September.

My sister Sara came to visit us in September!  The weekend she was here coincided with the Spokane Pig Out so we went into the city and ate way too much!

 Sara was also on hand to help document Ryan’s first big boy haircut!  I wasn’t ready to cut it but it had gotten to the point that people were saying that he was a cute little girl.  In fact, while he was sitting on my lap getting his hair cut a lady standing nearby said, “oh, look at how good she’s being.”  Killing me lady!  He was wearing blue too. 

 September also meant that the girls went back to school!  Kaeleigh is now in 5^th grade and Maylyn is in 3^rd grade.  Kaeleigh has way more homework this year and usually needs help with math.  Turns out that I don’t remember fractions nearly as well as I thought I did.  She’ll be smarter than her parents soon!  Summer school really helped Maylyn prepare for 3^rd grade.  She still struggles but I can see a change in her reading and writing.  Trying to get her to do her 20 minutes of reading a night was like pulling teeth but she’s discovered a love for Daisy Meadows’ Fairy Books and has been reading a ton lately.

 I didn’t take too many pictures this month but I was able to get a few of the kids together.  It’s getting harder to take pictures of Ryan that aren’t blurry from movement.  That little boy is all over the place!

Kaeleigh and Violet.

Now that Kaeleigh is in 4th grade she is old enough to join the school orchestra program.

I cannot begin to tell you how excited she is.

We headed over to Milanos music store to pick out her violin.

This place totally brings back memories of elementary and junior high for me, back when I played the flute.

Here's the happy girl with her violin that she named Violet.

I asked her why she named it that and she said that in one of The Boxcar Children books that she read there was a girl named Violet that played violin.  

Makes perfect sense.

In other Kaeleigh news, she decided to run for a student council representative position in her class.  She had to give a 2-5 minute speech on why she would be the best person to represent her class at the student council meetings.  There were two representative positions open and one alternate.  Only four kids in the class wanted the jobs and Kaeleigh ended up tied for votes with another girl for the alternate position.  Kaeleigh and this other girl had to give their speeches again and Kaeleigh won.  So now if either of the reps are absent then she gets to fill in at the meetings.  She's so excited.  Afterward she tells me that she didn't even vote for herself!  Sheesh!  She probably could have made rep if she had but oh well.  She's already getting practice on public speaking for the next election in which she wants to run for Treasurer.  I'll be sure to remind her to vote for herself.  :)

Back to School.

The kids went back to school last week.

 My Kaeleigh is in 4th grade this year.  I can hardly believe it.  She was so excited.  The kid just loves school.  She tested into ELP (a gifted and talented program) this year and she has decided that she wants to play violin in the orchestra.  I want to cry because she is getting so big...

 My Maylyn is a second grader this year.  I was really worried because first grade was a really tough year for her but so far she's doing great!  She has the same teacher that Kaeleigh had for second and I just love her. I really can't say enough good things about her.  Everyone should have Mrs. Dunn for second grade!

Pooh.

Maylyn has had a little bit of a hard time adjusting to life as a first grader.

Tears almost every day for the first two weeks of school.

Apparently she's giving me a taste of my own medicine as I cried every day for the first semester of first grade.  (I wasn't happy about switching schools.)  My poor parents. 

Ugh.  It's totally true what they say about your kids turning out exactly like you.  Your kids will pay you back for all of the things that you did to your parents.

Awesome.

Anyway,  Maylyn had a few good days in a row and she was picked to take home the class Winnie the Pooh bear. 

She got to write a little story about all of the fun Pooh had at our house and she had to draw a picture to go along with it.

Pooh and Maylyn.

"That's a really big Pooh."  -direct quote from my mom.  :)

First Day.

I really slacked on the back to school pictures this year.

These are the only two pictures that I got of the girls.

Maylyn is my big first grader now and Kaeleigh is in third grade!

Where has the time gone??

Last day.

Maylyn is no longer a Kindergarten baby!

(stick your head in gravy...anyone else remember that rhyme?)

Sadly they no longer do the graduations with the construction paper hats.

(Some schools still do, Maylyn's isn't one of them)

Here is my baby on her first day of school.

 And here she is on her last day.

So, so big!!

I can't believe the school year is already over.

Both girls had amazing report cards and I was asked to come back next year!

I'm super excited and the girls are too, they love having their mom work at their school.

Unless they're getting in trouble for not wearing a jacket or not finishing their lunch.  Ha! :)

Shamrock.

Last month the kindergarteners went on a field trip to Shamrock Farms.

And because I work with kindergarteners I got to go too!

The bus ride was a little scary. 

We had a bus driver that was easily distracted and had a hard time staying on the road.

"Oh look, cows!"

Maylyn didn't seem to mind though.

I had fun too.  :)

They had a cute little play area for the kids.

Maylyn was in heaven when she got to pet some of the calves.

We all had such a good time.  There was milk and ice cream for everyone. 

It was such a good time that many of the kids fell asleep on the way home...including Maylyn.



Performance.

Maylyn's Kindergarten Holiday Program was this evening.

All of the kids were so cute and Maylyn did such a great job

on her speaking part.

She was in the back so it was kind of hard to get a good picture...

 The camera wasn't my best friend tonight, but she still looks adorable.

I'm so proud of her!!

