Library class

I signed Ben up for a Friday library class again. Its an hour long five week class for 3-5 year olds call playgroups or something and observing the differences in his play from last year to this year is fun.

The trains are still out for this group of kids and of course, that is where Ben spent the majority of his time. But this year he is sharing the tracks better, wandering off to do other things, then coming back to play with them. When the cleanup song came on, he protested for just a few seconds, then went about picking up all the toys with the other kids. Last year after cleanup, they did a circle time which Ben HATED and would scream and cry the whole time. We rarely stayed. This year when I mentioned they were going to do a circle time, he was excited and happily danced ring around the rosie with all the kids and their parents - his favorite part being "we all fall down" - whodathunkit?

Next came the singing. He actually sang all the songs he knew in full voice!

The storytime was not as good, he had a serious case of the wiggles, but the fact that we made it through the entire class is awesome and I easily forgave his choice to not sit still while the librarian read a book to the crowd. I do attribute his good behavior to him growing a year older, but I am sure his preschool experience is also helping.

Yay, Ben!

Aunt Miki ties the knot...

On Sept 9th my Daddy walked his youngest daughter, our dear Aunt Miki, down the aisle. It was a beautiful afternoon - clear skies and warm temps - and we had tons of fun.

As the wedding was in the afternoon, the kids spent the morning in the hotel pool / hot tub with Cousin Leah having a blast. When it came time to get ready, our darling flower girl would NOT sit still whatsoever, so I was unable to do any kind of fancy french braid in her hair which was the plan. So Plan B: the same dang style she has had for 4 years now - hair parted on the side and pulled back out of her eyes - surprise surprise.

She was more than happy to put on her dress though (surprise surprise) and really was quite a beauty. Behold: (click on pics to enlarge)

Gramma Lou, the Wedding Gals, Grandpa

Ben was not so quick to put on his "handsome" suit. As a matter of fact, knowing he was not going to be happy, I specifically put it on him an hour before the wedding hoping he would get all the fussing and hysterics and tears out of his system before the wedding started. It worked. About 15 minutes before it began, he finally succumbed to the fact that he was NOT going to win this battle and returned to his cheerful chitter chatterbug self. Phew!

Our handsome little man!

The ceremony was beautiful. Em did a great job disbursing her flower petals down the aisle. Daddy was the videographer of the event so I got the task of keeping Ben quiet. I failed. He squirmed and talked in his outside voice, so I snatched him up and we stood in the back. Thankfully it was an outdoor venue and his voice didn't travel to the important people in front. These ones:

They did it!!

The reception afterwards was a blast. We danced the night away and had a ton of fun. Cousin Leah was a huge help in entertaining a very bored Ben, so Daddy and I got to really put our party hats on and boogie woogie. Em joined in on the dancing - anything to show off her party dress!

I have no idea what time we went to bed. I think the kids finally crashed around ten. Daddy and I stayed up til about 1:30 hanging with the newlyweds. I haven't stayed up that late in a very long time and paid for it dearly the next day, but it was all worth it. This was me on the majority of the (horrible, if you recall) flight home. The pictures are compliments of Emma who was playing with my iphone and discovered the camera feature.

Our future Paparazzi.

Congrats again to Aunt Miki and Uncle Sean. We love you and know you will live a long blessed life together. Welcome to the Happily Married Couple club - it really is a cool place to be. Xoxoxo

Sleeeeeeep

It's amazing what a good sleep will do for you and how a bad one will weigh you down - that is unless you are 5 and have a double ear infection.

Em had THE WORST night's sleep ever last night. She was tossing and moaning and screaming and kicking every 5 minutes. She had broken another fever at that point and simply could not get comfortable in her bed. The coughing from her post nasal drip didn't help much as well. Remembering how miserable I was back in may on my birthday when I had that hideous sinus infection and could only sleep sitting up, I coaxed her out of bed and to the couch. I told her if she tried to sleep sitting up it may help the cough go away. It was about 1:30 am at this point.

I got her cozy on the couch and she begged me to stay with her - good thing we have a super comfy sectional! I grabbed my pillow and a blankie and snuggle in. It took about 20 minutes or so for her coughing to settle down, then she was complaining that her shoulders and chest hurt. That concerned me until she said they were throwing these really heavy balls in gym class and she was sure that it was just her muscles that were soar. Ha!

