First Kindergarten Field Trip

 Tommy's first field trip was to the Apple Orchard. 

 We hopped on the bus and off we went!

 First things first, we went on a wagon ride.  Everyone squeeze in for a selfie! We went by a soybean field and I asked the kids if they knew what that was.  They did not.  Come on, Tommy! He knew that at one time, I know it.  :)

They had a nice little session with some former first grade teachers that now work there.  They did great.  They learned about a lot about apples and we got to try four different types of apples.  Turns out, kids love sour apples.  Eww! :)

 After we did all that learnin', the kids were able to pick two Gala apples to take home. They did great!

We ate our sack lunches in the barn where you can get married.  I took a pic of the four boys in the class.

 I also took a picture of the girls but the lighting wasn't as good.  The preschoolers went on the trip too and it was so crazy to see how little they were compared to the kindergartners.  Crazy how much they grow in a year!

 The kids played one of their favorite new games called Apples Apples which has a song and is a lot like Hot Potato.  Very cool to see how well they sit and play and don't freak out when they are "out". 

 Oh I almost forgot the Wagon Ride Selfie.  Photobomb by his buddy Mason. :)

After we got back from our field trip, I brought Tommy to my office with me.  He was a little jealous that Charlotte got to come with me to the office when she was sick.  It was nice to give him a turn too. 

I took a comparison photo.  The picture on the left is from my first day in my new office after we moved back to Lafayette.  The picture on the right is FIVE years later.  Absolutely crazy how time FLIES.  My little guy is really growing up!

The day I brought Tommy also happened to be a day when I was doing my cultural project requirement for the office.  We made tissue paper marigolds for Dia De Los Muertos, ate empanadas, and drank non-alcoholic margaritas.  I taught them all that I had recently learned about the day of the dead which was inspired by the kids movie, "The Book of Life" which I highly suggest you watch. 

Anyway, it was a very special day for Tommy.  Pretty special day for me too because I got to spend the whole day with just Tommy T.

How's School Going?

I'm really enjoying the school's app. We see lots and lots of pictures of the kids throughout the week. But I'll be honest there were some during the first few weeks that weren't too exciting. 

 Like this one with their art teacher. Where's Tommy? Oh he's behind the art teacher.

Or this one? Where's Tommy? Behind the paper chains.

And there was the one from Charlotte's dance party in the last school post.  Where's Charlotte? Behind some other kid. :)

It truly makes me think of Monster Inc when Mike always got blocked out of the picture.  Haha!

Anyway, kindergarten seems to be going pretty well for Mr. Thomas.

 Most of his pictures, he is full of personality.

 Or completely offended he has to be in a picture.

 Or just not in the picture hardly at all.  :)

 Or he's the star of the show!

 It's mostly all personality though.

 He's been hard at work making new friends and being, in his words, the "best in the class."  He never says what he means by that but he claims to be the best. 

Painting A's! 

 The room that they are currently in is pretty dark and drab but next week they will be moving into their new classroom now that the renovations are finally done. How exciting! They will have windows again!

Tommy is so funny.  He is so full of... he's so full of WORDS! That kid talks so much! He is a leader too, according to his teachers.  I thought this was a good thing until he told me that he "likes his new friend Bode because he does everything I say!" So we are working on what it means to be a good friend.  Haha!!
He is so inquisitive and smart too.  The other day he asked how a baby gets out of mom's belly so I told him a mom has a hole at the bottom that it comes out of.  He thought about it for a moment and then said, "Like a duck?"  I said, "Yes.  Exactly like that." "Okay." He didn't ask any other questions after that.  Hahahahahahaha! I laughed so hard (later of course). 

So how is Charlotte doing??

 Does this picture explain anything?? Haha! No, she's doing fine and she loves books. I have no idea why she is looking at the camera in this picture.  Too funny.

 She actually let me put her hair in pigtails so they took lots of pictures on this day!

 These cuties are waiting on their friends to finish going potty. 

 Charlotte made a school bus in art class.

 I got this message the other day.  I thought I had the accident figured out until I picked her up and she told me that Jude puked on her.  OMG!! Even worse than I thought!!! 

The next week she was home sick with me, if you can imagine.  I picked up Tommy when she was sick and her teacher told me there were only two students left that weren't sick that day.  Sheesh.  It spreads quickly! She doesn't look too sick though, does she?

 But yes Charlotte is loving school. 

 I think she loves it most of all because she gets to play dress up all the time. 

And I mean All. The. Time.  Fun stuff!

I'm so glad they have so much fun at school.  I'm glad they get one more year of going to the same school. 

