The Nutcracker

Grace at dress rehearsal.

Last December Grace went to watch the ESO (Eastern Shore’s Own Art Center) production of The Nutcracker. If you remember I posted about her dramatic re-enactments of the scenes with Drosselmeyer and the Nutcracker. In January she began taking ballet lessons. So this December was her chance to dance in the real Nutcracker. She did awesome! In the Spring she was SO nervous before her performance, this time she was loving it. She couldn’t wait for her turn to dance on Saturday night. I wish I had some video to share, but the camera was set to the wrong setting so it didn’t record. BUT we have ordered a copy of the official taped performance, so we should have a copy in February some time.

Grace and SE before heading out to the show.

Grace and Leah before their Nutcracker debut.

We were so glad that Chris’ parents (Mimi and Grandaddy), Chris’ sister and her family (Kathy, Jeff, Ben, and Jackson), my brother (Jeremy) were all able to come out to The Shore to watch Grace dance. We missed my mom and dad who couldn’t come due to my mom’s health and the dr.’s concerns with her traveling. But, they were with us in spirit. Ben and Jackson were such good sports. The ballet is not high on the list of fun activities for boys ages 7 and 10, but they were really excited for Grace and hung in there for the 2 hour plus performance. Grace was only in the 1st 4 minutes of the show….

Decorating for Christmas

After we got our Christmas tree from the Montessori fundraiser we were able to start decorating the house for the Christmas season.  After hanging the ornaments the girls voted to let Uncle Jeremy put the angel on top of the tree.

 Now that the cold weather is here, it is fireplace time at our house.  Chris loves to lay on the floor after a long day of work.  The girls love to join him for some night time snuggles.

Thanksgiving 2010

The boys, frying up the turkeys.

This year we had a smaller crew than usual for our Thanksgiving feast, just my parents and Jeremy. We made enough food for twice that many and did a pretty good job on the 2 turkeys Chris fried. Grace made the place cards by doing some leaf rubbings and we left space for everyone to write something they were thankful for.

My parents brought down a copy of “The Sound of Music” and the girls got to experience watching the classic on Friday night. Now Sarah Elizabeth will occasionally burst into song with “So long, farewell, so long…” (her words) as a tribute to the classic Von Trapp kids good night song. It’s really cute.

 

Injecting the turkeys on Wednesday night.

 

Hanging out with PopPop.

Swinging with MeMa.

Turkey carving time!

Grace practices her dr. skills with MeMa's I.V.

Storytime with MeMa.

A Special Grandpa Visit

Chris’ dad and Janet made a trip out to visit us in mid-November.  They were with us for about a week and the girls had a great time getting to know Grandpa Bentley and Janet.  Grace made her first attempts at riding her bike without training wheels during their visit too.

The training wheels come off!

A nervous ride down the driveway.

Books before bed.

Peter Pan and Friends

Mr. Smee, Wendy, Captain Hook, Tinkerbell, and Peter Pan.

So, in typical Bentley style we did the family-themed-Halloween-costume again this year.  Last year we were Goldilocks and the 3 Bears.  This year we dressed as characters from Peter Pan.  I was Peter Pan by default because Chris and Jeremy refused to wear tights. We went to the Harvest Party at our church and then went trick-or-treating in Wachapreague with friends. 

 



Smee, Hook & Peter



Wendy



Tink, blowing pixie dust.



Sarah Elizabeth goes to school...

Breakfast with Daddy before school.

SE is looking nervous.

Still a little uneasy on our back steps before we headed out.

At drop off, "Bye mom!" 

      Sarah Elizabeth has now been at Montessori Children's House of Franktown (MCHF) for 2 months.  She loves it! From Day 1 she has never hesitated to get out of the car, carry her backpack up the steps and head into school.  On Day 1 I shed some tears as Chris and I drove away, it was that whole new chapter thing.  Since then it has been much easier to watch her march up those steps, I know she is happy there and that makes all the difference. She fills us in on who she sits with at lunch and snack, some of the lessons she has had (she talks about spooning a lot), and the classroom gossip (who did what, when, ect.)  I can't wait to go in the classroom to observe, I'm sure watching her will be a hoot!

