Monthly Archives: September 2011

Afternoon artwork

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Earlier this week, after a busy first day at school the kids made themselves comfy on the floor for some quiet art time.

eve on the floor

Eve drawing a "Toyota chocolate caramel factory."

 

lex on the floor

Lex drawing a Crayola Factory.

 

crayola factory

The early version of Lex's crayola factory. This makes me laugh because the brown chute is "sending extra wax from the crayons into the river." Hmm... we had a little talk about factory pollution.

 

eve

Eve brought the little table into the dining room to make herself more comfortable. Then she drew a picture for another classmate at school. You would think it's a picture of the two of them together, but really it is a picture of the other little girl and that girl's mother, in a house. The girls grandpa drops her off at school and I'm not sure Eve could even pick her mother out of a crowd, but she drew a lovely picture anyway. :)

 

final factory

Lex ran out of room on the little white board so he expanded to the big one. Then he was wishing we had another white board so he could draw the warehouse!

 

Eve’s first day of Pre-K

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happy kids

Lex decided today would be a good day for a
"first day of school" photo. OK!

This morning went MUCH better than yesterday. Both kids were happy in the morning and eager to go to school. Eve had her backpack packed and ready as we headed to Lex’s school. She was disappointed to find out we had to go back to our house for the morning. She wanted to head right to school :)

right for the puddle

Guess where they are heading... right for the puddle, of course!

 

eve outside

I love this girl!

Eve and I spent the morning at home, exercising, reading, playing Starfall, eating lunch, etc. Good times. Then back out in the rain to bring her to school. In her classroom I asked if she wanted me to stick around for a few minutes and she said, “Nope, you can go!” At least she gave me hugs and kisses before kicking me out. :)

 

eve

Eve at her school.

 

artwork

Eve's best friend is in morning Pre-K and Eve is in the afternoon session, but we discovered they can leave things for each other in their cubbies. Eve colored a picture so her friend will have a surprise when she gets to school tomorrow.

 

sand

I left her in the sandbox, of course. Happily playing.

Now I have a little less than two hours to tackle a MOUNTAIN of things that have been building up and slowly creeping out of control. So what do I do first? Hot tea and a blog post, with a little FB and blog reading tucked in as well. It’s no wonder I don’t get much done. Gheesh.

Seriously though, I’m super proud of my kids. They are both growing up so fast and becoming such sweet, happy individuals. Lex’s teacher told me he had a great day and she was impressed with how honest (her word) he was. Apparently during his crying yesterday he kept saying, “I just miss my mom. I’ll be ok soon, but now I just miss my mom.” I think she was surprised by how articulate he is. He gave her a big hello this morning and she seemed happy to see him. Eve is comfortable and confident in her new classroom. What more can a mother ask for?!

PS. Did you notice my sidebar came back? I knew it would. Vacation must be over for it too! —>

First day of school – first grade

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The big day finally arrived. Lex slept late (bugger!) and we had to wake him up. I made pancakes for breakfast, not to celebrate but because we were out of most everything else! He fussed a bit about going and tried to hide under the table, but when I got him to talk to me he decided it would be best to leave sooner rather than later so we could arrive a bit early and he could be one of the first ones in the room. I think it’s easier for a kid like him to see the kids trickle in as opposed to having to walk into a full classroom. Unfortunately it seems everyone else had the same idea! The parking lot was packed and Lex immediately got apprehensive again. He dragged his feet into the building, but luckily for me didn’t put up a physical fight. I had to pull him along when we got into the building and he suddenly “forgot” where his classroom was. Good thing he showed it to me over the summer! When we got to the room it was pretty full. He immediately started crying. Poor boy. His best buddy (so sweet!) ran over and said, “Hey brother, welcome back!!” and tried to pull him into the classroom. Lex fell (prat fall really) and wailed louder that he got hurt. His poor friend had huge eyes and felt awful. I found myself trying to reassure both of them. Then a sweet little girl came over and gave Lex a big hug. Lex cried some more and hid under the cubbies. I felt so bad for him. I got his stuff put away and gave him big hugs and left. His teacher took my sobbing son and walked him back into the classroom, while I walked my sobbing self down the hall. Again I was thankful that he did not put up a physical fight.

