Looong Overdue #2 - First Day 2009

Yes, the first day has come and gone. However, I now can post photos of the wondrous first day of Third grade and PreK. I also have some shots of my kiddoes going to their Open Houses the day before the first day.


We went to Anna's Open House first. The PreK program is at the elementary school. She is very excited to be in Isaiah's old school

















Then it was on to Isaiah's school to meet all of his new teachers. Third graders don't always appreciate "beginning of the year" photos. Not that I have experience with this phenomenon, it's sort of a guess.
















The real first day! Isaiah had his hood up because the skeeters were bothersome that morning. Anna's wearing the sweater my Grandma knit for me when I was a little girl. Pretty neat.

















My two little friends. One last hug before the bus arrived. Anna still cries and gets sad when Isaiah's bus pulls up. I don't mean only on the first day. I mean ev.er.y.day! She hates that he's leaving her for an entire day. You'd think she'd sort of get used to this but, alas, she does not.

Step Aside

Anna will be getting registered for Soccer this morning. Initially I was planning to take both children along to registration. Matthew's plans have changed and he will now be at home this morning. Due to past experiences I decided I might get through the registration process a bit faster sans children. I mentioned this to Anna stating it won't take long and she can hang out with Papa until I return.

To which Anna replied, "Mama, you better take me to registration. They might hafta ask me questions about me. Well, they might need to ask you questions too, but you better just take me along."

Fiscal Geography

Overheard conversation between Isaiah and Anna:

I: Anna, that coin is mine.

A: Ee-ah (what she still calls Isaiah, although she can pronounce his name just fine), I want dat one.

I: Anna, that one is mine. You can have this one.

A: What is it?

I: This one is quarter, it's for humans. The other one is just a Euro you can't spend it here anyways.

(I'm quite positive Isaiah meant no offense to all our friends that use a Euro as their currency)

Early Bathtime

Lots of fun was had outside today. I find it ironic that this morning I assumed it would be too wet to play outside, due to the morning rain.

Sand is much more fun when it's wet.

This is what happens when I say, "Sure, I don't mind if you add water to the sand."

Sword of Light.... or not so much

We had a very busy, fun-filled day today (more on that later). Last night we were all up late watching the fireworks in Osceola. Because of our busy day today and late night last night we're relaxing in the living room at the moment watching old cartoons on the Boomerang channel. At the moment Thundaar the Barbarian happens to be on the TV.

Apparently Thundaar's weapon of choice is the Sword of Light.

While watching Thundaar restore good to the world and defeat all those bad guys that go around causing destruction in their path Anna spilled some soda on the floor. No worries, our resident hero, Papa, took care of the spill.

Matthew said to Anna, "No problem! I have my OWN of Sword of Light."

Anna said, "Where?"

Matthew then clarified, "Well, actually, it's more like a Domestic Towel of Cleanliness!"

Somehow Sword of Light sounds a bit tougher. I will say, however, the Towel of Cleanliness did a nice job cleaning up the soda.

Rainbows and Football

I was driving Isaiah to art camp today and he asked if we could ever drive to a rainbow. I said we could not and then explained, scientifically, all the reasons we could not actually get to a rainbow.

I continued driving and wasn't paying much attention to Isaiah and Anna's conversation (argument?). I believe it had something to do with talking rainbows and flowers.

Isaiah then felt the need to explain the unrealistic characteristic of speech among inanimate objects. Other than this I really wasn't paying much attention.

My ears perked up when I heard Isaiah say, "Anna, in real life flowers don't talk, rainbows don't sing, mountains don't have mouths, those star things aren't real and girls don't have football-shaped heads."

I said, "Are you talking about Dora?"

Dear Grammy,

(and Gramps and Auntie Sally too)

Thank you for always attending the kids' functions at school and for their sporting events. We appreciate your driving and very often taking time off of work to support Isaiah and Anna. We feel very blessed and fortunate that you participate the way you do. Thank you!

Grammy, thank you for hanging out with Anna on Wednesday so I could have one last afternoon with Isaiah and his classmates during their Track and Field day. Also, thank you for pushing Anna for over 2 hours on the swing while I was gone. Not to mention the whole plumber thing that you had to be here for while I was gone. Thank you.

Love,
us

Graduation!

Anna has graduated from the preschool program at her school. She did such a great job.

