Tell Me A Story

Phew! Our Tell Me A Story event went off without a hitch today!! Now for a few days of rest!

Steph's Cake

My friend Stephanie had her farewell from Alpha Troop yesterday afternoon. Her husband changed out of command and so she as well gives up command of the FRG. The families were so sad to let her go and her farewell was the most heartfelt that I have been to. I made this cake for the event. Usually I'll do a military theme but for her I wanted to show how much they will miss her. It's still in CAV red and white but with a more feminine twist.Luckily for me, her husband is taking command of the headquarters troop so she will be MY FRG leader. A sort of student becoming the teacher as I was her FRG leader 5 years ago in Colorado.
I was so happy to do the cake for her but yesterday was one day that I'm glad to have behind me! Today our Parent to Parent team is having a very large event called "Tell Me A Story". The Garrison commander is reading a story to over 60 families and then we will break into groups for a discussion and craft. The logistics of planning for this many people is not difficult but takes some planning. We tested out equipment and had a planning meeting on Friday afternoon and I had to bring the kids with me since school was out. NIGHTMARE - they were hungry and tired after a week of school and after being good for an hour or so they really started to lose it. On Saturday I had planned to bring them with me to help set up for our event on Sunday and then to go to Steph's farewell. I realized as I was driving home that my plan was not going to work. On Saturday morning I called to the Super Saturday (free childcare 2 times a month for deployed families) and begged for them to call me if spaces opened up. Sure enough - there were spaces for all of them!! So at 11:30 I dropped the kids off and had some time to get things in order. 1:45 drop off cake and set it up - then work from 2-3:00 taking down chairs and tables in the room for Sunday. At 3:00 back to the farewell - abandoning my team to get the rest of the room set up. 4:30 - leave to go get the kids at Super Saturday. 5:00 back to the farewell to feed the kids and help finish setting up for Sunday - luckily the farewell and the set up were in the same building! Get home at 6:15 and collapse for 5 minutes - start bedtime routine.
I will be very happy when today is over - event starts at 3 - need to drop the kids off at a friend's house at 2 so I can go set up and she will bring them over at 2:45. Hoping that we'll be home by 5:30 pm. I will sleep well tonight!

Popcorn Friday

Emmy had her first Popcorn Friday this week. The PTA uses Popcorn Fridays as a fundraiser and it used to be a bigger deal last year since the kids could also be out of uniform. Now that they've gotten rid of the uniforms it's not as big of a deal. Emmy still thought it was awesome that she got to do something that the big kids do! Since she only goes in the mornings, she brought her popcorn home in her backpack and she and Aoife had some after lunch. OK - I had some too. She wanted me to take a picture of her smelling the popcorn - it DID smell good!!

Boys vs. Girls

Occasionally Aidan shows me a window into his thought processes - today was one of those lucky days.
"Purple means different things to boys and girls. To boys it's poison and gas and to girls it's unicorns."
- Aidan 8/24/2011


VS

Smores!!

On Saturday night before Mimi left on Sunday, we had a fire in the firepit. The kids LOVED it - it was totally the highlight of their week. We toasted marshmallows and made smores - and got chocolate everywhere!! Emmy and Aoife preferred to just eat the marshmallows directly off of the sticks without roasting them but Aidan got into the cooking portion of the evening. It was so hot when we started the fire - maybe 90F - and we couldn't even sit near it but as the evening wore on we were able to enjoy it a little more.

Everyone enjoying the fire:
Aidan toasting a marshmallow - through the grate:Emmy enjoying her "smashmellow" right off the stick:Aoife - post chocolate:

A Visit From Mimi

Brendan's mom came to visit us last week and it was so nice to have another pair of hands around the house! Work was a little busy and Emmy was starting school so it was great to have some help! We went to visit Ft. Defiance on Saturday morning. Whew - it got hot quickly so we didn't spend too much time there but it was great for the kids to run around and get some energy out!!

Everyone on the canon:
Monkey see...monkey do!

