Christian, Jackson, & Sophie's first day of school.

The trips in their classroom.

Today I conclude my “Back to School” series with Christian, Sophie, and Jackson’s first day back to pre-school.  They are happily returning to the school they attended last year.  They like it there and they teachers and staff likes them too.  Shelly also teaches there.

“The Triplets”… I try not to refer to them as a singular entity.  They are all very much their own individual people.  All five of my children are very different from each other for that matter.  They are 3^1/2 years old now and testing us in all of the ways that you can imagine three 3^1/2 years olds would.

Christian is a sweet kid with a huge heart.  He almost always has a smile on his face and is doing something silly to make you laugh.  He is very much into fairness and sharing.  Even if it means ripping a toy out of the hand of someone that has two toys to give it to someone that has none.  He means well.  He is also very protective of his brothers and sister.  On the playground one day, a boy tried taking a ball from Jackson. The boy and Jackson both had a clutch on the ball and were wrestling for it.  Christian ran over and grabbed the kid by the head and did all he could to to just about rip the kids head off to pry him off of Jack. Later the same day, the same boy was trying to get the same ball from Sophie.  She kept running away from him.  She then came over to Shelly and I and said, “He hit me!” and pointed to the boy.  Christian heard Sophie and saw her point to the boy and went after him like a mad man.  The boy ran in terror to his mommy.  Christian still likes to curl up in your lap and cuddle.  It’s great, but Christian is a big kid (for a Farley) so it is getting uncomfortable.

Sophie is a great little girl.  She loves to read.  She will sit by herself and read her books while her brothers are ripping the house apart.  She also loves playing with her baby dolls and princesses like any girl.  But having four brothers has also made her a tough cookie and she does not hesitate to box, wrestle, play football or hockey with them.  It has also made her have to stand up for herself so don’t give her any crap!  She is a very smart little girl as well.  Probably all of the reading.  I may be biased, but Sophie is the prettiest little girl in the world.  She is also the most loved person in the house.  Her brothers fight over who gets to play with Sophie, who gets to stand next to Sophie in the pictures, etc…  That is a good thing that will pay off when the dating years arrive.

Jack is my little man.  When I say “little man” I mean when you interact with Jack you think you are talking with a little adult.  Jack is smart… like spooky smart.  Smarted one of my kids at this age by far.  He is an excellent problem solver.  One day he wanted popcorn.  I told him “No.  Not now.”  and went back to work.  A few moments later Noah came upstairs and said, “Daddy, Jack is making popcorn.”  I ran downstairs to find Jack had gotten popcorn out of the closet, pushed a stool over to the stove, climbed onto the stove (good thing is wasn’t on) put the popcorn in the microwave and started the microwave.  I said, “JACK!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!”.  He said very matter-of-factly, “Making popcorn.”  Jack can also be a bit of a “button pusher”.  He should thank his lucky stars he shared a womb with Christian because I foresee him having to bail Jack out of a few messes.

I should also mention that Shelly also starts back teaching today.  She teaches at the preschool the trips go to.

Well, that concludes our “Back to School” series.  It was a good week and we hope the start to a successful school year.

All of their first day of school photos and more can be viewed at Farley Family Photos.

Back to School – Day 2 – Andrew

Back to School – Day 1 – Noah

Adnrew's first day of kindergarten

Andrew heading into school.

Our county does a staggered start for kindergarten.  Today was Andrew’s turn to start school.  Like Noah yesterday, Andrew got up and got himself

dressed and ready for school before Shelly and I even woke up.  He seemed very excited to go.  We drove to his school to see him get off of the bus.  He already had a couple of buddies he was talking with while they walked him into the building.  That is a big deal for Andrew.

Andrew has always been our most introverted child.  I use this phrase a lot about Andrew but he is stuck between two very large shadows… Noah and the triplets.  Although he is not technically a sequential middle child,  he has all of the classic middle child characteristics.  Until recently…  I can not correlate it to a specific event, but about 2 or 3 months ago Andrew started coming out of his shell.  He has been making new friends a lot easier.  He has been participating in things he ordinarily did not, like group activities and such.  He stands up for himself more, especially to his big brother. Andrew is also our sweetest and funniest child.  He cracks me up and always makes me laugh.  Sometimes intentionally… sometimes not.

Andrew’s teacher seems very nice and Andrew liked her.  He is genuinely excited about going to school and learning.  That has Shelly and I felling good.  I think he is going to do just fine, but I am a little anxious for 3:30 to come so he can tell me how his day was.

Tomorrow’s Post… Back to School – Day 3 – Christian, Sophie & Jackson

Back to School – Day 1 – Noah

Noah's first day of school 2009 - Second Grade.

Summer is over.  Time to head back to school.  Today Noah starts second grade.  He was up at 6:00 AM, got dressed and eagerly awaited mom and dad getting up.  At 6:30 he came in to wake me up to get him breakfast so he could make the bus on time.  Totally different kid from last year.  We had to pry him out of bed almost everyday.  Looks like it might be a little easier this year.

