2013_08_30 Friday

Jonathan and I walked to school this morning. He got to sleep in an extra 16 minutes! We saw the bus pass our second stop option and waved it on, and we got to school with about 10 minutes to spare. We may make this a regular routine when Dave can be home for Elise (or if she decides to get up earlier). It was really a nice, easy walk. That said, construction is starting at school, so it may be more of a headache going forward. We'll see.

I stayed for the principal's tea. It was nice to see who she is and hear about some of the new initiatives. Because the school is so new, they are going through some growing pains, esp with restricting parents from things they had been allowed to do when the school was smaller and newer (popping in for lunch; swinging by the classroom whenever, etc). It's sort of amusing that that was allowed anyway. I also offered myself up for any 'consulting' they may need on school security.

I just got this note from Elise's teacher:

Today we are practicing using computers and Elise has a special message for you!

eeeeeeeeelliise

I'm assuming she wrote that herself.

I also am staying true to my extra-curricular activity promise: I've signed Jonathan up for one sport (tennis) and one activity (robotics) this semester. Elise is in ballet/tap, which is probably enough for her right now!

2013_08_29 Thursday

Dave's flight got cancelled last night, so he had to spend an additional, unexpected night in NYC. I guess I stayed up too late because this morning was rough. Jonathan is still limping a bit from a fall/scrape at school yesterday, but we made it to the bus stop on time. I came home and fell asleep on the couch until Elise dropped something and woke me up. Dave got home around 10, and we were just finishing up breakfast and getting (Elise) dressed.

Then, we mailed off our first Box Top submission for school and headed to the botanical gardens. They have a kids' scavenger hunt on Thursday mornings, but we missed it. Instead, we just enjoyed the gardens. We hunted for frogs and turtles and checked out lots of plants. After a snack and juice (boy, was it hot), we headed back home for lunch and a short nap.

2013_08_28 Wednesday

Best laid plans went sideways this AM. I had planned to take Elise to the library's story time at 10, which is exactly when the library opens. We got there about 15 minutes early with the intention of browsing, but there were too many shady dudes, so I bagged it. Stopped by Whole Foods and Home Depot and a local shopping center that I had heard about but not visited instead. Then we passed a park on the way home, so we stopped to check it out for a bit. It's a scortcher today, though: low 90s, so we couldn't stay out too long. Elise had a princess sandwich -- whole wheat waffle with PB and mashed strawberries -- for lunch; she seemed to get a kick out of that.

013_08_27 Tuesday

Here's Elise's class update:

We had a Great day today! Happy Birthday to X! He is three years old! Today in art, we made napkins that we use at lunch time tomorrow. X decorated hers with buttons. During circle time, we changed our calendar and X helped us to describe the weather and change the weather to sunny. X helped us change our days of the week. During music time, X helped to stir the alphabet soup. For our daily activity, we worked with flash cards of colors and shapes. X matched all of the colors together and Elise excelled at matching all of the shapes together. X quickly found all of the stars in his group and moved on to the next set of shapes. 

Elise really seems to like ballet class. However, she can't take a nap right away on Tuesdays because it's so close to the bus arrival. That said, she completely fell apart on me, screaming and yelling, when I took her upstairs for a nap. Guess who desperately needed one!?

To top the day off, Jonathan came home with a disciplinary note. He's talking too much in class. The plus side is that he's making friends just fine. The minus is that he can't shut up. So, I came up with the "two finger touch" technique. He may put his elbows on his desk and use his first two fingers to hold his lips closed secretly to make sure he's not tempted to talk. He's not to make a big deal of it (it's not for the class to see), but it's a physical reminder to keep his mouth closed and his eyes on his teacher. Of course, he has to move his hands when he is called on to speak. He should also always have his eyes on her; if a classmate tries to distract him he should just point in her direction without taking his eyes off her. Let's see if this works!! I really don't want to have to go back to the daily journal from Kindergarten; that was such a headache.

