Fun

We headed back down to the SJ Discovery Museum today to get out as a family.  Had a great time as usual.

 

   

First week down!

Phew...we've got one week of kindergarten down! Jake has had a blast so far.   We attended Back to School night last night, and learned that his teacher has been teaching the same grade and in the same room for 16 years!   Then I came home to discover that of the three other homes on our side of our block, every single child had Jake's exact teacher when going to kindergarten (two are now in high school, two in middle school, and one had her last year)...just crazy!!   ALL of them have raved about her, so we're crossing out fingers that we've really lucked out.   We've met some really nice parents as well.  I have signed up as a room mom of course, so hopefully that will be a fun way to continually be involved throughout the year.  Here are some of the adorable things sent home this week:

 Of course, the girls can't get enough of walking Jake to and from school.  

Cutest comment of the week from Jake as I picked him up from school today:
Jake: Here is my room, and next year I'll be in a different room for 1st grade
Me: yep
Jake: Oh, Mom.   I don't want to go to college
Me: what? (laughing, and wondering how in the world he's jumped from kindergarten to college)
Jake: No really, I don't want to go to college (eyes filling up with tears).   I don't want to go away from you and Dada
Me: Oh, you're so sweet.  I think you might change your mind someday soon about that though.
Jake: NO!  (actual tears coming down his face).  I really, really don't want to go.  Please don't make me.  I want to stay with you forever!

awwww.....how can I bottle up his sweetness and feed it back to him later in life when he wants nothing to do with me????

Just overheard while I'm cooking dinner...

Josh:  "Well...this isn't my sweet spot.   You gotta have a little patience with Dada."
Addy: "ok"
Josh: "hmmmm....you want this over that one?"
Addy: "yes"
Josh: (two minutes later) "YEAH, I just dressed my first doll!"
Addy: "Thank you Dada"
Colbie: (runs over to me in the kitchen) "Dada can help me", and then runs over to Josh with her doll.

Oh, if I only I caught a picture.....they've been having him dress and undress their princess dolls for ten minutes now.

What I've learned so far...

It's zoomed by, but I've now officially been home for three months.  It was certainly rocky for the first month; the girls were overwhelmed with how many new places and people I was introducing them too and I was overwhelmed with the roller coaster emotions of two two year olds.   But, we're getting in our groove now.   I've got to make note of these fun learnings, as someday I'll look back and laugh at this crazy year.  Things I've learned so far:
1. Add 15+ minutes to all travel time, as getting the girls into and out of the car is incredibly painful as they squabble about who needs to get into or out of the car first, who gets to sit in which seat, their insistence to attempt the seat belt on their own, and the inevitable disagreement that ensues as we are pulling out of the driveway about what music we are going to listen to.  
2. I'm not sure if it is because they are girls, or that they have a big brother, or that there are two of them, but these two are incredibly independent, stubborn girls already at two years old.  They need to put on and off their own clothes, they need to put on/take off their own shoes, they need to pick up that specific toy that they are asking for all by themselves, even if they've just asked me to help them.  As I'm the type of person to always look for the most efficient way to do something, this independence things has been an incredibly large test of my patience.   Jake had no desire to do much of the above before he was 3.5 probably, or maybe even four.   So, I get it, it's important to let them do all of these things on their own, but trying to get three kids out the door by 8:00 to get Jake to school on time this week has been HARD.  
3. The roller coaster emotions of A and C are just bizarre.   One second everyone is super happy, squealing with delight, and one second later someone (or sometimes both of them) is flat on the ground, screaming hysterically.   This is especially problematic when they both decide to freak out at the same time, and we're in public somewhere....just want to run and hide!   The best is that these fun little "terrible two tantrums" can come on due to something as simple as my opening their string cheese just slightly incorrectly!  
4. Boy do my girls idolize their big brother.   I knew that they loved him a lot before, but now that I'm home, and we've just had a straight month together before school started, I can see just how much everything he does or says influences their decision making.   He is the example, which is a hard title to put on a five year old who is going through his own transitions right now.   But nevertheless, A and C will do absolutely anything that Jake does.   He is the ringleader to the madness of our house.
5. I'm so, so, SOOO thankful that I can be home right now.  Being able to walk Jake to school and pick him up, holding his hand the entire way, makes my heart happy.   We've discussed superheros in depth for four days now on our walks, and I wouldn't change that for the world.  He is doing great so far on day four of school, and we're so pleased!
6. Getting out of the house to try something new every day with A and C has been really healthy for them.  They are not as shy and timid around new people any longer, and they are both turning into little chatterboxes just like Jakey.  We'll see what happens when nursery school starts for them in two weeks. 
7. Being a stay at home mom is way, WAY harder than going to work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

First Day of Kindergarten!

The day has finally come- Jake is officially in Kindergarten!!   We were all quite rushed this morning (definitely need to make bedtime earlier asap!), and then the walk to school was just surreal.   But Jake did great, as he immediately saw his new friends from camp, and was off and running.   When it was time to line up to go into the classroom, of course he was first to run to the front and lead the kids inside.  I was definitely weepy, but he seemed quite excited and happy.   More to come later, but here are the first pics of the day!

 

 

Nana's Birthday

For my Mom's birthday, she requested that my sister and I volunteer to bake cookies for Kings Mountain School with her for the morning.   As the PTA President back in the day, she started the cookie booth concept some 30 years ago, and it now generates something like 20% of the funds that support music, science, etc at the school.   Grandma Jennie's chocolate chip cookie recipe is still used too!   Yesterday they made a total of 4000 cookies to be sold at the Art Fair next weekend...wow!

 

 

For her celebration, we just had a small playtime and dinner up on KM.  The kids were all in great moods, and it was a great, fun and mellow evening!

 

 

 

  

Happy Birthday Nana!!

We wish Nana a BIG Happy Birthday today!!!  

 We hope that you have a fantastic day of fun and celebration!

Camp Mama Day 3: Zoo time

I was out-voted on our adventure local today, and the kids begged for the SF zoo instead of the beach.  It turned out that they choose wisely, as it was extremely foggy the entire day in HMB.  Anyways, we headed up to the zoo and met Tia and Hassan there to explore the animals for our adventure today!

  

 

 

Camp Mama Day 2: Happy Hollow

We headed to Happy Hollow Park & Zoo in San Jose for our second day of adventure week.  Grandma Lee joined us, and the place was perfectly empty!  I was amazed that Colbie and Addison are now comfortable getting on the rides all by themselves, no problem at all.   As there were so little people there, they could go on the rides over and over and over again!  It's a perfect park for 2-5 year olds.  Jake is almost getting too old for it already.