     Gillian called after Sarah Elizabeth's first day to fill us in on how she did.  She said SE found her cubby and put her slippers on with no problem and that Grace seemed really excited to have Sarah there and to have the chance to show her around.  She told us that for one of the youngest in the class she really did well with following directions and listening during her first lessons.

   Before Grace started at MCHF last year, I really hadn't thought much about Montessori.  Not much good or bad.  It just wasn't something I had really considered.  Now I am so happy we are at MCHF.  The girls are so happy.  They love Gillian, Astrid and Julie as well as all their friends.  I love that the Montessori approach is for the child.  All the materials and lessons have been careful designed to foster a love of learning and discovering.  So often school approaches focus on the facts the child need to learn by a certain date instead of developing the skill of how to learn and discover through making mistakes and self-correcting.  We are so lucky to have MCHF, and if we stay here on the Shore the girls could potentially stay in Montessori until 6th grade.  What a blessing!!

    

A new chapter in Bentley Life

So with all of the changes getting ready to happen Chris and I have been talking about how we are starting a new chapter in our family life. I think our exact words/emotions on the Thursday night I accepted the job were, "We made it, we did it!" punctuated by tears of relief and joy as well as a few tears for the passing of time.
For 4 years we were able to fulfill our dream of having me stay at home with our 2 little girls. And was only through the grace of God. There were so many months that we know blessings came in the form of extra tutoring sessions, new fish tanks to clean, income tax returns, or babysitting opportunities. Without those extras we would not have made it.
I remember a conversation Chris and I had while I was pregnant with Grace. The theme of the conversation was "How on earth will we afford for KJ to stay home with a new baby?" The conclusion we came to was, we will make this work, however we can. And we did!  It was a wild, crazy roller coaster of a ride but we did it!

During the first two years I was home:
       Chris was in grad. school.
       He worked part time at UNCW (for not very much money and no benefits)
       I delivered a local monthly magazine
       I was lucky enough to watch Sami during the school year
       I tutored 1,2, and then 3 students after school and again during the summer.
 If you crunch the numbers, they really don't make sense.
After Chris graduated he got a full time job at UNCW with benefits. That gave us enough room in our budget to plan to have Sarah Elizabeth.
For the next year:
     I tutored some more,
       watched Noah 2 mornings a week,
      taught swimming lessons in the summer and
      tutored at Forest Hills Elementary on Saturday mornings.
    Chris worked 5-6 days a week, and maintained fish tanks for a restaurant, an office, and a private home after work and on weekends.
Those were some busy days. We juggled the girls on the afternoons that I tutored between Chris, a babysitter and friends.  Chris was working almost every weekend at UNCW or cleaning fish tanks.

This last year life has been a bit easier with Chris' job at MAAT.  We didn't have to patch together a whole bunch of side jobs and divide up our time all over the place. We are still living on a pretty tight budget. With my new job I will be able to cover tuition for both the girls and we can breathe a whole lot easier.

Chris and I laugh when we think about all that we have done in the past 4 years.    We were worried about how we would afford to just live on one salary. We have traveled, some as a couple and some as a family to: San Antonino, San Diego, Merlefest, and to visit our families.  Grace took music classes, sign language classes, gymnastics, and now ballet.  For goodness sakes we sent Grace, and now Sarah Elizabeth, to a private Montessori school.  In our conversation about "how" before we had Grace we didn't even talk about school tuition.

We just always moved forward with the belief that God's plan is THE plan and that all would work out.  Sometimes we followed that faithfully, other times we tried to take the reins and control our situation.  But in the end we always came back to center ourselves on, "What does God want us to do next?"

So now we wonder....What's next?

A week of changes (from early September)

Due to the below changes (and other things) this post got lost in the shuffle.  I meant to post it over a month ago, when school started, but I forgot.  So I'll post an update on how it's all going soon...

