Firsts

Yes, my kids are older - potty-trained and all of that - but we still have firsts! Tonight, I have a 'first' to share for each of the kids!

Mister J has been taking swim lessons at school, and today he swam on his own - face in the water, and no floaties - for the very first time! I'm so proud of him! He was very timid in the water last summer, so I'm incredibly excited for him. He has been so proud of his accomplishments after each swim lesson (twice a week) - and I can't believe he waited until bedtime tonight to tell me this!

Miss M - well, this isn't exactly the same kind of milestone, but I think all kids do it... Miss M decided to take things into her own hands today and take a chunk out of her hair. Thankfully, she only snipped off part of a little ponytail (just the front section of hair that I'd pulled back for her dance class this afternoon), and it seems to blend into the rest of her hair pretty well. However, "Dr. Sabrina" will certainly notice it at our next hair appointment!

Jan Brett Book Tour!

We spent a large part of the afternoon and evening at a local bookstore for a talk and book signing by author and illustrator Jan Brett.

Our afternoon began with a wait in line to get book signing certificates. Aren't they pretty? (Don't know why blogger uploads this as a vertical picture - I've edited and resaved it horizontally. However, it's worth craning your neck for this one!)

Miss M was a trouper - she and I were at the bookstore for nearly 6 hours! She colored and snacked and sat in my lap while I read Town Mouse Country Mouse. I'd planned to take a quick break after that to go and get Mister J - but Daddy brought him to us! We went out to the Mommy-van for a while, read Hedgie Blasts Off!, had a little snack, then headed back into the bookstore for the big event! We got to ...

see Hedgie

hear Jan Brett speak and give a short art lesson

(the final product)

and then wait our turn in line to meet her for ourselves!

Mister J was particularly excited to go to the book signing since his class did an author study on Jan Brett earlier in the school year. We saw several of his classmates there, as well as one of Miss M's classmates and Mister J's teacher.

Jan Brett took a few moments to speak with each of the kids as she signed each of their books (including a small drawing as well), and I'm pleased to report that neither was too shy to talk with her.

What a fun afternoon/evening, and a great experience for the kids!

Thursday Thanks #24

It's been a while. Too long, in fact, since I've posted a Thursday Thanks. This still isn't a return to regular posting (at least I don't think it is), but I'm glad to be here anyway!

Just a few moments ago, I commented on a blog. The question was, "What's your favorite day of the week?" Here's how I answered:

My favorite day of the week is Thursday. It's the day "Thursday Packets" come home from school. I can't resist looking at them as soon as possible! Over dinner, I let the kids talk about what's in their packets. Tucked inside we find school work or art work to talk about, and it gives our kids a good starting point to tell us about their accomplishments.

It's a great opportunity to celebrate their academic or creative achievement, or even talk about things that need a little improvement. Since it's over the dinner table and not at the homework table, we can even discuss potential improvement without it being a 'heavy' talk.

I'm thankful for the opportunity - and motivation - to celebrate the kids each Thursday!

Lunches - Big Catch-Up Post

Ahh - I'm back on the blog! It's a cold, wet, lazy Sunday afternoon. The kids are napping. Miss M was, as usual, up with the sun. Add to that a late bedtime on Halloween, and the 'fall back' didn't really help her out. She fell asleep on the way home from lunch with friends this afternoon. Mister J is taking quiet time, too, so I'm spending some time going through photos and working on the blog - yay! I'm going to start with a big post about lunches, move on to some other noteworthy events, and wrap it up with Halloween photos - stick with me, ok?

So ... lunches! I've packed two lunches per day since school began - the only exceptions being one day that Mister J asked to eat "hot lunch" from school and the days the kids were home sick (Miss M - 6 days due to flu, Mister J - 3 days due to congestion/scratchy throat/cough). That's a LOT of lunches! I still enjoy packing them, though I don't always enjoy doing it at 9 or 10pm. While the lunch planning chart hasn't lasted like I'd hoped, we still take the time to talk about what will be in the lunch boxes.

Here are just a few of the lunches I've packed over the last two months.

Lunches the first two days - these first two are nearly identical. Miss M's has yogurt and strawberries, Mister J's has Craisins and cheese cubes.


These next two have spaces for cucumbers I added the next morning. The roll-ups in Miss M's lunch were not a hit, but they both liked the pears. The small lidded container typically holds Thousand Island for Miss M, Italian for Mister J (unless I have ranch dip or hummus).