She finally passed out hard at about 3. Ben woke up at 5:50 and wanted to play in the living room. I dragged him to his room, which he did not like on bit, but I didn't want him waking her! She woke up about 30 minutes later because he was still having a fit about being trapped in his bedroom with me and wandered in to see what the fuss was all about. She was wide eyed and bushy tailed and excited about what she should wear to school today!

What the heck??? Mommy, on the otherhand, was cranky and snippy with the kids and when Daddy came in the room I begged him to just take the kids into the living room and let me get 20 minutes of uninterrupted sleep. Smart Daddy knows when Mommy is about to lose it and rounded up the kids and closed the door behind him. I crashed on Ben's bed until my alarm went off at 7:45, tossed myself in the shower and put my brave face on.

I do not do well when I only get spurts of sleep. Thankfully these occurrences are few and far in between - but they are surely reminders that I am 41 (42?) and not 5 anymore. (How old am I? I seriously can't remember. Born in 71, so 81, 91, 01, 11, +1 = 41! Heck, I'm only 41, not 42. What am I complaining about...)

Em fell right asleep after stories tonight. And yes, I gave her a small swig of Nyquil. It says to check with your doctor for kids ages 4-12. Ben has been carrying around the doctor's kit all day since our visit to the pediatrician yesterday. So I asked Dr. Ben if I should give her cough medicine and he said yes. He then asked for some for himself because his "tummy hurt". No, I did not give it to him! (They took out the sleep aide from it years ago so what's the point... hahahaha!)

It is 8:29pm. I should go to bed. "Go to bed! Y'all from Shreveport?" (Name that movie! Winner gets... a good night's sleep blessing!! Woot!)

Gotta get a grip on the drip

We gave Em some fever reducer at 8:30pm. By 11:30 when we went to bed her fever had broke. She slept well all night only waking once wanting a drink of water. She had a bit of a fever this morning but assured me her throat did not hurt at all. I hummed and hawed, should I take her to the doc or ride it out? I finally decided to take her even though she was acting her usual spunky self. She has a pretty wet cough and a bit of a runny nose, but the pediatrician said her lungs sounded fine, her throat looked good - then came the ear check, "Ut, oh, found it." Double ear infection. Crazy, because she never ever even once complained her ears hurt! The doc didn't bother testing for strep because the amoxicillin will beat that down, too, if she does indeed have it.

When I questioned her on how to prevent ear infections she reminded me that they are more anatomical than anything else. Em has a cold and post nasal drip. It is not properly draining so she got an ear infection. It's the 2nd time this year - the 3rd in a rolling 12 months... If she has 4 or more in a year, then there is a concern and she may need tubes. Fingers crossed it does not get to that.

Lest I forget, super big huge thanks once again to Gramma Lou for coming to the island and hanging out with our kiddos so Daddy and I could attend a Leadership Academy in Phoenix. She survived school bus drop off and pick up, Em's first soccer practice, and two kid birthday parties! Go Gramma!

We love you, Gramma Lou!!

What to do, what to do?

Ben had his second day of a full 2 1/2 hours of preschool today! I spent the entire time exercising and reading a good biography.

Or not.

I dropped him at school, hit the post office and the library (to grab the 1st Harry Potter movie for Em and Daddy's "date night"). Then I co-chaired the PTA "Classroom Parent Selection", and afterwards raced over to 'Crapblevision' to return a cable card that I do not need because our 2005 TV continues to be the world's awesomest TV (has a tuner built in) so I don't need to pay extra for a box or card.

I picked up Ben at Noon to another heartwarming moment of, "MOMMY!!" giant hugs giant hugs giant hugs. This kid sure knows how to make his mama feel loved!!

We played the afternoon away until Em came home from school NOT herself. She said she didn't feel very good and by bed time had a hearty cough and a mid grade fever. Boo. Our pals just called reporting in with Strep throat... Boo hoo! We might be in for a trip to the pediatrician tomorrow morning. We'll see how the night goes...

I still need to blog about the wedding and soccer and sooooooooo much more. Soon, I promise, soon.

Potty talk

Daddy was today's recipient of Ben's poop diatribe. He couldn't wait to flush and call me to tell me all about it.

Apparently it went something like this:

"Dad, I farted at Molly's house. I farted at Rose's house. I farted at school. I farted at Sammy's house. I farted at Christian's house. I farted at gramma's house. I farted in Grandpa's pool."

He went on to list all the places he was sure he farted in.

