Ellie's First Day of VPK

Today was Ellie's first day of school!

Ellie's first day of pre-kindergarten!

Ellie was very excited to start school this year. I worried a little about how it would go, as she was really hung up on her class from last year: "But I just like my Busy Bees Class! I like my Busy Bees teachers! I like my Busy Bees friends!" So, we've been talking up this new year and new class as being for four-year-olds. See, last year, she was three, so she was a Busy Bee. Now she's four, so she's a jaguar.

It seemed to do the trick! She still was a bit apprehensive about new everything, but we went to orientation last Thursday and as soon as she saw her classroom, a few old friends, and all the fun new things in her room, she was ready to go. She is going four days a week this year instead of two, and just judging by the teacher's orientation talk and the decor around the classroom, the focus is going to be on preparation for kindergarten, much more so than last year. I'd be lying if I said tears didn't come to my eyes a bit when the teacher mentioned kindergarten next year, because HOW?!?!

This big four-year-old is ready for her Jaguars class!

This morning, we got up and ready (she reverted back to singing the "Daniel Tiger school song" to remind herself of everything she needed to do before school), then walked to school.

I love that we can walk now!

When we got to her classroom, she went right in and barely even looked back. No goodbye hug or anything! She was ready, and went right over to find her cubby for her lunch box.

So grown up!

Of course, it was also a "first day" for E.J.: I decided to start going to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and Bible study on Mondays, and the church offers nursery care for E.J. Not only that, they extend the nursery care for an additional two hours after the moms' programming is over, so you can go run errands or do whatever you want kid-free for a little while. Today was the first day I took advantage of that! That meant that E.J. had to bring his lunch to school, too, which meant he got a note in his lunch box just like Ellie and took a backpack with him like a real little school boy.

Lunches packed and ready for the school day!

First day of MOPS nursery!

So, after Ellie was happily in her classroom, we dragged crying E.J. out (I think he thought he was going into her classroom with her and was very upset when that was not the case, poor thing), cheered him up and sent him off to his room. Then, I hit the grocery store for the most serene shopping trip I have experienced in years.

Eric and I went together to pick both kids up at 1:00, and both were in great spirits! E.J. loved his note in his lunch box and made sure to show it to all his friends. Ellie said she had a good day and was excited to show us the "kissing hand" she made. She said she played picnic with her friends and sang songs. Overall, it was a great success!

Ellie at the end of her first day!

And so begins another year! I'm very proud of my little schoolgirl (and sort-of school boy) and I'm thrilled she's so excited about school. We're off to a great start!

May 2016

We had a really busy May this year! In addition to the Disney weekend I already recapped, we also did a ton of other stuff.

We went to the zoo's Garden & Wine festival, where Eric and I sat and sipped free wine samples while the kids ran around like lunatics. It was delightful.

They clearly had a terrible time.

Wine!

Ellie had her four-year well-check-up (thanks to insurance issues, it was a bit delayed), where we learned she is 43 inches tall (95th percentile!) and weighs 43.5 pounds (91st percentile!). She endured four shots, and when she was given the opportunity to choose a prize from the prize box she asked if she could take one for her baby brother, too.

And of course, she went to her appointment dressed in full Doc costume.

We went to a "Star Wars Jump" at Pump It Up, where the kids were able to make their own light sabers (which was great, because we have such a dearth of light sabers in our house) and battle Darth Vader while bouncing around on the inflatables like crazies. They had a blast and it was an excellent kid-energy-runner-outer.

They both look completely stunned but I promise, they loved it.

We wrapped up my year at my moms' group, much to my chagrin. The kids brought flowers for their teachers (E.J.'s teacher cried when they had to say goodbye to him), and my fellow moms and I had a little end-of-year party complete with table-decorating contests. The theme was Children's Literature, so I put a bunch of leftover goodies from Ellie's Alice in ONE-derland first birthday party to use!

Sweet kids bringing flowers to their teachers

Our Alice table

We also spent some time outside enjoying the nice weather before the suffocating heat really set in.

