First Day

It's hard to believe that summer vacation is over. Seriously, where did it go?!  I feel like Avery was just getting off of the bus to start her summer, and here she is going back to school already.

I will say, we had a pretty good summer. Avery made a summer list of things that she wanted to do and I think we did all but 4 of them (out of about 25!). We were busy all of the time-we barely had any free days in our schedule, hence the lack of posts from me lately. Having her home ate up my "me" time while Cassandra napped so my time was spent with my big girl.

Tuesday I took a half day at work and took Avery to school to meet her teacher and drop off her supplies. Then I took her out for ice cream-just the two of us. When we came home, I took a pic of her in her shirt that will fit her someday!

2027 seems like a long ways away. Yet if someone mentions 2003 does it seem that long ago? Funny how 12 years in the future sounds so far away, but 12 years in the past seems like it was yesterday. The mind does funny things like that. I hope the time doesn't go too fast...I know we can't slow it down but I wish we could! I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that it's September already and it's time to think of school! I wish the years took their time like they did when we were kids. I know Avery felt like her summer break was long....for us, it was a blink of an eye. 

Yesterday we got our girl on the bus for 1st grade. First.grade. Hold me.  She was so ready too-even though she doesn't know many kids in her class. She's ready.

I'm so proud of this girl and how well she adapts to going back-no tears, no whining-just pure joy. Love her!

Proud

We're both so proud of our big girl!

Avery's been rocking at kindergarten. She loves going to school and has really gotten into the routine of everything about it. She loves reading, loves doing homework, loves being with friends. So far, it's been a really great year for her.

And she got her first award the other day!

They had a program called "Reading Rockstars" and the kids had to set a daily and weekly reading goal that lasted about 6 weeks long. If the kid met their goal, they got an award. And Avery met her goal!

So the other night, I went with her to her award ceremony! I was very proud to hear them call her name and see her walk across the stage! My big girl's first school achievement!

Spring Break!

The end of Avery's spring break is almost here. Tomorrow is Easter and she's back to school on Monday. 

We had a great week with her off though!

On Monday, Renee and Sabrina came from Buffalo to visit us for the afternoon. The kids had a ball playing with Sabrina, who is now running around with them! They had a lot of fun! And of course I'm kicking myself because I didn't get a single picture of them together!

I worked like usual on Tuesday and Wednesday.

We had a little scare on Wednesday afternoon though. Daycare called my work around 4pm saying that Cassandra fell and bumped her head and that we "might want to take her somewhere".  Gabe went and got her and texted me that they were headed to the doctor's office. I met them there after getting out of work. She ended up cutting the back of her head open, and thankfully it wasn't bad enough for stitches. I guess it bled a lot (by the looks of her clothes) and her hair was all matted to it so it was hard to tell just how bad it was until we got there. We all took a sigh of relief and grabbed some junk food (aka Wendy's) for dinner on the way home for the kids.

Thursday, we took the girls to their first movie. Well....Avery has been to one with my Father-in-Law before, but this was the first time we took her. The girls really wanted to see the new "Cinderella", so that's what we saw. Avery was great. Cassandra did pretty well, but did get antsy at times. I think since it wasn't animated it was harder to keep her attention. Overall they did really well though and the movie was amazing if you haven't seen it yet!

Friday was our  neighborhood egg hunt held at a neighbor's house. It was the perfect day for it-about 60 and sunny out! They spread out about 525 eggs and each kid starts with 10. Then once everyone has 10, it's a free for all!

getting lined up

Go!

Cassie and Avery

Avery

The kids had a ball as usual!

After dinner, we still had to dye eggs. The girls always love doing it!

Today we went to Buffalo to visit my Mom and Aunt. Megan and her kids stopped by as well. Tomorrow is Easter then back to the usual grind on Monday!! 

What a fun and busy week!

First Day of Kindergarten!

It was the day we were waiting for....the first day of Kindergarten!

I was a little nervous as to how it would go. For the past 10 days or so, Avery was having a meltdown at bedtime about not wanting to go to school. I think part of the reason was that we hadn't been to the school or met the teacher until Wednesday of this week (with school starting Thursday). So here we were counting down the days and getting excited, and she had no idea what she was excited for. 

Wednesday I left work early to do the teacher meet and greet and to drop off her supplies. It went really well-her teacher had a scavenger hunt set up around the classroom and an activity for them to do. After we finished, I took her around the building to show her the gym, cafeteria, library, etc. I honestly think this helped calm her fears.

I also had to work on her first day of school, but was lucky enough to be able to go in late and leave early to get her on/off the bus that day. I woke her up around 7:15 and she was very excited and happy!  We got her dressed, she ate breakfast, brushed teeth, and I did her hair. Gabe's parents showed up a little after 8 to come see her as well, which was really nice.

