Sunday, August 23, 2009

Taylor Whitehead Benefit


Aaron and I bid on quite a few things at the Silent Auction for Taylor Whitehead. We were lucky enough to walk away with two fabulous cakes decorated by M.D. We we the BEST parent's ever when Favorite Girl woke up Sunday morning to a DORA cake!



Water Fight at Grandma's House

There weren't that many nice days this summer. We happened to be at Grandma's on one really nice day and Favorite Boy thought it would be fun to have a water balloon fight.



He has a pretty good arm. Ferentz might want to keep an eye on him. :)Favorite Girl stole the ball and kept it safe in her swim suit. I guess she was finished playing.

Enjoying her Nerd Wrap too




Nerds Wrap Up

Favorite Boy loves dessert on taco night. He likes to spread butter on a tortilla shell, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar, wrap it up and ENJOY! On this night he was pretty inventive! He had this box of Nerds from our recent trip to the theater to see Ice Age 2 and he decided to jazz up his wrap with a sprinkle of Nerds. (yuck!)

Carnival at Daycare 07.31.2009




Thursday, August 20, 2009

Wednesday Night Open House

FB had gymnastics so daddy picked him up at the Y and rushed him home and fed him a lunchable. I picked up sissy and we rushed home to pick up the boys and we were off to school. The parking lot was packed so we had to park across the street and walk. FB was so excited but I could tell there was a little bit of apprehension there too. As we turned down the hallway heading towards the kindergarten classroom we met our good friend D. He was our neighbor that lived across the street but unfortunately he moved right before summer started. We miss him terribly but seeing him in the hallway really put FB at ease.


The second that we walked into the classroom Ms. H met FB at the door. She bent down on her knees and said, "HI! What's your name?!" FB shyed away for a second and at that moment a huge lump swelled in the back of my throat and my eyes instantly filled with tears. I couldn't say anything to encourage him to answer her question or he would hear the tears in my voice. I just held onto his shoulder and thankfully he answered her within a few seconds. She asked him if he could find his cubbie and hang up his bag and told him that he could unload his Kleenex and napkins on the table and she would put them away for him. Thankfully that bought me a minute to pull it together.


Next he said Mom let's go find my desk. He did a fabulous job finding his table. He sits with three other people at a rectangular table. In the middle of the table Ms. H had a red laminated circle taped down. She asked him if he knew what shape it was and what color it was, and of course he answered correctly. She said yeah, you are going to be at the Red Circle table. As I looked around I noticed a Purple Star table, Green Rectangle, Blue Diamond etc...It's kind of funny because during FB's first year of preschool he was a Blue Diamond and during his second year he was a Purple Star so I guess Kindergarten will sort of continue the "Lucky Charms" theme. We played with a few toys, looked at all of the wonderful books, checked out the restroom and then FB started to beg to go to the gym so off we went.


First we stopped by the book fair in the "Media Center" aka Library. FB and FG each picked out two new books and then we went to find the gym. The gym teacher was impressed that FB was wearing tennis shoes and not flip flops and commented that he was wearing the perfect shoes for her class. Our final stop was the playground and then we were off to home.


Today has been a very rough day for mom. I knew that half of FB's class started school today (FB starts tomorrow, Friday) so I sat and thought about two of his classmates that I knew started today and I cried all day long. I emailed the two moms and told them I was thinking of them which only made matters worse because then they wrote back about how "it" went. B's daddy bent down to give him a hug and he said, "B are you crying?" B answered, "no daddy I'm not crying, the tears just won't stop flowing but I'm not crying". B's dad gave him a pat and away Mom and Dad went. Dad did not tell mom about the incident until this afternoon when her baby made it home safe and sound from his first day of Kindergarten.

I know I have to be strong. I know this is a good thing but why do I feel like I just tucked my precious baby boy into bed for the last time and nothing will ever be the same again?????????? Why does it sting so much?


It killed me so badly when I put my kids in a public daycare center and after one week of attendance a teacher told me, "oh your kids have already changed, it's so weird to see how quickly they transition and pick up on the ornery behaviors of other kids, they were so sweet and innocent but they toughened up quick". OUCH! Who tells a mom that?!?


I took tomorrow off of work. I think some of the people I work with think I'm crazy. But the tears wouldn't stop flowing all day today so I'm pretty sure I would be quite unproductive if I tried to work tomorrow. FG and I will hang out, go get her haircut and wait very patiently until we can go rescue brother. I know he's going to love it, I know he's so eager to learn, he wants to be a big school boy, he wants to learn how to read, he wants to run laps in the gym, he can't wait to carry a lunch tray and most of all he can't wait to meet new friends...he's ready (wait I had to go blow my nose) I know he's going to do GREAT! but why don't they allow me to go with him? Do you think anyone would notice if I hide in the bushes all day? I promise I will be quiet.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Parent night at Kindergarten!

The parents were invited to a special meeting held tonight to meet Favorite Boy's Kindergarten teacher. We had Kindergarten round up before school let out last spring and we met all four of the teachers, but FB's teacher got married over the summer and resigned before this school year started. Last Monday the school hired FB's new teacher-Ms. H. Needless to say all of the parents were going in to tonight's meeting with a lot of anticipation. Ms. H was very very nice I think FB will really like her. Since Ms. H is new to the school she did not run the parent's meeting for FB's class. Instead we joined with another classroom and the "tenured" teacher ran the meeting for both classes. We went over basic rules: a folder will be sent home each day-one side will contain papers we can keep and the other side will be papers that require our attention and most likely will need to be sent back to school. The teacher strongly encouraged that we send our children in tennis shoes instead of flip flops :) We learned that FB will have "sharing" day on Thursday's. The teacher discussed Jolly Phonics (which was also the program used in FB's preschool). She shared that each one of her students were able to read by the end of the school year last year. FB will be so excited. He tries so so hard to read now. I'm amazed at how much of the Dr. Seuss books he can "read" verbatim from memory. The little stinker! So I will save the "mushy I love you post and how badly my heart is aching right now because it feels like it is being ripped out of my chest post" for the First Day of School. I don't think I have the emotional energy to live through it again right now. And besides that I'm supposed to have my happy go lucky game face on right now for FB!

But I do have to post this...I just need to remember this night...I don't consider myself a naive person but I must admit I was quite shocked that the truancy officer made an appearance this evening. He spoke about the Iowa law that requires every child to be in school from the age of 6-16. He explained the difference between an excused absence and an unexcused absence and what it means to be tardy...kind of felt like I was at work... commonsense stuff for the average Joe. I think my mind started to wonder and I sat thinking wow I really can't believe we are having this discussion in Kindergarten. And you would think that with my job nothing would amaze me, AND THEN, parents started arguing with this man?!? The truancy officer actually called out one parent by name and told him to stop rolling his eyes at him...apparently this is not his first rodeo. So it all started to become crystal clear to me why the truancy officer was needed at this meeting and WELCOME TO PUBLIC SCHOOL smacked me hard square in the face. I know it will do no good to try and shelter my children from the reality of life...but honestly I don't know that I was prepared for that reality.

Anyway enough about that rant. On to happier things, I found FB's desk and it looks as if he will sit at a table with four girls. GIGGLE! Poor boy, he can't run, he can't hide, he will have his "mom and sister" sitting right next to him meddling in his business right there at school too!

I love you more than you'll ever know little man! I can't wait for your Open House on Wednesday. I know you are going to do GREAT!

...because we want to keep in touch