Emma's First Day

 

Well, Miss Emma.

Today was your day and you were sooo excited.

You didn't make us work to get you ready. You listened and were eager to get dressed, put on your new shoes and wore your backpack all around the house half hour prior to leaving for school.

 

Emma is going only 2 days a week and has Mrs. RedBow (Lily's 2yr old teacher) and Mrs. Super. They are both wonderful and Emma loves them especially Mrs. Super. She is definitely a teacher that does not hesitate to pick Miss Emma up to give her hugs. She talks with her and makes her feel very important and safe. Thank goodness!

 

 

 

Emma took her cat, Pinka, to school today (along with a baby, hairbrush and little Dora doll in her backpack she snuck in without us noticing). We stayed a bit to make sure she was ok this morning and she waved, blew us kisses and smiled as we left. She didn't cry at all, reports were all good until 10 minutes before they left the room to come to the awaiting parents down the hall. She had met her limit and wanted us, but she made it. She kept saying, "RedBow said, 'We'll read a book and then go see Mommy and Daddy'" to make sure we understood their day.

 

Since coming home after school she has wanted to play school. "Pretend school, Mommy". She wanted to take me to pretend school, drop me off and she would leave saying, "I'll be back in a little bit, you'll be ok Mommy." And, two seconds later would return and say, "I'm back, Mommy!".

 

Our baby girl did good! She received flowers from Daddy, a special baby she named Chloe and a little art desk so that she won't steal Lily's art stuff. She definitely deserves it!

 

And, if you're interested here's what Emma's day looks like:

 



 

8:55-9:15  Arrival Time/ Table Toys

9:15-9:30  Library on Mon and Chapel on Wed

9:30-9:50  Creative Play

9:50-10:00 Clean-up and prepare for outdoor play

10- 10:30  Outdoor Play

10:30- 10:45 Washing hands, potty and diapering

10:45-11:10 Snack

11:10- 11:40 Art Activity and Center Time

11:40- 11:50 Clean-up

11:50-12:00 Story and Good-Bye Song

12-12:05 Backpacks, Coats and Stickers

12:05 Dismissal

 

On Wed: 9:35-10 Music

 

Yes, as Mike and did house projects we had this schedule on the kitchen table to know what our baby was doing. The three hours were easier than I thought they would be and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my 6 hrs a week without kiddos but I'll definitely be fine.

 



Lily's First Day

 

I can not believe that this is her last year of preschool!

Where has the time gone? Why does it go so quickly?

Looking back to the past couple of first days I can see how grown up our girl really is...

2 yr old, take one, 2 yr old take two, 3yr old class

 

 

 

She was a bit nervous but only due to having new teachers, Mrs. Dailey and Mrs. Tietjen. She knows every single child in her class which makes it easy to walk in on the first day but still doesn't get rid of those butterflies. I still get the butterflies for my girls on the first day :) Just one of those things.

 

She was really tired when we picked her up as well. So glad that she is going 4 days to prepare for next year, she definitely needs to build up her stamina :). Daddy gave her flowers, a first day tradition he started back in Sept of 2010 and is always a big hit. She also received a mini art studio which has been wonderful for our girl to occupy her during Emma's naps.

 

Here's to a wonderful year!!

School Orientation

 

Well, this morning we had two preschool orientations!

Yep, TWO!

 

Next week Lily and Emma will begin school.

Lily will go four days and Emma two days.

 

Praying that these smiles continue!

Last Day of School

Wow. Another whole school year done.

This year was absolutely fabulous for Lily.

She grew in every way possible especially socially. This class was a very close group and it showed every time they were together. If one of them was absent one day, they would have the most dramatic reunion the next time they were together. They would yell, "Group Hug" and all would gather around Mrs. Johnson and hug. They would hold hands just going down the hall and greet everyone with smiles.

Our baby Lily grew up this year!

