think you would like the glue better.  She talked him into the glue and we were done 10 minutes later.

Little did we know at the time but we would be back to see this same Dr. (who we LOVE!) in about 2 weeks!  Sadie and Kinnick were playing "Doctor" which they do frequently.  Sadie has q-tips in her Dr. kit which I never thought about as a potential problem.  I heard Kinnick start screaming and crying.  He couldn't even calm down to tell me what happened.  Sadie came out of her room with a q-tip in hand and said, "Mom, I think I put the q-tip in his ear too far."  She was so sad about hurting her little brother.  He cried for about  5 minutes.  When he calmed down he told me his ear was busted open just like his chin.  We couldn't see anything.  It was evening so we waited overnight.  The next morning there was dried blood in his ear.  He said it hurt when I touched his ear but other wise was fine.  We had a playdate that morning so I decided to take the kids anyway.  After we picked Sadie up from school that day we headed back to urgent care to get it checked out.  To our pleasure "Dr. Molly" was working again.  She remembered Kinnick and she is so good with the kids.  She looked at it (which was very painful for Kinnick) and said his membranes were ruptured.  She assured me that they would heal over time but the biggest concern was infection.  She prescribed ear drops and an oral antibiotic and we go back for a check this week.

Well, after all the ER/Urgent Care excitement we've had in the last month I will be happy to NOT go back for awhile.  Luckily, at the beginning of last year Marc's work decided to drop the high deductible plan we were on and we were forced to switch to a more expensive plan.  His raise at the time covered the difference and judging from the year we've had so far... God knew what we needed!

Remember the Moment

The Moments I love aren't the big ones... they are often unplanned.  

 The Moments I love are times that my whole family is together... in our home...

 Living our Life... and LOVING on each other.

 The Moments I love are the times that I think, "Life can't possibly get any better than this!"

 Times that I think "God has blessed me so abundantly, what more could I want?"

Times that I think, "I never want to forget this Moment in time."

A Weekend with Uncle Jack & Aunt Jessica

 Before Sadie started school we were able to make a trip to Jack & Jessica's for a weekend.  It wasn't as hot as it had been for most of the summer, but we still had a great day for boating.

 This was Macey & Kinnick's first experience boating.  (Sadie hadn't been since she was Macey's age!)  We were all very excited for a day on the water.

 The kids loved the whole day!  We packed a lunch to eat on the boat...

 We also enjoyed some swimming...

 and some tubing!

It was so funny to watch the differences between Sadie and Kinnick.  Kinnick would bury his face the whole time and say go slower, go slower!  Sadie (our thrill seeker) loved every minute and would constantly give a thumbs up for "Faster!"

 I think all three kids agreed that they had a great day!

 Macey liked helping drive with Uncle Jack.  He also let Sadie and Kinnick have a turn to drive (and he really let them steer--we were literally going in circles!)

The next day we walked to the little beach front close to where they live.  It ended up being a cloudy day--much cooler.  We didn't swim, but the kids liked playing in the sand and feeding the ducks.

 And Macey decided to feed herself... stale bread, yum!