i stand corrected

Apparently, it doesn't matter that I was scrambling to put away Monday night's homework (Word Sort) so that I could get everyone bathed and in bed by a decent hour. R's should look like R's and not V's.

 

Thank goodness E was able to remind me.

first day of school

Yesterday was E's first day of first grade! Last week, we went to her Meet the Teacher. It was so funny to see that she was no longer a newbie...she was waving at kids left and right as she walked down the hall, and had to show me where the 1st grade rooms were located. Her teacher was nice, and she was excited to see that two friends from her Kindergarten class and one friend from her summer camp were in her class.

It should be noted now that my mother-in-law (Grandmom) came to our house on E's birthday with presents for E *and* all of E's school supplies. She was buying school supplies for needy kids at home...and downloaded and purchased E's list to spare us having to run all over. It was awesome...and I can't thank her enough!

Anyway, after a fun weekend that involved going to UVA for a football game, running into DC to meet a new baby, eating dinner with my parents, and hanging out with the neighbors, the day finally arrived. The family all hung out in the morning and ate breakfast together (a rarity during the week), and then we took the obligatory first day of school pictures.



Then, we piled in the car to drop E off at SAC.

I was a little worried that E would pull some of her shenanigans from last year...but no. She was so happy to see all her friends that she ran off without even a kiss good-bye (or the opportunity to take one more picture)!

From what we gathered last night, she had a good day. She had fun, likes her class,and is excited to go back. What she did at schoo, however, still remains a mystery. Whatever it was certainly wore her out...but she and A were asleep pretty quickly last night.

pickles came to town

When I walked through the door on Thursday night, E broke out a red backpack and announced that Pickles had arrived. Pickles is the pet stuffed monkey of Mrs. S (her K teacher), who has been spending one night with each student. The students then write about what they did with him in a notebook and return it the next day. No pressure though. Thank GOD this didn't happen in the last few weeks when things were super crazy.

Since they were going through the classroom alphabetically by last name, and Slacker is at the end of the alphabet (oh how I miss my middle-of-the-alphabet maiden name!), the book was almost full. And, just like Valentines, these parents went all out. Luckily, we held our own. I forgot to take pictures of the journal, but here's what Pickles did on his visit Chez Slacker.

The funniest thing was how A was constantly trying to insert herself into this whole process. She watched over me like a hawk as I transcribed what E wanted me to write, occasionally telling me "I don't see my name in dere. You write my name in dat book!" Also, when I told E that I would take a picture of her going to sleep with Pickles, A asked me, "How you gonna take a picture of ME going to sleep with Pickles?"

Alas, just like a flash, he was gone.

could have been worse

A has a new teacher who is always there when I pick her up in the afternoons. I don't know if this teacher just loooooooves A or does this for everyone...but she always tells me a Fun Fact about A. One day, she told me that they were playing Memory and A kicked everyone's ass. And, yesterday was no different.

"A was totally cracking me up today," she told me.
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, she made a microphone out of legos and was singing for the entire class!"
"Oh! That sounds like my girl."
"Yes, she was singing...uh...what's that song from the radio?"

This was where I started to get nervous. We've been listening to XM a lot lately, and sometimes my girls really like inappropriate songs. I started praying to myself please don't say Ke$ha's TikTok.

"TAYLOR SWIFT! That's right! I was really impressed at how she knew all the words."

Crisis averted...for now.

putting the slacker in slacker mama

Today was E's first day back to school since the week before last. And it was delayed 2 hours (and will be the rest of this week). For those of you keeping score, girlfriend has been out of school 10 of the last 13 school days due to snow, a teacher workday and President's Day. Craziness.

So, on Friday of last week, we received an e-mail from E's teacher talking about Valentine's Day...how they weren't having a class party for it, but if you wanted to send Valentines, here was the class list. I figured since the earliest they would go back to school was the 16th, and there weren't any official Valentine's Day activities, everyone would basically not buy cards to exchange.

Holy hell was I wrong. E came home with a bag full of Valentines. And most of them included candy despite the "No Candy" request in the e-mail. So the class parents? Suck-ups AND not very good listeners.

