Homework...

We're finishing up our fourth week of 1st grade this week and making a lot of adjustments. Kate's doing really well, though. Last year in kindergarten the one or two days a week of homework did not go well. Kate didn't want to do the work and I got frustrated when she didn't focus...it usually did not end with smiles, to say the least. So when her teacher this year mentioned that they would have homework every night in 4 subjects, I cringed a bit. In an attempt to head off nightly fights and homework frustration, I made up a homework chart with a few incentives. So far, so good! We've completed almost 3 weeks of homework with only one day of whining! Yay, Kate! Five happy face stickers in a week means that every day she had a good attitude during the homework hour and will earn an ice cream/frozen yogurt date with Mommy or Daddy; four stickers earns a cinnamon roll breakfast; three stickers earns cookie making with Mommy. (Yes, I do realize all the prizes are junk food. Judge me if you must.) Long term...  20 happy face stickers = go roller skating; 19 = date with Mommy & Daddy; 18 = buy a DVD. Kate was very excited about her chart and has already earned a cinnamon roll Saturday and went to ice cream with Daddy. So far this week, it looks like Mommy may get to do a frozen yogurt date! ;)

Keep up the good work, Kate!!

Luke's first soccer game...

Luke's soccer team finally got to play their first game last Saturday! The boys had a great time. I'm not sure they knew exactly what was going on but they sure had fun and looked so cute doing it! The highlight of the game was when a couple of boys from the other team decided a dog pile in the middle of the game might be fun. Even after the coach pulled them up, they jumped right back into it. So funny! 

Luke starts preschool...

My baby has started school! My baby! Luke could hardly contain his excitement this morning, begging me to take him to school before Kate.☺After a special breakfast with cinnamon rolls and our traditional "first day of school" picture on the porch, we headed to school, dropped Kate off and went over to Luke's class to wait for the 9 am start time. On the first day, half the class comes from 9-10:15 am and the other half comes from 10:30-11:45 am and the parents stay the whole time so today was easy for Mommy. I will make no promises for Wednesday. Today, they had free play, made play dough, and had circle time. Luke had such a good time and even actively participated in the circle time, which kind of surprised me. He wasn't shy or nervous in the least. He and Brooklyn are in the same class and they are very excited about that! Luke wasn't too happy when it was time to go and they hadn't gone outside or had a snack so we had to explain that next time would be a real school day. Now he can't wait for Wednesday.☺

We've never seen this child more excited aside from Christmas morning! 

Once Brooklyn got there, the excitement level doubled! These two were hilarious!

As soon as the door opened, the kids ran into the classroom to see all the fun things they had in store. Luke spent most of the morning playing with the sand and sea shells.

They did take a couple of minutes to check out the dress up area and try on funny sunglasses...

At the parent orientation last week, the teachers had us draw a picture of our child and describe some of their likes so they could better get to know them.

Luke & Daddy

Mommy & Luke

Making homemade play dough with his teacher, Miss Jan, and some other classmates... 

During circle time...

Miss Jan: "Have any of you ever brought a sea shell home from the beach?"

Luke: "I did! I brought a giant shell home and we put it in the throw up bucket with hot water and bleach!"

Everyone thought it was so funny that he called it the "throw up bucket".

Opening day of soccer...

Today was the start of our 2011 soccer season. Luke's 9:30 am game got cancelled because of some very un-Californian weather which included some of this...

 

Yep! That would be hail. We woke up this morning to thunder and lightening. When John got home, he went out to make sure our backyard was rain-ready, putting down umbrellas, covering the BBQ, etc. While doing that, he heard sparks and looked up to see that the telephone wires behind our house had been struck! Needless to say, he hightailed it into the house and soon after the huge raindrops and hail started falling. The kids were freaking out with excitement! 

So, all games before noon were cancelled but the "storm" left as quickly as it came so the later games were a go. This season is a little different for us now that Kate is out of pee-wees and playing for real with goalies and scorekeeping and all. Although, we were told up until this afternoon that the lower 6 teams did not have goalies so we have never practiced and the girls didn't quite know how to do that job. Our "Red Hearts" did a great job and won their first game 2 to 1! Kate even played goalie during the last quarter. (Psst...she's kind of the reason the other team scored but the Pink Fairies appreciated it. ;) ) 

Team picture before the game

Warming up

#3 again...just like our first year

The Vander Molens rode their bikes over to the game so Luke and Brooklyn had a great time playing in the bike trailer while Kate played.

Dylan loves cheering on his big cousin!

Kate as goalie

She stopped a goal! Good job!

But she did not want us to cheer for her

RED HEARTS!! ♥

First day of 1st grade...

My little girl started 1st grade yesterday! This is big time, people. Like for reals school! AHHHH!! Fortunately, when I left fighting tears yesterday morning, one consolation was that the first day was a half day so we'd be picking her up at the time we were used to...12 noon. Of course, we kept with our tradition and had lunch at Hof's Hut afterward. Today was her first full day and I can't tell you how weird it was to have her gone so long. It was especially strange when 2 pm - our nap/quiet time - rolled around and she still wasn't home. 50 minutes later, though, we were picking her up. =) So far, Kate is enjoying her new class and teacher, Mrs. Kroeze (pronounced Cruz). And I have to say, I quite enjoy the notebook Mrs. Kroeze sent home to keep us all organized! Next week, John and I will attend Back to School Night and find out more about the year to come but I think we'll have a good one!

Kate & Brooklynn

Helping Organize Our Things

Summer count down...

Summer is winding down and I'm so sad! Kate has 3 more days until school starts. Luke has 9. And I'm dreading summer coming to an end. We've had a lot of fun in the last couple of months and, while the fighting can make me go crazy, I'm going to miss having them (especially Kate) around. This year is going to be another adjustment as Kate is starting 1st grade and that means full day! ☹ And Luke is starting preschool 3 mornings a week. I will admit that I'm looking forward to Wednesday mornings when John and I will both be home and have 2 1/2 hours kid-free! Date night morning! ☺ The kids are excited for school to start, though, so on Thursday night the kids and I put together their "days until school starts" paper chain. Each ring has the number of days left written on the outside and something they will be doing at school written on the inside.

 

 

So, with the school quickly approaching we packed in the fun this week to finish off the summer strong. Monday was a play date at the park, on Tuesday we watched home videos for movie night, Wednesday was family day at the bay, Thursday was swimming at friends' house, and Friday was Disneyland. It was great spending a week full of fun! 

Nola, Emmerly, Luke, Kate, Anna, Josiah, Ellie, Isaiah, Rebekah, Ryan, and Blake

Ellie & Micah

"Try it! It's delicious!" ☺

Building castles!

Emmerly, Nola, Kate, and Luke

Emmerly and the baby lizard they found in the pool