naked statues

So yeah, kinda busy -- kinda busy for months now...

Not sure if I can catch
up, but eventually I might
try!


My Kindergartner went on her first field trip. They went to the
Legion of Honor
to see a performance of Rumpelstiltskin -- they took the bus, had lunch there, got to see interesting things, just overall a very exciting day.
I was in the classroom, ready to go along as a chaperon, but there was another mother who wanted to go (having not signed up originally) so I gave up my spot.
I did make sure that Kelly was fine with it first, since I didn't want her to cry or anything, but Kelly has an independent nature and is pretty good about handling change --
and to be honest, she was not quite "whatever, Mother" but pretty close.

>sigh<

She has Hip Hop classes on Wednesdays and her BFF's mom takes them, so I did not see here until dinner time.

"SO! How did you like your field trip?"

"It was really, really, really fun!"

"Did you like riding the bus?"

"Uh huh"

"Well, tell me about the things that you saw there"

"Mom, we saw naked statues!"

"Naked statues?"

Kelly is giggling, uncontrollably at this point....

"Naked statues with no UNDERWEAR!!!! And their penis and BALLS were showing!"

I am looking at this crazy, crazy child and shaking my head.

"Mom, it was so GROSS!!! They didn't have on UNDERWEAR"


This. This is what my husband's child gets out of going to a fine arts museum.

Oh, AND she looks like a toothless old man right now since she has lost another tooth ~

run, run, run as fast as you can

Kelly made the cutest Gingerbread Man I have ever seen!
He was so pudgy --

and she was so proud

but still ate him imediately after taking these pictures...

{this moment}

A single photo

~ no words, capturing a moment from the week

a simple, 

special, 

extraordinary moment

a moment I want to pause, 

savor 

and remember

please

leave me your link in the comments

and even join in

where it all started

Soule Mama

rule the school

My youngest girl is in Kindergarten now.
{sigh}

Pretty sure she was just born...

or it seems like it anyway.

Kelly is a very self confident girl. Likes people and makes friends easily.
She didn't go to preschool for very long, but they LOVED her there. The kids. The teachers.
I know it sounds like I am bragging (maybe just a little)
but her behavior made other kids behave better (probably why the teachers loved her so much) She always includes other kids when she plays with someone and goes out of her way to be friendly and kind.
She had a bit of a problem with one of the girls telling her "I am not going to be your friend" every time Kelly would play with someone else.
It would make her cry.

The night before the first day of Kindergarten Kelly was nervous! She was anxious about what to expect. She even told me she was worried that she would not make friends
and that kids might be mean to her --
(so un-Kelly like)
She can't fall asleep. She woke up with a nightmare at 4am.
She wanted Dad to walk her to the potty at 5am.

About a month ago there was a Kindergarten Playdate. There she met her new BFF "ever". Unfortunately, her new friend is not in the same class.
Kelly says it's alright though, they'll play at recess.
Then she told me on the morning of the first day of school,
"Maybe it is a good thing that *B* and I don't have the same teacher. That way we won't annoy her with all of our talking."

This was after she tried to get me to let her wear eye make up --
After explaining to her that she has to at least be in 7th grade to wear eyeliner, she lets me know, "But that will be just too long for me to wait".

Even after talking about everything, on that first morning she was still pretty nervous. I could see it on her face.
She held it together.

(even I held it together)

By the end of the first day, she thinks it "might be too long a day"
away from me --
I think by the end of the week she'll be fine.

So it ends up, that she is not as enthusiastic about school as her
Big Brother was (is...) but she is not a shy little thing like her
Big Sister either.

I know that for me, this week is crawling by at a snails pace. There is a million things for me to do -- but I can't seem to get anything done.
It seems like I am just waiting around until it's time to pick her up.

and they are off to school

DJ is now a 6th grader!

He had no worries on his first day back, everything was ready to go and Dad got him to school by 7:20!

{yikes}

 

The girls and I got ready for the Big Day while Mikey slept...

