First Day of School

 The first day of school was as exciting as always.  The girls received outfits from Nana the very day before school, and they were immediately picked as the favorites.  (My girls have thoroughly embraced the maxi trend.  So comfortable.)

 Naomi is in first grade, and loves it.  Her teacher is friendly and organized and perfect.

 Olivia is in 3rd grade (which is in a different school here in Roosevelt--weird), and she also has a fantastic teacher.  Plus, two of the girls from her Primary class are in her school class.  How lucky can you get?

 Bella wanted to join in the "getting dressed" event, so she ran to put on her Dora swimsuit.  You really can't go wrong with a Dora swimsuit for any occasion.

 Classic backpack shot.  Am I a bad mom because my kids are using their same backpacks from last year?  (And actually, these same backpacks were used for half a year the year before that.  Not so sparkling clean anymore, but still functional, still in use.  Just call me Cheapskate McGee.)

 This is the point at which Bella realized she was not actually going to school with her sisters.  Can you guess her attitude about that revelation?

 Luckily for us, John and Olivia can walk together since her school is right by the hospital.  And Mimi has a first grade buddy just two houses away, so we can carpool too.

 I love that they have school and friends and learning again, but I really miss my big girls.  It's sad how much I look forward to 3:00 every afternoon.

The Three Piggie Opera

The kindergarten class has a fantastic tradition of putting on an opera, a "Three Piggie Opera", at the end of every school year.  I don't know who wrote the opera, but it's darling.  Naomi was the closer, which means she was the one to say, "Thank you for coming to the 'Three Piggie Opera.'"  Obviously, that is the most important part in the whole pageant.

Because I forgot my camera, I don't have any footage of the actual event, but I have these recaps performed by Naomi on her own.  Here is the song that the parents sing to the piggies before they leave home:


And here is the song the piggies sing to the wolf.


It's sad to think that my other two girls won't get a chance to sing these songs.  We've sung the wolf's song ("I want a big . . .  fat . . . pig to eat, I want a big . . . fat . . . pig to eat.") for over two years now, especially when there is any pork product on the table.

Christmas Concert

Our school puts on the cutest Christmas concert in a church building every year.  It's one of my Christmas highlights.  

I love getting my daughters in their Christmas finery.  (Naomi's dress was sewn start to finish in that day.  I hate how events often creep up on me and end in a sewing frenzy.  Note to self:  Don't do that next year.)

 "Must Be Santa" was sung, complete with props and hand motions.

 I love kindergarteners.

 "Who's got a beard that's long and white?"

 The older kids sat further away for their part of the concert, which made photography more difficult.

 However, they weren't far enough away for us to miss Olivia's solemn faces of concern,

 anxiety,

 and confusion.  I love that girl.

 Yet another thing I'm going to miss about South Bend.

First Day of School

Madeline and I arrived home late Tuesday night, and school started early--too early--Wednesday morning.  Luckily, Nana (my mom) was here to assist the girls with the night-before-the-first-day-of-school rituals of picking out an outfit, packing up the school supplies, and getting together a delicious lunch.

Mimi started full-day kindergarten, and she loves being with Miss Kobb, Olivia's old kindergarten teacher.  She chose her favorite dress (a Lilly Pulitzer jumper I got from Once Upon a Child), some sweet red cowgirl boots, and a snazzy hairstyle from this website.

Olivia was nervous about second grade.  Our neighbor, Simone, who is one year older than Liv, had spent the bus rides home last year telling her how hard second grade work was.  But she picked her favorite dress as well (another great second-hand find) and faced her fears with style, if not courage.

They were ready WAY too early, so John had an impromptu photo shoot on the front porch.  Bella joined in, of course.  Who could miss out on this much fun?

Simone caught the bus (with a big third-grade smile) when it came,

. . . but I drove the girls to their first day.  I wanted to see who Olivia's teacher was.  (Our school waits to sort the kids into classrooms until the first day.  I have no idea why they prefer that chaos over an orderly Back to School Night before school starts, but they've made their choice.)
Mimi found her teacher and her classmates (and even an old preschool and church friend) immediately and excitedly.

Olivia was nervous, repeating to me with a quivering chin that second grade was "really, really hard."  However, when we found the second grade line, we found these familiar faces. . .

. . .and Olivia realized it was going to be just the same as first grade, only one year later.  Phewsh!  Crisis averted.