Open Gym

 Ever since the Olympics started, and even before, Tommy has been obsessed with somersaults.  He started with having us count them as he would roll across the room.  Over and over.  So finally, I thought it might be good to take him to a place where he could do gymnastics.  I know he doesn't like to be told what to do so I figured the better choice would be to take him to a open gym session first. 

 Not only did Tommy LOVE it but so did Charlotte! Hanging bars in their USA clothes! Little Olympians.

 Charlotte likes the rings.  She kept facing the other way and I would tell her to turn around so I could see her face. 

 But instead she would turn around and say, "But this way you can see my butt!" What???

 Rope swinging? This place has everything! 

 Tommy wanted to help Charlotte do it too.

 Wheeee!!

 But Charlotte really loved immersing herself in the ball pit.

 After open gym, we headed to Meijer for stuff and we can't get out of there without riding the penny horse.

 Great smile, kiddo! :)

 Sorry for the Meijer sidenote, we came back to Open Gym the following Saturday. These kids can't get enough! Look at all that room for somersaults!!

More time on the rings!

Uneven bars too? Awesome!

This time we went with friends.  The Gorski boys are so cute.  They must have gotten a memo from each other on what to wear. :)  I hope we can go with them again soon.  I'm sure we'll be going back the next Saturday!

Kindergarten and Pre-K 3's Class: A New School Year

A new school year has started for the kids.  On Tuesday, Tommy moved into Kindergarten and Charlotte moved into the 3's class.  Charlotte isn't supposed to be in the 3's but since she's so close to the cut off, they let her start early... ONLY IF she was potty trained.  We've been a little lackadaisical about potty training her this year.  We are never in any hurry for that.  But we decided we better get on it.  We started when we went on vacation in July and by the time she went back to school, she was fully trained. Yay us!
So off to school they went. 

I actually took this picture on Sunday morning since I was going to be spending the week at leadership training in Phoenix.  I dressed the kids up in their fave outfits with their favorite toys and had them pose like last year. We've been working on Charlotte to find something else besides Elsa for about a year now.  Hopefully she'll find a new heroine or career soon. ;-)  Tommy came out of left field with his response of a pirate.  No idea where that came from.  I'm surprised he didn't say gymnast.  He has been flipping all over our living room since the Olympics started. 

 Here is a comparison picture from last year.  The more things change, the more they stay the same. Both are still into pink and blue but much 'cooler' clothes, of course.  The shoes are much bigger but similar in color.  Charlotte has way more hair and both are much taller even though it's hard to tell from the angle of the second picture.  Crazy how much they grow and change in a year!

So while I was in Phoenix with these strangers learning how to be a leader...

 I was getting updates from afar on our school's new app.  This was an old picture that our cook posted.  She started a cooking class this summer and would find things to make that Tommy could make with substitutions.  Looks like he loved that!

Then on my birthday, I got this message.  Tommy had an incident which was no big deal.  But he also got kudos (which until I told him it was kudos, he thought it was Toodles, haha).  When I read the kudos at my meeting, I totally cried.  They had just announced that it was my birthday at the meeting  and everyone in the room sang me happy birthday.  Talk about awkward.  Then the presenter also mentioned that I had a kindergartner starting school this week and that they appreciated me being there.  So that was awesome. (Sarcasm intended)  Then all the moms in the room made sure to come over at break and ask if I tried to get out of this.  Thanks, strangers.  I appreciate that.  So glad you could make me feel worse when I was already there. 
But the kudos.  I got the kudos message after all of that.  Tommy helped a kid who was sad and scared about being at a new school.  He's got a great heart and I can take some of the credit for that.  So yeah, I cried.  It was my birthday and I could cry if I wanted to. :)

The night before school started, Tommy's teacher sent home a note for a parent to read on the night before school.  It was a sweet letter and it was to help calm any jitters about the first day.  Andrew did a fantastic job of pumping Tommy up for kindergarten.  Way to go, Dada! Tommy had an amazing first week. 

He had homework the first week! He had to memorize a poem and a bible verse.  Plus he had to put together an About Me bag by Friday.  Wow! Busy first week!! Sheesh! But again, Andrew knocked it out of the park.

Charlotte had a pretty great first week too! She got kudos for a great job helping clean up.  They sent this picture of her and a friend playing Zootopia, according to Charlotte. :)

They also had a dance party on Friday.  She's in this picture but you can hardly see her.  She is in the back left behind a girl in a blue shirt.  Near the end of the week, she had a rough day and got in trouble for not wanting to do seat work.  Hopefully the dance party helped and next week will be much better.  She misses her old teachers I think.  But she still has her besties which helps a lot. 

I'm so proud of these two.  They are growing up so fast and they amaze me everyday.  I'm so lucky to be their mom.  I hope this school year is the best year yet!