Changes are happening in the Bentley household. And they are all about to happen next week.
1) Grace will be an "afternoon kid" at Montessori.
 This means she will stay until 3.  After the morning kids leave at 1, the afternoon kids have another work cycle.  She is so excited about being an afternoon kid.  For me it is another sign that she is growing up.  Last year I had such a hard time imagining sending her 5 days a week until 1 PM.  Now I am excited about her going 5 days a week until 3.  She loves Montessori, and we love that she loves it!
2) I am going to be a Reading Tutor at Kiptopeke Elementary.
I am excited about this position.  I will work M-F 9-1:30.  I will work with small groups of students from Pre K- 3rd grade.  I get to make my own lesson plans and basically do what I love without the extra paperwork, meetings, ect.  I only work on the days the students are in school.  AWESOME!  They also told me the second I am ready for a full time position, to let them know and they will have one for me.  That's comforting.
3) Sarah Elizabeth will be starting at Montessori.
For me this is the biggest change.  We had originally planned to send her in January.  That decision wasn't really based on her readiness but more on mine.  I was not (and I am still struggling with) ready to send her off to school.  She's my baby!!!  I wanted to keep her home with me for just a little bit longer.  When  this job opportunity came up I put it all in God's hands.  If I got it, it meant SE should go to school.  We knew once we sent her that I would have to find something part time to offset the tuition, and the worry was: would I find something to start in January??? Well, I got the job and so she is going.  Part of me can't help but feel guilty.  Grace didn't go to school until she was 3, am I shorting Sarah Elizabeth?  The thing that helps is: I can't think of a better place for her to go!

Disney Family Vacation slideshow

Here is a slideshow preview of our Disney trip.
What a GREAT vacation!!

Sarah Elizabeth's MCHF visit

Sarah Elizabeth had a great visit to her classroom.  She and Grace will both have Ms. Gillian.  The Montessori Primary Classroom is for ages 2-5.  It will be nice for the girls to share their school experiences.  Grace has already been explaining to Sarah Elizabeth some of the rules, such as:

"You can't take things off the shelf until Ms.Gillian gives you a lesson on them."

"You have to put your work away when you are finished with it."

"If you want to eat lunch with me but there are no more chairs at my table you will have to eat somewhere else where there is a seat."

Sarah Elizabeth's personality is different from Grace's.  When Grace enters a new situation she is more likely to hang back until she is able to assess the whole situation.   Sarah Elizabeth on the other hand is more likely to charge in full steam ahead.   For example, when we went for Grace's classroom visit last year she didn't touch a lot of things, she mostly looked and followed Gillian around.  Sarah Elizabeth had a "hands-on" classroom visit, she touched everything and asked questions about what things were and what they were for.  It will be interesting to see how these personalities play out in the same classroom. 

Time with the Hawaii cousins

Abram (3), Angelina (6), Grace (4), and Sarah Elizabeth (2)

We took a quick trip up to MeMa and PopPop's house for some time with Courtney and her kids.  The cousins had  great time together.  During the 5 days we were there they: swam in the pool, rode their bikes, rode in MeMa's golf cart, went to the beach, fed the ducks, went out for ice cream, caught bugs, played with the (plastic) horses, snuggled in MeMa's bed in the morning, and slept together at night. 

It's great to have this time with Courtney and her kids every summer.  The cousins have so much fun together and their ages are like stepping stones.  Courtney and I were even able to sneak away for the afternoon on Sunday for some shopping and lunch (wings!!).  We are all looking forward to our week together in Disney (1 more week!!!),

A week in CB

A week in pictures.... (click the play button to watch a slideshow)

We spent the second week in August on vacation in Carolina Beach with Chris' family.  This is always a great week with beautiful sunsets, yummy dinners, fun games,  quality family time and some serious beach time.  We also got to spend some time with our dear Wilmington friends.  At one point there were 14 kids from 6 weeks to 5 years old on the beach. 
This year Grace became a boogie boarder.  She started the week out simply jumping waves and in the end was out in the middle of it all with her boogie board.  She even rode a few waves on the front of Chris' surfboard.
In her own words....

Summer swimming videos...