They've both adjusted to the school schedule beautifully, and now I'm the only one floundering in disbelief that I could actually have two kids in school.  When did they get so big?

Kindergarten?

I really am perfectly accustomed to the idea of one of my children leaving my home most days to go to school. She loves it, she does very well, and she always gets rave reviews from her teachers. However, going to Kindergarten Roundup last week with my second child nearly threw me for a loop. Can I really have two children old enough to go to school? Naomi assures me that I can.

We arrived at the school and found ourselves presented with a beautiful folder, decorated by this year's kindergarteners and full of useful information for next year. We met the kindergarten teachers, including Olivia's teacher from last year (who remembered Mimi's name--made her day!) and listened to the principal talk about how the whole process works. That was exciting enough.

But then we got to go do something EVEN MORE EXCITING. . . .

. . . ride a bus. A SCHOOL bus. Around the whole neighborhood. Not Olivia's bus (Naomi has that number memorized), which was the tiniest bit disappointing, but a REAL bus, with a REAL bus driver.

Can you tell that Mimi loved it? (And that John was post call and exhausted? That's his stripy back leaning forward.)

Let's face it. My kids are going to grow up. Is anyone else struggling as much with this information as I am?

Wacky Wednesday

At preschool today was Wacky Wednesday.  One little girl in Mimi's class was talking about how she was going to be the most beautiful on Wednesday because she was going to wear her Ariel dress.  Of course, that put Mimi in a tizzy because she doesn't ever want to miss out on any opportunity to be "beautiful".  I could have just let her wear one of our dress-ups, but I decided to push for something different because:
1)  Mimi really does need to learn that not everything is about "beautiful."  There are so few opportunities to really just be silly that it seems a shame to miss one.
2)  I AM SICK OF PRINCESSES!  (Maybe that should be #1?)

So, with some help (but no arguments, I'm proud to say), Naomi arrived at this ensemble.  It is comprised of so many of her favorite things.
Leggings (pants that actually stay on her mini-bum)
Boots ("These are kind of wacky because they're BROWN, Mom."  But not so wacky that they aren't worn every single waking moment.)
Pink shirt (self-explanatory)
Swimsuit (She tries to convince me three or four times a week that a swimsuit is easily substituted for other pieces of clothing, like a shirt, or underwear, or pajamas.  Her argument is always rejected, so her triumph is complete today.)

We had concerns about the hair.  It needed to be "wacky", but not "ugly."  We went through almost every design on Hair Today this morning before she decided on this option.  I thought at first that maybe it wouldn't be crazy enough for her teachers to notice that she has wacky hair (that could be cause for tears, with this child), but since she usually orders "Rapunzel" (one long braid), "Little Red Riding Hood" (two long braids), or "Belle" (one half-back ponytail) when I do her hair in the morning, this should be different enough.  And if it's not--oh well.

Hope you all have a great Wacky Wednesday.  Tune in tomorrow for the epic tale of Mini Nacho.  (Seen above in the pink pajamas.)

Edited to add:  I just actually looked at the pictures I took earlier, and I was horrified to discover that my youngest child looks just like an orphan.  Much more orphan-y than those orphans from the Bolivia orphanage, actually.  Let me just say that she did eventually get dressed today.  And her hair was combed and her nose wiped.  Wiped a million times honestly, but it probably looks just that snotty right now, 'cause a mom just can't compete with the mucus production of a toddler.)

Teacher Gifts

Am I obsessed with my Cricut?  Probably.  But is it, when considered objectively and reasonably, still incredibly useful?  Yes, indeed.  I used it this afternoon to whip out these little teacher gifts.  (If I'm being honest and willing to give credit where credit is due, I got the idea from here.  And hers are cuter, but I'm not quite skilled enough to figure out the little frame size.  I think she used a vinyl cutter instead of a Cricut anyway.*

Two of the teachers' names absolutely would not fit on the jars, and since my kids refer to them as "Mrs. R" and "Mrs. C" anyway, I just thought we'd go with that.  Makes things easier anyway.  (And Livi has already made cards with her own messages to tuck inside the jars.)

Jars and ribbon from Wal-Mart.  Pencils from Dollar Tree.  Vinyl is generic brand from Hobby Lobby.  Cheap, cute, fast.  Nothing better.

 

*Edited to add:  Shauna Rae, the originator of the idea--who commented on my blog!  I've never had a crafty stranger comment on my blog before!  Exciting!--says she did use her Cricut.  So I feel bad that my excuses sounded surly.  However, and this excuse should sound a little less surly, my Personal Cricut will only cut letters down to 1".  I still don't think I could fit a 10-letter name in a three-inch square.) 