Luckily, E was perfectly happy with just receiving and didn't seem to notice that she didn't pass out any Valentine's to her friends. Which might speak more to her mooch-iness than her happy-go-luckiness. But either way, it's a win for me.

I mean I don't even buy cards for my family...I considered one of the brightspots of all this snow was bypassing the world's stupidest holiday altogether!

some things never change

A's school is doing some sort of space curriculum right now. Or at least I think they are, because the other night when I picked her up she pointed to the moon and told me she was going to fly there in a rocket ship when she grew up. And, yesterday, she pointed to a picture of Earth on a bulletin board at school and said,

"Mama, dat's the planet we live on. Dat's Earf."

The ride home from school was thens spent discussing the planets in our solar system.

The girls were totally cracking up that there's a planet named "Pluto." And I thought to myself...one day, Pluto won't even phase you. One day, you'll be in your 30s and you'll be driving home with your own kids. And despite your full-on adult status, you'll still giggle at a planet named "Uranus."

Or at least I still do.

computation queen

Last week, John and I had our first-ever parent-teacher conference. And this week, E got her first-ever official report card (well, elementary school report card...day care report cards don't count). Basically, E is doing really well at school. She's loves to go, is learning tons, and has made the transition really smoothly. John and I couldn't be happier (or more proud!).

There was a little strip of paper that was sent along in her report card saying that E was going to receive an award at the school assembly on Thursday. I took advantage of the flexibility that my job affords me and went to see it. It was the best decision I've made in a long time. E was overjoyed when she spotted me in the crowd. She waved at me throughout the ceremony. I was able to steal a kiss from her before she headed back to class. I imagine she wouldn't have been devastated if I wasn't there...but the fact that I was really made her day.

But, before I feel too much like mom of the year, let it be noted that bringing a camera totally slipped my mind. And there were parents who were video taping the ceremony (that was a bit much). But, I did remember to take a picture when we got home.

 

Please note that the award she won was for Computation Queen. She let that go to her head a bit. We took her out for a celebratory dinner (for the report card and the award) and she told the waitress "I'm the Queen of my kindergarten class!" And then later she tried to say that she was Queen of the Slacker house. Uh. No. That's all me.

And here she is posing with the Queen of the Upside-down Sunglasses.

 

John was really bummed that he couldn't make it to the ceremony. He already called dibs on the next one. I noticed that they did have one for reading and writing. And, (NOTE: SHAMELESS BRAG FORTHCOMING) based on her cheat sheet of colors that she wrote for fun last night...I wouldn't be surprised if she got one of those.

 

the nerd and the realist

E's class goes to the library once ever so often. Library, along with PE, computer lab, music and art, are scheduled on some sort of rotating basis that requires a PhD to understand. It involves Red Days and Blue Days and there are numbers. Okay, I'm sure it's not that hard to figure out...however, I find it much easier to ask E, "What did you do for your Encore class today, E?"

Where was I? Oh, right. The Library. So, when E goes to the Library, she's allowed to check out a book (provided that her mother is awesome and totally remembers to put the previous selection in her backpack so it's not overdue). So yesterday, when I picked her up from school, E pulled out her new book from the library. And, what wildly exciting book that was sure to inspire love of reading had she selected?

Poland. E had checked out a book on Poland.

Apparently, they pick from a group of pre-selected books, and since another fundraiser just trying to shake us down for more money the International Fair is coming up, the theme of the books was "Countries." And the girl on the cover of Poland had some sort of flower headband on.

So, last night at bedtime, she picked her Poland book for her story. I opened it up and, sure enough, it read like an encyclopedia entry about Poland. It started off talking about the geography of Poland, such as, Poland is the size of New Mexico and the majority of the land was covered with a central plain.

E was fascinated. A was not impressed.

"I no like dis book," A said.
"What?!?! This is a great book!" E replied.
I continued reading, "Poland has over seven thousand lakes."
"Wow! That's a LOT of lakes! Did you hear that A?" E prompted.
"Dis book is bad. I read my Dora book."

