Wednesday, September 12, 2018

First day of school


Yes, this seems a week or two late, but yesterday was our first day of school.  With our recent trip to Ireland, the kids missed the first week of school.  This year, Finorah is in 1st grade and Conall is in PreK.  Finorah is a bus rider, both in the morning and in the afternoon.  We all walk to the end of our cul-de-sac and she boards the bus with 8 other kids in our neighborhood.  Conall is in school every morning from 9:00am -- 12:00pm. This means that for the first time in two years, I have some regularly scheduled time to myself!  When Conall turned 2, the following fall, we enrolled him in the same preschool Finorah was in.  It gave me Tuesday and Thursday mornings with both of them in school. Last year, Conall was in morning preschool MWF, but Finorah was in afternoon kindergarten.  It led to mommy madness sometimes.


This year, Finorah was totally thrilled to go back to school.  She really loves being in the school environment and was excited to make new friends (as her school has three first grade classes and they switch kids around).  Conall was moving into the five-day program at his preschool (his preschool had four Step Two classes) and there are only 4-5 kids from his last class in this class.  He was a little more reluctant to go to school.  With the promise of a turtle, a dollar every time he went to school without pitching a fit, and a motorcycle dropoff, he went to school.



Finorah had a spectacular day, of course.  She made two new friends and though she didn't remember their names, she assured me that she would learn them by the end of the week bc names are repeated all the time at school.  She is in the thick of the cold we picked up in Ireland, so she was exhausted by the time she got off the bus and in the house.  She perked up real fast though when the neighborhood girls knocked to play outside.

 The sass is strong with this one...



Upon pickup, Conall had THE BEST DAY EVER!  It was super cute that he was so excited about his school day, telling me his teacher was amazing and that he made a new friend.  He wasn't sure of the boy's name, but did know that he had a blue shirt on and he could put the basketball all the way up in the basketball hoop in the gym. 😂  He was also exhausted by 2:00pm and then the school day story completely changed, saying he didn't like it. This morning was a little bit of coaxing him to remember how much fun he had the day before and he went off without a protest.  We may have to do some coaxing for a week or two, but I think he will have a great school year.

This is his "model -- full fledge" pose (which I think is supposed to be his full fledge model pose). 

This one is out of focus bc I was cracking up too much.  He told me that he wanted to do another pose and proceeded to sit down and say "This is the meditation pose".




Thursday, October 26, 2017

Pumpkin Patch

We are currently in the full swing of the final week of Halloween, which means lots of activities in our household.  Yesterday, we went to a pumpkin patch to pick up a pumpkin or two.  The kids had fun, even if we arrived at the pumpkin patch about 20 minutes before it was set to close.

We also made a pumpkin for Conall's school.  It was a kitty kat made of candy corn.  The kids named him Stanley Ebenezer (after one of our kitties at home).  Finorah thought it would be better to name him "Stab"ley Ebenezer bc he was a Halloween kitty.  In the end, we decided that Stanley suited him better.























Monday, July 10, 2017

Last year's school report card


Conall's First Day of Preschool








Conall's Last Day of Preschool







Conall began preschool for the first time last past September.  To say that the transition was rough for him is a major understatement.  His school week was Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  His first week at school was very rough with lots of crying at drop off and during the school day.  But we persevered.  He cried at dropoff until at least February, but the teachers would always report that within minutes of being in his classroom, he would stop crying and the day would be tons of fun for him.  We were very lucky to have such amazing teachers for Conall.  They saw through the fearful little dude who was difficult at dropoff to see the sweet amazing little guy that I know and love.  He loved making projects at school and bringing home those "surprises" to show me.

Finorah's First Day of Preschool




  
Finorah's Last Day of Preschool








Finorah's school year was spectacular.  She is a great student and she began actual preschool, which was five-day mornings a week in preparation for kindergarten.  She was always excited to go to school and even wanted to go to school through ear aches because she didn't want to miss a moment.  Her teachers were also super wonderful and won't be soon forgotten by her.  Her school year was so great that she actually cried during the last week of school because she didn't want the school year to end.