Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Tales of the First Day

This is how our first day of school went......


Leading up to the first day of school, I heard underground rumblings of Rylee not being so excited about Taylee going to HER middle school. I guess being in 8th grade makes you SO mature and SO NOT a 6th grader. Taylee seized the opportunity to push a few of Rylee's "buttons". I heard things like;

"You don't want to ride bikes to school, JUST because you're afraid you'll mess up your hair!"
"Are you afraid I'm going to embarrass you?!"

"You know you don't have to look PERFECT all the time!"


Even with these rumblings, I also overheard plans being made about getting to bed early, outfits being coordinated and details about the hairstyles for the first day of school;


"Do you think I should wear the black flats or my converse?"

"Should I flat iron my hair or curl it?"

"Which necklace looks good with this shirt?"


The night before and the morning of, they were giddy. They got up WAY early, like 4 or 5am, got showered, dressed and then got to work on hair (and make-up). Rylee let Taylee wear one of her new necklaces and did her hair in ringlets. I thought it was an interesting combo, but what do I know. Taylee loved it and felt pretty and that's what counts.

They debated back and forth whether they would walk or have me take them to school. It was finally decided I would be driving them to school. They posed for their "first day of school" pictures and then we were off.

Rylee came home bummed about a math test they had the very next day. Taylee reported she had received compliments on her shirt and necklace. Then Rylee asked, "Didn't anyone say anything about your hair?" "No." I assured her it was lovely and that people probably thought she looked that fabulous every day.

From a young age, we noticed that Taylee was her father's daughter, in many ways. No exception when it came to being directionally-challenged. As I said in a previous post, I physically walked Taylee through her schedule, pointing out signs and clues to help her get where she needed to go. I was a little worried she would get mixed up, turned around and then frustrated. I wanted her to feel as confident and relaxed as possible, on her first day of middle school.


Taylee reported with a chuckle, "Guess what Mom. I accidentally went to my last class twice and totally missed my class with Mrs. Storey." Then she continued to tell me the funny details. --It wasn't until the next day, she finally realized she had been in the wrong keyboarding class, on the first day. She said, "We wondered why I wasn't on the roll?"

Even with the mix up, she seemed excited and still confident. Whew!


For the first time, in the history of Treyson, he is the oldest sibling at his school. With this position comes great responsibility.... getting Abree and himself home, safe and sound.


At his school's meet-n-greet teacher night, we walked through the route he would take from his classroom to where Abree would be waiting with her class/teacher. He assured me that he could figure it out, no problem. The Kindergarten teacher told us he would have to physically talk to her, before taking Abree home. She had to be checked off the list. Again, no problem.


After school, I decided I would meet them. I found Abree and waited in position, hoping I'd see Treyson soon. As I was talking to Abree about her day, Treyson showed up and said, "What are you doing here? I told you I would pick her up." I high-fived him for a job well done and assured him I was there so I could hear about their first day of school, right away. :)



I have to admit, I get a little antsy around 3:45p each day, but am excited (and relieved) when they BOTH walk through the front door. :)


Way to go Treyson!

Although Abree was WAY excited about Kindergarten, I wondered what the actual going-to-Kindergarten would be like for her.

We got there a little early, so she could remember where to put her backpack, where to line-up and give her the opportunity to play on the equipment if she wanted to.

She did a little playing, but mostly hung out with me.

When Mrs. Matthews came out and blew the whistle, she grabbed her backpack and quickly got in line. She looked a little nervous, but mostly excited.

As she walked in her line and through the doors, I expected her to glance over her shoulder and give me one last look. She didn't. I keep watching for this look each day. She's hasn't done it even once. Guess I need it more than she does. :)

I can report I didn't cry. I did have a tiny moment of thinking I might start crying, but being behind the camera lens and snapping lots of pictures distracted me. I'm so proud of her. It's hard to believe, my baby's growing up!!!

Abree's highlight of the first day of school; drinking PINK strawberry milk.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Magnets

In preparing for school, we thought it would be fun to make marble magnets. Rylee has collected a few fun things to decorate her locker at school, but Taylee was starting fresh this year.
We picked out cute scrapbook paper, punched it into a circles, Mod Podged it to the flat part of the marble and then glued a magnet to the back.