Noah did great in 1st grade and we expect no different in second.  He really enjoys going to school and makes friends really easily.  His teacher this year seems a little more stern than his previous teachers.  He was kind of a teacher’s pet last year.  His teacher used to come to his hockey games.  That kind of impressed us.  During business day, when we get to meet his new teacher, she must have mentioned behavior and discipline requirements half a dozen times.  Noah’s worst offense is getting a little chatty every now and then so I don’t expect much of a problem.

Noah’s hockey career is still developing along nicely.   He was in the “rookie” house league all of last year and was one of the top players in the league.  Something happened in the last third of the year where his skating and stick handling became much, much better.    I mentioned in an earlier post that he tried out for a development travel team and was asked to play up with the regular travel team.  That was a bit of a surprise but so far has been working out really well.  He has been on the ice for a practice or a camp 2-3 times a week all summer.  The additional ice time along with more advanced coaching and trying to keep up with the big guys is really going to improve his game.  It already has.  The Bears have their first game this Saturday.  Not sure how much ice time he’ll see, but he should see a little.  Look for regular posts about how the season goes.

As Noah gets older he is starting to want his privacy a little more.  There is not a lot of privacy to be had in our household so that is something we are still working on.  I think one of the reasons he likes school so much is he gets to be around kids other than his 4 siblings.  With that said, he is still a pretty good big brother especially to his little sister.

Tomorrow’s post…  Back to School – Day 2 – Andrew.

Noah Hitting the Ice

Anybody that knows anything about my family knows that we are a hockey family.  No one in the family loves the sport more than my oldest son, Noah.  Noah is a gifted player and has a very good understanding of the game for his age.

Last weekend, Noah tried out for his first travel hockey team. He was tryoing out for the Blue Ridge Ice Hockey Association (BRIHA) Squirt House Select team.  That is a team that competes at the “Squirt” level (ages 9-10), but not in affiliation with any league.  The players are generally younger and hove no previous travel team experience.  They play other club’s select teams to give the players experience in organized team hockey.  This team is opposed to the regular league affiliated squirt team.  The teams are in a league with dvisions and compete for standings and in tournements.  In BRIHA’s case, they are affiliated with the Capital Beltway Hockey League (CBHL).  We felt the select team was a better fit for Noah due to his age (7) and size (small).  The try outs lasted two days and they were worked pretty hard over the two days.  Noah was definitely gassing on the second day, but he did pretty good.  We were told that we would hear if he made the team by the end of the week.

Well, Friday afternoon came and I started getting messages from other parents whose children tried out saying they had received e-mails telling them their kids had made the team.  No word on Noah.  By Friday night we still had not heard anything.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t getting a little anxious for Noah.  Luckily, he didn’t seem overly concerned.  Around 9:00pm the phone rang.  It was the coach for the CBHL team.  They invited Noah to play on the more advanced team!!!  The recognized his skill and hard work.  They feel that he is a very coachable kid and that they can get him up to snuff over the summer.
This is a great opportunity for Noah.  His game has really improved over the last couple of months and this could be just the thing to continue that growth slope.

If you couldn’t tell…  I am one proud father.

I was watching a documentary tonight on Northern Ireland hosted by Henry Rollins.  It made me think of the letter I once received from Henry.

Back in the early nineties I was in a psuedo-band in college. We called ourselves “ThE BoB WaLtErS” (long story, don’t ask). My friend Ken Meekins and myself would get together, write songs, record them on his multi-track, and occasionally play for friends and partys. We were pretty into Henry Rollins. Henry is one INTENSE dude. If you’re not sure who Henry is, I suggest you check out Henry’s site.

Henry is a bit of a modern day renaissance man. Part musician, part poet, part author, part orator, part actor,… Part Animal, Part Machine. In summer of 1995 Henry’s band, “Rollins Band”, was on tour and Ken and I landed tickets and we were psyched. It was at some small park in Brandywine, MD. Helmet, Suasage (a.k.a. Primus), and some local bands were also on the bill. Ken and I trek out the the show. Nice day. My memory is a little fuzzy on details but about noon or so the first band, a local one, came on. Round about the same time some nasty thunderclouds came rolling in. The skies opened up biblical style. It rained, and rained, and rained for hours. The first band finished their set but then the show was put on hold to ride the weather out. We stuck it out though… Hey, this was Henry!!! There was not a square millimeter on my body that was dry. Well, a few hours of torrential rainfall later, it stops. Blues skies, birds chirping and everything. Moments later, some roadie type steps up to the mic and tells us the show is canceled. Man were we pissed. No, more disappointed. We really dug Henry and he is super intense onstage.