As I mentioned above, just because it's in the lunchbox doesn't mean it's a hit (a change from the early days of the Laptop Lunch Boxes!). I almost always pack things they have eaten for me at home, because it's important to me that they have a filling lunch that they enjoy. However, that doesn't mean that they will eat it!
Miss M's lunch - Yogurt with fresh strawberries, grapes, grape tomatoes, green beans. While she will eat raw green beans at home, she didn't touch them in her lunch box.

Mister J's lunch - Corn and black bean salad/salsa, tortilla chips, cheese cubes, small container has sour cream inside, grapes, home-made fruit bar (I'll post the recipe sometime - these are yummy!) Mister J tasted the salad/salsa at home the day before, and said he'd like it in his lunch. He may have taken one bite of it at school :(

This must have been a Tuesday - sometimes I pack lunch for myself since we go to Miss M's dance class right after preschool. Mine had a small salad under the fruit bar - salad dressing in the small container instead of sour cream.

I made some 'fun' lunches the last two days before Fall Break - my only opportunity to send Halloween-themed goodies. On Tuesday, I packed cat-shaped sandwiches. Unfortunately, the kids didn't think bread looked like a Halloween-ish cat with arched back. Miss M told me she had a skunk-shaped sandwich, and Mister J thought his was a horse. (Why is it that the lunches I took photos of turned out to be the flops?)

This was lunch on Wednesday:
Pumpkin-shaped ham and cheese sandwich, Fritos, blood orange segments, pumpkin-shaped cucumber slices, orange bell pepper bits, ranch dip in the small container. This lunch went over pretty well, though Mister J asked me to not pack bell pepper in his lunch anymore. One of the few times I tried the magic of the lunchbox, hoping he'd try something new!

Overall, the kids enjoy their lunches. I'm getting better at packing the proper portion for the amount of time they have to eat lunch (30 minutes). Most mornings they ask to see what's in the boxes, even if they helped pick things out the night before. They don't know how good it makes me feel to see them excited about their lunches!

One day a week, I volunteer during the lunch period in one of the K-1 classes at school. At this age, the children eat lunch in their classrooms. I have discovered that most children (usually about 2/3 of the children in the class I work with) bring lunches from home. Initially, I was concerned that the kids' lunches from home would be 'different' - more so for Mister J, where kids are becoming more observant about what other kids are doing. My happy observation is that many of the lunches look similar to what my kids take - yogurt, cheese, fruits, veggies. Although having a lunch that 'looks' like everyone else is not the most important thing, it is a relief to me that, at this age where kids are beginning to compare themselves to others, this is a battle we won't have to have - at least until Mister J gets to to eat lunch in the cafeteria!

The "Kid Office"

One of the projects that's been keeping me away from the blog. Bins in the corner hold all sorts of supplies - paper (drawing, construction, coloring books), crayons, markers, glue, things to glue onto paper, stickers (regular and foam), pipe cleaners, and more. Each kid has a supply box on the table. Covered canisters hold regular and colored pencils. Still need a place to hold Mister J's homework and reading packets each week, a trashcan, and a place to safely store scissors and a pencil sharpener.

First Day 2009 - Photo Edition

They're finally posted! Photos from the first week of school! Thanks for being so patient - everyone in this house is worn out from such a full week. We will hit our stride soon - which is actually a requirement, since Mister J's much-requested soccer practice begins next week, and Miss M's dance lessons begin the following week.

You might remember that Mister J wanted me to set his alarm clock to help him get up in the mornings. While it didn't quite work the first day, he's gotten up without my help each day since. Here are a few snapshots of our first day.

The kids got to take the last links down from their "how long is summer?" paper chain. Mister J wants another one to show him how long school will last. I think we are going to start using a month-at-a-time calendar instead!

Getting ready to get in the mommy-van and drive to school! The arms around each other was their idea - so sweet! Those smiles lasted all day long! I was mostly smiling, but milestones like this always get to me a little...

Walking from the parking lot to the front door. I'm amazed that this 'action shot' turned out - many of my photos from the morning are blurry :(

After a brief pause at the door to get his bearings, Mister J headed straight to his class. Today, he didn't even look back! Clearly, he's comfortable in his surroundings and happy to be there each day.

Miss M was also excited to get to class (once we pointed her in the right direction!). I think with a few more tries she'll be able to find the way on her own. I'll try not to cry when that happens....
I think she looks so tiny in this picture! She's in a (pea- and tree) nut-free classroom, and I'm packing her lunch each day to be sure I know exactly what she's eating. The safety measures the school has in place are great, but I feel more comfortable packing a lunch. Mister J has expressed an interest in purchasing his lunch, which we will be discussing over the weekend.

