Pickle hits Kindergarten

Not all first days are the same. Today was one of the unique ones. The girl known affectionately as Pickle joined the legions of legitimate schoolers by entering kindergarten. She has looked forward to this day all summer long and it was met with a great deal of enthusiasm. since the school age children had different start dates this year they were granted the freedom to choose the meals around their respective start dates. Pickle wanted tacos the night before, mini blueberry muffins for breakfast, and a dinner of pancakes after the first day.

Dance Recital

In June after we returned from Florida Pickle participated in her first dance recital. She has been excitedly talking about it since January when the teacher started prepping them for being on the stage. After weekly classes, costume fittings, and pictures; the big day finally arrived. The performance turned out as you would expect from five 4-year-olds on stage but they all looked adorable. It was a very proud moment for me but most importantly I just loved her enthusiasm for the experience.

 

 

3rd Grade

If it is August then it is time for the yearly back to school pictures. The Boy picked out his clothes last night but as I look back at last year's post I see that he has not branched out too much. He moves into another year but with a familiar teacher and many familiar faces from previous years. This is the first year he gets to ride his bike to school but he didn't hit out on it today. I broke down and drove him because of the usual bag of supplies. The parking lot was a zoo and I am glad it is not something that we have to navigate every morning.

Room Re-Organization

 

Most of our spare time this summer has been spent re-organizing all of the rooms and shifting kids around. It started in early June while The Boy stayed a week in Louisiana enjoying one-on-one time with all of his grandparents. We cleared out Pickle's room, painted it (twice to get the right color blue) and moved in all of his furniture, toys, clothes, and BOOKS! The room looks awesome and he has been really happy with it. I have enjoyed the project as it has motivated me to really clean out many items that I had been hanging onto for sentimental reasons and the result has been cleaner closets and more space.

Before

 

After

Before

After

We plan to build him a desk under the top bunk (while we're at it we need to get a mattress for that top bunk). The next step in the process was to paint his old room for the girls. It turned out great and both girls have moved in and are officially sharing a room! We still need to hang some pictures in there to bring it all together so once that is completed I will post pictures of their room.

Just Hanging Out

The summer has not been just about sitting around and hanging out . . . many blog posts will be forthcoming to show you what we've been up to the last couple of months. Today we are wrapping up a weekend of "resort living" here in Phoenix. We packed up and drove 10 minutes south to stay at The Legacy where we didn't have to use our air conditioning and could swim and possibly play tennis. As luck would have it the weather did not cooperate and our swimming was cut short by a thunder storm that left the courts unwelcoming as well. Oh well, I certainly enjoyed the rare rainstorm!

Father's Day

It's Father's Day and the Father of the house is not here . . . pretty standard Sunday schedule. JP spends 1/2 the day on his bike while the kids and I lounge about watching PBS and Food Network, reading the paper, or just playing. Why should Father's Day be any different? Of all the Sundays in the year he should certainly be allowed to do what he wants on this one. The kids wanted to make him jalapeno biscuits and serve him breakfast in bed but this was the last thing he wanted. He is usually the first one up and would rather be drinking coffee and watching cycling in the den than waiting in bed for breakfast. (He made an omelet.)

He also did not receive any gifts . . . at least nothing purchased. The kids did give him a picture frame that they made with Cee-Cee a few months ago and I printed a "Father's Day Mad Lib" that they each completed and were pretty funny. Giving him gifts is pretty useless as he doesn't want anything and we don't need more stuff. Instead of gifts we are going to go out to his favorite restaurant so he can have pizza and wings. I am also making lemon squares. Consumable gifts and ones that can be shared are the best kinds of presents and ones I know he will like . . . no guessing needed.

Happy Father's Day! We love you.

New Kid Turns 2!

Two already? How can it be? Still a petite little girl you eat all the time but very little at meals. You love to "nack" all day long; particularly whatever someone else is eating. Sleep is still your favorite thing; getting 11-12 hours each night and napping 3-4 hours every afternoon. I think this is what has kept you so healthy and so happy for your first 2 years. You had your first trip to the doctor - outside of routine checkups - this past December and it turned out to be nothing. Dr. A remarked how impressed he was that you hadn't been in to see him.

In the last several months your vocabulary has blossomed and you typically communicate in complete sentences. Your favorite word is "too" as in "I do that too." You want to do everything your brother and sister do and you want to tell us about it. Following directions is another positive attribute that I really hope continues into your third year and you love to be helpful. You do so many nice things for others without being asked. For example your sister was throwing a tantrum about wanting water and you just ran off to her room, retrieved her water bottle, and brought it to her. Such a sweet girl . . . .

Sweet yet willing to fight back when you want something and it is usually with your teeth. This seems to be tapering off and we all hope to see that phase come to an end. You are determined and anxious to grow up quickly. I know this new year will be a momentous one for you as you master potty training, probably transition to a big-girl bed, and start school with your big sister. These are things that are still ahead of us but knowing how quickly you have grown and matured, I predict I will be documenting these milestones one year from now.

Don't grow up too quickly precious one. Happy Birthday and Much Love, Mom