First day of First Grade! and meet the teacher for 2!

Oh my, I have 2 children starting school, one started today, the other cried in his room wanting to know why he couldn't start today! (he starts next week!) Yesterday evening we had "Meet the Teacher". We already know Nate's teacher, she was Gwen's first teacher, so Nate is entirely comfortable there. He didn't know the assistant, but I don't think he really cared, he just jumped right in. We also met Gwen's teacher and assistant. Gwen's teacher is new to the school and we met her the night before at the "ice cream social" for new families. I was fairly impressed, since she remembered Gwen's name. Gwen said she only confused 2 of the boys today, still fairly impressed. Gwen's class is small, only 17 kids, and she has 2 new kids to the school in her class. She is enjoying class so far, and already came home with homework! The nice thing about 1st grade homework is apparently she has the whole week to work on it, and since they started on a Wed, she apparently has until next Friday to finish. The nice thing is we don't have anything to do in the evenings/afternoons, except pace with Rachel, so homework can easily be done while I pace. Which will likely be nice for Gwen, I won't be breathing down her neck while she's trying to do homework, just checking as I pass by. Here is another slideshow from yesterday and today. I swear I will post pictures again on here, but only if I don't have more than say 5 pictures, gotta keep the amount of uploading to a minimum!

Meet the teacher/Gwen's first day - flash slideshow maker

King Cake Day

Gwen came home from school today all fired up! She has been so excited about Mardi Gras today "SHE HAD A PARTY AND GOT A BALLOON AND MADE A MASK AND SHE GOT A BABY JESUS!" So I decided to make a King Cake, we had the baby Jesus after all. We've never made a King Cake before, but what the heck, I knew I had a recipe somewhere. It took me a while to find the recipe, but I did and we made the King Cake. The kids where very excited and helped. I remembered to take pictures. Gwen was very excited to place the baby in the cake, well not at first, but I assured her the baby would stay warm in the cake. Seemed weird, but she's 4 and well she was like ok and went and found the baby she previously hid.

Gwen has also learned that today is the day for sweets, no sweets tomorrow. "No ice cream, pancakes, cake" and no meat tomorrow. I haven't pushed the abstinence/fasting thing with them yet, because they were too young last year. Now I don't have to go over it with her, score!

Grandmom visit

Last week Grandmom came to visit, a quick visit; not much time to take pictures. But we got a few. Grandmom wanted to do some "Grandmom shopping" as she calls it. She wanted to spend a little time getting them some stuff while she was there so she could see the kids when they got the stuff. Hence the Batman boots and raincoat/cape Nate is wearing. He has been wearing it almost nonstop. Here is Grandma reading a book after the purchase.
Gwen was 'child of the week' while Grandmom was here, she got to bring in a "special snack" for her friends. She was line leader and able to pick a special friend to eat snacks with each day. We were able go into Gwen's class and meet all her classmates, introduce ourselves and read some stories to the class. Gwen picked out 2 special songs for her class to sing. I snapped this picture quickly before we left, only Eric apparently knew that I was going to snap the picture.
In the parking lot of Toys 'R Us, we went there also.
Grandmom took over some of our responsibilities-brushing teeth, reading books and combing hair!
We also took Grandmom to the Farmer's market. Sure it is winter, but they had "Okinawa sweet potatoes"-purple sweet potatoes. We didn't have a chance to try them while Grandmom was here, I found a recipe for them we are going to try possibly tomorrow? These turtles are in the park near the Farmer's Market.

Gwen and Nate climbing on Daddy as usual. Not a particularly a good picture, but you can see Gwen is wearing her child of the week crown.
Reading a book before Grandmom left.
It was a short trip, but I think we squeezed in some quality time and everything she wanted to door accomplish. A humorous story from Grandmom's trip, she noticed that Nate has Woody, Buzz and Hamm from Toy Story and is pretty obsessed with the everyone from Toy Story. She promised Nate she would get him Rex and she was pretty insistent we go somewhere so she could get him Rex, she didn't want to go back on her word, understandably. So, day 2 we go to Toys R Us and we wander around and find some potential new Rex's to take home. She asks Nate do you want this Rex and he says "No". HA! 2 year olds! After another 30 minutes we settled on the Slinky Dog for Nate and "naked baby" #2...aka naked baby's twin. That is kind of humorous also, while I was tasked to help Nate decide what get after the Rex fiasco, Grandmom went with Gwen to the pink section to look at a new baby. (maybe I should clarify a new doll baby). Grandmom tried to talk Gwen into a Barbie, but Gwen had her heart set on "naked baby" number 2. I came over and tried to talk her into something else and oh the sad face, I thought she was going to cry. So, Nate left with what he wanted and Gwen left with what she wanted. And Grandmom was surprised and will likely talk about how her Grandkids have minds of their own and can't be talked into something they don't want. But a funny memorable story to be sure!