Playdate with our moms' group friends!

Pizza picnic at the train park. Always a classic!

Enjoying some park time with this cutie while Ellie was at school.

(Of course, a mere moment later he got his head stuck in the tree, because TODDLERS.)

Jumping in puddles by the river!

E.J. got in touch with his inner ice queen.

He's the Elsa to her Anna.

I made matching Star Wars pajama pants for Ellie and myself.

Twinsies!

The kids and I learned about weather at MOSH's May Little Learners event, and studied how different objects float/sink and how ice melts.

Little scientists at work

Ellie and I enjoyed a Girls' Day Out to see a child-friendly production of "Snow White" at the Alhambra Theater. It was very interactive and fun—a great introduction to live theater for little ones! Ellie really enjoyed it.

Ready for our girls' day!

Ellie at the theater

My mom came to visit and helped me plant some flowers in my flower boxes on the front of the house! They are looking rather sad now, despite my best efforts, but they're scrappy little things and are trying to hang in there. Bless them. They sure were adorable when they were first planted, at least!

Flowers!

We also went to the beach with my mom, and E.J. had a blast. This was quite a relief to me, as he hated our previous beach trip. This time, he couldn't get enough of the waves!

Happy beach baby!

Showing Ellie the little coquina shells

Laughing with Grammy

The cutest.

Eric and I went to his high school's senior prom! Eric and I went to his actual senior prom together 15 years ago, so it was fun to do it all again, complete with pre-prom photos by the river and dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. The actual dance was...louder than I remembered my own prom being, so we hit the photobooth and then spent some time with the other old folks out in the peace and quiet of the lobby. We used to be cool, I promise.

Prom-ready!

I took E.J. to a toddler painting class while Ellie was at school one day and he drew a lovely picture (of snakes), and then promptly dropped his canvas through the cracks on the front porch of the little boutique that hosted the class. Well, it was a lovely picture while it lasted.

A true masterpiece!....that now lives under the porch of that house.

My dad came to visit, and we had a nice time taking him around town. He also got to join us for Ellie's ice cream social at her school.

Out to dinner with Papa

Ice cream at school with Papa!

My dad also sent Ellie a Target gift card as a congratulations gift after her very successful spring ballet performance, and Ellie had a blast picking out a new toy and paying on her own with her "money."

She was so thrilled.

We also went to Eric's high school's spring football game...

Awwwwwwww

...the members-only opening of the new "Darwin and Dinosaurs" exhibit at MOSH...

Dinosaurs!

...and the Jacksonville Jazz Fest downtown (we actually had so much fun when we went the first time, we went back again the next night!).

Look! A kid-free photo of the grownups! Remember when we used to take those?

And, we wrapped up the month with a very fun Memorial Day: we spent the morning at the zoo (E.J. and I went through the Destination: Dino exhibit and Ellie and Eric fed the stingrays), then in the evening we had a little backyard pool party and picnic!

Eric and Ellie at the stingray exhibit

Too bad you can't hear him "rooooaaaarrrrr"-ing through the photo.

Backyard fun!

Sweetheart!

Happy Ellie!

And that was our May!

Schoolgirl Ellie

Well, I've done it again. I've gone largely MIA for the better part of two months. I think. Is that even right? I don't know. I've been wrapped up in 1) jury work; 2) prep for E.J.'s second birthday party; 3) travel for said party and visiting with family; and 4) laziness. There you have it, folks! My June in a nutshell!

Anyway, I do have some things I want to backtrack and discuss, starting with the end of Ellie's first year of school. She finished at the end of May, and thankfully, the adjustment to that lack of routine went more smoothly than I expected. So, yay for that!

Ellie on the last day of Pre-K3!

Her first year of school was just so wonderful. Honestly, I thought she would like school and do well there, but I worried a bit because Ellie is one who, if she gets it in her mind that she doesn't like something, she DOES NOT LIKE IT STOP ASKING HER TO TRY IT AGAIN NO WAY SHE HATES IT. I was a little worried that if something went awry in her first year of school, we would have an uphill battle when it comes to school for the foreseeable future.