Lily began the year with smiles and joy and ended it the same exact way. I almost teared up quite a few times through the class' last day ice cream party. Mrs. Johnson has been nothing but wonderful and Lily as gotten so much from her, we will really miss her!

Emma had no problem joining the class for the last day.

Can't believe I'm going to have two girls in preschool next year :(

But, first, as Lily would say...

"It's Officially Summer Vacation!!!"

Mother's Day Tea

This morning Lily and I headed to school for a Mother's Day Tea.

Lily and her friends at school have been working very hard to prepare for today and it went so well and I loved every single second.

Me and My Pumpa.

She tells me everyday, Pumpas Forever.

Makes my heart Smile.

We arrived at school and Mrs Johnson had their classroom door closed. Very top secret this was! All of the moms waited in a classroom that is empty on Fridays to wait for them to be ready. When we entered, the tables had tablecloths, centerpieces, corsages, handmade placemats and a very special flower in an even more special decorated flower pot.

We were served snack, muffins/strawberries and tea or lemonade. Lily got to sit on my lap for the entire thing too. When we were all done, the kids lined back up and sang some special Mother's Day songs.  They were sooo cute! Loved my Special Day.

Hunt Club

Today was Lily's third and final field trip of the year to Hunt Club Farm.

So Amy could go with AJ and Mike had already planned to take the day off, he was on

Emma and Logan duty for the morning.

This is what they looked liked when we left for school :)

They had a great time!

Lily was so excited for today but was bummed that she didn't have old shoes to wear. Mrs. Johnson recommended they wear old shoes since it could be muddy at the farm. Lily's shoes that she wears to school are becoming her "old shoes" and a trip to get summer sneakers is greatly needed.

She was sad but didn't seem to bother her once we got there. She was off and didn't stick too close to me at all. She was either hand in hand with Mrs. Johnson or one of her friends. So cool to watch.

I couldn't believe she wanted to hold a chicken. The lady who gave us the "tour" of the farm explained the correct way to catch one and pick one up. I watched Lily as she would chase the biggest of the hens around trying to figure out how to pick her up. Thank goodness Miss Amy caught one and let the kids take turns holding her. While Lily was holding her, the hen seemed as though she fell asleep. Lily was so proud of herself.

After the hen house and second round of hand sanitizer she headed to the goats.

After many more rounds of hand sanitizer and petting of the animals it was snack time.

You can always find Lily hugging one of her friends...yikes.

Before we knew it, we were on our way back to school with our friend Maeve.

Holding hands, of course!

We are so thankful that many of her friends will be in her class next year!

Spring Fling

This evening was our preschool's Spring Fling.

Emma and I stayed three mornings this week, with help from other moms, to sort, organize, price things for the Whale of a Sale. Some cute stuff but more importantly lots of books at 25 cents each :)

By the end of my shift working the sale Mike and the girls were there ready to play some games.

Flower Ball Toss

Tic Tac Toe

Lil and Em just stood there like that listening to the directions.

They hit the cupcake walk perfectly!

Yep, first time got a cupcake. Last year I think Lily played a dozen times

before she got a cupcake!

Funny picture.

And, the last thing was they wanted to do the bounce house.

The line was long the entire time we were there but by the end it was bearable.

Timing was perfect since Melissa was in line with Kira, Leah and Natalie and Lil and Em could go in with them. I was hesitant knowing they are not big fans of these things.

And, lo and behold...

Our Girls "bouncing".

They pretty much sat right there the entire time and got bounced around that way.

Emma exited early but Lily stuck it out. Found out she wanted to bounce by herself so she wouldn't get knocked over. Pretty smart but only if she knew falling down wouldn't hurt.

Together Once Again

Lily and her friends Ava and Audrey all met this morning the field in front of the school. They all ran to one another like they were in a movie being reunited after a long separation.

We all laughed and had to get a picture of them. They also held hands, welcomed Emma into their group and walked into school. Mrs.Johnson seemed to be thrilled to have all of her little friends back together once again. I think the end of May is going to be kinda sad.