I must admit, that whenever someone in our house farts, I find it quite funny - which only encourages the children... Naughty Mommy.

Moment of Mama Brilliance

Every night around bedtime Emma gets her whine on, "But I'm not tired. I don't wanna go to sleep." We cannot tell you how many times a night we hear this phrase... it is simply too many times to count!

Three nights ago I spoke a rare phrase of Mama brilliance and it has worked every night since. As she whined from her bed, "But I'm not tired. I don't wanna go to sleep." I simply replied, "You don't have to go to sleep! But you do have to have quiet time. Deal?" She agrees with this, then because she is usually exhausted, falls asleep.

I know, right?

People have been using "quiet time" to replace that time when kids outgrow naps for years. But have they used the concept to get kids to go to sleep? I think not!

Feel free to nominate me for the Mama Go to Sleep prize. Tell them to mail the prize check to: The Penthouse, Port Jeffercent (as Em pronounces it), New York.

Delta *sucks*

MOM SAID A BAD WORD!

I used to have a potty mouth, but the minute Emma was born a switch flipped in my brain and I have cleaned up my speech. "Silly goose" is probably the worst someone gets called these days, even if you cut me off in traffic, in the past it probably would have rhymed with plucking bass bowl.

Our plane to Denver left the gate at JFK on time last Saturday, then because there are always 147 airplanes waiting to take off at any given time from JFK, we sat on the tarmac for a while in the line. Then, a weather pattern shifted just as we were nearing the front of the line and they halted all flights until the stormed passed. The captain shut down the engines to conserve fuel, and Emma who had been whining for 20 minutes that she had to pee, got her reprieve. In fact I made both kids pee knowing the storm may take a few minutes.

Boy was I wrong. That storm took another 90 minutes to pass by. That 90 minutes combined with the time we had already been waiting in line to take off meant we were nearing the Department of Transportation's new "3 hour rule" - so even though the storm had passed and we were ready to take off, by law, we had to return to the gate and Delta had to give the passengers the option of disembarking the aircraft to get food or to change their flights.

So far, not Delta's fault.

But here is where Delta fell apart. Once we parked at the gate, they opened the door and offered for the passengers to get off BUT warning them that we were literally parking for 5 minutes to get some more snacks and fuel and would be on the road soon. A few passengers wanted to get off but the airline staff encouraged them to stay on board, and by encouraged them, let's just say they told them if they get off they will be left behind.

An hour later we were still waiting at the plucking gate because some bass bowl miscommunicated with the ground staff and we were still waiting for more "peanuts" and fuel. Once the communication was cleared up it STILL took 20 minutes for the goods to arrive. Then, the gate agent came on board and apologized and knowing Delta was going to be fined if anyone complained about the fact that they did NOT let us off the airplane, offered to let us all off the plane guaranteeing it would not leave for 30 minutes. Well, MUTINY was being grumbled and the bulk of the passengers we yelling NO NO NOOOOOOO! and chanting FREE DRINKS! FREE DRINKS!

Needless to say they closed up the cabin doors quickly and we were on our way.

My kids? Perfectly behaved the entire time!! What, you ask? How could that be? I have no idea, but they were and we were very grateful and simply prayed for a smooth return flight home from the wedding.

Notice I said "flight" and not "flights"? Apparently God needed me to be more specific in my request because although our outbound flight was non stop, our return flight had a 55 minute layover in Denver. The first leg of the flight was picture perfect, the second leg - not so much.

The flight was already delayed by the time we got to Detroit - with no explanation. We hit a restaurant for dinner to kill some time then hung out at the gate. The delayed flight was supposed to depart at 7pm. At 6:45 the gate agent came on the PA to say the airplane was arriving in 7 minutes. 20 minutes later a plane arrives but no passengers get off. There is still no explanation as to the delay.

At 7:30 she finally starts preboarding the delayed flight calling for families traveling with children in strollers. As we still use the umbrella stroller on airplane trips we got to board first. WAIT A MINUTE. Did I say board?

She booped our tickets and we were heading onto the jetway when the captain came up, asked us to wait because they had not performed a "security sweep" of the plane. "It will just be a few minutes," he said. 15 minutes later I could see the poor gate agent feeling sorry for us so she called down to the plane to see what was going on. We heard exasperation in her voice as she was talking on the phone. Apparently, SHE was supposed to arrange the security sweep, she assumed the captain was doing it. More DELTA human error, surprise surprise.