Mrs. G shared this photo of Miss M and her friend, K. It sure is nice to have a peek into what the day is like, since M's not at the age where she tells me a whole lot. She and K seem to be fast friends - there are a few photos of them playing together. Miss M also knows another little girl in the class, H, whose family goes to our church.

I was behind the camera on the first day of school, but finally made it in front of the camera on Day 3 (many thanks to the mom who snapped this photo!). As you can see, our school is in a very metropolitan area - and I think we are going to love it!

Also yesterday, the Farmer's Market was open. It's in an area adjacent to the school, and open twice a week from late spring through early fall . A few students (upper grades) were walking through the market at the same time I was walking through.

One of my favorite things from this week - besides the art the kids brought home, which will have to be another post - is the lunch plan that Mister J has been helping me with (I found the planning diagram on the Laptop Lunch Box website). Each evening, I give the kids a few choices for what their lunch on the following day. They pick from a variety of fruit, vegetable & dip, and sandwich options. Jonah has been recording their choices, and then I pack the lunches after the kids are in bed.
I helped out a bit with spelling, but most of that writing is Mister J's. I am so proud of him for being such a great helper! I hope to continue this through the school year - I think it's a great way to teach them about choosing healthy foods and about making/sticking to a plan. The spelling and handwriting practice are just a bonus! By the way, we ignored the days of the week on this plan. The left column was used for J's lunches, the right for M's lunches, and each row was for one day. Maybe I'll match up actual photos to the diagram in another post over the weekend....

Thursday Thanks #21

What a busy week it has been! School started on Tuesday - kindergarten for Mister J, and a new preschool (at the same school as Mister J) for Miss M. Of course, with a busy, milestone week come lots of thanks!

Last week, we met with the kids' teachers, Mrs G and Mrs J in Pre K-3 and Mrs M in kindergarten. I don't think I could have left the conferences feeling much better than I did. Both Miss M and Mister J were sorely disappointed the following morning when it wasn't a school day. So, I'm thankful for our teachers and for enthusiastic children.

We pulled the last link off of our summer countdown paper chain on Tuesday morning, and everyone was excited! I have a good list of thankful things from Tuesday:
- my alarm clock worked
-Mister J got out of bed with a smile
- minimal tears on my part, and most of them when I was back in the parking lot after dropping the kids off
- a decent to-do list for the morning, to keep me occupied until preschool pick-up
- the kids both ate nearly all of their lunches, especially important since Miss M is a grazer (they have 30 minutes for lunch)
- food allergy safety plans that I am comfortable with (many in place from prior years)
- Miss M's excitement to see me at pick-up, and a good first day
- Mister J's excitement at pick-up, and a good first day

Each day has brought some new tidbit about school from Mister J - I'm recording them in my planner. I'm thankful for these little tidbits - they are like gold to me! I am also thankful for the opportunity to volunteer at school (it's actually a requirement at our school!). Even though I'm not in my kids' classrooms, it gives me a bit of insight about a typical day. I don't want to be a helicopter parent, but in some instances (like food allergies) it's very, very necessary. My first 'shift' was on the first day of school - the result of a last-minute schedule change that worked out perfectly!

Now for a change of topic... It's been a long time since I've been out to girls night on a regular basis, so it was a real treat to have some unexpected time to visit with friends on Saturday morning (a friend I hadn't spent time with in nearly a month) and on Wednesday morning (friends I hadn't seen in a couple of weeks). Truly, the last-minute plans have really worked out well this week!

I'm also very thankful that I'm (finally) catching up on sleep! We are putting the kids to bed a bit earlier, and I'm letting myself off the hook on a few things this week so I can go to bed earlier. I even took a nap this afternoon - lovely!

I got my first bloggy award yesterday - woohoo! I'll be sharing the details in another post very soon.

I'm thankful for the mom who offered to take a photo of me with the kids this morning. I'd forgotten to get one with me in it (typical!) on the first day of school, and I didn't even imagine how hard it would be to get myself and the kids in a photo that I was taking myself - you know, the hold-the-camera-out-and-pray-it-turns-out-ok method - until I actually tried it! I didn't even think to look at the photo until a couple of hours later, and it's cute! I hope to get the 'first day' photos up this weekend - I really am eager to share them.