So while I finished telling E about pirogies and the school system of Poland, A patiently thumbed through her Dora book.

It was such a fitting way, to end the evening with my girls. E definitely has a more serious side to her, compared to my fun-loving, life-of-the-party A. And, while I definitely have my nerd-ish tendencies, I'm going to have to side with A on this one.

And I've marked on my calendar when that book needs to be sent back to the library.

my milkshakes bribe my girls not to cry

There are many things as a parent that I will not do, but bribery is not one of them. So, on Wednesday night as we discussed our days and how much fun we had at school and SAC when we weren't crying, I made a deal with the devilchallenge with the girls. If A didn't cry at drop-off and E didn't cry at SAC, then I would make them milkshakes for dessert. Mint chocolate chip milkshakes.

And it worked.

It was a bit touch-and-go for A at drop-off. As E and I turned to leave, she got a little skittish. So I scooped her (and her stuffed horsey) up and plopped her in the arms of her teacher as I reminded her of what she was working towards. She regained her composure and, knowing that she held up her end of the bargain, yelled out to her sister,

"Hab a good day, E. Don't you cwy at SAC!"

And E complied. She had a great day and didn't cry. So I broke out the blender and made us a round of milkshakes.

Tonight, we're eating out if they remain tear-free. So far, we're 50% of the way there. E better not blow this because, let's face it, I *really* don't want to cook tonight. And the place they are picking makes *fab* milkshakes, too.

A girl can get used to a life of bribery.

technically, she still loves school

So on Friday, when I went to pick up E from SAC (before and after care at school), the teacher told me that E had a rough afternoon. It seemed that my daughter, who was running and playing and smiling when I got to SAC, had spent the better part of the afternoon crying.

When I asked E about her rough afternoon, she told me,

"Well, mommy, I missed you. Why can't I just go home with you after school?"

In general, a statement like that would be a little knife in the heart...but when you are already not happy about the situation, let me tell you, I almost burst into tears myself.

After talking about what would help her feel better in the afternoon, we've let her bring in a small stuffed animal that she can play with at SAC this week. Alas, she says that she's still crying in the afternoon, although "not as much, Mama". Yay for progress?

And, hell-bent on not being forgotten in all of this, A is weepy at drop-off. John talked to the teachers this morning and they confirmed that she definitely takes some time in the morning to get back to being her normal self. The lack of E bing around has affected her, too.

I'm assuming that these are the normal adjustments that the kids are making due to all the changes. It happens every time they change classes. But damn if it doesn't hit me like a ton of bricks every single time.

she likes it! she really likes it!

So far, Kindergarten has been a success. E tells us she loves Kindergarten. The only problem? That's all she's told us. If you try to press for more details, she'll shrug her shoulders and tell you she doesn't remember.

What we have been able to determine over the course of all three day is the following:

• One of her friends from her old school, Kyle, is in her class.
  
• She sits at a table with Lauren, Tyler and Raj.
  
• She plays a lot with Gracie (who she met at Meet the Teacher).
  
• They did a fire drill today and she did not cry.
  
• Her favorite part of today was storytime.
  
• She played with Lexie after school...and Lexie is in Tessa's (friend from old school) class.

Aaaaaaand, that's all I got. I have no idea what they are doing during the day. But she likes it. And says she likes it better than her old school. So far so good.

and she's off...

to Kindergarten, that is!

 

The morning went well. E said she was "very excited...and a little bit scared." But there were no tears this morning, which was great!

After much debate, John and I ended up driving her to school, rather than having her take the bus. It was good to show her where she would spend her mornings...and we ended up seeing her friend from "the other school", which was nice. The K kids all converge in the cafeteria and walk to class together, and so she got in line said hi to a few of her new classmates and then John and I left. I'll pick her up this afternoon.

In other "I can't believe how fast they are growing" news...E learned how to ride a 2-wheel bike this weekend! And, not to be out done, A is now sleeping in a big-girl bed! Let's just say that I've had my fill of milestones...so I will be forcing the kids to do nothing new...at least until A turns 3 (three!) at the end of the month.

the suspense is killing us!