We had to wake the poor little guy up at 8am

because Kelly was ready for Kindergarten and Paige was ready for 8th grade!

kindergarten

I know I have mentioned that Miss Kell will be starting Kindergarten shortly. What is crazy about it is, she starts in a month!
For one thing, I find it insane that school even starts in August. Yes, you heard me right. It starts here in August now. The day after my birthday even -- just when I have always felt that summer is just really kicking in.

Well, SHE is sooooo excited!
She can't wait!

This weekend we are doing one last cleaning out of her room/toy chest and and getting her room in order. After that we will be doing our "practice" for school bedtime.

A month before school starts, I have the kids start their bedtime routine as if they were going to school. Bath at 7:00, stories, in bed by 7:45 - 8:00.
And then we set the alarm as if we were getting up for school.
I did this with all of them until 4th grade.
Now that the older two are in their Summer Programs and getting up for that all summer, I give them a break and only start a week before.

It was not that long ago (in my mind) that Paige started Kindergarten. She was smaller than all the kids (Kelly will be bigger than them all) and they sort of treated her like a baby. Bigger kids would carry her around -- it really bothered me. She seemed to enjoy being at school, but she also seemed a bit overwhelmed.
When I would drop her off, DJ used to cry and do that full body drop (you know the one where they go completely limp)  because he wanted to stay with her and go to school too. I had to keep him in a stroller all the time -- he was 35 lbs!
and so was Paige.

On DJ's first day of Kindergarten, as he was writing his name to sign in and I was taking his picture, he looked up at Mike and asked,
"Why are you guys still here?"

Now it's Kelly's turn.
I am not sure that I am ready.

When did my scrunchy faced baby

become such a confident big kid?

pre brace face

I am sure this will not be the last time I'll have something to say about Paige getting braces.
I never had braces, so this is all new to me too.
Paige has always been skittish when it comes to her teeth. Genetically, she has soft teeth (not from me) and even though she has always been really good about brushing, she had to have a root canal when she was in Kindergarten. She had an abscessed tooth and it was very traumatic for both of us when the dentist took care of it.
The main thing I learned from that experience, is that even if someone tells you that it would be better for you to be out of the room, if you know your kid better -- and know that she is not the "brave" kid without you, stay in the room. I don't think she would have been as scared if they didn't insist that I waited in another room.
Hindsight.
And having more experience being a mother.
{sigh}

The whole thing was so awful, that her new dentist ended up scheduling an actual put her under surgery to fix her up. I hate even thinking about how stressed I was during the thing. Yeah, I know it was her teeth, but it still had me worried.

Thankfully, she has never had any major problems since.
Except she never works her baby teeth when they are loose.
Now, I know the dentist has said that it isn't her fault that she has both her baby tooth and her adult tooth in the same spot, but I think that if she EVER worked to loosen her baby teeth, she might not have FOUR of them doing this.
But that is my opinion.

Now she needs braces. Which is sort of funny, because when she was little, she really wanted them because she thought they were pretty.

She is scheduled to have them put on this next Friday. She had spacers put in yesterday afternoon. (yes, I was in the room with her) I am told that they are to make room for the brackets she needs for her head-gear (oh, haha -- can't wait for that) They put in four spacers and asked me to check them every day and give them a call if they come out.

Paige was not in the car 5 minutes and she was complaining about how much they hurt/bothered her.
{sigh}
I gave her ibuprofen when we got home, and she stopped complaining.

She woke up this morning and (of course) one of the spacers are out. Awesome. The dentist office isn't open on the weekend. Does this mean they  will postpone putting the brackets on? I have no idea.

I just don't know if Paige can deal with waiting. She is already so anxious she is about to  poof  into a million pieces if you talk too loudly around her.

{sigh}

my grad

Kelly went to school for the preschool graduation today. It was so nice of them to invite her back for it!

