First Day!

This morning, August 12, 2013, Nora began her first day of Kindergarten at Paideia Academy.  She was so excited, and seems to have had such a great day.  Although she was only there for half a day, getting up before 7:00 am and getting back into the swing of school has worn my girl out as she is taking herself a nice, long nap!

As I discussed a few months ago, we are starting Nora at a new school this year and have re-entered her in Kindergarten.  Basically, she was a very young Kindergartener last year having a late August birthday, and Paideia has a very different curriculum/method of learning from what we did at our other school.  So, we basically figured we have nothing to lose by having her do Kindergarten again (plus we get another whole year with our girl!).

Last year, I was super emotional as we sent both Nora and Liam to school for the first time.  For several weeks (maybe even months), I felt like a part of me was missing the hours they were in class.  My heart wasn't whole while they were gone, but that feeling got better and letting them go a little bit got easier.  This year, I don't feel that too much, and I am just so excited for all that this year holds for both of them academically.  Liam starts Pre-K next Monday, and this coming Friday we will go meet his teachers and classmates.

Here are a few pictures of Nora this morning as Liam, Stella and I walked her to class for her big day:

Getting out of the car.  (Shhh, but I think we may have worn a wrong version of the uniform on the first day!  Oh well!)

This is her first time wearing a uniform.  At first, she was aghast at the thought, but now she likes it.  I personally can't get over the knee socks.  Too cute!

At her desk!  In her brown paper bag are 5 things about herself that she packed to share in front of the class today.  She packed her white stuffed kitty (a favorite), a Littlest Pet Shop character (one of her favorite toys to play with), paints (because she wants to be an artist), a picture of our family at the beach, and her goggles (because she loves to swim).

Getting ready to start her first morning activity: drawing a self-portrait on the first day.  You'll notice her name and alphabet chart on her desk.  She'll be learning the D'Nealian form of handwriting this year to prepare her for future cursive writing.

Stella wishing her big sister a great first day!  Liam refused to participate in the picture taking this morning.

 Don't you just love that face!

I'm so proud of my big girl.  Tomorrow marks a big day as it's our first day of homeschool days with Paideia, and we have co-op at our church.  Like last year, I will homeschool Nora on Tuesdays and Thursdays in conjunction with what she learns in class on MWF.  Miss Jones, Nora's teacher, sends home lesson plans for me to follow each day, so planning won't be as much for me this year.  However, I did take a look at what we've got going on tomorrow, and we will definitely be busy.  

Nora will also be taking ballet on Tuesdays this year, and both Nora and Liam will be taking a Reading Connections class at our CCK Co-op.  Tuesdays will be super busy over here!

I'll keep you posted on our progress and update after Liam's first day next week.  Hard to believe summer is over already!

Crazy May

May is BY FAR the busiest month of life we've had around here in a while.  It's was all fun and exciting stuff, but EVERYTHING happens in May!  Did anyone else feel this way?

We had Liam's 4th birthday and birthday party, Mother's Day, Nora's ballet recital, Liam's last week of preschool for this school year, and Nora's last days and her Kindergarten Graduation.  Two days later we left town to head down to New Orleans (WOOHOO!) for a visit with my family and some friends.  Add in here and there graduation rehearsals, doctors appointments, friends with babies being born, occasional sickness, playdates with friends, Care Group, and visiting with family.....and we were some BUSY PEOPLE!

(Have I taken pictures of nearly HALF of this stuff????  NO!)

As I think about our month and all that this past (school) year has entailed, I cannot help but be thankful for so much.  This has been a wonderful experience:  our co-op, homeschooling, preschool for Liam, lots of individual time with Stella.  Our children have changed so much since August, and I am so thankful for the tools the Lord has used in our lives to being bring these changes about.

Let me update more about a few recent things and goings-on of the family:

I am currently 19 weeks pregnant with baby #4!  This pregnancy is going by so incredibly fast, but we are really anticipating the arrival of our little one.  The pregnancy has been really smooth, and I just this past week began to definitively feel the baby move (which is by FAR my most favorite part of pregnancy).  In fact, Jonathan was able to feel a few kicks for the first time.  What a miracle life is!