So, E starts Kindergarten on September 8. As in a week from today. As in oh-my-freaking-goodness -she-is-the-last-kid-on-the-face-of-the-earth-to-start-school. She's ready. We're ready. Even A's ready. Needless to say, we're all getting a little antsy for her to begin.

I think that part of the problem is that the school year will bring about tons of change. In addition to the girls spending the days at different schools, E will be doing before and after care at school. I must admit that I'm hugely disappointed that she has to do before *AND* after care, and was hoping to swing just one. But since her school schedule has a really late start and a late-but-impossible-to-guarantee-one-of-us- making-it-home-every-single-day end time, committing to before and after care it is.

It's going to be a huge juggle and I'm really not sure how I'm going to fit everything in. I'm hoping that it's not going to be as bad as I've made it out to be in my head (weeks and weeks and weeks of worry can do that to a girl, you know?). But I'm sure we'll somehow survive.

In the meantime, we'll just keep on reading those getting ready for Kindergarten books that Kiki sent (I've got them memorized at this point) and counting the "sleeps" until school begins.

moving on up ... to the left side

When I went to pick up the girls on Monday, I was told that A wasn't in her room anymore. She had been moved over to the other side of the building, in the 3-year-old's room. We were expecting her to get moved starting in September, but apparently she was ready. So ready, in fact, that the ditched the "transition week" where she spent 1/2 her time in the new room and half in the old room since she was devestated to leave the new place.

The 3's room is part of the preschool program at school. They switch between different classrooms/focuses. And, they wear uniforms. So, this morning, she ran into E's room and grabbed one of E's shirts. And, I must admit I got a bit misty seeing my sweet baby looking so big. But my nostalgia turned to joy when E couldn't get her uniform shirt on fast enough. So, for a few more weeks, that'll be nice.

It's just amazing...two years ago, I was in awe of my 3-year-old heading up to the big kid's class.


My how things have changed!

trick or treat

When we were grocery shopping this weekend, E and I picked up a box of Honey Kix to try. My girls are big fans of eating Honey Nut Cheerios dry in the morning...but since the food nazis daycare has a strict no peanut rule, they can't bring them to school. So, I was psyched to see that these were nut-free and, therefore, school-able.

Well, the girls have become little addicts. In fact, John had to put the box of Kix up on the top shelf in the pantry alongside the Girl Scout cookies since apparently the girls were fighting each other over them the other night. So it was no surprise that they asked for some to snack on during the looooooong commute to school. I mean, 2 minutes without food? Child abuse.

Since their Snack Traps were missing, I had to use ziploc baggies. I handed them each one and when I retrieved the box of Kix, this is what I got. Two adorable girls yelling "TRICK OR TREAT!"

 

You can see I tried for an After shot...but A was too busy devouring her Kix to comply.

 

Should be a good weekend round these parts. Baby AJ is bringing her parents along for a cross-country trip to visit! Yay! And the project that is consuming 99.9% of my time is (fingers crossed) going to reach a major, so-close-to-done-you-can-taste-it milestone today! YAY!

brat

Bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast, that is.

Perhaps she was trying to get a jumpstart on Cinquo de Mayo festivities...but I got a call on Monday that A had a mild case of Monetezuma's Revenge. And being totally overzealous in Swine Flu prevention a little cautious, they asked that she sit Tuesday out from school. Despite not having any other symptoms than runny poop. And acting normally. And saying repeatedly, "I *not* sick!"

So, we spent the day coloring and playing Cariboo (no tears! bonus!) and even watching TV...all the while I worked and joined conference calls. I must admit there was a *lot* of TV watching. I don't know how WAHMs who don't have child care do it without sitting their kids in front of the TV!

And while we are on the subject of A, her new "thing" is to walk around with her hands on her hips, like so:

 

It is so freaking cute...if not a little scary to see what kind of spitfire she will be when she hits the teenaged years!

deep in the heart of suburbia

Day 3 of Spirit Week at school was Rodeo Day, where students were encouraged to wear their cowboy hats, blue jeans, and cowboy boots! This was a new theme to the usual spirit week line-up...and I was a bit concerned about what the heck the girls would wear. Unlike some of our friends...wearing cowboy attire is not a common occurrence at school.