Turkey Bowling.

via

Yesterday at school it was the Annual Turkey Trot and Turkey Bowling.

One thing I love about working at the school is being able to see the girls participating in these activities.  It's so much fun!

I don't know if you're familiar with Turkey Bowling (I wasn't)

But you bowl with a frozen turkey in place of a bowling ball.

Kids were randomly selected from each class

and Kaeleigh was picked!

I wish I had known so I could have brought my camera...

She did awesome!

Kaeleigh knocked down 7 pins.

I was actually really surprised that she went up at all,

 she's so shy.  I figured that getting up in front of half the school to bowl with

a turkey might cause a big case of stage fright but she proved me wrong.

It was adorable.

She talked about it for the rest of the afternoon.

Goob.

Maylyn's class had to write this sentence and fill in the blank:

"My mom is _____."

And this is what Maylyn wrote:

For those of you that aren't familiar, goob means 'fine.'

Hee, hee.  I love Maylyn.

Turkey.

Every year the kid's school does a Family Turkey Project.

Last year I went out and bought feathers and glitter and rhinestones for Kaeleigh to decorate her turkey.  It was very girlie.

This year we were more thrifty and used just what we had at home.

We used:

Coco puffs, rotini pasta, Kix cereal, Smarties, and Skittles.

(Getting rid of that Halloween candy! Woo hoo!)

Kaeleigh was very proud of her idea to use red Skittles for the turkey's wattle.

Didn't it turn out great? 

Afterward they tried to talk me into eating the candy that wasn't used...

They are so my kids.  :)

Potato Head.

Yesterday was the Halloween Parade at school.

My friend Liz, one of the other aides in our class, and I decided to make a costume that the kids would recognize.

So we were Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head!

We got all of the supplies from Michaels and made the shirts.

All of the pieces were attached with Velcro so they could be taken off and moved around just like the Mr. Potato Head toy.

It was awesome and everyone loved them.

Including the guy at the Wendy's drive thru at lunch who asked me for my shirt.  LOL

Kaeleigh and Maylyn are going to be fairies.

Here's Kaeleigh walking in the parade. 

 I wasn't able to get a picture of Maylyn but she looked super cute.

They are so excited for tomorrow!

Sigh.

Remember when I said that Kaeleigh had taken her hair clips out and fixed them herself on picture day?

Well we got the pictures back...

 Apparently they did take Maylyn's class pictures after recess.

It doesn't even look like I brushed their hair before sending them to school!

Now, I'm torn.

Do I have them do retakes or just stick with what I've got?

I think I need to find out what time of day the retakes are done because I could just end up with more messy-haired pictures!

*Sigh*

Job.

Awhile ago I mentioned a job offer.

I didn't go into detail because I had a test to take, and a background check and all that jazz that goes along with getting a new job

so I figured I'd wait to talk about it until it was a sure thing.

I'm working as an Instructional Aide for the autistic Kindergarten class at my kid's school.

Today was my first day.

It was a learning experience for sure.

And one that will teach me patience.  (a virtue I tend to lack)

The  biggest perks for the job are that I start when my kids start school,

and I'm off when school is out.  I get to see them both throughout the day when I'm on campus.

And I've also got the same holidays and days off that they do.

Pretty good deal all around.

Here's the picture we took this morning before we headed out.

Just had to take a picture for mama's first day of 'school.'

School Pics.

Today was picture day at the kid's school. 

 I didn't think to get a picture of them because I was running late this morning from all of the showers, hair styling, outfit picking outing (that's right, I said it), breakfast making, lunch packing, check writing for said pictures, breathing treatments, teeth brushing, trying to get out the door on time. 

Did you follow all that?

It's amazing how big a difference there is in traffic when you leave the house just 3 minutes later than usual.

That's happened the last two days and I've gotten stuck behind a school bus each time.

Ridiculous.

Anyway, back to school pictures.

Maylyn's class had their pictures taken at 9:40am.

Before they could get sweaty at recess and before they could spill food on themselves at lunch.

Kaeleigh's class on the other hand had their pictures taken at 12:30.

After not one, but TWO recesses.

And after lunch.

Plenty of time to get sweaty and dirty.

Or in Kaeleigh's case, time to take out the hair clips I put in this morning and put them back in herself.

Gahhh!

She tells me, "Well, we have retake day..."

Everyone cross your fingers that they turned out good regardless.

To end on a high note, Maylyn got to see a "berformance" at school today.  :)

Kindergarten.

It's official.

Maylyn is in Kindergarten.

I now have both children in school all day.

I don't even know what to do with myself.

I guess I'll have to find a job now.

Maylyn was so excited.

She had her backpack and her new lunch box that her grandma bought her.

She insisted on bringing her lunch today.

Kaeleigh wanted to eat in the cafeteria because they were having grilled cheese, but Maylyn wanted me to pack her a lunch.

Can't forget about my big girl.

Kaeleigh is in 2nd grade this year.

Where does the time go??

I can't wait for them to get out so I can hear all about their first day.

Last day.

Today was Kaeleigh's last day of First Grade!

I took some pictures of her before we left the house this morning.

Compare them to these that I took on her first day of school.

Ha ha!  Her backpack was HUGE!

Here she is with her best friend Shayla. 

 So excited to be done with school.