Egg Hunt and Easter Party

This morning, the coolest morning of the week, Lily and her friends at school had their Easter Egg Hunt and Party afterwards. While waiting for it all to start Emma and I joined Lily and her class on the playground. Then we heard Mrs. Johnson's speech to the kids before they went egg hunting. I now know why Lily talks to us the way she does and how she developed her "teacher tone and voice" :) It's from Mrs.Johnson! She explained to them that there was one class basket and they had to work together to gather all of the eggs. Once inside, the teachers would give each of them 8 eggs. Why 8, dunno. But the kids were fine with that :).

The kids had so much fun. This group of kids have become so incredibly close and the parents really get along well too. So nice that most of Lily's friends will be in her class next year too!

After a quick bathroom and water fountain trip they had their special snack. Lily and I made bunny rice crispy treats with marshmallow tails, m&m eyes and pink sugar ears. While everyone was eating, Lily looked at me and said, "Mom, I think all my friends like my treat!" She and AJ also had their own special table for 2 at this party :) With some time left over, Mrs. Johnson read the Golden Egg and they did the Bunny Hop. These kids are too cute!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Our agenda today changed a bit once Miss Emma got up. As I was heading out to go to a yearly one-day consignment sale, Mike was calling our pediatrician to get Emma in. Her cough was our only concern since it sounded worse this morning than it has and she has had for almost a solid two weeks. Everything else has been normal with her except for the cough, but we always like to be safer than sorry. As I was in line, Mike called to say they were on their way in and to meet them there. After a clean bill of health, a negative strep test and a Tylenol as needed med remedy we were on our way.

Social Event 1: Maeve's Birthday Party at Young Chef Academy

So much fun! And, so much more fun to watch Lily with all of her friends from school. As her teacher has told me, these kids have really started to jell the past few weeks and are completely in love with each other. I feel kinda bad for their teacher next year since most of them will be in the same class again.

They all got to help make their own personal Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes! They each cut up their own strawberries, bananas and grapes too! The moms loved that we were able to clean up after them :) So delicious!

As you can see, these kids go love each other. We all could not believe the amount of hugs! At one point Lily and Maeve were holding hands waiting for their turn to stir and help. The middle picture is of Lily and her lovely boyfriend, AJ (who is Logan's brother!). They looooove each other! :)

Amy, Logan's Mama, and I agreed that this will be their Save the Date card picture

in twenty years!

Second Social Event: Dylan's Birthday Party at My Gym

All four of us got to go to this party and Emma played just as much as Lily did. Unfortunately, camera batteries died mid-party so didn't get the chance to capture many moments but the kids had so much fun!

Social Event 3: Dinner with Amy and AJ

Yep, we went to Baker's Crust, yum! for dinner. And, Lily and AJ HAD to sit next to one another. They played tic-tac-toe, tickled each other and Lily received many kisses on her cheek...gasp! They held hands and seem to be pretty smitten :)

Today gave us a glimpse of what it is like to have your weekend and social calendar dictated by our girl's activities. Hmmm....interesting.

Mother Goose Day!

So, today was the day. The day that Lily has been looking forward to since the beginning of February! Mother Goose Day at school. All month they have been reading nursery rhymes, singing them in music class and doing little crafts whether it be making tarts or candlesticks.

At bedtime, Lily usually chooses her Mother Goose book (which she looooves) so that we can read ALL of the rhymes. Sometimes she wants to read some to me which is great and sometimes we are short on time so she is allowed to pick however many to read. From this, she learned Table of Contents and would choose the rhymes from that list and go to that specific page. :)

All of this brought us to today, where every three year old would dress up like a character from one of their favorite Mother Goose nursery rhymes. They sent home a sheet with ideas like Mary would wear a frilly dress and carry a stuffed sheep or a shepherd's hook, Jack and Jill could carry buckets, etc... So when Lily came home the day they discussed this at school she was so very excited that she got her book and started to go through it. She wanted to be a few things until she came to Old Mother Hubbard and from that moment on, that was her choice.