Emmy's First Day of PreK

Emmy's first day of PreK was Friday. She was so excited to finally be going to school! Mimi was here to accompany her to the first day and that was doubly exciting! She chose to wear her butterfly dress and her new backpack of course. We drove over and all walked in together. Aoife thought that she was going to stay with Emmy and when that became evident, poor Aoife had the most enormous meltdown that I've ever seen. She screamed all the way out of the school and cried all the way to her school. Then she realized where we were and she cheered right up at the prospect of being able to show Mimi her classroom! Aidan also disappeared in the chaos - he decided that he needed to go to his classroom but he forgot to say goodbye. I hope he didn't feel left out.
At pick up Emmy was all smiles! She had a fantastic day and can't wait to go back to school on Monday!!

Walking in to school:Emmy waiting in the line for her class and Aoife trying to blend in.

Aoife's Picnic Basket

Brendan got presents for the kids for having a great first week at school - Aoife got this talking picnic basket. It's super cute and she loves it - Emmy loves it too!

In this video she's trying to tell me that the picnic basket is a potty - when she finally believes me that it's not a potty she runs off to find the actual bathroom.

Heart Cookies

Valentine's Day in August! I hadn't made any sugar cookies in a while and a meeting at my house was the perfect excuse!!

Last Cake for a While

I made this cake for a party yesterday to match the invitations and it's going to be the last one for a while. The amount of time it takes for me to make one of these is more than you'd think - although this one wasn't that bad since it was so simple. I'm going to take a bit of a break for a while to get the swing of my new job and ferrying everyone here, there and everywhere for school and activities. I'm sure I'll be able to go back to making a few cakes but for now I'm not going to overload myself.

Aoife's First Day of Preschool

Yesterday was Aoife's first day of Preschool. She has been looking forward to this day for ages and was all smiles the whole morning. I can't believe that she's big enough to go to school. Where has the time gone? It seems crazy that she is as old as Aidan and Emmy were was they started school. Here's a link to a post about helping in Aidan's classroom - I hadn't started the blog when he started school. Here's a link to the first day of school 2 years ago when Emmy started preschool and Aidan started Kindergarten - for the first time.
For her first day, Aoife wore a new dress that she picked out at the store and the backpack that Daddy bought for her. She was excited to pose for a picture all by herself on the front porch and practically ran into school once we got there! When Emmy and I picked her up at 11:30, the teacher said that Aoife had done really well! She was independent - VERY independent and talked almost nonstop. The teachers were also very impressed that she was potty trained and didn't have any accidents! Yeah Aoife!!
Emmy and Aoife holding hands on the way into school:Investigating all the new toys:

Aidan's First Day of School

Yesterday was Aidan's first day of school. He enjoyed being there but for the first time EVER was a little hesitant when I was about to leave the classroom. He seems to have gotten over that and was fine going into school this morning. I just dropped him off at the curb and he walked in with all the other kids. *sigh*
As is evident in this picture - Emmy is sad that her school doesn't start for another 2 weeks but it'll be nice to have special Mommy-Emmy time!!

School Orientation

Today we went to Aidan and Emmy's school orientation. They will both be at Barsanti Elementary School which is right down the street from us. Aidan is in first grade and Emmy will be in PreK. We are so lucky that they have part day PreK at the elementary school!!! Unfortunately Aidan's teacher wasn't there and won't be in school for a week or so due to a family emergency but he still enjoyed seeing his classroom and meeting some of his classmates. Emmy loved her class. She and the teacher hit it off right away and we stayed for almost an hour so she and Aidan could play. She really didn't want to leave because she doesn't start school until the 19th and it's going to be really hard for her to wait - especially since Aidan starts tomorrow and Aoife starts on Friday!Aidan and Emmy in Aidan's classroom:Emmy in front of her class list:Emmy and her teacher, Miss Nancy:PreK is awesome!!

School Supplies

OK - I hate to complain but I have to get this off my chest. I can't stand that I have to buy school supplies. I don't mind spending the money - really - I just loathe dragging 3 kids around the aisles of Walmart and Target 2, maybe 3 times, before school starts to get all of this stuff. You KNOW you can't get it all in one trip either because someone melts down in the middle of the store or they are out of something like pencils or glue sticks. Here are the lists of items that I have to buy for my kids this year.