Stella B just turned 2 on Sunday! I am kind of in denial about this, and I will insist on snuggling her and cuddling her and rocking her and treating her like a 12 month old instead of a two-year-old for a little while longer.  Stella is definitely starting to come into her own opinion, as most little two-year-olds do, but she is still the sweetest and cuddliest and funniest little booger we know.

Liam turned four in May (as I mentioned above) and had a fabulous birthday and party.  We celebrated with a few friends at a bounce house with some Transformer cupcakes and a few gifts.  He is SUPER into Rescue Bots these days so with the help of my parents, we were able to get him his favorite six Transformers: Blades, Boulder, Heatwave, Chase, Bumblebee, and Optimus Prime.  He is one proud boy!  (By the way, he often calls them "France-chormers" instead of "Transformers" which is the cutest thing ever.  I will not ever correct him and most often I say it incorrectly because I so love how he says it).  He finished up preschool a few weeks ago, and so far it doesn't seem that he is one bit upset to leave behind his friends and teachers.  He does occasionally talk about Pre-K next year, but I think he is just ready to play and enjoy the summer.

Nora, on the other hand, is super sad that school is ending.  She absolutely LOVES school and her friends and teachers.  It's been hard for the her the past few weeks because she realizes that she is not going back to Cedar Springs next year and won't be going on with her group of friends.  I hate this for her, but we are also super-pumped about Paideia and all that the Lord has in plan for her (and our family as a whole) next year.  We will still have lots of opportunities to see and hang out with her friends from CSWS, but I definitely understand her sadness. We have been so blessed by Nora's two teachers this year who have invested so deeply into her!

Last month was also Nora's ballet recital and she was a beauty!  I took lots of pictures and Jonathan recorded it, so I need to try to upload those soon.  All I'll say is that while she looked so beautiful and graceful, Nora has not quite FULLY grasped the concept of gracefulness.  She was so passionate about her dance, but it wasn't what I'd say graceful, slow, smooth, dainty.  If she had a turn, she would whirl and whip around with all of her might, and she'd do it very quickly.  It was so precious watching her because she was having so much fun and enjoyed every minute of being on stage.  It was so fun to watch her!

Jonathan and I celebrate our anniversary on the 22nd....9 years!  (Confession:  I just typed eight.  Eight years.  Then I had to stop and do the math).  It's been NINE YEARS!  Cuh-razy that we are almost to ten years of marriage. Our anniversary fell in the midst of Graduation, so we didn't really get to celebrate as it occurred, but we definitely made up for it by going out to dinner at Commander's Palace in New Orleans during our trip there last week.  I'll update more on that delicious meal another time.

Well, truth be told, I started this post in late May but never got it posted because my computer is soooooo uncooperative when it comes to uploading pics lately.  I decided to just edit the post as in the past since it is now JUNE, and forget the pics.  I'll try again another day!  Till then.

Field Trip to the Fruit and Berry Patch

Yesterday, Nora's class went on a field trip to the Fruit and Berry Patch in Halls, TN.  I just love this little local farm.  We have taken a trip there almost every year in the fall to pick pumpkins, and this year our trip was with Nora's classmates.  We had a great time!

The kids ran around like animals for the first few minutes, and once everyone arrived, we loaded up on a trailer pulled by a tractor.  This "hay ride" brought us to the pumpkin patch where every child got to choose his or her own pumpkin!  Then, our ride continued to the animals where the kids got to handfeed the sheep and goats.  They loved it!

Afterward, the tractor dropped us off at a corn maze (a very simple corn maze, might I add).  The kids really enjoyed running around in the corn.  We then headed over to an old farmhouse surrounded by these beautiful trees where the leaves where golden yellow and orange.  It was raining leaves, and the children quickly started having leaf fights.  It was gorgeous!

We finished up the trip with apple cider and hot fruit pies.  It was a great class trip, and I know my children loved it!  I can't wait to go back.