2013_08_26 Monday

I had quite a fun morning. I re-shelved books at Jonathan's library. It totally fed my OCD/German-ness. I feel like I got all the books in the shelves and the ones that need re-shelving into order. I'll definitely be back!

From Elise's class:
Today we practiced the Swiss tradition of a formal lunch. We had so much fun. Thank you everyone for bringing in everything necessary for our lunch. I will wash your items and return them to you the next time your child is at school.  Today we used watercolors to paint a still life painting. X really enjoyed this and carefully colored in her painting. X was the first one to use the watercolors and she mixed her colors with ease.  Our letters of the week are A and B. Elise helped us to identify words that start with A and B. X told us about her trip to the beach during story time. X helped us during our Swiss lunch and she also helped us name foods that are green. X really else excelled at the lacing boards today.   

013_08_25 Sunday

The kids and I went to our local diner for brunch. Again, Elise decided she needed to go potty, so Jonathan manned the table. This is less stressful (than IKEA) since it's a smaller and familiar place.

On the way home, we rested in our swing. While walking around, I found a baby bird. When I called the kids over to check it out, the momma bird freaked out and started squaking at us. Not sure what kind it was -- gray/purple and fairly small -- maybe a gray catbird. We stepped away, and I peeked in awhile later. The baby was gone, so I'm guessing mom took care of it.

The kids are loving the new playroom. They've been in there painting and drawing at any free time. I've moved a bookcase in to hold art items. We've built up one tent for a quiet reading space on the other side. It's coming along well.

2013_08_24 Saturday

I took the family to a very cool, funky artisan's "colony" that I discovered on Friday. It basically is a big warehouse with booths for various artists. There were a ton of things I was interested in, but I thought I'd get Dave's buy in first, as most were well over $100 a pop. We ended up buying an industrial (wood/metal) table with spin-y chairs and getting a coat tree custom made. The table top is from a bowling alley, and the chair seats twirl around so they can be adjusted to the kids' height. We'll use it as an art table and a spill-over for meals. It's really cool. The coat tree will basically match, with two rows of hooks, a wooden bench, and a lattice metal rack underneath. The tree should be done by Sept 10; I think we can get the table/chairs any time.

Dave had a fantasy football thing in the early afternoon, so I took the kids to IKEA. This one is even cooler than our last one! We had a late lunch ($12). Although we went to the bathroom before we got our food, Elise's little bladder needed emptying mid-lunch. So, rather than leaving all our food and dragging Jonathan into the ladies'; I went totally Free Range, and asked a nice family next to us to keep an eye on him. Jonathan was totally willing to sit at the table while we went. It sure is nerve wracking, but of course, nothing happened. He sure is amazing. I checked them into Smalland for 45 mins or so while I raced around to get goodies. This playspace has a frequent visitor card and they have a restaurant-style beeper to notify you your time is up. We may well use that card! This was Elise's first time being allowed in; she's finally tall enough. I think it was the hair that boosted her. So, I got an art easel to go into the front room, which is now called the play room. (I also got a replacement mirror for Elise)

2013_08_23 Friday

The morning started extremely early today; Elise got up at 5am -- twice. And, while she got back to sleep, guess who did not. Jonathan was a rockstar, getting up and dressed by himself. I'm having 'chef's block' for breakfast items for him; I tried a store-bought breakfast burrito, which was a fail.

When it came time to get Ms E up, she was ok. We gathered up as many B words for show-and-tell as we/I could find. Perhaps a bit overzealous: bed, bath, boat, block with a B, The Bellybutton Book, bus, and bunny. We walked to school, checking out all the B words on the way: butterfly, ball, blue/brown/black, branches, bricks. Dave passed us on the way, and she ran for a bit to keep up with him (that was super cute). When he blew her a kiss and drove off, she fell apart. But, she gathered herself nicely outside school and ran in to her class without me. When I got in, to check her in, she clung to me like saran wrap, literally wrapping her body around my legs. That drives me bananas (another B word!). When a friend came in, she was distracted enough for me to scoot out.