Boo!

When I was young, Halloween consisted of two activities: the carnival at the elementary school (complete with costume parade), and trick-or-treating immediately thereafter.
This year our Halloween festivities included:
*trunk-or-treat the Tuesday before at the church
*Wives' Club party at Bonnie's house (so fun! Thanks, Bonnie!)
*trick-or-treating at the residency clinic
*doughnuts and cider at The [Pumpkin] Patch in Michigan
*a festive Halloween birthday party for Halle (for which my girls decided not to dress up but still enjoyed immensely)
* and finally, trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.
Holy smokes!
And now, pictures:

Mimi (as Lucy, from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe) and Kasey (as Pocahontas), inseparable.
The residents' kids, in costume. We had lost some at this point, and Bella was refusing to wear her hot-hot-hot hood inside the building.
The weather at The Patch was a bit brisk--brr!, but the kids enjoyed swinging on the tires and tossing the leaves anyway. Even Annabel tolerated being picked up and carried and picked up and carried again with greater patience than she can usually muster.Aren't these leaves a great backdrop?
Mimi, although you can't see it here, had a belt with a pouch for a glass bottle full of Lucy's magic potion and a sheath for her knife. She simply refused to be "Lucy the schoolgirl" and insisted on "Lucy the Princess." Darn it. The trick-or-treating in our neighborhood is absolutely ridiculous. Annabel--the BABY, for pete's sake, came home with at least four full-size candy bars in her trick-or-treat bag, and she only hit about half the houses. My strategy was to let her ride in the wagon until she fussed and then she could walk up to a house and get some candy and walk back to the wagon and eat the candy while riding in the wagon until she fussed again. (See the beautiful simplicity.) John decided about halfway through that we weren't maximizing our candy potential, so he took matters into his own hands and helped her trick-or-treat at each house.
The Bradys joined us this year, which made it a lot more fun for us. Olivia, as Susan from the same book, was equipped at the beginning of the evening with a plastic bow, arrows, and quiver. Those were unceremoniously dumped in the wagon when they got "too heavy." Mimi became our candy distributor when we arrived back home. I think she liked giving out the candy as much as getting the candy herself. (She's more a meat-lover than a treat-lover.)And, in case any of you are in the market for making up some dress-up dresses, I should let you know that I've discovered a treasure trove for materials. Thrift-store prom dresses are amazing! There is plenty of fabric in one strapless adult dress to make a darling little girl princess dress. Plus, the quality is better than the fabric usually labeled as "costume", the trims and zippers are reusable, and the hems are already done. Sweet! (And the cost--$5 for a whole dress--is a better bargain than buying the materials myself.) Just thought you might want to know.

Hi-ho, Hi-ho, It's off to preschool we go.

It's preschool time! Actually, this is a staged picture. It represents the first day of preschool, but it was actually the third. Forgive me!
Mimi is lucky enough to get to go to preschool with her dear friend Kacie. And don't they look happy to be together? You should see the two of them run down the sidewalk racing into class. It's delightful.
The preschool does not want kids to have backpacks for some reason, only tote bags. Luckily for us, my brother Rob (actually, Rob's then-fiance Kasey) found the perfect one for Naomi in New Orleans.
Don't anyone tell her it's a grandma bag, okay?

First Day of School

Olivia's first day of school was three days later than the "official" first day of school because we lingered in Utah, relaxing in Grandma's backyard hammock. (I do try to be a stickler for school attendance, but some things just seem more important. Plus, by delaying my return a few days after school started, I was able to have both my parents on the first leg of our return flights as they winged their way to Rob's open house in Austin. Definitely worth a little truantism.)
So, after arriving back in our home at 1:00 a.m., we awoke early the next morning to figure out first grade. We found her teacher and classroom pretty quickly. So quickly, in fact, that we ended up going back outside to wait in line with the kids who had just arrived on the bus.
Olivia's two best friends from kindergarten were waiting in line, and I wanted to get a picture of them together. I wish the photo showed how freakishly tall Olivia looked. She was the same height as Emily (on the left) at the end of kindergarten, and she seriously grew three inches this summer.
My favorite part of the first day of school. Olivia loves it when we run to her as she's getting off the bus. . .
. . . so Mimi decided to get in on the action on the second day.
I love these sisters.