So last night, I scavenged around the dress-up bin and found two cowboy hats that were the Welcome basket for out-of-town guests from a friend's wedding in Dallas. Then, I grabbed them each a pair of jeans. For shirts I pulled out "Don't Mess with Texas" t-shirt that Uncle Dave sent when he moved to Texas for B-school. The finishing touch was allowing them to each take a horse stuffed animal to school with them.

Not going to lie, they looked pretty darn cute...and I was pretty darn proud of how Rodeo-y they looked. But when we got to school, no one was wearing much resembling cowboy stuff. I saw a few plaid shirts and a straw hat that was in no way, shape or form a cowboy hat...and that was it. I guess it's safe to say that we weren't the only gringos with not much to contribute this morning.

Tomorrow's theme is "Art Day" which basically translates into "Wear something the Kids can Ruin with Paint." I'm not sure how this is different than every other day my kids go to school...but there you have it. For a fleeting moment I thought about trying to find berets for the kids and painting on silly curly-cue mustaches with eyeliner...but luckily I remembered that I'm Slacker Mama...not Make-a-Whole-bunch-of-effort-when-they'll-be-happy-to-not-wear-a-uniform Mama. It was a close call, though.

petioning the school for older-sibling free classmates

First, E's classmates taught her about the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cirus. But now its gotten much much worse.

That's Beyonce's "Single Ladies" for those
who couldn't name that tune.

In other school news, it's Spirt Week at school this week. Yesterday was Pajama Day and today is Beach Day...or is it Luau Day...whatever, it is something which prompted the girls to wear their bathing suits and flip-flops to school today. And goggles. And carry beach towels. I stopped them at putting on their arm floaties. A also tried to put on a swim diaper, but I told her (1) she wasnt' actually going to swim in her bathing suit today and (2) she actually didn't *need* a swim diaper anyway seeing as she's potty trained and all.

But the most horrifying thought for today was when I was kissing the girls goodbye, A asked me,

"Mama, why you not have your babing suit on?"

The thought of an Office Beach Day might have made me throw up a little in my mouth.

against all odds

Today is picture day at school for the girls. I could have sworn that we just had picture day, but I guess that's the new thing at schools -- multiple picture days so you can have even more crappy pictures of your kids with bizarre backgrounds. Anyway, for this picture day they are specifically shooting the girls together. And since it's been over a year since I've braved a professional photography establishment, I figured I give it my best shot in getting a decent picture from this.

So, the girls today are wearing matching dresses, pink tights, their new Easter shoes (thanks, Grandmom! They'll look much better than their Crocs!) and barrettes in their hair. Luckily, I was in charge of drop-off this morning, so their hair looks slightly more presentable than when my better half drops them off (i.e., brushing is not optional on my watch). And I even had the girls practice smiling on the way to school.

But still, I'm not to hopeful that this is going to work out.

1. The top button on E's dress keeps popping open. So, if no one notices she could be sporting a deep V-neck dress a la JLo at the Grammies.
   
2. E also likes to reposition her hair clip. It's never a good thing when she does this.
   
3. Despite my best efforts to counteract it, both girls had massive cases of bed head this morning. So you never know what it's going to look like by the shoot.
   
4. You know how we practiced smiling in the car? We live 2 minutes from school. Perhaps it would have been helpful if we lived a bit further away...like Timbuktu.
   

I believe that there's an online ordering component to the school pictures...so if there is I'll let you know how it went. But I wouldn't get too excited or anything. I'm certainly not.

Of course, if my friend Steel Magnolia would ever get her heiny back to the area and take pictures of my kiddos (as I've been begging her to do), then this would be a moot point. What do you say, SM? A little road trip in your future?!?!?

gold digger

I had an accident report waiting for me when I picked A up from school.

"A was playing outside & came to me with a nosebleed. She said she was picking her nose."

In a word, this is karma. I was an avid nosepicker when I was younger. When I told my parents about the note, they just laughed.