Elise's class report:

We had a great end of the week today! This week, we focused on Art and Music during our daily activities. Today we made a class tactile board of art supplies. Elise helped us to glue straws onto the board. X helped us to glue pom poms onto the board. We had fun dancing and singing today as well. X led us all as we danced and sang around the clouds. X showed us all how to properly use our rhythm sticks during music. X helped us to count out the sticks and identify numbers while we all worked on our sticks puzzle. Today was also show and tell. X happily stood in front of his friends and showed us his bouncy ball. X showed us her bunny.  X also showed off her blue stickers and shared them with her friends.

2013_08_22 Thursday

Elise and I ran errands for most of this morning (copying/scanning, Target, groceries). The mold remediation guys were here, so we wanted to get out of their way. They'll be back tomorrow to finish up. yeeehhaww!

We did join the local library. It's not like our old library -- there are no kiddy programs -- but it's usable. It's ok. They do have a decent e-book 'rack,' and they have a loan program with all the libraries in Atlanta, so there should be a huge book selection. There is a decent sized children's section, and Elise loves the low, kiddy toilet. They have a small playroom, a couple of kiddy computers, and ~20 racks of books (from board books to teens). We left with a dozen books that certainly look readable. Elise was thrilled to find Pinkalicious and Goldalicious. Jonathan and I are reading Toad and Frog are Friends in bed; I get the odds and he gets the evens. He's doing great; hardly challenging at all!

I attended the Back to School Night at Jonathan's school tonight. Traffic was bad, so Dave didn't get home quite as I had planned, so I missed the principal's welcome speech, but from what I heard, it wasn't life altering. But, it was very nice to be in the classroom with all the parents and teacher. Jonathan left me a love note on his desk, so I wrote him one back. She gave a nice overview of her plans for the year. And, gesh, I really do like her a lot. Her methods seem to mesh very nicely with ours. She is crystal clear on rewards and (more importantly) consequences. She doesn't grade spelling, rather focuses on promoting the love of reading and writing (and comprehension). And, she'll spend a week each month focusing on hands-on STEM projects. Each week, we'll get a progress report, so that'll be a great way to nip any behavior concerns in the bud. That said, I think we are in for a shock in the homework department!! But, she assigns it on Monday and wants it back by Friday. It hasn't been too bad yet, but I can just imagine what it could snowball into.

I made a pizza from scratch for dinner! Elise helped me make the dough earlier today. I mixed up ground beef, broccoli, corn, and roasted red pepper soup and sprinkled on some cheese. Jonathan apparently wanted thirds!! Now that's telling!

2013_08_21 Wednesday

Did we move to Seattle?? It had rained -- and I mean torrential at times -- nearly every day since we got here. I think my co-pilot sent us to the wrong city!

Elise got her second haircut today. Oh my, does she look less wild. The hairdresser said that she still has a lot of baby hair that is whispy/wild, but after this cut, she'll be Ms Curley-Q and need cuts every 60-90 days and leave in conditioner to keep the tangles at bay (or for $ in her pocket). Elise sat still as a statue; she was terrific. And, the dresser suggested that she wear headbands (like she does), to mask the straight whips from the curlies. Elise seemed to be more interested in trying headbands--and keeping them on--after hearing it from her.

We browsed PetsMart too, to see what fish paraphernalia there is. Lots to buy, if you want to. We also saw all the adoptables as well, including tons of fish (starting at $.19!), some bearded lizards, empty turtle cages, parakeets, exotic hamsters, etc.

One of my besties from camp came by to visit tonight! What a fun blast from the past. It was great to see her. She even read books to the kids at bed time. how sweet.

2013_08_20 Tuesday

Dave had breakfast with both kids today! what a treat!

After I dropped Elise off, I headed for the DMV to get my GA license. What a debacle! It took nearly three hours of waiting for my letter and number to be called. I am now the proud owner of a temporary ID card. Tangentially, a school in that town, Decatur, had a gun-at-school incident, but I didn't see it. Repeat: we were unaffected by the school shooting (but, thank you for all the texts asking about our safety). Luckily, Elise was at ballet, which was actually tap today, so her day was an hour longer than typical.

what a D-I-V-A!