Thanks for stopping by!

previous Thursday Thanks posts

First Day 2009 - Mom Edition

So far, I'm doing ok. "Lean on Me" came on the radio as I pulled out of the school parking lot.... I changed the station.
I have been waiting for the day I would have two free hands. Now I am trying to figure out how to fill them. I know we will find our rhythm soon enough, but for now I think it IS okay to miss my babies. At the same time, I will (try to) celebrate how well they did this morning!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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5:55am - Wake up before alarm clock. This - by itself - is a miracle.
6:00am - Alarm clock buzzes. Hit snooze, and say a few prayers until it buzzes again.
6:05am - Out of bed. It's still dark outside. Peek out of bathroom window and take note of other families up at this hour. Can't bring myself to turn on the (bright) bathroom lights - take shower in the dark
6:30am - Out of shower, dressed, and downstairs to finish packing lunches. Also getting goodies ready to take to staff workday at our former preschool.
6:45am - Mister J's alarm clock goes off (he asked me to set it last night). He doesn't budge until I call his name.
7:00am - I'm back downstairs finishing up the lunches. Mister J comes down for breakfast. He's dressed and, I'll find out later, his bed is neatly made. I serve his breakfast, then head upstairs to get Miss M out of bed.
By 7:30am, Miss M is dressed and has eaten breakfast, everyone has brushed their teeth and has shoes on, and we are nearly ready to go. I thought about breakfast, negotiated with the butterflies in my stomach, an managed to eat about 1/2 a portion.
By 8:00 am, we have taken First Day of School photos (only 3 tries to get a good one) and are loaded and ready to go. Miss M rides with M, and Mister J rides with Daddy.

After dropping Mister J in his class, Big J has to nudge me ("that's it, time to go") before we head over to Miss M's class. I realize that I'm the only parent there who is helping unpack Miss M's backpack (allergy meds, first-day paperwork). Neither of our kids seemed to want a big mommy-hug, and barely glanced our way as we said goodbye. I know that's a good sign, but man is it ever tough on a mommy's heart.

By 8:30, I was heading back out to the mommy-van and over to the preschool. By 9:15am, I was at Wal-Mart with my shopping list. I had one hour to shop before heading back to the kids' school for my volunteer time. I was done with my shopping in record time, even though I tried to take my time....

10:15 am - Blogging from school parking lot.
10:30 am - Head in early for volunteer hours - needed to get a lesson on how to log my hours, anyway....
10:45-11:45 - Served lunch in one of the K1 classrooms. When that was done, I checked email until it was time to pick up Miss M.
12 noon - Miss M was excited to see me at the end of her day :) Saw Mister J on our way out - he seemed to be having a great day!
12:30pm - Home it's rest time for Miss M, and time for me to get some work done. She mentions that she doesn't want to be at home (I guess since Mister J got to stay at school).
1:30pm - Miss M comes into my office. "Mom, I have something to tell you. I had a good nap." She never actually slept, and her 'nap' included a potty break - but I am hopeful that the room time will become a good part of her afternoon routine.
2:45pm - After making an octopus, mixing a lovely shade of orange from some bright pink and yellow, and cleaning up, we are on the way to pick up Big J
3:05pm - Waiting in standstill traffic to pick up my kindergartener. The line moves quickly once the kids start coming out of school.
3:15pm - A couple of blocks away from school - thankfully not any further - we realize that Mister J forgot his lunchbox. Back into the fray, but this time on foot. His teacher is just inside the door - she saw us coming.
3:30pm - On the way home from the first day of school!

Mister J finished his lunch leftovers (1/2 a bagel sandwich) when he got home. Then he and Miss M built a fort, listened to TJ Bearytales, and then we cuddled for a double-feature of WordGirl (opens with sound). Then, I started dinner while Mister J and Miss M picked out what I'll be packing for tomorrow's lunch. I ask the questions (would you like A, B, or C kind of sandwich? D, E, or F kind of vegetable? etc, etc.), they give the answers, and Mister J writes it on our lunch planner sheet (see p. 2 - it's a chart for the Laptop Lunch Boxes). I'll eventually scan the first sheet and share it here, along with some first day photos. For now, I'm wiped out - so I'm packing tomorrow's lunches and then going to bed. I know they were worn out, too - Miss M, our grazer, finished her dinner before Mister J. That never happens!

Oh, one more thing. I sent quarters for the kids to buy milk with their lunches today. I coached them about where the quarters were, and to give them to the teacher when she asked who was buying milk today. Since they had quarters, I did not pack a drink. Both of my kids drank water with lunch today. Why didn't they buy milk? I forgot to tell M's teacher, so I'm not surprised (I emailed her this afternoon to let her know that there are quarters in M's lunchbox) - but I still looked like the mom that forgot to pack a drink, at least for a few hours. Mister J's answer? "There wasn't any store." ((grins)) Tomorrow, I'll make sure his teacher knows he has quarters.