Eve and I spent the morning grocery shopping. She was so excited for school that she packed her backpack (spare clothes “just in case,” a water bottle “in case I get thirsty” and a snack) and carried it around the grocery store. Then we hit the library quickly, then home for unloading, lunch, a few stories, and back in the car headed to her open house. She starts school tomorrow but today they had an hour to meet the teacher, see the classroom, and meet their classmates. Easy peasy for Evie. She had fun. She was very tired by the end though. Then back in the car to pick up Lex and head home.

Back at Lex’s school he was all smiles at pick-up. He said he had a great day, “except for the very beginning,” and liked gym class best. I guess Tuesday’s are gym days. Good to know. So far he’s planning on going back again tomorrow! :)

lex

I wasn't about to attempt photography today, but here is a picture of him from last week, smiling with his new backpack.

 

eve

Eve got a new backpack too. I'll try to get a good "first day of school" picture of her tomorrow :)

 

sand

Eve went straight for the sand table at open house today. She loves sand.

School begins tomorrow…

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Tomorrow is the first day of school.  My kids love school.  Well, they love being there.  Getting there is another story (the story of my life with Lex!)  Over the past week or so every time I bring up school Lex dodges and avoids the conversation.  Eve, on the other hand, is super excited!  She is mostly excited for her open house tomorrow (basically a meet-and-greet, her class starts Wednesday).

We had a really nice afternoon today. Lex has been saying for a few days now that he needs more mommy time (I love that he says that!) so today Alan took Eve out to lunch and over to my grandparents house for awhile. Lex and I had planned to go out to lunch and a movie, but instead he decided on a home day so we sat in the living room and played Monopoly all afternoon. When we got hungry we had a picnic snack. When he got bouncy we went outside to ride bikes for 15 minutes before the rain started up again. It was awesome! Even more awesome (for him!) is that he kicked my butt at Monopoly! Fair and square. He had a few lucky cards, managed his money well, bought real estate and houses like crazy and gave me a thorough whooping! Then we wrestled on the floor for a bit, rearranged the living room a touch (photos later) and looked at Red Sox baseball playing cards. He was in HEAVEN and therefore so was I. It was great.

The one downside to our afternoon was when I tried to talk about school. I asked how he was feeling about it (nervous), if there’s anything we can do to help (stop talking about it), does he want a big deal or nothing (nothing!). I had the poor boy in tears in a matter of minutes. I tried to explain how similar it would be to Kindergarten, we talked about which of his friends would be there, what the routine would be… but it was all through tears and him begging me to please stop talking about it. Sigh. I know he will have a great time. So we stopped talking about it for the day. I’m hoping tomorrow isn’t too hard.

Sometimes I feel like a slacker mommy because there are so many cute things I want to do for “back to school” season, like this (isn’t he cute!), and pencil cookies I saw in a magazine (last year!) and a special dinner (PYO tonight, of course) or breakfast or lunch box treat. I didn’t have time to prepare before today and today I decided my time would be best spent on the floor with Lex instead of in the kitchen. I definitely made the right choice there! I take comfort that he doesn’t care for (won’t even participate in usually!) the “back to school” excitement. One less thing for me to worry about… now if only I could stop worrying about it! ;)

I predict it will be tough to get him out of the house in the morning, but I’m hoping that once he’s in his classroom and sees his friends he’ll be happy. Otherwise I’ll be peeling a crying 1st grader off me when the bell rings and I’ll walk away in tears. No fun for anyone.

Tomorrow is a super busy day, but I’ll try to get back online tomorrow night to keep you all posted, as I know you’re now dying to know how the day will go. :)

Friday morning cleaning

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I promised the kids an at-home day, but I really meant a cleaning day. Somehow I got lucky and they wanted to help clean too! The dishwasher broke yesterday so we began our day washing two dishwasher loads worth of dishes. Fun for the whole family! (Well, Alan exercised and went to work, so I guess he didn’t get to share in the dish washing excitement)

washing dishes

Human dishwashers

 

Before I turned the camera on he kept saying, “Lex Johnson, human dishwasher!” Of course he won’t repeat for the camera.

After we finished the dishes we turned on some Andrew Lloyd Webber at top volume (my choice) and moved on to bathrooms!

eve

This one was only moderately helpful.

 

lex

This one worked hard!

They almost made it through both bathrooms before being pulled away by the excitement of jumping on the beds. I’m supposed to be sweeping and mopping the kitchen/dining room right now, but I got pulled away by the excitement of my little laptop :)