During her Christmas program in December she did not even want to go on stage with her class and sing. Anna doesn't like any attention to be put on her so, even though other children were singing, she wanted no part of the performance. I was anticipating the same type of stage fright to occur during graduation. Yippee! It did not.

A tradition at her school, usually reserved for that year's graduating seniors, is the presentation of Character Awards. Character Awards are given by the child's teacher. The teacher painstakingly chooses a character that best describes that child and assigns a Bible verse to coincide with the character trait. The award presentation brought this mama to tears, for sure.

Here are some photos from the special evening.

The proud graduate complete with a wrist corsage from Gramps and Grammy.

Anna's teacher presenting Anna with the character trait of "content". Anna's verse is Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want; for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

.Checking out her award.

A family shot in which Anna is leaning in to give Isaiah a kiss right as Grammy was taking the photo.

Gramps and Grammy came to witness the special celebration. Auntie Sally was there as well although she posed for no photos. Also, I believe Isaiah is revisiting the thrill of his own preschool graduation.

Anna's Last Day of Preschool

Last Tuesday was Anna's last day of preschool. She made it. It was touch and go there for awhile. She started out very strong and after about two months the novelty wore off. What ended up happening is a very large lack of preschool enjoyment. She never wanted me to leave her at school and was never thrilled to be leaving home on preschool mornings. Drop-offs weren't fun.

Anna always enjoyed her time while at school even though she said she didn't. I frequently came to school early to observe her and make sure all was well. It was. Anna participated and interacted just fine. I believe she just wanted to let me know she was not happy with the situation and was not condoning this type of activity. Regardless, she finished her preschool year just fine. She even learned some things although, if you ask her, she did not. That's my Anna.

On her last day Mrs.K brought an ice cream maker and the class enjoyed homemade ice cream for snack. Also the Kindergarten/First Grade teacher at her school let the preschool class take a peak at her turtle. Very exciting.


Anna is the one with short blond hair wearing the light pink outfit. Can you see her smile?

This is Mrs.K, the best preschool teacher ever.

Tonight there will be a graduation ceremony for the preschool students. Anna will go to the Pre-K program through our school district next fall so she will say good-bye to a lot of her friends tonight. The school Anna was attending is a Christian school and she was one of only a few Osceola children attending that will be in the Pre-K program.

Congratulations Anna, I'm proud of you. This year wasn't easy for you but you did it. Way to go!!

Cultural Diversity

I appreciate Dora, Diego and Kai Lan. Really, I do. I just feel my Anna may be getting confused over the different types of languages in our world and the different ways folks do certain things.

Last week Anna was getting dressed for the day and rather proudly said she knew how to put her pants on in Chinese.

(Go ahead and read that last sentence a couple times. I had to ask Anna to repeat herself a few times before I was confident I understood what she was saying.)

I said, "Really? How?"

Surprisingly, she put her pants on one leg at a time.... same as always. The twist came when, after getting her pants on, she karate chopped the box that was still in her room.

Fun Day

On Saturday the kids and I went to my mom and dad's house. Matthew was out-of-town so I loaded up Isaiah, Anna and Matilda and we hung out with Grammy, Gramps and Auntie Sally.

While Gramps, Auntie Sally, Isaiah and I played a game, Anna and Grammy made Brownies. Well, if you ask Anna she made them herself and Grammy just helped a little.


I can't tell if Isaiah won or if Sally's pointing at me because I won that hand. Not sure. It was funny though.










Anna's getting ready to further clean up the mixing bowl, spoon and spatula.













She took her job very seriously...

....and she even used soap and water.

Kids Say...

Last night Isaiah took his turn reading to Anna and me. He read Puff the Magic Dragon. As he read the words he sang the tune as well. Here's his rendition:

Puff, the Magic Dragon, lived by the sea and froliped in the autumn mist in a land called Hona Lea.

(something tells me he may have been trying to remember the song rather than reading the actual words, it's just a guess)

Anna, during the month of January, discussed the creation story extensively at school. Some parts must really be sinking in as this morning she asked a very clever question.

She said, "Mama, did God make you by using Play-Doh?"

I figure clay....play-doh, same idea.

FYI: I did try to explain a bit on how God makes people nowadays. Pretty much it was just the first time around in which clay was used.