Outside we went for a few photos:

Cassie, Mommy, Avery, Daddy

Then we headed to our corner to wait for the bus!

When the bus came, Avery bolted on it and sat right down! We had to have the driver grab her so we could get a picture of her on the bus! haha! At least she was excited!

Once she left, I went to work. And of course I was worried about her all day....would she find her teacher? Would she ask for help? Would she meet some friends? Who would she eat lunch with? Would she make it to the right bus to come home?  It was the longest few hours, I swear!

I got home around 3:30 or so in time to see her come home!  I couldn't wait to hear how her day was!

Looks happy right?!  She was! And she had a wonderful day! Of course I didn't get much out of her, but she loved her teacher, went to gym, ate (some) lunch, and saw a friend of hers from daycare (who happens to be in her class!).  And she was ready to go back the next day! Phew...a sigh of relief!

Gearing up for Kindergarten!

We're gearing up to have a Kindergartener in 2 weeks from today (someone hold me!)!

I took Avery out a few weeks ago to buy her school supplies. She had fun finding everything and putting it in the cart. And she picked out a new thermos for her lunch-pink of course!  We already have several lunch boxes and we bought her a nice Land's End backpack for her birthday. So I think she's ready to go!

Last week we received her teacher assignment in the mail. We haven't found anyone in her class yet. All of the neighborhood kids are split up-none of them have the same teacher!

Also last week we had her lunch/bus orientation. Avery and I went and first we sat through the lunch presentation. Then we all got on the bus and rode to another elementary school in the district. Avery loved riding the bus with me!  Once at the other school, they had to rotate through 5 stations about bus safety. Honestly, it wasn't organized well at all. Our first station was done in 2mins and every other station took about 10min. So you can imagine what happened-huge crowds of people at the following station!  Avery wasn't thrilled with it either because a lot of the stations were for the kids only-so they had to get on the bus and do whatever on there by themselves (no parents). With her not knowing anyone, she really didn't want to go alone. And I pushed her to do it and she cried most of the time we were there. I just kept telling her "this is for the kids only. Mommies and Daddies don't ride the bus to school-you do!" At least she did it-through tears-she could have flat out refused and caused a huge scene. But she didn't-thankfully!  And afterwards, she kept saying how much fun she had (did you not know you were crying the whole time?!).  So we'll see how the real deal goes in 2 weeks.

So the only big thing we're waiting on is her bus schedule-which won't be out until next week (nice and last minute). And tomorrow both girls are getting fresh haircuts for back to school!  I think next week we'll be starting our version of Kindergarten boot camp-everyone starting to get up earlier and going to bed earlier. I'd rather deal with the tiredness now then when school is starting up. I'm dreading it just because I don't want to get up early everyday!  I like being able to "sleep in" until 7:30 on my days off. Now I'll probably have to be up around 6 everyday. Ugh.

Let the fun begin!

Yoga

At the girls' daycare, they do yoga with the kids every day.

Well...this little one has been showing off her moves lately.

And?

It's freakin' adorable!

Down Dog

No idea what this is called but she does it constantly!

Mountain

Don't you agree?!

First Day!

'Round these parts, the kids start school this week.

For us, it was a new beginning....Cassandra got to start daycare!

The daycare we send Avery to doesn't take infants. They have to be 18months old to start going there. When we had Cassandra our options were to find someone to watch her, or switch Avery to a different daycare. We loved it there so much that we really didn't want to pull her out. So my Father-in-Law graciously offered his time over the past 19months to watch Cassandra pretty much everyday that I worked (THANK YOU!).

Cassandra turned 18 months at the end of July and the owner of the daycare decided to close up shop. So, we didn't want to send her there for 3wks and then have to possibly start her somewhere else. However, we lucked out and they found a buyer for the daycare and the previous owner also stayed on staff. After they closed for about 2wks, it was time to start up for fall! They actually opened up last Thursday, but yesterday was my first working day since they re-opened.

We've been talking about Cassandra starting "school" for the past few weeks to get Avery prepped for her being there, etc. And I have to say that Avery was really excited for her to be with her.

So now Gabe and I only have one drop off and pick up location which is really nice.  He said when he dropped them off yesterday, Cassandra barreled down the hallway to explore. I guess the teacher went to pick her up and she started to cry. A little after lunch, I received an email from the teacher saying that Cass was doing great! She also attached these photos for me too!

Cassandra and some friends

Cassandra and Avery outside

Overall, she had a great first day. She didn't nap much (we didn't bring her sleeping buddy either) which I sort of expected since she has to sleep on a mat which is totally foreign for her. Of course she crashed in the car on the way home too!  She obviously can't tell us much, but Avery said that Cass had fun and didn't cry much...so that makes me happy! Hopefully the transition keeps going as smoothly as yesterday did!