Old Mother Hubbard she would be.

Her teacher, Mrs. Johnson, and I chat each morning and after I told her that Lily has been really practicing and singing the songs while reading them off of the sheet that was sent home. Sometimes we get a show after dinner that include all the movements and dances too. After I told her teacher this, she was really pleased and said that she was front and center at the show! Yikes.

Mike and I weren't sure whether to prepare her or not. Sometimes too much information can make her nervous and scared and not want to do anything, so we said nothing.

And, thank goodness...

She did GREAT!

She stood front and center, right in front of the music teacher. She sang every song, did the movements, dances and had a great time.

The entire show was absolutely adorable!

I wish they could have one every single month!

If you'd like to check out Lily's Mother Goose Program (20 minutes long)

go HERE where I uploaded it to youtube. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do! 

Pink and Purple Day

Another color day at school brings some more matching skirts and hair flowers :)

This time I saw Lily's skirt in my head and had to figure out how to do it...

it has a faux front with buttons down the center :)

Yay for girls who loooove to dress alike!

Oh yeah, and as I was looking through the pics I realized...

Holy Legs Lily!

Not looking forward to normal waist + long legs + short shorts=

a very nervous mommy and a wreck of a daddy :)

Sing Along

Today was Lily's class Christmas party and Sing-a-Long. Emma insisted on wearing her Super Sissy Cape the entire time. We all had lots of fun especially since Daddy was able to meet us there and took the rest of the afternoon off of work.

There is also a lovely present wrapped by Lily under our tree that she brought home today. Before nap she told us it was a surprise and we had to wait until Christmas to open it. After nap, she said without any questions from us, "OK, I'll tell you a few hints. It's very fragile and breakable. It's hard and you can put hot things on it like a pan or your coffee cup. And it has my handprint on it. No more hints, you have to wait until Christmas to open it." Mike and I can not wait to open our surprise gift :).

ODEDS Fundraising ... Lil Bows & Things Style

(Daddy & Lily Entry) I've done previous posts about how lucky and amazed we are to have a wife; Mommy who can do such great things with just fabric and a sewing machine. Never ceases to amaze us on what she can whip up in that back, dark corner of our den (her workspace). About 3 weeks ago, Sara made the decision to put her talents towards a fundraiser at Lily's school. The school was having a fair where people could set up tables (crafts, Pampered Chef, toys, jewelery, etc) and contribute a percentage of profits to the school. So for the past 3 weeks in her "free time" (between being a mommy, wife, grad student, chef, household manager, laundry engineer, chauffer, and countless other jobs), she has been working non-stop cranking out bows, bow holders, binky clips, flowers, and new additions to the collection ... reusable snack bags and Boo-Boo bags.

Not knowing what to expect (but having a sense that she would be busy), I took the day off from work to play Mommy for the day to allow Sara to concentrate solely on the fair. The girls and I popped in three times during the course of the day and all three times, Sara barely had time to talk. She was pretty much occupied with customers throughout the day! All in all, almost $500 worth of her creations sold, resulting in quite a sizeable donation to the school.

Sara has been working so hard for this and we are so happy and proud of her! Awesome job ... we love you Mommy!

ODEDS Thanksgiving Feast

Along with the tradition of Thanksgiving itself, no Thanksgiving holiday would be complete without the many school functions across the nation.  To do their part, Lily's school has the annual Feast.  Since Lily started in January last year, she missed it.  This year though, our little Pilgrim girl was there in all her glory.  The kindergarteners kicked it off with a cute retelling of the history of Thanksgiving, but then quickly turned it over to the lower classes for various songs.  As usual, most of the kids clammed up once the spotlight was on them, but they were all cute.

After all the performances, we were able to enjoy a feast of turkey lunchmeat, green beans, applesauce, corn bread, and apple juice.  As you can see, our girls had no trouble on "chowing down"!

