Nathan's 1st Day of VPK

Nathan has always been our politician-in-training.  As a toddler, he would walk around the restaurant waving and blowing kisses to the strangers in booths next to us.  I can definitely see shaking hands and kissing babies in his future, so it was no surprise that he was ECSTATIC to be starting school.  St. Paul's, within walking distance, was his alma mater from last year, so going back meant he got to be big dog on the campus.

He ended up having 2 beautiful and sweet teachers that did a great job preparing him for Kindergarten.

St. Paul's Program

Nathan started St. Paul's this year in January.  He was there for just a couple of weeks before his buddy Jackson joined the same class.  Him and Jackson hit it off, once more, and Nathan even made a new friend, Chase.  He said he like Chase as his friend because Chase liked dinosaurs and swords.  What more is there to look for in a friend when you're a 4-year-old boy?

I would say the year was a success.  He did well in class.  Learned lots.  But seemed to find every reason under the sun to NOT go to school 2 times/week.  His name card was white and he wanted it to be green.  Circle time takes too long.  The teachers don't let you run around with sticks so you can pretend they're swords.

He survived.  Learned lots.  Made a new friend.  And now has a school to call his own.

The end of the year program was cute.  It was all the kids dressed up and acting out Nursery Rhymes.  Nathan, Jackson and another guy were Three Men in a Tub.  Better known as: the Butcher, the Baker and the Candlestick maker.

Shall I refresh your memory?

Rub-a-dub-dub,
Three men in a tub,
And who do you think they be?
The butcher, the baker,
The candlestick-maker,
All put out to sea.

Nathan was the butcher, so boy did I have fun finding props for him to be the butcher.  He's wearing an apron, with a hamburger and a chicken leg poking out the pockets.  It was the best I could do.

There's Jack and Jill and a twinkling star along with some kittens who've lost their mittens.

And Little Bo Peep with her sheep.  Jackson, the Baker, is on the far left.

It was neat to see Nathan have something only he did and could be considered his and unique to him.

 

Nathan's 1st day of school

Can't remember if I've mentioned the whole wait-list situation with St. Paul's Pre-school right by our house, so here goes anyway.

Back when I was trying to get Katherine into a 3-year-old program, I called St. Paul's around June/July asking about entrance into the program.  There was a waiting list and Katherine was #12 on it.  I didn't know then how hot this little school was within walking distance of our house when I made that first call, but I quickly learned.  Friends, friend's friends and heresay helped me figure out that the "norm" was to be there on the day of open registration, before the office opened, and wait in line.  Uh, okay.

Katherine ended up going elsewhere and we never got a call inviting her.  #12 was too far down on the list I guess.

This year, the day of open registration in January, the office opened at 8 and I had to drop Katherine off at 8.  Me and the boys hot-footed it over there as soon as we could and got in line at 8:30.  The line was 25 people long!  NOT KIDDING!

I found out later on that people were there at midnight that morning!  NOT KIDDING!

Anyway, after all that, Nathan ended up being #4 on the waiting list.  I thought, "January to August, certainly 4 kids will drop out to make a spot for him.  Right?"

I even got a call in June saying he was moved up to first on the waiting list.  Just need one little kid to leave and he's in!  Sweet!

June came and left.  No call from St. Paul's.

July came and left.  No call from St. Paul's.

August came and left.  No call from St. Paul's.

September came and left.  No call from St. Paul's.  Jim and I had a talk about waiting vs. finding another school.  We decided to hang on through his birthday.

October came and left.  No call from St. Paul's.

November came and right around Thanksgiving they FINALLY said there was an opening.  We opted to wait until January since we had already started him at another school the beginning of November and there were only 2 weeks of school in December.

So January 2nd, the same day Sissy went back to school after Christmas break, Nathan started at St. Paul's.

The other little school he attended was very loving, accommodating, kind and generous.  He was starting to act out here at home, out of boredom I'm sure, so the 2 days a week at Loving care was just enough.

Here he is his first real day of school, at Loving Care.

Rocking the Spidey lunch box.

Yes, there were tears

No, they weren't from him.  That's just what I do when my babies go to school for their first day.


He walked right into class, followed the directions on where to put his lunch box and jacket and sat down.  His teachers beamed when describing what a good boy he was.  Every time I picked him up for those 6 weeks, Miss Judy would brag about how kind, helpful and well-behaved he was.  She was sad to see him go right before Christmas.

So after Christmas, Nathan started his new school at St. Paul's.  He did the same thing.  Walked right in.  Followed directions.  Sat down.  Was a stellar young man.  Received raving reviews from his teacher.