From here teacher:

We had another great day at international preschools! Today we continued reading about the letter B.  We colored blue birds and X really enjoyed coloring his B. We also learned the the word bird starts with the letter B. X loves to color and she finished her birds in no time. We learned a new dance today called La Raspa. We danced in pairs and as a group and X and X hopped from one foot to the other with ease. In Art, we practiced using pencils by tracing rhythm sticks. We love to use rhythm sticks during music time.  X was very good at tracing her rhythm sticks. Elise enjoyed using a new instrument during music today, the sand paper blocks. We clapped to the beat during the song, clap if you can. X happily hugged his friends during musical hugs. I would like to thank X and X for bringing me such pretty flowers this morning.

While I was walking to pick her up, I got a call from the J's school nurse. Apparently, he slammed into a tree. She said he was fine: no blood, no tears. Apparently, he crashed into a tree while talking to someone. I guess it's a good thing, since he clearly has 1 friend!!

2013_08_19 Monday

I don't feel like I've sat down since 6:40 this AM!

Right after dropping Elise off at school, I headed over to Jonathan's school to help get their garden cleaned up. I was there for about 1.5 hrs pulling weeds and aerating the soil/stone beds. Nice to meet a couple of folks there. Then, I visited J's teacher during her lunch to chat about class mom stuff. I am really excited to work with her. I hope we, as families, can make a dent in her workload!

Elise is prepared for her first ballet/tap class tomorrow. I had to search out pink tights.

I chatted with our 'gardener' guys as well. The pond is cleaned out and soaking up the algae pellets. He thinks we should be fish-ready in about 24-hours. Jonathan is going to flip. And, the house is thoroughly clean. love that! I still have laundry to do, though.

Here's Elise's school report:

We had a great first day of the week in 4KA!  The letter of the week is B. Today during journal time, we colored the letter B and things that start with the letter B. X sat and colored until she was satisfied with the finished product. During Art, we used our creativity to finger paint a class painting with our eyes closed. X and X painted very well even though they could not see.  During music time, we listened to the song, We've got a rainbow of colors and X really enjoyed dancing with his color.  X excelled at the number puzzle and telling us things that start with the letter B.  X was an expert and hot potato and carefully tossed the hot potato to her friends using her manners.  Elise was very excited to play hot potato and happily sat on the sun when it was her turn.

Now, on to lunch, my work, etc.

2013_08_18 Sunday

The high today was 72! It was downright chilly, so we opened all the windows to let the fresh air in. I was really hoping to attend an arts/crafts festival at a local park, but as we were walking out the door, the sky opened it rained...hard. The rain this summer has been unusually frequent (allegedly), but the plants must be happy. So, instead, headed out to a bounce town that came highly recommended, but as we got close to Fernbank, everyone agreed (!?) to go there instead. We only had time for one exhibit, and we used our free IMAX tickets to see "Titans of the Ice Age," and then, after a snack, hung out in the NatureQuest area. Well done cinematography; they brought extinct mammals to life, and they sure did look real. We shut the place down. It was a nice day excursion.

2013_08_16 Friday

Oh what fun we've had: we loved having Uncle Kevin here for the past three days!! He came over after his training sessions and had dinner here. And, he took us swimming at his hotel pool yesterday. Of course, it was by far the coldest day we've had here yet, but the kids jumped in and stayed in for about 20 mins. They really had a blast with him, and he's a terrific uncle.

Jonathan got a new bus driver yesterday afternoon, so we're working out lots of kinks -- arrival times mostly -- with her. Today, she was 6 minutes late, which is better than being 10 mins early yesterday, but it was raining.