The beginning

I was going to go to bed, but thought I should document this now. Today was the day that Gwen went to met her preschool teachers and a couple of her, dare I say it, classmates! I have been a little nervous about this, it is just an unknown how she is going to react. She ALWAYS put up such a fight when we do things, but yet I think she really wants to go, wants to be pushed to go, I don't know if I have the energy to deal with this personality trait. Anyhoo, I had secured the neighbor for Nate babysitting duty, sadly I was a little frazzled with Gwen's acting like she was going to cry, I forgot to tell Susan half the stuff I meant to tell her. But, on to Gwen. I thought I should document this day for the future and I tried to snap a picture, this is what I got. If this picture could talk, you would hear Gwen saying (well squealing) "no Mommy, no pictures". I took the picture anyway and it might be one of the cutest, don't you think? It was funny though, one minute Gwen would say, "Mommy I want you to drive me to school right now" and then I would explain that Susan wasn't here yet and we couldn't leave Nate alone. And then Susan got here and she totally didn't want to go started almost to cry. We got to the school and since I had met the teacher she let me walk down with Gwen to the classroom, Gwen got to the classroom and looked at the play house and I think may have completely forgotten about me. She started to put purple baby down so I asked her if she wanted me to take it she said yes, I also took the sunglasses. Spoke to the teacher for a minute, and left. No tears, no nothing! WOW! I am praying it is always this easy, but I know it won't be. I sat outside on a bench filling out another info sheet and doing other stuff I needed to do. I might actually be caught up in the paperwork department! I met 2 other parents who both already had kids in the school and you'd think they were paid to talk about how great the school is. We went to pick up our kids and I guess all the kids did well, the little boy chatted away (he's the youngest of 4) and it took a little longer for the 2 girls to warm up, but they did start chattering away.
When we were trying to leave all the kids wanted to stay. The teacher said something about the name tags and Gwen asked if we could put it on the refrigerator, I said sure. So she did, when we got home, see
Then, as we were walking past a table she grabbed this, the scrapbooker in me was proud (Jamie I know you are proud!)

We have only gotten out bits and pieces from her about her day. We've fussed over her and asked and told her how proud we are. This is what we know, she didn't have to potty, she got 2! SNACKS! (this is very exciting to her, obviously) of goldfish and graham crackers. They played some games something about a banana and maybe a ball. I don't know, I think it has been too long already and I might have to update this with what else they did for when I finally go back for the scrapbooking. And in case you were curious, Gwen has been telling us that she "is going to keep growing".

New things

When we decided to take the leap and move and the hubby would go back to school. The first months where tough, we expected that, we knew they would be. But, you can never really prepare yourself, can you. We also know if we could get through to this time we would be sitting easier and we are. I just had no idea that this would mean I would gain SO much weight. UGH! But, as the stress is alleviating itself some, so has the weight started to come off. Now we have a little more money we finally got the one thing I have had on the todo list for awhile! Do you know what this box means? Yes, a toy for the kids! (I seriously have no idea why Nate needs to wear the helmet, but he loves to wear it constantly saying "buckle, buckle" and then has to hold the thing up because it is too big for his head!) Ok, not a toy an over the counter microwave! WE LOVE IT! It has added counter space for me, see that counter space there, by the fridge, totally taken up by the previous microwave...
YAY! Can I tell you how fabulous it is to be married to someone who can make this happen, so quickly? (even when he had to run to the store and pick up stuff to put in an outlet!) I need LOTS of counter top space, I love to cook and I kept running out of space, keeping things out of Nate's hands and allowing Gwen to help was getting to be a challenge (plus Nate could reach up and turn on the microwave so that safety hazard, removed!) I'll wager it will still be a challenge to keep stuff out of Nate's hands, but it might be easier, I hope, even if it isn't love the extra space!
In other news, both kids have colds, I was thinking Nate was starting to get better this weekend and then the cough started, not a bad cough really, but this morning he sounded very much like he has mucous in the lungs. He seems fine now, but let's just say both kids could probably use about 3 more hours of sleep than they are currently getting, of course they are both rather stubborn, so that doesn't help. I am hoping to take them out to hang with kids again soon, but not real sure how long colds are contagious.
As I think I might have mentioned last week, Gwen got into the preschool we applied for. We are pretty excited (well, I am!) that she will be going to preschool next year, as long as we get the financial aide. We found out that this year, unlike previous years the kids are asked to come in for a mini-preschool day with their teachers and 3 other students. I am a little nervous about this and called the teacher to explain to her that this is going to be a complete unknown to us how Gwen will react. My neighbor (that I cat-sit for) is kind enough to come over and stay with Nate while he is hopefully napping, since it is during his nap time! I like to only disrupt one kids schedule at a time, if possible! I know that Gwen will love school, it is just getting her used to it, a big change for her and a big change for us, a change for the better though, I hope!
I have also started digging in the yard for my new garden, the hubby thinks I'm nuts, but I was bored, and thought maybe I could start conditioning the dirt for the plants I will hopefully be planting sometime soon. I think April-ish is the time to do that around here, I have my seeds and a little greenhouse for the seeds that should start inside. It is a very exciting time indeed, I've never had a garden and have always wanted to try and grow my own food. I think I will be doing some more research about my plants and their soil conditions I would like to have success in my first real vegetable garden, we'll see how it goes.

mid-Jan?