First Grade
Scissors - 1 pair Fiskars blunts tip
Crayons - 3 boxes, 24 pack regular size
Pencils - 2 pkgs, 20-24 count, #2
Glue Sticks - 5 Elmers, tall and fat
Pencil box
Hand Sanitizer - 1 bottle, 8 oz pump top (non alcohol)
Soap - 1 bottle, anti bacterial
Facial Tissue - 2 boxes, large
Wet Wipes - 1 pkg or container, antiseptic
Backpack - no wheels
Glue - 2 Elmers 8 oz bottles, washable
Vinyl Folders - 2 solid colors with pockets and prongs - blue and yellow
Spiral Notebooks - 2, wide ruled, 80 page count
Pencil Top Erasers - 2 pkgs, chisel point
Dry Erase Markers - 2 pkgs of 4 colors, wide chisel point, low odor
Zip Lock Bags - 1 box gallon size and 1 box sandwich size
Index cards - 1 pkg white
Markers - 2 pkgs, 1 large, 1 narrow classic 8

Pre Kindergarten
Facial Tissue - 2 boxes large
Hand Sanitizer - 1 bottle, 8 oz pump top (non alcohol)
Soap - 1 bottle, anti bacterial
Wet Wipes - 1 pkg or container, antiseptic
Backpack - no wheels
Crayons - 8 count or 24 count regular crayons
Glue Sticks - 2 tall and fat
Glue - Elmer's white, washable, 1 bottle
Markers - Crayola Jumbo 8 pack, washable
Zip Lock Bags - 1 box gallon, 1 box quart, 1 box snack
Vinyl Folders - 2 with pockets
Watercolor Paint - 1 set, tray, 8 colors, washable
Paper Towels - 1 roll
Dry Erase Markers - 1 pkg of 4 colors, wide chisel point, low odor
Dixie Cups - 3 and 5 ounce

So, even after 3 trips to the store I still couldn't find 5 ounce Dixie cups and we forgot to get one bottle of glue and the hand sanitizer that I bought has alcohol in it. The glue sticks that I bought are regular - not tall and fat - but hopefully I made up for it by buying way more than I needed to. Crayons were $0.40 at Walmart for 24 so we bought 10 pkgs for Aidan's class and 10 for Emmy's. Hopefully their teachers will forgive me for my failings.

Another tooth!

Aidan lost another tooth today - OK - maybe I pulled it out but either way, he's down another tooth. This one has been loose for a long time and has been bothering him for a few weeks now so he was really happy to have it out tonight. If you haven't tried it, spraying the tooth and surrounding gum with Chloraseptic numbing spray - and then waiting a few minutes to do anything - really works wonders because they truly can't feel a thing when the tooth comes out! Emmy was so proud of Aidan and she wanted to show Aoife. I don't think Aoife remembered Aidan losing a tooth before this because she had this horrified look on her face and kept saying, "Aidan - tooth", over and over in a whisper. She started pulling on her own teeth half expecting them to just fall out into her hand. Poor little thing!! At least she's old enough to understand when I explained what had happened and she looked relieved that even Emmy hasn't lost any teeth yet. Oh the horror of having older siblings!

Dance and Tumbling

School starts on Thursday (!) and dance and tumbling started today. Emmy is in a combination ballet/tap class because it was at the same time as the boys tumbling/trampoline class!! Emmy really likes ballet but she LOVES tap! She is a totally different person when she puts on those tap shoes. She just can't stop grinning and turns on the star power! I wish I had been able to take pictures of her during the tap portion of the class - I got yelled at for even taking these pictures. I guess you're not supposed to take pictures with any other kids in the frame - oops! Aidan loves his class too but was disappointed that they didn't learn how to do flips - in the first class! :)
Emmy is in the black leotard - second from the left.Aidan's all the way to the right - it was the best picture I could get!