His little friend Jackson is in his class too!

Great news is we're considered alum now, so hopefully the process won't be so difficult for Brandon.

I love you big man.  You melt my heart.

1st day of 1st grade

She's a pro at this school thing, already.  Compared to last year's heart-wrenching, arm-prying off of my neck incident, this year was a nice, breezy, beautiful 70 degree , flat-surface, comfortable walking shoes and soft stretchy pants walk in the park.

Whew.



Sigh.



Thank you Jesus.



She already knew most of the kids in her class.  She already knew the routine: getting up early, getting dressed and ready, the ride there, car line, walking down the hall, putting her bag in her cubby, and her friends.  There were lots of hugs and excited little greetings when she walked in.  In her normal, reserved demeanor, she'd say hi back and flash her sweet, innocent, precious and beautiful little smile.

Good-bye this time was a lot less painful, for me.  I'm pretty sure I'd be correct to describe her good-bye as painless.  At least, that's what it looked like to me.

We came to pick her up and true to her daddy's genes that she inherited, the day was described as little as possible and just 'okay.'  Nothing more than that.  No long, in-depth descriptions of some part of her day.  Just, 'fine' was what we kept getting.

I'm ok with fine.  That's her style.  No tears and her wanting to go back are positive signs for her.

She did great and she's already asking when Nathan can start school there.

I won't lie, I have grandeur illusions of being a super homeschooling mom, able to keep a house clean, teach all 3 of her children, have a healthy, scrumptious meal on the table each night and miraculously keep up with piles of laundry.  Shoot for the stars, I say.


But really, I still have a tug in my heart to teach her from home.  So if/when the slightest hint of her not wanting to go to school occurs, I have to do my best to not capitalize on her temporary feeling, and do the responsible mom-thing by encouraging her to do her best at her job, which is going to school.

Random updates

So, I reeeaaallllyyyy need to update lots of things, but tonight is strictly for some quick random updates.

For instance, Nathan's favorite color is no longer orange.  WHAT?  I have asked him numerous times if this really is the case and he's for certain, his favorite color is now, GREEN!  Daddy's favorite color is green.  No coincidence there, I'm guessing.  I'm in mourning over this.  Nathan introduced the beauty of orange into my life and I'm forever grateful.  Orange was probably my least favorite color of all, until it became his favorite.  Mine eyes have seen the glory of the many different facets of orange, all because of my middle child.  Not just Gator orange, which was pretty much the only one I paid attention to, but the salmon shades of orange and the beautiful pumpkin/autumn-y shades of orange too.  Brandon can thank his older brother for the beautiful orange design accents in his room.  (That's another update on the horizon.  He's only 16 months old.  His room's been done for over a year and a half).  Excuse me while I listen to taps in honor of the passing of Nathan's favorite color being orange.

Silence...



Ok, so next is about our precious little fuzzy wuzzy, easy-going, he-makes-3-look-easy youngest child.  He has officially turned into a force to be reckoned with.  He has found his volume switch, his accelerator pedal and his activity knob.  He is really starting to understand that it takes lots of volume, repetition and persistence to speak over two other siblings.  I just wish I knew what his combination of consonants and vowels meant.  Spending 2 hours in the car every day is quickly becoming his least favorite thing to do.  Last year, dropping off Katherine and picking her up fit well into his rest/nap times, but now they're not jiving at all.

We're still waiting on Nathan to get into 3-year-old school.  He's been #1 on the waiting list for over 2 months and I am doing my best. to. patiently. wait.  He is more than ready to start a part time school, particularly the one within walking distance of our house.  Two hours in the car already has pre-determined where Nathan will go to school, so now it's just a waiting game.


Katherine's school is going well.  There was no prying of her arms away from my neck this year.  There was a little hesitancy the first day, but she requested to be dropped off in car line the second day.  Something about all the commotion her brothers bring makes her uneasy, I think.

And lastly, I'm officially dumber for watching portions of the show 'Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.'  I considered writing about the state of our country with it's impending Presidential election coming up, but somehow Honey Boo Boo and her redneck family was the train wreck my eyes could not avert from.  It's difficult to formulate complete thoughts and sentences when even a muted television of Honey Boo Boo is in the same room.  Flashes of Georgia-clay covered rednecks flying through the air into pools of red mud are images powerful enough to deaden any intelligent thoughts I might have thought were brewing.  So, I'll save my political commentary, something I tend to avoid, for another time.  Another time when maybe, just maybe, the only flash of light in the room is my Blogger page automatically saving my work.