This summer the girls have been fish.  Grace has started to work on "arm circles" and breathing to the side.  Sarah Elizabeth is still working on getting her head up to breathe but she can swim forever if she holds her breath.
Our new camera is waterproof, so here is some up close and personal footage.

Grace on the diving board...

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing Both girls swimming....


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Grace practicing "arm circles" in the little pool...

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing Sarah Elizabeth with a quick "swim-by"...

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Grace again...

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Our June activities....

 

   We started the month off with a trip down to Wilmington.  Yes, Chris and Grace had just been down in May, but there were things still to be done. Plus Sarah Elizabeth and I wanted to make a trip down too.  So we left at 5 in the morning on Saturday and headed straight to Wrightsville Beach for some, much needed, relaxing by the waves.  We met the Robertson clan down there and let the kids play until they crashed (well Grace did at least, SE was wide awake- see above pics).  Then Chris and I headed over to the house on Bryan Ave to do some cleaning, fixing, and packing of more stuff we had left in the attic and shed last year. 

   After a few hours it was time to call it a night and we headed over to the Robertson's to grill out and break in their new deck.  At about 11 this is what the floor of their living room looked like:

 

Sarah Elizabeth was still going though.

George was crashed out on the couch.

We scooped up our tired little girls and headed over to the Mulvey's to spend the night.  The kids of course got up early, so that meant Tara and I were up too.  After a few cups of coffee we left the kids with Tara and Andy and headed over to finish up at the house.  SIX HOURS later, we still were not finished.  I won't get into the details of what took so long (it isn't very exciting) but it involved a bathroom re-plumbing and several trips to Lowes.  I finally collected the girls from our dear, dear friends the Mulveys.  Grace and Sami had to say their goodbyes- which are always sad and always make Tara and I cry.

We ended up eating dinner at the Robertson's, Jamie helped Chris get the van packed up.  We pulled out of Wilmington to begin the 6 hour trek back to the Eastern Shore at 9:00PM.  Needless to say Monday morning was a rough one :)

I guess it was good that the weekend was so hectic, I never really had a chance to get sad about leaving the house (at that point we thought we were going to list it and sell it- but luckily we are now renting it again!).  I still got sad about leaving friends and I was sad that there were a lot of friends I just didn't get to see but we'll be back in August for a real vacation!!

We returned home to Grace's last week of school which was capped off by a day at the beach with all her friends.

The following weekend we went to Nuria and Edris' wedding in Baltimore.  Nuria is the Asst. Manager at the farm and Edris is also working at the farm.  They were married years ago before they left Eritrea, but they never got to have a reception/party.  Nuria asked Grace to be the flower girl, which was very sweet.  Grace was excited and loved her dress.  But the entrance into the reception was a little overwhelming for her.  After a bit though she was up and dancing, along with Sarah Elizabeth.  It was another late night, with Grace falling asleep in Chris' arms but we had a good time and were really glad to be  part of their special day.

I don't have pictures of the rest of our June travels.  The girls went to CT to stay with MeMa and PopPop while Chris and I went to the Rotary International Convention in Montreal to help out Eric and Linda. The convention was a great experience.  Eric had to read the names of over 200 countries as their flags were presented to 18,000 people during the opening session.  He did great and got many compliments on correct pronunciation of all the countries.  Chris and I were there to help Linda get to the sessions, however she rented a scooter so we spent most of the time running to try and keep up with her.  It was nice to be with Eric and Linda as they finished out the last days of being Rotary International Vice President and District Governor.  It's hard to imagine that right before Eric's position started was when Linda had her stroke.  Since then they have traveled all over the world and had to adapt to a lot of less than perfect handicap facilities.  We know they are glad to be finished.

While in CT the girls had a blast, of course, with MeMa and PopPop.  They were in the pool everyday, rode in the golf cart to the beach, rode bikes, snuggled, had a camp out on the floor in Mema and PopPop's room, played, played and played some more.  They love going to Camp Silver!

The end of June was when our car met the tornado and the tree that landed on it.  We hope to get it back soon...

So anyway, that was June!

Here are some cute clips of Sarah Elizabeth playing in the sprinkler.