Voila!
Locker decor.

Haircut!

I knew I wanted Abree to have a trim, before school started.
I put it off until the night before!


Here goes nothing.....

BEFORE

AFTER

Boy, I sure do miss Tawnya in moments like these. I wasn't very happy with my lack of skills and choppy results. After trimming it here-and-there, for a few days, it looks ok now.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Kindergarten Orientation

As a mom, you think the day will never come.... when all of your children are in school and you actually have some kid-FREE time to yourself during the day. I am here to testify that it does. This my year.
I'm being weaned gradually, with only 1/2 day Kindergarten, but from 12:50 to 3:10-ish (when Taylee gets home) I have no kids to answer to.
Everyone keeps saying, "What will you do with ALL of your FREE time?!" At first this distressed me... "What AM I going to do with my time?!!" But as I really started thinking about it, I started to relax... "What ever I feel like I WANT to do, GOSH!" said in my most Napoleon Dynamite accent. Reality?...... probably volunteering at the school with my kids. :)
The week before school started, Abree was invited to a Kindergarten Orientation.
We got to meet her new teacher Mrs. Matthews.

We also familiarized ourselves with the classroom and other important places; bathroom, line-up spot, backpack place and cubby. One of Abree's favorite places was the kitchen area. She only eyeball-ed it, while we were there, but I'm sure she will have many hours of fun with it, in the future.

Another highly anticipated area is the puppet theater.

After 3 years of pre-school, this girl is READY for Kindergarten!

We were excited to find out we already knew 3 of her classmates.
On another BRIGHT note, Abree started reading this week! She's known the letters and sounds for some time now, but I just hadn't sat down with her to put it all together until now. She can read 3, 4 and even some 5 letter words with blends. I am impressed!
I'm excited for this new stage in her life.... but boy, it sure does make me think about my own. As I think I've mentioned before, I'm not one that loves change, but I guess I'll just have to "get used to it". :)
Writing this has given me anxiety.... or maybe it's just a sugar buzz from the 2 brownies I just ate.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Crunch-o Munch-o!

I'm soooo bummed!
Rylee had asked to go to a friend's house to swim. I got detour directions from her friend's mom, because of major construction. I drove there on "auto pilot". Not thinking I had gotten into the turn lane, when I should have been going straight, at the light. I looked around, everything seemed to be clear. I put the van in reverse and CRUNCH ....Obviously it wasn't clear.
I was so mad at myself. That was so STUPID...and illegal. I tried to remain calm and turn it into a learning lesson for Rylee on "consequences for our actions" first hand. :)
Long story short.... I damaged the side of the other car, tweaking her gas door so it won't shut. Rylee was VERY late getting to her friends house to swim. But had a story to tell. Got my very first ticket EVER for "improper backing" to the tune of $85 bucks.
My bragging rights for NEVER having received a ticket is over.... but it wasn't a speeding ticket. Does it actually count? Jason says YES.
Later Rylee told me she had seen the car there and wondered why I was backing up......into it. She said the college-aged girl was on her cell phone and then saw me coming and put her hands up and braced for the impact. Why in the world did I not see any of this??? It would have been nice if she would have honked. Oh well, still my fault.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Middle School

I can't believe it... I have TWO kids going to middle school this year!

About 2 weeks before school started, we went to Heritage Middle School for registration. Taylee registered for 6th grade and Rylee for 8th.
After dropping a chunk of cash in the cafeteria for; agendas, PE uniforms, yearbooks, classes and an activity card, we went to find the girl's lockers. Rylee was bummed to find out she, once again, had a BOTTOM locker....3rd year in a row. Taylee discovered she had a TOP locker. Rylee was so jealous. :)
I practiced with Taylee on how the locker combination worked. After some trial and error, she figured it out. Next, we walked through her schedule going from class to class. I wanted her to get a feel for the school and to have success finding her classes that first day.
Rylee being the experienced 8th grader, felt no need to walk through her classes, but found friends in the hallway to hang out with.
Ready or not.... here they come!