Weeks later, Ken came out to visit me when I was living in Salibury, MD. We planned for another few days of writing and recording. During a break we were goofing around on my computer and checked out Henry’s website. It used to have a form on there to send an e-mail to Henry. We got the bright idea to write Henry an e-mail and read him the riot act for cancelling the show in Brandywine. It was totally innocent and sophomoric in nature. We put stuff like “Why did you have to cancell the show? Were you home eating soup with your mommy?” I think we may have called him a “punk-ass bitch” too. The form required the entry of your snail-mail address for promotional mailers and stuff. We entered “Bob Walters” in the name field and my home address. We sent the e-mail, giggled, and never thought another thing about it. A few weeks go by and I stroll out to the mailbox to pick up the mail. There is an envelope addressed to “Bob Walters” with my address and a big fat 2.13.61 logo. I open it up and inside is a single piece of paper torn from a spiral bound notebook with the following written on it…

Henry Rollins Envelope

” Bob. Here’s what happened. The promoter Seth Horowitz was not prepred for the weather even when he promised he would be. By the time it was for Helmet to go on, the power generators were submerged in water. The stage was mostly metal and the risk of bands & crews getting fried. Seth really blew it for us. We were there all day into the night waiting to play. It was the last show of the tour with Sausage & Helmet and we were all looking forward to hitting it. I(t) would have been #80 for the year. To leave that place w/o playing sucked. Next time you see me, call me what you called me in your letter and we’ll se how it goes. -Henry Rollins”

My Letter from Henry Rollins

I received a letter from the electric company last week that they were going to upgrade our service in our neighborhood.  In order to do so they needed to cut the power to our house for at least two hours yesterday.  It was nice they gave me the heads up.

You may or may not know that I work from home so not having electricity would certainly be a problem.  I do some IT work on the side for our church and they have a standing offer to me to use a spare office they have any time I need it.  Yesterday I took them up on their offer.  I also had some errands ro run “in town” as we say here in the country.  So yesterday was the first time since I started working from home in December that I had to get up “on time”, shower up, dress half way nice, and make the half hour commute to Charlottesville.  I went in to “the office’ and worked at a desk.

It was a nice change in scenery, but, I don’t think I would like to go back to doing that every day.  Maybe someday I will, but for now, I’m sticking with the current plan.  Get up whenever, go to work in my underwear, and leave my personal hygene to chance.

Jackson, Andrew, Sophie & Christian head off to school

The rest of our crew headed off to their first day of school today .  They will be attending a preschool right down the road from us.

Andrew has been going there since we moved here last year and he really likes it.  He was genuinely excited about going today and was really proud of his brand new sneakers… Sketchers.  Andrew is 4^1/2 and a really sweet boy.  I’ve said it before, but he has a tough job being sandwiched between two pretty big shadows… Noah and the triplets.

Andrew loves Noah to death, but I think he enjoys being a big brother more than a little brother.

Andrew tried soccer last year and depending on the day he either really liked or really didn’t like it.  When he did like it, he played really well.  He’ll start again in a few weeks. He has expressed an interest in playing hockey.  Perhaps he can try that after he learns how to skate.

Andrew knows more about the Star Wars saga than most malodorous comic book geeks.

The triplets are now 2^1/2.  Keeping up with three  2^1/2 year olds keeps us BUSY!

Christian is the clown of the bunch.  He is always doing something that makes us laugh.  He is the biggest triplet and the biggest of all of our children at this age.   He loves to sing and dance.   Like his older brothers, Christian really likes the Wiggles.

When groups of kids are around, Christian gravitates towards the bigger, older ones in the group.  He hangs right in there and keeps up with their play.  It is not uncommon to see Christian chasing Noah around the house and tackling him L.T. style.

Sophie, what can I say, just look at her.  She is a sweet little girl and quite a little athlete.  She loves to play soccer and do all kinds of acrobatics.  We’ll be putting her in to dance classes and gymnastics very soon.

Sophie loves her big brothers and they love her too.  She enjoys being a girl a doing girlie things.  You will also find her out in the yard playing in the dirt and leave with Christian and Jack.

Jackson is the smallest of the bunch.  Jack is very smart.  He speaks the best of the three, knows all of his colors and shapes, and can count to twenty (give or take).  He too has an affinity for soccer and hockey and is a bit of a natural athlete like Noah was at that age.

As mentioned in the title, Shelly also went back to school today… as a techer at the kid’s preschool.  She is teaching a 4 year old class three days a week.  It brings a little extra income in and gets us a much needed discount on the tuition.

Noah's First Day of School 2008 - 1st Grade

Noah starts first grade today.  He is really excited to go.  Noah is really smart and loves to learn.  I hope that lasts forever.

As another school year starts, I can’t help but think about what a great kid Noah is.  Yes, I sound like one of THOSE parents, but he really is a joy to be around.  He is kind and caring and is a great big brother.

He still loves his hockey and is excited to start up again in a few weeks.

He’s going to give cub scouts a shot this year too.

Well, here’s to the start of another school year.