Elise's teacher's note:
Our second week of school has come to an end. During art, we designed our own playground which helps us to make decisions. Elise enjoyed art and didn't need any help gluing on her playground equipment.  X carefully thought about where she wanted to place her pieces and sat until she was finished. X loves to dance and during music, he showed what a good dancer he is. X enjoyed beating the drums to tick tock goes our little clock. Today we learned about computers and X helped us to identify the monitor and the keyboard.  We also watched a reading of Llama llama Red Pajama and X proudly exclaimed that she had that book at home. During kinesthetics, we "climbed a ladder" and X showed us how fast he could climb a ladder. X won our game of red light green light by being the fastest one in the class.

I had a lovely, relaxed civilized ladies' lunch today with our realtors at a restaurant down the street. Oh, to do that more often!

2013_08_14 Wednesday

Oh boy, did one little boy hit a wall this morning. Jonathan is just exhausted. I totally feel for him (at least I can have coffee!). I'm going to look into the other bus stop option to give him another 15 minutes of sleep. My biggest fear, though, is that the bus will be too full and he won't get a seat. Also, that stop doesn't drop off in the PM, so he'd have to remember two different locations. I'm guessing he can handle that, though, if it means 15 more minutes to zzzzzzzz. Bus routes may change this week anyway (and our driver changes today), so I'm waiting to hear about that.

I took Elise to the zoo today. We saw just about the whole place. It's definitely larger than our old zoo, but everything (train, carousel, rock wall) costs to do. That said, they have a free, goat petting zoo. We saw the giant pandas (not the new babies though), lions, orangutans, silverback gorillas (from Good Night Atlanta), giraffes. The warthogs were a big hit; they were stinky and covered in slimy mud. Elise was most interested in the tortoises (??!) so we hunted them down too. The World of Reptiles was neat; tons of venomous snakes (many locals), which doesn't help me to sleep at night one bit.

flamingos on the way out

And, of course, we are all looking forward to seeing Uncle Kevin again for dinner. I'm making a slow cooker chicken, corn, and green pepper white (navy bean) chili. hope it's ok!

2013_08_13 Tuesday

We got 5 minutes earlier today than normal, but somehow ended up at the bus stop at the same time as usual. I think we hit the tipping point of getting up TOO bloomin' early. Poor Jonathan was pretty tired; he's trying so hard, but it's just too early for the poor guy. I told him that he could rest/nap after school today if he was still tired. I really hope that by the end of this week the school district figures out this busing sitch and makes it just a bit more Hardwick-friendly.

Elise has show-and-tell: Texture this morning. She brought in her purple feather boa, which seemed to be a big success. She got a nice strawberry on the back of her leg from the slide, but she apparently shook it off fairly quickly!

And, I volunteered at school for an hour or so to help Teacher get organized, basically just filing spelling words/tests for her, but it was nice to have a brief convo with her as well.

Uncle Kevin is in town for work and had dinner with us tonight! yippee!! Jonathan and Elise were all over him. It was neat to see no hesitation at all with either of them (that reminds me that I need to update Jonathan's family photo collage (and create one for Elise); there are lots of new folks to be added). We took him out or froyo afterward, and then the dads grabbed a beer together. Assuming all goes well at his training, he'll be back tomorrow too.

2013_08_12 Monday

Here's Elise's daily report:
We had a lot of fun today. Our theme this week is on the playground and today during art, we made safety patrol badges. X was very excited about art and she colored her badge carefully and placed it in her cubby for safekeeping.  We also practiced memorizing songs today and sang brown bear. X enjoyed dancing and singing to the music. In kinesthetics, we practiced lining up and taking turns and running forward when we played red light green light. X excelled at this game and proudly exclaimed. "I Won!" when she reached the finish line. X really enjoyed playing skippyroo kangaroo, a traditional game from Australia during our daily activity.  X really enjoyed circle time, especially when we counted to ten in English, French, and Spanish. Elise also enjoyed circle time and counting from one to ten using our special number puzzle.

2013_08_09 Friday

Jonathan is 2,222 days old today!!