10 minutes later a Delta grounds crew guy came up and said it was fine to board. She sent us down the jetway with the rest of the passengers behind us. As we neared the door of the airplane the captain saw us and was all "What are you doing here?" and asked us to NOT board the plane. We stood on the jetway (with our 3 and 5 year olds!!) for 25 minutes waiting for the security sweep people to REDO the security sweep because apparently they did a "rhymes with gritty" job the first time around.

Now I am all about safety and security, but the "security sweep" people looked like they were in junior high school - no joke - and they could not have been less enthused about their job. I was exhausted from standing for over an hour, you can imagine how the kiddos were feeling. Again though, they were perfectly behaved - poor Ben was just crazy thirsty and tired and kept asking for milk every three minutes.

We finally got on the plane and it took forever to depart. More human error I can't even be bothered to write about. It was a horrendous experience 100% due to human error in each direction. After so many miscommunications apologies are not enough. I want more.

I wrote a very detailed letter to Delta customer service the following day and surprise surprise I have NOT heard back from them. I will not fly them ever again. I will not fly them ever again. If I fly them ever again, smack me upside the head, will ya? They absolutely do not deserve another dime of our hard earned cash.

Thank you, Emma and Ben, for showing such patience. Even though Emma just kicked me in the face while I was writing this blog because she was jumping on the couch and didn't stop after repeated requests and I put her in time out for 10 minutes, I love you both. At least you behave during the most challenging of times...

DELTA SUCKS! (I have now deleted this experience from my brain and promise to go back to my cheery normal blog fodder.)

Breaking the Rules Already!

I know. I know. You totally think this post is going to be about Emma breaking the rules - haha - but alas, no, it's about ME!

Today was Ben's first day in class without me and again, it was a shortened 1 hour only class. It was also my first official kid-free for the first time in FIVE years morning and I was supposed to have spent it doing ME stuff. Nope. I dropped off Ben, ran to the Elementary School to grab the PTA mail and some forms I need for an upcoming PTA event (did I mention I am VP of the PTA? I have no idea how that happened and it is turning out to be a lot of work, but I have met some AWESOME parents and am excited to build new friendships in the school.). From there, I hit the recycling place (Our complex shamefully does not recycle so if I want to be environmental I must go out of my way to make it happen.), then to CVS to pick up an order of pictures I had printed up for Em's upcoming school project. By that time my hour had waned and there was no time for ME. (Unless you count the five minutes I had to kill outside the school catching up on FB...).

Next week begins the full 2 1/2 hours of preschool for Ben. I promise to be better about my ME-time rule...

Ben's teachers said he snacked well and drank from the school provided cup with no problems today - probably because I was not there to cry to! Good job, buddy. You are growing up! (Tonight before bed he wanted a splash of milk. I offered him a regular glass and he cried for his McQueen sippy cup. SIGH.)

The best part of the day was picking him up. The kids are supposed to sit at their tables until the parents walk through the door and over to them. As soon as Ben saw me, he stood up, raced over, threw his arms around me and happily screeched, "I played with trains, Mom! I wanna play with trains again at school tomorrow!"

Our little Conductor.

Just before dinner I needed to drop off a policy for work to a client in our village. I schmoozed Henry's Mommy into watching my kids for 25 minutes it took with promises of, wait, I just asked her and she said yes. How awesome is my neighbor?? I came home to the bottom picture. How fun is that craft?? Both kids were proud of their efforts, but not proud enough to want to hang onto them for 24 hours. Nope, they chowed them down right after I snapped the pic!

Is this a badass playground toy or what?

"I don't always eat Cheerios, but when I do I prefer them on a necklace."

A new era begins! (Ben goes to school!)

He did it!

All last week Ben said the same thing over and over, "Come on, Mom, go to school and play trains." We kept reminding him that school didn't officially start until next (this) week and there aren't always going to be trains to play with - he was going to do crafts and read books and have snacks, etc.

We got back wicked late last night after airline delays sidelined us in Detroit (another post to come) on a layover from Denver for Aunt Niki's wedding (another post to come). I had to wake the kiddos at 7:45 this morning and pray they wouldn't be whiny and too exhausted to go to school. Ben woke as per usual - our happy little man, Emma - not so much - but this post is all about Ben...