I must get to bed.  I finally got back to working out today and I'm actually tired before 11.  Honey Boo Boo will hopefully deaden the rest of the brain cells I have that are still awake and send me into bliss-filled sleep.

RCS Water Day

Katherine’s school has a water day to celebrate the end of the school year.

Our little water bug enjoyed it thoroughly.  Thank you to Daddy for coming home from work to watch the boys so I could spend some one-on-one with our growing girl.

Before the water festivities began, Miss Christina read them a book.  They were a tad bit excited waiting for the designated time for them to go outside, but surprisingly well-behaved.

Katherine showing some pre-teen tendencies of being annoyed her mother is soooo camera happy.  I know she'll thank me for these one day. :)

Seriously, Mom. She's reading a book and I'm sitting at my desk.  How in the world does that constitute being important enough to take a picture?

 

I'll just ignore her and hopefully she'll put the camera down.
 

Nope, she hasn't put it down yet.  Fabulous.
 

Oh, forget it.  That's actually a funny story she's reading.
 

Some of her sweet friends she met her first year of school.

This one here actually lost a tooth during the organized water chaos.  This picture was pre-tooth loss.

Juliana and Katherine

Katherine and Zenobia

Reina, Katherine and Abigail

Anna and Katherine

p.s. I've had the password on this blog for who knows how long and I just realized that I can use people's real names now.  Whoo Hoo!  Hot Dog!

End of school year awards

Thankfully, Daddy was able to get off of work to watch the boys so I could see Katherine's awards ceremony.  What a cool thing it is to watch my baby growing up and thriving.

Here she is watching the speaker up front.  

She's my child, but it looks like her hair could pass for an offspring of the guitar-playing Muppets character, Janice.

Here she is accepting her award for Outstanding Listener.  Whoa, slow down there Sugar!

Ut oh, I've been spotted.  Great job Sister!  We're so proud of you!

Ocali Days

Katherine's Kindergarten class went on their first field trip of the year and I got to go.  The boys spent time with Bamah and Papa and I got to spend the day with our little girl who is growing so fast and beautifully.

Marion County has an event each year called Ocali Country Days.  It's a chance to experience old time music, storytellers and historical re-enactors portraying life on a late 1800's Marion County farmstead.  Mrs. H's Kindergarten class has been learning about Florida history so this was perfect.

I believe Katherine's favorite part would be buying her rock necklace or even her rock candy, but my favorite part wasn't tangible.  Anna, a classmate, rode with us.  She and Katherine chatted, giggled and showed Valley-girl tendencies for the 20 minute ride there.  I loved listening to them.  There were many times I could have interjected something Mom-like, but it was more interesting to hear how the conversation morphed.  I don't know how it happens, but 2 little girls will almost always find a way to be dramatic.  Shocker, I know.  It didn't matter if they were commenting on a benign cloud in the sky or the boring grey color of a nearby car, they found a way to dramatize it with their speech, eyes, head-tilting, neck rolling and voice inflection.

I loved watching Katherine interact with the other kids.  She's still reserved and doesn't go out of her way to expose her heart or feelings, but there are traces of independence and confidence creeping into her actions.

Here they are grinding sugar cane into a liquid.  Jim grew that sugar cane.

She's made some friends.  She is, by far, the shyest kid in class, but even the gregarious children are including her and asking for her to participate, which she does willingly.

I love that she still wants me to hold her hand in unfamiliar places.  And I don't initiate letting go, I'll let her do that.  I still enjoy holding her sweet, soft little hand in mine.

She was so careful to stay next to me the entire time.  I am still more of a safety net than the soon-to-be ball and chain that insists on coming along.

She's progressing quite well in school academically and socially.  She's eager to practice her reading and still enjoys going.  Although, during this Thanksgiving break she has commented on how much she enjoys staying at home.

All in all, it was a nice, low-key trip that gave me invaluable, precious one-on-one time to spend with my little growing girl.

Our Kindergartener

Today was a BIG day in our house. Just like the other thousands of students in our little town, but this year, it just happened to be happening to us.

For the first time we experienced one of those rite of passages we call: Kindergarten.

Our baby, who somehow over the last couple of days or so, turned 5 earlier this year and all of a sudden got big enough to go to school. What? Shut-up!

I'm not going to fill this space with stories about me. I tend to do that often on this blog, but not today. This one is about Her. Our Kindergartener.

Her new school requires uniforms. She was hesitant at first about wearing them, but after a really cool shopping trip with mommy and her brother that doesn't talk back yet, she was stoked about wearing the special clothes she had picked out. There were no twirly dresses, but I'm starting to get the feeling that we might be growing out of them.