Well hello there, how've you been, we're great, thanks for asking! I guess I have been busy/lazy/procrastinating. Its not like I haven't thought about you, I have, I have even had several posts in my head that actually haven't had an opportunity to get things out. We have now painted the living room/dining room, its all the same room, so we had to do them both! It took a little bit to adjust to the color, but I think we like it. It is so nice to have it painted, this house has not actually been painting since it was built 10+ yrs ago. And, since you know it was the builders special, it was just flat paint and scuffed. And then, to be crazy, we started hanging stuff on the wall, like we actually want to live here and make this place our home! Eric is now addicted to the prettying up of the place and wants to do more. But, since school starts today and we don't have anymore gift cards, we are out of luck for a while.
I think I also may have mentioned that Eric and I were given the opportunity to get out of dodge without the kids! We played it cool and were like whatever, if you want to stay home with the kids Grandma, good luck to you! I don't know who enjoyed themselves more, Grandma, the kids, or us? It was fun being without the kids, we drove several hours to the Biltmore. Eric's never been there and so I thought it would be a nice place to go. They had the place all decorated up for Christmas, apparently it was the busiest time of the year and there was a LOT of waiting at the winery, and elsewhere. And since we didn't have the kids, what did we care if we had to stand in line!? And when we were standing in line we found out a "wine & chocolate" special tour thing they do, so we signed up, and it was fun learning about the wines and chocolate pairings. Eric, being an overachiever tried all the wines from the winery, well, except for the "premium" wines, you had to pay for those! (If you are counting that is 20 wines!) I on the otherhand am not that dedicated, mostly though because I don't like white wine at all! But I had several of the reds 2x! We did the special candlelight tour and the regular tour. It was fun! We even met this couple that took our picture: we took their picture for them. But, I kind of like this picture of us better.

We stayed in a B&B and I spoke to my first Canadians, I think. They were heading for FL and they weren't pleased with how cold it was! For breakfast we had creme brulee french toast! YUM!!! It was lovely, so if you ever need a name of a place, let me know, I'll pass it along.
But, fortunately for everyone who lives with me I came back refreshed, and better able to cope with 2 kids and 1 husband. I even called a neighbor and scheduled a play date, that we went to yesterday! We had a nice time, I got to speak with the Mom, the kids got to play with some new toys, we will have to have them over to our house to play.
I have been procrastinating on Gwen's preschool forms. :( The pre-K is part of a K-8 school so their forms are a little intense for the 4 year old set (I think!) Seriously, it has made me ignore it, until Sunday, when I sat down at Church (next to the Principal!) Yesterday I made some phone calls and today dropped off the medical form before grocery shopping, which the practice had finished for me by the time I finished grocery shopping! Awesome! So now that's done.
I have also started looking into more of the Moms groups here, my Church has 1 and had some info in the bulletin, so I have contacted them and another group. I have learned one thing in recent weeks, I need someone local to talk to that isn't Eric! I also need to get exercising in, but have realized that it is too cold for me to take the kids out. They had so much congestion in the beginning of the winter, but now that I am no longer running, they are not having that problem. I have been doing indoor exercising, not necessarily a lot of fun, but I have got to start being more active.
We have also started working as a family to keep the house cleaner. I don't make resolutions, it is too depressing to fail at something at the beginning of the year, but we decided that if we work as a family to clean the house, it doesn't fall to 1 person always picking up. So far, 2 weeks in, I think it is going well, the house is staying cleaner and we aren't stepping on things and neither Eric and I are angry at each other for things being left out and messy, I hope this trend will stay, because our quality of life has improved, which is always a good thing! ;) Hopefully it won't be another 10 days before I get to updating again! I guess I should pull out the camera and start taking pictures of the kids again!

Yesterday

was a busy day. I got up early with the kids so we could be on time for the school tour. We were 10 minutes early, go us! There was a woman there that volunteers to watch kids while the principal, Sr Catherine (haha!) gave a speech on the school and stuff. My kids didn't care at all, had a great time playing with the lady in the "after school" room. I took them with me on the tour. The facility is going through much construction to make the school "better, not bigger". I don't know, there is just something about stepping onto the campus and the feeling of community. I can't describe it to Eric, he went to public school! The kindergartners even sang us a song they sing to learn their vowels. Cute! We'll see what happens. I think I am going to have to do some major volunteering at the new Church (not that I mind) so that I can get Gwen in and financial aid. The kids got pretty bored by the end of the tour, plus Nate was pretty tired, fell asleep on his way home. I almost forgot to mention that Nate pointed to a picture of the Pope and said "Daddy" of course is at that stage where he LOVES Daddy and wants nothing to do with me when Daddy is around. Gwen has also noticed this shift and she has become very Mommy centered, after 2 years of "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy", I am not sure I am used to this shift!

I can't remember what else we did, but that seemed like alot for us.

Today we got these fancy aprons in the mail. Cool huh?

Gwen has been "cooking" in her kitchen all afternoon!

Then she figured out the string comes out and pulled it apart, but it is an easy fix. We will be the most stylish cookers on the block. Gwen did want to know where Daddy and Nate's matching aprons were! Thanks Mom, they've been a big hit.