9.01.2010

First Day of School


You may wonder how I am able to post for the first time in months, and the answer is because today is the first day of the kid's school year!  (yeah I know, they went to summer school, but in case you all forgot - I also went to summer school..)  So here are the little tykers one off to preschool and the other to first grade!  Adrianne has been going to Kidspace for over a year now, so it's nothing new to her, but she's going to be a Robin this year (they don't officially start until Sept. 7th) she has moved up from a Chickidee, to a Blue Bird, and soon to be a Robin.  She is doing awesome and having a good time.  I bought her a ton of new Hello Kitty stuff for her 'official' first day of school...  Although Alexa did not get anything new, bad mommy!


Alexa is going into 1st Grade, with a new classroom, however, same teacher.  Image takes kindergarten teachers and loops them into 1st grade so the kids get the same teacher for two years!  I think this is an awesome program, it really helps ease the kids' discomfort on the first day, and lets the teachers get to know the kids better and start the year with a firm knowledge of what the child is capable of learning as well as their individual learning style.  I'm excited to see how Alexa does this year, she is reading and ready to learn.  I put her in a summer reading program through the library where the kids took turns reading out loud which really helped Alexa.  She is also getting better at sounding words out (which I thought would never come) she actually takes a crack at most words before saying, "I don't know."  which sounds something like this, "Princess Aroura and her fiends went to the I don't know."  (strange place to go I know!)  It makes me laugh when she does that because I'll be listening and then it's like my brain is trying to figure out where they went, as if I mis-understood and perhaps they went to the land of "idonno", too funny.  Anyhow here is the little miss all ready to go.  (She posed herself, I just said to smile and look cute).  And she's in pants!  We are trying to learn that pants are not all evil, plus she has some super cute sparkle jeans that I LOVE... why don't sparkly jeans come in adult sizes...


Okay that is all for today, I really need to get some work done since it'll soon be time to go pick them up again..  oh time goes so quickly..  (Check below as I posted some other things too from this summer).

A Long Time Coming...

 
It's hard to tell but this is Alexa, she told me last night, "Mommy look what I can do!"  then held her breath and put her face in the tub water.  This might not be a big deal to most, and under usual circumstances I wouldn't think a 6 year old who 'dunks' their face would be worth posting either..  however, this six year old had an 'incident' in our pool 3 years ago and ever since then has not put her face near the water.  Pre-near drowning incident she loved the water and had no problem putting her head in for a few seconds... I don't blame her because I think if I nearly drowned I would also be afraid of the water.  But about a year ago she began experimenting with laying down in the tub, and now she has worked up to putting her face in the water for an extended period of time (not just a brief dunk). That is pretty awesome to me, I think it may be time for those swimming lessons!

Oh and of course, Adrianne couldn't go without getting her photo take too, this is not her first time to do this but I humored her anyway. :)

Alexa's 6th Birthday

For Alexa's 6th birthday we had a big party (as usual).  There were kids galore, from her school, the Fil-Am, and family friends.  We had it a little late this year but it was nice, the weather cooperated and I think everyone had a great time.  Julius made his famous burgers, mom made potato salad, and ofcourse there was cake!  Alexa wanted Minnie Mouse this year, so although I couldn't find a mouse cake, Alexa picked out this polka dot one that I thought was close enough!


Julius wanted the kids to play some games, although I was not for it because I didn't want to have to set everything up or think any more than necessary (as the party is alot of work without any additional tasks!)  But Julius, the ever creative guy that he is, re-made the 'planting rice' game from the July 4 picnic that we went to.  It's a relay race where the first person "plants" the rice, we planted skewers into water bottles, then runs around the person at the end and "harvests" the rise, by picking up the skewers, then they pass the skewers onto the next person.  The kids had an awesome time playing, and everyone was laughing at Adrianne because she was so fast and competitive, she really wanted to win (although there was no prize).  In fact, she ended up crying on the last game because she accidentally knocked one bottle over and she thought she lost...



And you can't have a party without a pinata!  This cupcake shaped one was a good time for the kiddos, they each pulled a string and Alexa was able to pull the opener (on her second time around).  There was candies, and goodies and all the kids got to scoop up a bag full.  I'm glad it was a hit because I always try to find activities that are a.) gender neutral and b.) not likely to ensue a fight/argument/crying.


These are two of Alexa's friends from Kindergarten, she requested that they both join her for her party and I was able to look them up online and find their addresses (yay for online white pages!)  Don't they look so cute all together, I'm so proud of Alexa for making such awesome friends!


And ofcourse we cannot go without this cute photo of Adrianne, asking "Pleeeeeease, can I ate this candy?!"  She is such a little candy monster.  :)

And here is one last shot of the birthday girl opening her cards, this is the first year that she was able to read her own cards, I'm so happy she loves reading!