She really liked the idea of picking out new shoes.

She already knew where her classroom was, because she's sat in there every Sunday for Children's Church.

She's familiar with the playground and campus for the same reason.

She was a trooper when practicing getting up early last week and getting dressed and ready.

She enjoyed practicing the car line route last week and me explaining how she'd eventually get out on her own without me walking in with her.

She was excited about packing a lunch last night with Daddy's help.

She shyly answered 'Yes' to people's questions about being excited or ready to start school.

She was preoccupied with Daddy's IPad on the way there this morning.
She confidently got out of the car with her whole family there supporting her on her big day.

She walked up to the building, through the doors, down the hallway and up to the classroom with no incident. No hesitation, tears or quivering lips.

She helped me put her bag inside her cubby and we admired how her teacher had prepared her pencil box with just the right items in it.

She coyly waved to a church friend who's in her class.

Then I encouraged her to sit down in her chair, the spot in the room labeled just for her, and that wasn't what was right in her world. The reality of what was about to happen started to settle in her mind. I had done everything I could have possibly done to prepare her for this day, except the one thing I couldn't have done. The actual leaving part was one we couldn't ever practice. It had to be unrehearsed and fresh.

She got hugged and kissed and reassured and had her cheeks stroked and reassured and then had her arms gently pried from around her mother's neck. Forcefully prying her arms away from mama just made it worse, as learned from previous attempts. So, when the teacher and teacher's assistant didn't respond because they were busy with 17 other students and their families, mama turned for daddy and asked for help.

I'm not exactly sure what he said to her or her teacher, because I was in the hallway hoping she wouldn't see me, but it worked. We were the last to leave the empty hallway and the last image I have of her was one of the teacher gently placing her hands on Katherine's shoulders, pointing to the paper for her to color.

We remembered her through the day by keeping up with her schedule posted on our bulletin board. When she had reading group, her lunch time, her rest time, etc.

We loaded back up, her personal entourage for the day, made the trek back to school and parked the car. The boys stayed in the car while Mama patiently waited outside under the covered walkway for our big girl to be released.

One by one by one, children from K3-4th grade were released.

And Mama patiently waited. Anxiously waited. Proudly waited.

And there she came, carrying her Hello Kitty bag. A bag almost big enough for her to fit in.

She walked very controlled and lady like up to Mama, who was on one knee, ready to hug our sweet baby girl. Mama had to be careful not to squeeze too tight. It was a real concern.

Then Mama whispered in her ear, "Did you have fun today, baby?"

She said, "Yes."

Then mama whispered, "Would you like to come back tomorrow?"

And she said, "Yes."

Mama's heart all of a sudden weighed about 10 pounds lighter.

We almost skipped back to the car, like a bunch of schoolgirls. Mama and Dada did the best we could to listen to her tell us about her day over the Atomic Fart app her brother was playing with on the IPad.

We decided to celebrate by going out to eat supper @ Moe's with our neighbors, Mr. J and Mrs. P.

Congratulations Katherine. Your daddy and I could NOT be more proud of you, our beautiful, big, smart, kind, gentle and tender girl. Our Kindergartener.

1.5 weeks

3.5 months
11 months
18 months
2.5
First day of school at 3.5
First day of homeschooling at 4.5
Our Kindergartener

K4 Graduation Day

Jim and I were both commenting on how we don't remember there being so many graduation ceremonies when we were growing up. I didn't have a graduation for Kindergarten. There was one for high school and that was it! My parents gave me a goal to reach for and graduating with my diploma (and lots of scholarships to back it up) was the goal.

Now, did I totally milk it after that? Of course! I had a graduation party for my AA degree, my Bachelor's and then of course for my Master's. Guess I had to make up for feeling jilted somehow.

But that's just it, I never felt jilted, like I should have had a ceremony to recognize passing a grade, instead of all of them.

So how do I feel about there being a little ceremony for my sweet, crazy beautiful, wildly intelligent, precious little girl who graduated from the K4 class?

Absolutely! Why wouldn't there be? Most of it is for the parents anyway, right?

Well, thankfully there was because it was the tearful reminder that this summer is it for me spending loads of time with her. Soon I will be waking myself up early to go tiptoe-ing into her room to wake her up and encourage her to get dressed, eat, brush her teeth, brush her hair, go to the bathroom and remind her to not forget her lunch and backpack, 5 days a week! Yikes!