Elise's first day of preschool is today too. She is so easy. We got up, got dressed, ate, walked the 4 blocks to school, she ran into her classroom, and I left (Dave stopped in too). Hardly even a goodbye. Certainly not a care in the world where I was. That's awesome. We took the tute to school and left it there for the day.

Schultute

Uhhh, the house is so quiet now. I don't like it.

Here's her teacher's weekly report:
We  had a wonderful week of school. We welcomed several new students today. Our new students are ... Elise. We began the day by making a collage of school supplies. This helps us practice our cutting skills. Elise cut out her first school supply all by herself! We also Counted to ten in French today and X enthusiastically repeated every number. X loves to dance and he really enjoyed dancing in German class. X carefully colored her lion until she was finished coloring the entire lion! We also talked about computers today during our daily lesson and X told us how to use a keyboard and mouse. X enjoyed counting along with the class when we put or number puzzle together during circle time. X loves to sing and sang along with the music as we listened to the alphabet in French. She also enjoyed singing the clean up song. X is a very active little boy who loves to  help the teacher. During circle time, X helped to count the dots on our number puzzle. 

2013_08_08 Thursday

Jonathan is such a hoot. He insists that he wear his new dino watch, even though he struggles to get it on and can't read it yet. The watch is red on the right half and green on the left half, so I've been working with him to count by fives and either read it as hr:(0-30) or (5-25) 'til the next hour. It's tricky! He had a new shirt picked out last night but did a last minute change because he couldn't get the tag off, and didn't want my help. Now, he totally doesn't match (sound like anyone?) in brown/orange plaid and red shirt, but he did it by himself. I guess that's the important part.

We made it to the bus stop a bit earlier than yesterday but are still cutting it a little close. I think we were about 1 minute early. Doesn't lend itself to too much socializing with the other parents, so I may try for a few minutes earlier still. We are the farthest away from the stop, though.

Oh, what excitement [this afternoon]! Jonathan got off the bus at the wrong stop (one early)! So, while he's typically the first on/off the bus, I waited and waited. Finally, I got on the bus to see if he got distracted. The kids have to sit in grade order, so when I got to a friend's son in 2nd grade, I knew something was up. He told me, quite unconcerned, that Jonathan had already gotten off. I though, "huh, now what?" Then my phone rang. It was a mom (of a classmate, actually!) who had him at the previous stop. We met half-way down the road. I praised Jonathan to the hilt on what a great job he did handling what could have been confusing/scary and how proud I was that he remembered my phone number and asked a grown up for help. He said he looked for me, and when I didn't show up, he started walking down the street to the right stop (which he knew because he could see the bus) but a mom stopped him; he told her he had made a mistake and asked her to call me, all the while keeping his composure. I'm so proud....we had popcicles when we got home to celebrate. The kicker was that most of the parents at the bus stop (mostly 1st grade parents) were surprised that he knew my phone number. In thinking about it, especially because we are in a new place (2 weeks now), having him know how to get in touch with me in "an emergency" (which this really was not) is really important.

That morning, I got this teacher (Ms Emerson) report:
Good morning, Parents!  Welcome to 1st grade!  We had an outstanding day yesterday.  What a delightful class we have!  The kids worked hard yesterday and enjoyed getting to know each other.  For the remainder of the week, we will continue to go over rules and procedures and to discuss striving for strong character.  Thank you so much to everyone who came on Monday night and everyone who has donated wish list items and extra class materials.  I am so grateful!  A special thanks to X's mom who spent half the day here on Tuesday helping to get our classroom ready for opening day.  :)

2013_08_07 Wednesday

It's hard to believe, but school started today in Georgia (woah, we get out May 23!!)! Jonathan keeps bounding out of bed and is dressed -- by his own selections -- before I am. He even insists on wearing his new watch (although it didn't make it through the day b/c it's 'uncomfortable.') Ironically, we were the last ones to arrive this morning. Jonathan slept with his first day of school outfit (he had planned to wear plaid pants and tie-dye spirit shirt. "They match b/c they both have green in them." Thanks, Opa, for your style gene.) under his pillow!! He also got his birthday dino watch in the mail last night, so he's got that on today too.