He rolled out of bed and wandered down the hall with his cutey sleepy face. I said, "Hey, buddy, we gotta get dressed and go to school." In an instant the sleepy face went away and our excited guy whooped, "waWHOOO! Go to school, play with trains!" As our preschool of choice is a co-op, one parent per session is required to help out with the class. As the alphabet goes, I got to be the class parent today - which was awesome, because I really wanted to see how his first day would go. As Ben has no qualms whatsoever with me dropping him off at friend's houses for play dates and leaving for a few hours, I knew that would not be a problem. Getting to stay and help out / observe my kid in action was great because they did not have the trains set up! They had other toys ready to go. He walked in, looked around and said, "Hey! Where are the trains??" One of the teachers offered to get them and I gave her the pleading look of NO! he needs to learn to enjoy playing with other toys. So he let his imagination go, and grabbed anything else he could find and MADE trains. (See pic below)

Ten minutes later a boy who was missing his parents way too much would not stop crying, so the teacher pulled out the trains to distract him and Ben was in train heaven again. *Le sigh*

All in all he shared pretty good - I only witnessed one toy hoarding episode, and to be honest it was not so much his fault. There is a 3 year old girl who as of day one I am naming the class bully. She kept walking up to the kids and taking the toys out of their hands. When the kids protested, she cried to get her way. As she is a super cute kid I could see how in the real world she has used these tears in her favor, but I was on to her tricks immediately and the two teachers with years of preschool experience were as well, and they stepped in to moderate.

On a normal class day (2 1/2 hours), after playtime the kids clean up the toys before circle time and snack time. Because today's class was a warm up, it was only 1 hour to kind of ease them into school life. They did circle time but did not clean up the toys beforehand, just pushed them to the side in eyesight of the kids. Well, poor Ben had ants in his pants and could not sit still for the story whatsoever knowing the trains were inches away. I can't really blame him.

He did not sit well for snack time either. Those damn trains were still in his sight line! Snack time was pretty funny though. The teacher asked everyone to hold out their hands for "magic soap" i.e. hand sanitizer. She squirted some into Ben's hand and he just stared at it not knowing what to do! (I cannot use the stuff on my hands because of my eczema so I don't bother to buy it.) She had to show him how to rub it in. She then gave him a napkin and asked him to unfold it for a place mat. Yep, he didn't know how to do that either... (We use paper towels!) She poured some Goldfish on his napkin and he wasn't interested in them (did I mention the trains were 8 feet away? Oh, and he prefers Rainbow Goldfish?). She then asked him if he would like some juice. He did, so she poured him a splash in a small Styrofoam cup. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. You see, all he wanted to do was play with trains. He did not want magic soap, or napkins, or plain Goldfish. The tears welled up in his eyes and poured down his little cheeks and he cried, "I no want this juice. I want juice my Lightning McQueen cup..."

As you all know, our Benny is very particular. He cannot (will not) drink out of anything other than his Lightning McQueen sippy cups. The teacher told me I was welcome to send in his favorite cup and I was all, "No way, Jose! We must BREAK this kid of trains and Lightning McQueen sippy cups."

All in all it was a great first day. I should say the true test will be next week when they go for the full 2 1/2 hours. I may need to peek in the windows and spy. Not because I am concerned for his safety - I LOVE THIS SCHOOL - but more so so I can blog about the little things and watch our little man grow. He accompanied me on a bunch of errands this afternoon and we had a blast. He is such an affable being and I cannot get enough of him. Good thing we have him for two more years before all day school kicks in!

 

No trains! Won't stop me from using my imagination and creating them!

Not a creature is stirring...

And it's only 7:47pm. So very quiet here in the Penthouse. An hour ago? Not so much. An hour ago there were a lot of screams and tears and exhaustion being played out. I had to keep reminding myself, she's tired, don't hold this against her, she's tired, don't hold this against her. She finally begged through giant tears after being entirely wicked in the shower, "Mom, can I have a hug?" We snuggled on the couch and I snuck some info out of her about her 3rd day of school, then she brushed her teeth and went to bed without a struggle. Phew.

She is enjoying riding the bus. It picked her up at 8:36am and dropped her off at exactly 4:00. It seems like this may be the schedule that sticks. When it happens two days in a row, I will feel more confident, so for now I am giving us windows of waiting at the bus stop. This morning, to kill time, we played freeze dance. Thank goodness for the speakers on the iphone!

There is a special needs girl on her bus and Em has become fast friends with her. She is 7 years old and her name is Hannah. Emma got a kick out of the fact that she was wearing glasses today, but not yesterday. "Mom, why do some people wear glasses? Do they lose their eyesight and the glasses bring it back?"