Halloween Parade

Lily had her Halloween Parade at school today. She wasn't at last year's because she was attending school at our church so this was an entirely new experience for her. We didn't really prepare her for what we knew was going to happen mostly because sometimes it backfires on us.

After dropping her off at class, all the parents made their way to Tucker Hall where there were seats along the wall all set up. When the classes came in they sat in the middle of all of the parents with their cameras. When all of the classes were there, the music teacher started some Halloween music and one class at a time walked in a circle between the parents and students. The two four year old classes went first and then Lily's class.

And, Lily was not a fan. We felt so bad for her because she really froze like a deer in headlights but one of her teachers came and got her to walk with her hand in hand. We are so very proud of you Lily. You walked around that circle, albeit very slow, but you walked. You did not cry. You did not try to run to us. And, you walked even though you did not like it. That is such a sign of you growing up and we could not be more proud of the little girl you are becoming! Trying new things even if they may be scary at first, branching out and realizing that you are an awesome little girl.

Love you our Super Hero!

First Field Trip

Today was Lily's First School Field Trip

to Taylor Farm

Lily with her friends, left to right, Riley, Elliot, Madison, Lil, Jenna and A.J.

We took a hayride around their farm, saw  and pet ponies from Chincoteauge (would love to go here one year) and got to choose a pumpkin. The kids were able to see how a pumpkin grows, they have been talking about pumpkins all week, learned the plant cycle from seed to pumpkin and did a sequencing activity so all the kids were very excited to actually see the vine and flowers that they learned about. They had animals to pet like sheep and donkeys and fun things to play on.

We made our way back to the main part of the farm to have snack at the picnic tables and got to explore, play and see some more animals before having to head back to school. It was a gorgeous morning and we all had a great time. Wonderful being able to talk to the other parents and see the kids interact with one another. I can definitely see why Lily is in love with her teacher, Mrs. Johnson (who even rode with us to the farm) and her friends.

The last and only other time we visited Taylor Farm was back in Oct of '08 and it has changed a lot! Although Lily was small and couldn't play on many things they now have a longer hayride, a better "pumpkin patch" (back then they had a small, med and large pumpkin groups to choose your pumpkin from), more fun things for the kids and definitely more animals to see.

Orange Day

Happy Orange Day!

Love that I have an excuse to make my Pumalumpa cute stuff :)

Yellow Day



Today was Lily's second color day at school...

Yellow Day



And...she is now 3 1/2!

Some new things about Miss Lily...

*She is loving playing school.

*She can write more than her name. She has been practicing writing all of her letters, which she is very good at and if we write a word she can look at it and copy what we wrote.

*She has been reading, lately Chicka Chicka Boom, Boom! is her favorite.

*Has almost all of the pre-primer sight words in her word can :) and can read them in isolation and recognize them in print.

*Can count up to 20 but does better with her number card in front of her. She can count higher with more help.

*Loves to rhyme. She loves the -at family.

*Is very much into playing pretend. She is making up stories that are so real that she has to clarify to Daddy and me that she is just pretending. Just this week she told us "When I was a little girl I had a roller skating coach named Katie. She was nice. I learned a lot." And, this goes on A LOT.

*She thinks every football team in yellow is the Steelers :)

*Is very protective of Emma but sometimes needs "Lily time" in her room by herself

*Loves Loves Loves school. Can tell us everything about it down to what her friends had for snack and which letter everyone had on the carpet.

*Loves to talk on the phone to her Nana and Pa. Very often she asks to call them and they have full conversations about their day.

*Becoming more assertive and outgoing thanks to her sister. They compliment each other very well.

*Her memory continues to amaze us. She remembers street names, how to get places, stores and why we went to them...

*Is very into maps and geography.

*Enjoys to do puzzles of all sorts

Oh my goodness, half way to 4 years old. :(



Red Day At School

Lily's First Color Day at School