This stop is huge: approx 15 kids (K-5th grade), so it's hardly as cozy as ours was last year. And, the kids sit with K in the front and 5th grade in the back. That means that Jonathan's coveted back row so he can wave to me just a hair longer is off limits, and the windows are tinted, so I couldn't see him at all! That said, there were no tears...from anyone...although the house is really too quiet now. 

getting on the bus

This is a German tradition, called the Schultute, for the first day of school; it's filled with school supplies and treats. Typically it's a surprise, but I haven't managed that in three years' attempts.

Heeeee's baaaaack. He was the first one off the bus, smiling ear to ear. I think he likes school just fine. He talked about PE, showed me some art projects, explained his daily folder (one side stays home; one side goes back to school), and answered a couple of questions about classmates, etc. I think he's going have a great time.

2013_08_06 Tuesday

It's Jonathan's last day of freedom!! School starts tomorrow, and NO ONE is more excited than I am.

I rid our house of all the 'dead' moving boxes and paper. The front room looks so much better now...and bigger too. Naturally, we still have beau coup boxes left, but those are less of a priority right now, and most of them are in the basement too.

Jonathan got new sneakers today to go with his new socks. Luckily, he's still the same shoe size. He also got his birthday present dino watch in the mail today! He's super excited about it and even sits still long enough to practice reading the time. Elise got her first ballet slippers, which is probably a monster unleashed now.

We swung by Dave's office in the late afternoon to say hi. The kids loved seeing the blow-up dinos that have visited them on Skype.

This afternoon, we had a playdate at the school with a boy in Jonathan's class. It was going really well until some sort of shoving incident involving Jonathan and the boy's twin brother. We still aren't sure what happened, but J2 was sobbing on the sidewalk with a lightly scraped knee while the boy was yelling how mean "he" was "on purpose." I'm not sure if he was referring to J or another boy. Elise was in her glory with 3-4 big boys pushing her on the swing or spin-y thing until she shreeked that it was too fast, and they all immediately stopped. Side bar: I cannot believe the good manners I see on small children here; it's fabulous. Regardless, it was a very nice date for me.

I've made a small tute for tomorrow morning along with a love note. Nothing too special inside, but he'll get the idea. I've also made him Georgia bologna cut outs for his home-made Lunchable. And, he gets the last two Georgia-bread cookies for snack time. He'll get a kick out of those, I hope.

2013_08_05 Monday

What a day!!!

It started out with our early morning wake-up practice walk to the bus stop. Once Elise got up, we headed to their pediatrician's office for the required GA state paperwork for school. What a mess. We were there for nearly two hours; I do not like to start my day that way (although it had technically started 3 hrs earlier!). That said, the dr was really nice.

Then we had Elise's Meet and Greet.We walked her to school; I carried all the supplies, while Jonathan had his LeapPad to keep him busy. Her teacher seems great. Classrooms are small, but so are the kids and the class sizes. I'm also signing her up for ballet, so she's thrilled...and doing so many more spins "to practice."

Then we had Jonathan's Sneak Peek. That was utter chaos too. His teacher seems fabulous and has a great reputation. I spoke to her about us being new and about J's past math instruction (Singapore Math), and she was totally receptive and thoughtful about it. She sat him with the one boy he had already met so that he had some 'stability' on the first day. And, she wrote herself a note to look into his math technique. I'm so happy with her. The rest of the event was a mad-house. I missed a couple of things (rooftop garden, media center, computer lab, etc) b/c I didn't realize they were open. He gets 2.5 classes/week of Spanish; that's a lot more than I had expected. Some music; some PE. The info booths for after-school activities reminded me of Vegas. I think we'll do a science experiment/Lego group. We bought him a school spirit shirt, which he laid out for Wednesday, and a bumper magnet for my car. I was so spent that I completely forgot about the new parent orientation. Instead, we joined our friends (who have kids at the school) at the local burger joint for more chaos.