She actually surprised me this summer. My mom said it would happen, but Katherine being my first child and all, I needed to witness it myself. Mom said the summer before she starts her Kindergarten year, she will mature so much that she'll want to spend time with other kids and she'll show me that she's ready for school. Last year she was not. I know that for a fact. She was still very clingy and unsure. But this year, this summer, she's been wanting to spend another week at vacation bible school, even if she's not sure there will be friends there she knows. She didn't even want to drive by the church last year to check it out.

There's always the side of myself that will find something wrong in my actions to explain why the change in her behavior, like, we had another baby and I don't get to spend as much time with her as I did so why wouldn't she want to go elsewhere? At least she's getting attention, from someone.

Damn mommy-guilt!

She was the one that was begging me each day to teach her after I bought the home-schooling curriculum for her Pre-Kindergarten year. She would sit still, stay interested, would do her workbook pages and I had glorious visions of home-schooling her. She had no desire to leave our comfy home and loved the attention I was able to give her. But, first trimester bouts of extreme sleepiness had me longing for the nap time we were using for teaching, and the second trimester awakened the planning beast within and the third trimester was back to napping and preparing for a third one. I also took on the responsibility of co-managing a group of 70 women (BIG learning experience there) and accepted a part-time job at our church.

Extra time to teach? Where was it? It was slipping through my fingertips along with my one-on-one time with my soon-to-be Kindergartener.

I can logically think about the change in her behavior and pinpoint it to her maturing, but I'll always wonder if I messed up somewhere. There's a really good chance, someday, I'll look back and know that the sequence of events in our family's lives were divinely planned and part of all of us growing together, but my heart longs for her still wanting to cling to my side and learn from me. Protected. Unhurt. Naive. Tender.

No surprise here, Kindergarten is going to be hard for me. Really hard. K3 was hard on me but she'll be fine. She'll flourish. She'll take calculated baby steps away from here, with a glance back now and then. She's my careful one. The one I'm having to learn first from.

Congratulations my sweet little Graduate!

GBB Spring Program

It's been a whole year since last year's Spring Program.


I still needed a hanky, but this time for a little different reasons.
Besides being big pregnant, uncomfortable and frustrated with the boy for not sleeping exactly when and how long I had planned on him to sleep, all I could do was think about how 5 years ago I had an infant just a week old. And now I'm sitting in the church watching her sing in front of hundreds. She just seemed so much bigger than last year.
She wasn't nervous or anxious or scared. Just singing like she had been taught and practiced many times. She was a year older, a year cooler, a year wiser, a year bigger and a year smarter. And it all showed in her confidence walking up onto the stage, ready to perform.
Nathan did better than I thought he would have, thanks to the Job-like patience of Daddy.
There was one incident where my tears were caught by a family member's video camera and I had to quickly hold up the crinkled up tissue to hide my red-splotchy face. It's all so embarrassing, can you imagine how my husband feels and how my kids will feel?

After the performance, Katherine got to hang out with the cousins and friends and play in the grassy area.
These girls have become good friends: A, AC & Katherine. All blue-eyed cutie-patooties.
That night was a little harder than usual also because of the National Exam I was scheduled to take the next morning. After the performance, the kids went with Bamah & Papa to stay the night and Daddy and I went home to finalize the packing of my books, pencils, protractors, erasers, snacks, calculators, etc. We woke up bright and early the next morning at 3:45 and we were out the door by 4:45. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Perkins before we got to the testing facility, and I was checked in by 7am.

Everybody keeps asking, "How do you think you did?" and my answer is:

I have no idea.

There was about half an hour where I was fighting sleep, but soon the York Peppermint Patties kicked in and my sugar rush perked me up. There were many moments of doubt, "Why am I doing this again? Who in their right mind would go to this much trouble to do this?" There were moments of confidence, which must have happened right after the sugar high because I was flying through the questions then.

My first 4-hour test I finished in a little over 3 hours. The sweet 80-year-old proctor lady declared me a genius and told me when to come back after lunch. And the second 2-hour test I finished in a little less time.

The highlight of the whole test-taking experience was when the sweet 80-year-old proctor lady fell asleep in her chair sitting in the back of the class. She fell out of her chair with a loud thud, unharmed thankfully, but I started my giggle fit and couldn't stop. Reminded me of when I'd get in trouble in Mrs. Brydon's Honors Biology class for laughing at other classmates for nodding off in her class. Something about people sleeping, including myself, cracks me up and I can't stop.

I've got enough going on to worry about this test. I'm guessing just about the time when I truly forget about it, the results will come in the mail and my heart will fall into my toes.