School Days

Last Thursday Matt and I had the privilege of accompanying Kaelyn to school for the day.  Each kid gets to have a special day on their birthday.  They get to bring in a special snack, do all the jobs for the day - lead the “Pledge of Allegiance,” ring the bell, be line leader, etc - and bring a special item from home for “Show and Tell.”  Parents are invited to come in and observe for the day too.  Since Kaelyn’s birthday is during Summer break, she got to celebrate her half birthday at school on Thursday.  Needless to say, we were all very excited for this day.  Kaelyn had been asking since the first day of school back in September when we were going to get to come to school with her.  And Matt and I have been very curious to see her in action in a setting away from home. Of course I’d be even more interested to be a fly on the wall and watch her when she didn’t know we were there.  But it was a joy none the less.  Here she is in action.

Morning Circle

Holding the flag high while leading The Pledge.

Calendar job

Enjoying the special snack she brought in.  Brownies with cream cheese icing.  Her request.  Yum!

Working with Lily during free work time.

Art Project.

Up in the castle.  Where else should a princess play?

Working on a Valentine sorting game with the teacher and some friends.

Good practice using the tongs and sorting colors.

She brought her magic princess wand for Show and Tell.  The other girls were very interested.

She choose to work with the other girls a lot.  She was a little quiet and timid when the teacher asked her questions, even when I thought she knew the answers.  But other times I could tell she was excited and she'd talk with a little bit of a shrill and giggle.  She needed to be reminded a few times of what she was supposed to be doing or to put a toy away when she was done, but overall she was a very good listener and seemed like she was having fun and learning a little something at the same time.  And in case you were wondering, yes, she has worn her birthday crown every day since.  Even today.  When it was another little boy's birthday.

Happy Half Birthday Sweetheart!  Daddy and I had so much fun at school with you!

Word to your mother

Mama. Mommy. Mom. Mother.  They all refer to the same person yet can mean very different things.  And I am all of these things.  But I prefer my kids to call me Mama. Or Mommy.  Or even Mom.  Not Mother.  But alas, my youngest has yet to call me Mama and my oldest has taken to calling me Mother.  Most of her 3 1/2 years so far she's called me Mama.  There have been a few phases of Mommy and Mom but she always reverts back to Mama.  But now I am Mother.  And I don't like it.  It's much to formal for my taste. And not nearly warm and loving enough. You don't cuddle and have tea parties with Mother.  Those activities are reserved for Mama and Mommy.  And when the kids grow up I will welcome being called Mom.  But I truly never expected my kids to call me Mother.  Hopefully this phase, too shall pass.  Ok, I do admit it is a little cute hearing her soft sweet voice saying, "Mother."  But, I am very much looking forward to being called Mama again, by at least one of my children.

My Funny Valentine's

I love my kids. Obviously. And I love being home with them. (Most of the time.) One of the things I love most about having two kids is seeing their love for each other. It was obvious even when Brennan was a little baby just starting to notice his world that he was fascinated by his big sister.  He would almost always smile or laugh when she looked at him and especially when she talked to him.  And she has been enamored with him from day one.  Granted, there have been moments of jealousy and times she gets frustrated with him for touching her things.  But she truly loves him.  And she says so often.  Usually in a voice that makes me think of an old lady pinching a little kid's cheek and saying, "Well aren't you just the cutest little thing?"  And now that Brennan is bigger and crawling and walking around, it brings such joy to my heart to sit back and watch them interact or just listen to them play in the other room. I must admit some of that joy is because it means I can get a couple of minutes to myself to finish the dishes or check my email.  But I love when I can just sit quietly and take it in with a smile.  (I need to ingrain the images and sound of it in my memory for the days when sibling rivalry truly rears it's ugly head.)  I mean, really, what more could a mom ask for than to be able to hear her kids laughing together and see them hugging with big smiles on their faces? What a great gift for Valentine's Day. And every day.

Much to his father's chagrin, I think B might like the Princess tent even more than his sister.

Crazy hair.

A truly cheesy smile and a very serious, but sweet face.

Being goofy.

And I suppose I should also mention the beautiful flowers someone got me for Valentine's Day.  They literally just came to the door five minutes ago.  Thank you, Baby!  I love you too!

A budding Picasso

Kaelyn had her first ever Art Show at school last week.  I was super impressed with her tiny, little school for having the idea in the first place.  I so did not expect anything like this.  And I was also very impressed with the way it all came together.  They were smart enough to have three different time slots for the three different classes so it didn't get too crowded.  It was actually a very enjoyable evening and I was so excited to see all the art projects Kaelyn has been working on at school.

Kaelyn in front of her class hand print rainbow

Kaelyn adding her touch to the whole-class art project they set up and made during the show

Straw art: they blew on the paint through a straw to make these pictures

Potato stamp art

Multi-media self portrait. I think she totally captured her personality with the feathers here.

Another art project they had set up to do while we were there: marble painting.  I thought this was such a neat project we may have to try it again at home sometime.

They also had a dress-up photo booth station. Not that Kaelyn needed to dress up anymore than she was but she added a pink boa, a mardi gras mask and a magic wand to her ensemble.  I wore a mardi gras mask and B wore a pirate hat.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it on my camera but hopefully the school will send me a copy of the one they took.  I'm sure we were quite the sight!  It was a lot of fun and I'm so glad that her school places such value on art.  And all the teachers were commenting all night on how Kaelyn is such a fashionista.  So maybe we actually have a budding Vera Wang on our hands.