Last Monday we went back for pictures and rehearsal -- and when she walked in the room, all the kids started shouting her name. She just lit up! It was a very special moment for her, one that I hope she always remembers.
Today, all the children were up on stage and sang songs and danced a little. It was very cute! Miss Kell even had a solo at the end -- she almost froze up, but she got through it.
They gave her a diploma (hehe) and a binder full of her art work and pictures from the last year.

There was a party after and the kids got to play together for a while. Even Mikey had a blast ~

* later tonight I'll post the pictures I took to the May 2011 album on Picasa, but first I need to help Paige finish packing for her TRIP.


My big girl had a hard time saying good-bye. In fact, she couldn't do it and was crying because she "didn't want to leave". She never does this. I guess it was just overwhelming. I just let her know that it was okay to feel sad and we just left. She gave no farewell hugs to her friends or her teachers -- poor thing.
She really is a sweet girl.

{sigh} I can't believe I have another one ready for Kindergarten....

preschool

nI am taking Kelly out of Preschool next week. I put her in about a year ago to make sure she'd be socially ready for Kindergarten -- I figured Miss Bossy Boots could learn a few things hanging out with her peers.
She loved it.
They loved her.
(I've missed her)
But now I've realized that her Kindergarten is a full day and I am running out of time to just have her with me.
So she will have a longer 'Summer' than the other kids.

I am going to have to restock my art supplies....

well baby

I love well baby visits! I am not so thrilled with the shot part, but, oh -- how I love to tell the pediatric staff how awesome my kids are ~ No, really, I love to see how big they are and have people who know what they are talking about reassure me that they are fine.
(and tell me how awesome they are)

Well, Miss Kell had her 5 year old check up, which included all the paperwork for Kindergarten. Very exciting!
My little Sasquatch is 44 inches tall and 50 lbs.

I so love having both my girls be the extreme opposite of each other. Kelly is almost always the tallest of her peers, where Paige was/is always the smallest! At 5 years old, Paige was still wearing a size 4 -- I am now buying Kelly a size 7! (well, really pulling out Paige's old size 7's from the back garage)

Kelly's vision came back 20/50 and now we have to take her to the pediatric opthamologist. 
Okay.
I didn't get glasses until 5th grade. Same with DJ. Kelly's uncle Bob got his when he was 6 years old.
If she needs glasses, she needs glasses... better to get them before she starts Kindergarten.
The funny thing is, Paige used to beg for glasses!

At the same visit, Mikey had his 18 month check up. Going to see the doctor is not his favorite thing to do, but he cries only if you try to lay him down on the table.
Mama's Boy is 31 inches and 26 lbs and his Dad thinks he is too short...
{sigh}

Mikey has always had a loud fluttering sound in his heart. Kelly had it too, but outgrew it. Yesterday the pediatrician said that now Mikey's is a little louder than she "likes to hear", so he is going to have a pediatric cardiologist check it out.
First available appointment is in three weeks.
(do they do this on purpose to see how much stress a mother can take?)

I did forget to ask if it was unusual that Mikey could do the wooden shape puzzles. I don't remember any of the other ones doing it at a year and a half, but I could be wrong --

Oh, and yes I do still like taking Paige and DJ to their well baby visits, but they make me call it a well child visit!

busy week

The big kids are starting back up with their after school programs. Both Paige and DJ are in summer programs that also have tutoring/electives during the school year. Paige was in the same one that DJ is in now. They both worked very hard to get into them and enjoy them very much, even though we as a family don't get much of a summer break!
DJ is at Breakthough and Paige is at Summerbridge
Mike's brother Bob also did Summerbridge (um... 30 years ago!) and went to University HS, so we are crossing our fingers that Paige can get into there too.

Kelly will be starting Kindergarten this Fall and I already had all her paperwork ready, when I found out that there were openings at SF Public Montessori. Really know nothing about the school, so we will all be going to their Open House this week. Paige went to a Montessori preschool, so I do know a little -- and I think Kelly could do very well in this type of school setting.

Throw in a doctor appointment, swim lessons x2, ballet and short days for DJ and we have a fun filled week!