2013_08_04 Sunday

I cooked a couple of lunch meals yesterday to have some choices on hand for the first week of school. That said, Jonathan has made it clear that he would like homemade Lunchables for the first few days. I also made "Georgia-bread" cookies, gingerbread cookies in the shape of Georgia! What a huge hit!! 

Last night we had an alarm system installed. It took 3+ hrs for the technician to hook it all up, but there's a real sense of security and safety (I had wanted one in NJ too). Of course, I'm also tremendously nervous that I'll set it off accidentally.

I picked up the motherload of plants today! I'm done collecting greens. These should keep me busy, trying to keep them alive. Nothing high maintenance. The woman I took them from is a flight attendant, and she said she was gone for weeks at a time and they survived...so maybe they are just right for me!

We had a school playdate at the park down the street today, and Jonathan was invited to a rising 1st grader's house for an hour beforehand for a 1-on-1 date. This boy is on our bus stop, so his mom reached out to me after I invited the whole stop to practice with us on Monday and Tuesday. The mom's pretty cool too, so that's looking good. There were a lot of kids a the playdate, and Jonathan met two kids who will be in his class. I'm sure he's already forgotten their names, but at least there should be some familiar faces when he walks in on Wednesday.

Tomorrow we have dr appts for both kids to get their immunization forms completed; Elise's Meet and Greet; Jonathan's Meet and Greet (he'll get to meet his teacher!); and new parent orientation. We get to drop off all the school supplies we've gathered so far and sign up for extra-curriculars...and buy school spirit stuff. whahoo. If I can squeeze in the library, we may explore it tomorrow (at least to get cards), but I'm not sure we'll have the energy...or time! 

2013_08_02 Friday

Boy, oh, boy. Jonathan and I practiced getting up for school today...at 6:45AM! He shot out of bed and beat me getting dressed! If he keeps that up, we can sleep in another 15 minutes. We had a nice breakfast together, and then we walked to the bus stop to test it out. We were about a minute late, but I slowed us down by not having my shoes on right away.
When we got home, I emailed our bus captain to invite the rest of the bus stop kids to join us on M and/or T to practice and to meet before school officially starts. Seem to have gotten good response on that.
Once Elise was up and fed, we headed out to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, which we are now members of. What a lovely complex! They have a special exhibit on living sculptures, so we sought them all out. They also have a children's garden, so we spend a good amount of time exploring that. And, the Conservatory has a frog exhibit, so we spotted a few (poison dart frogs) there and then (bullfrogs) throughout the rest of the trip in lily pads, etc. We visited the eatable garden and identified most of the plants; they have a neat vertical herb garden. They also have a very cool 'skywalk' that Jonathan really wanted to do. There are so many neat nooks to sit and enjoy. I think we'll be spending a lot of time at the gardens.
Jonathan also found out who his 1st grade teacher will be. We read her bio online but there's no picture, and we figured out where his classroom will be too.

2013_08_01 Thursday

We visited the Atlanta Children's Museum today. It's a cute place, not too big, and very well organized/clean. One unique station was the 50 states, with a small area for nearly each state. We also got to watch a mini-musical on the states, so that was fun. All the major Atlanta companies contribute to the museum, so there's a Home Depot tool area; a Publix grocery store (with a cow to milk!) and a felt veggie garden; a Coca-Cola creative arts area (not sure how that ties together)...Elise got to paint on a glass wall while Jonathan messed with the tools and ball tracks. He explored a pitch black 'mole' tunnel when girls with light shoes ran through it. Elise wandered off, and I had to get the staff involved in finding her (she was in the grocery delivery car, too short to see over the windshield), and she didn't know she was lost. We stayed for about 2.5 hrs before I got too antsy.

We got a microwave today! Then we drove 1/2 to PA to pick up clothes from Craigslist for Jonathan for the summer/fall/winter (including a cute suit).

I'm pooped!