But my worries were pointless because this year went even better than I could have hoped. Ellie's teachers were fantastic—her main teacher has been teaching at her school for over 30 years and she is just the sweetest woman. She has a soothing southern drawl and is such a calming yet firm presence with the kids. Her assistant teacher was also so kind and helpful. Ellie just adored them both, and so did we.

The Busy Bees class!

And, it seemed the feeling was mutual! When we had a conference with her teachers this spring, they just raved about what a sweet, caring, kind girl Ellie is. Her main teacher described her as "authentic" which I thought was an excellent way to describe Ellie. She is very much who she is, at all times, and it's refreshing and inspiring. Her teachers talked about how careful she is with her work, how well she does and how she enjoys success.

Ellie with her teachers on the last day of school

And she learned so much! They did so many fun things. In addition to all the normal preschool-skill stuff (recognizing and writing their names, cutting with scissors, etc.) they also had computer class once a week, physical education, music class (though Ellie never would sing), and religion class. They learned about holidays and a touch of American history (Ellie brought in pictures from our Washington, D.C. trip last summer to share during that unit!). They took a field trip to a pumpkin patch, had a petting zoo visit the school, marched in Halloween/Easter/Teddy Bear parades, picnicked in the church garden, hosted a Thanksgiving feast and an ice cream social, and performed in Easter and Christmas concerts. Towards the end of the year, they also had a myriad special guests visit the classroom, including a police officer, an entomologist, a Navy aviator, and a yoga instructor. They also learned about doctors and nurses and set up their own classroom clinic to practice their skills (you know Doc Ellie jumped right in there on that one!). Day to day, Ellie especially loved playing dress-up in the classroom and Star Wars on the playground with her friends.

Ellie playing dress-up at school

The Halloween parade

The Easter parade

Celebrating Ellie's birthday at school

Raising her hand during circle time!

Doctor Ellie at work

Yoga practice

Teddy Bear tea party in the church garden (they were each supposed to bring a favorite stuffed toy, and Ellie chose to bring my favorite doll from childhood - my Cabbage Patch Kid named Sharri!)

End-of-the-year ice cream social

And she really seemed to make great friends. There were 11 kids in her class in total (six girls and five boys). She talked about her friends every day and after school, she would beg me to let her stay a few more minutes to run in the grass with her friends (E.J. was also a big hit with the girls at these times, and "run around with friends" often turned into a "chase Ellie's baby brother" game). Since school got out, we've gotten together with a couple of her friends individually, and her amazing teacher organized a play date at a playground for anyone from the class who wanted to come (she even brought snacks, stories to read and a little toy for each of the children that went along with the story. Have I mentioned she is amazing?).

Ellie running with one of her best buds after the Easter concert

Chasing E.J.!

Storytime during the Busy Bees summer park playdate

Since school got out, in addition to our playdates I mentioned, Ellie has occupied her time with a week at Vacation Bible School. The church has a HUGE VBS turnout (over 300 kids this year!) and they did a great job with it! Ellie was hesitant at first, but really ended up loving it. She liked that they did themed dress-up days every day (blue shirt the first day, clothes backwards the second day, crazy hair the third day, etc.), and she enjoyed the skits they watched each day. Now that it's over, she keeps asking to go back and gets very excited when we see her VBS teacher in church on Sundays!

 I promise, she did like it, despite being the only non-smiling kid in this photo of her class.

Backwards day

We went RAINBOW for Crazy Hair Day!

I'm just so pleased with how all this school stuff went for Ellie this year. I'm a little anxious now that she'll have a hard time adjusting to being in a different class in the fall, because she loved her "Busy Bees" class so much, but hopefully some of her former classmates will be in her new class and that will make the adjustment a little easier. And we have our fingers crossed that her teacher from this year doesn't retire before E.J. makes his way into her classroom year after next!

I'm so proud of my little student! It has been such a delight to watch her grow so much this year. She is such a cool little girl!

Look at her growing up before our very eyes!