I am.

One of the projects we are currently working on for Nora's class is an "All About Me" packet filled with information all about Nora these days.  We are recording her favorite things, her likes, her dislikes, her friends, her family, and all kinds of details about herself.  She has to write the letters she can write, the numbers she can write, and the shapes she can currently draw.  She has to draw a picture of her room, herself, her family, and her teacher.  One of the last things we worked on was an "I Am Poem."   It was so precious to complete with her that I decided to go ahead and try it with Liam.  However, almost all of his responses were super silly.  Here is Nora's:

I Am Poem

___________________

I am a person.
I wonder if Liam is going to wrestle with me.
I hear my brother being crazy.
I see with my eyes Liam watching me.
I want a stuffed animal called Twilight Sparkle.
I am a girl.
I pretend I'm a princess.
I feel happy.

I touch my baby sister.

I worry about crying and not distracting anybody.
I cry because I get in trouble.
I am a human.
I understand that God is bigger and stronger.
I say good things to Lydia, Layla, and Leah.
I dream about going on a date with Daddy.
I try new healthy food.
I hope that Elijah gets better.
I am my family's favorite big girl.

First Day

It seems impossible, but it is true.  We have had some very big FIRST days around here within the past week.  Nora officially had her FIRST day of Kindergarten last Wednesday, and this morning, I dropped Liam off for his FIRST day of preschool.

Let's start with Miss Nora (who will be FIVE YEARS OLD tomorrow, by the way).

This girl has been SO ready for Kindergarten!  I knew she would love it, so I wasn't really worried about her adjusting to such a big change.  And, I was right!  She came home that first day ready to go back the next day (which she couldn't do because we do a co-op where she is in school every MWF, but homeschooled on Tuesdays and Thursdays).  She loves the social interaction, the structure, the expectations, and most of all, her teachers.  

There were no tears and no hesitation from her.  And as I walked away from dropping of my baby, my firstborn to her first day away from me, out of the nest, in the care of someone outside of immediate family for the longest period of time in her life......I nearly cried.  My heart realized how big of step we just took.  She walked a mere matter of feet to her new classroom, and I walked away to a parent meeting down the hall.  I definitely suffered a little separation anxiety.

 But not my Nora girl.  She embraced it and had a blast!

She is making new friends, learning new rules and classroom expectations, and maturing by the minute.  I love that she loves school.  I hope she always enjoys the thrill of learning.

(Can you see the bit of shyness in the picture above?)

 I  am so excited about all of the things this year holds for Nora.  The things she will learn, the projects we will do, the fights we will have.  I know she is going to shine!

 Here's Nora with her teacher Mrs. O'Hern on the first day of Kindergarten.

August 14, 2012

Now, on to my little man, Liam:

Whereas I didn't have much concern about how Nora would adjust to school, I have to admit that I have my concerns about Liam.  He is social, like Nora is, but he is much more of a creature of habit and comfort.  (Meaning, he can be a Momma's boy when it comes to new things).  We met his teachers earlier last week, and he seemed to like the class just fine, but we had some trouble sharing with his classmates.  

I think this year will be wonderful for Liam in many ways, too.  I know that where he is is exactly where we feel that the Lord has called us to put him.  I had no control over who Liam's teachers would be, so I can only trust what I know:  God KNOWS who his teachers are and he has sovereignly placed Liam in the class he is in, with those specific teachers and those specific classmates.  I can't wait to see how Liam grows this year!

 I expected there to be tears.  I thought for sure there would be some hesitation or some grabbing of my leg when it came time for me to drop him off.

 Alas, there was NONE!  He didn't think twice about going into that classroom, leaving me in my tears as I watched him go play. That was a direct answer to prayer. 

 I thought about him every minute he was away today.  I was hoping he was comfortable and at peace and most importantly, having fun!

 And he was!  When I picked him up today, he was all smiles!  He got a great report from his teachers and he even told me he wants to go back.  So, I'm satisfied with our first day.

 I mean, how could those teachers not love this face!?  Even if he is a mess!