Delicatessen

Matthew introduced the idea of using mayo. on sandwiches to our kiddos. I don't put mayonnaise on my sandwiches, I like it, just don't use it. As a result, I don't put mayonnaise on the the kids' sandwiches either.

Papa does. So Isaiah and now Anna enjoy mayonnaise on their sandwiches as well.

The other day I gave Anna a couple choices for lunch and she chose a turkey sandwich with "ham-naise". Is it wrong that I asked her a total of four times what it was that she wanted? I couldn't help myself. When Papa came home I made Anna tell him, three times only, what she had for lunch.

To: Anna From: God

When I was little there was a family that lived down our street that had a little boy. This little guy had huge brown eyes. I remember my mom asking him, "Where did you get such big brown eyes?" He replied, "Sears.".

This morning I told Anna I liked her toes. I said they were pretty cute toes, too. Then I asked her where she got such cute toes. Anna said, "From God."

Three's a Charm?

I am bravely claiming Anna is now potty-trained for the third time. I do hope this is it.

Also, I have a bone to pick with all those folks out there who say girls are easier to train than boys.

Not What I Meant

The steps going downstairs are wood. If one is wearing socks it can be slippery. This is the reason I like Anna to hang on to the railing if she is going up or down.

The other day Anna had her hands full with items she wanted to bring downstairs. She had a lightsaber (not a real one), a plastic plate, toy truck and one other thing I can't remember. This meant her hands were full and she couldn't grab the railing.

As we were about to walk down the steps I said, "Anna, you will have to hang on to something when you go down the steps."

Anna said, "Mama, I am hanging on to sumpin'."



ps "lightsaber" is not in the spellcheck, I think we should let Mr.Lucas know

Special Gift

The kids had their Christmas photos taken on Saturday. Anna gets to wear one of her special necklaces and bracelets when there's a big photo shoot day. She chose one of her cross necklaces to wear. Anna knows that this jewelry is all gifts from family members for being born or to remember her dedication day.

When she saw this particular cross necklace she said, "OOOH, is that one from God?"

She's Innocent...

Isaiah used some of his birthday money to buy a toy car he's had his eye on for awhile. He took it to school which means it needed to endure a backpack transport on the bus. Very dangerous.

Yesterday I noticed the car on the coffee table. Both side view mirrors have been broken/snapped/ripped off, the front bumper is missing a piece from the left side and the spoiler is cracked. I'm very certain that the majority of the dings and dents happened while traveling to and from school. Isaiah was warned this was a possibility, however, he took the chance.

I also happen to know that one of the side view mirrors had actually survived. I was a little surprised to see that now both were gone. I asked Isaiah if he took the car to school a second time and he said he had not. I then asked where the other mirror went. He was as shocked as I to discover both mirrors gone. Anna has a tendency to "play" with Isaiah's toys when nobody is looking. We both looked to Anna for some answers.

Mama: Anna, did you play with Isaiah's car?

Anna: (shocked I would ask such a thing) No, Mama. Well, hmmm, I don't think I did.

Mama: Well, have you noticed the two missing mirrors on Isaiah's car?

Anna: (still shocked) No?!?

Mama: It looks like both mirrors are gone now. How do suppose this could have happened?

Anna: (posing in Winnie-the-Pooh's think, think, think pose) Hmmm. I know! Maybe someone just grabbed the car and well, maybe someone accidentally threw it up?

Mama: Do you know who would have done that?

Anna: (shocked would be an understatement at this point) No! It wasn't me... maybe it was... (looked at the dog as if it was Matilda's fault, then realized it wasn't very credible)... Isaiah?

Isaiah: mmhmm, yeah, sure Anna.

Meanwhile, Matthew was busting a gut on the recliner trying not to let Anna see or hear him laughing hysterically. I'm sure she's innocent.

Work From Home Days...

A few weeks ago Matthew decided he'd work from home once in awhile. We put together a nice desk for him downstairs, got a cordless phone and he hooked up some gizmo to the computer upstairs so he can use the internet downstairs. It's nice to have him home sometimes.

This is what I walked into on one of his "work from home" days... watching Dora, no doubt.

Anna's Prayer

Dee-oh God,

Sank You fo' my spoon and sank You fo' my Gammy. Sank You fo' my fam-oh-yee too.

Amen.