She also requested an extra snack for the bus ride home. She said she is starving by that point and a snack would be a nice treat.

Ben and I had a busy day together. He did a meet and greet with his teachers and all the kids in his class for an hour this morning. He could have cared less about the teachers and played the hour away with, dum dum dummmmm, the school's train set! There are only 13 kids in his class - 8 boys and 5 girls. Yikes! There is another Benjamin, believe it or not, so I worked it out with the Mom that we will call our kid, Ben, and her kid, Benjamin. That way we don't have to use last name initials. Emma is forever known as Emma B to most of the kids in her preschool class.

After school, Ben tagged along with me to the Apple Store Genius bar. I needed some knowledge and the employees there are loaded with it. We walked into the mall at 11:25 and Ben immediately said, "Hey, let's go see Santa Claus!" Hahahahahaha! You can tell how often we go to the mall (three times a year?) I love that he remembers the Mall as the place where he can see Santa. Maybe he will actually get his picture taken with him this year without a frowny face!

We stopped by the food court for a quick slice of pizza after the Apple Store. I was marveling the whole time about what good company Ben is. We had a lovely lunch with all sorts of random conversation that one has when sharing a meal with a 3 year old and it was awesome.

Speaking of random conversation, I think I have mentioned Ben and I have some of our deepest conversations when he is taking a poop. For instance, yesterday's stream of conscious poop thoughts went something like this, "Mom, I don't poop on the floor. Poop goes in the potty. It's getting dark out. Day is turning into night. Caterpillars turn into butterflies, Mom." Pretty profound, no? I love how he starts and ends every sentence with Mom. And, these days when I ask him a yes or no question he answers with full politeness, "Yes, Mom." or "No, Mom." He is so proper...

Pizza trumps Santa.

Best friends.

We ended the afternoon with a play date. These kids truly are best friends!

Day 2, the Kindergarten Experiment

Before I jump into today's events I must recall the most important aspect of yesterday that I forgot to write about. Em got home around 4:00. We played outside til 4:30 or so then went up to the Penthouse. She asked to watch a little TV,  I said yes. She flipped on the TV and Wordgirl was on. She was very CONFUSED.

"Mom, why is Wordgirl on already?"
"Because it is 4:30, kiddo."
"But I just got home from school." (Meaning: last year when I got home from school - preK half day - I had the whole afternoon to play before Wordgirl came on.) (Oh, and just to be clear, Wordgirl = Mommy is making dinner.)
"Yes, that's right." (Meaning: I wonder where this is going??)
"But who am I going to play with before dinner?" (Meaning: last year we had playdates almost every afternoon!)
"There isn't time to play with friends, bugs. Mommy is making dinner."
"But, but, but, WHY DOES SCHOOL TAKE SO LONG???" (Don't be fooled, she LOVES school. She simply has no concept of time! And, being little Miss Social, is missing her playdates. But I reminded her how much fun she was having in school and that seemed to satisfy her...)

DAY 2

Em had a hard time going to sleep last night. She finally passed out after threats of taking all her toys away if she got out of bed AGAIN, but was awoken early this morning at 6:20 by a Benny who used to quietly open and close their bedroom door so as not to disturb her, but now is like, wait a minute, if I make a lot of noise my sister will wake up and hang out with me! (Me thinks he misses having her around...)

Thankfully she wasn't cranky about being woken early, she was happy to get the day going knowing she was headed to school. The bus is supposed to pick her up at 8:45. We know the first week will be off a bit as the drivers get used to their routes, so we headed out early to the bus stop - 8:35, only to find the bus waiting for her! The driver said he was late to school yesterday so he was bumping up his route by 5 minutes. Tomorrow, we will be ready at 8:30 and see what happens!

That being said, this afternoon when I went to collect her from the stop at 3:48 ( I was there at 3:40), the bus did not show until 4:05! What is going on?? The driver explained he is not comfortable dropping her off on the opposite side of the street where she has to cross the street in front of the bus, so he reversed the route so she can get off the bus on our driveway's side of the street. In doing that, she gets dropped off 13 minutes later! I asked Em if that was okay with her knowing I could very easily pick her up from school - it is 5 minutes from my house vs a 25 minute bus ride - and she replied, "Mom, I love the bus! There is a 7 year old girl who is smaller than me and has an adult sitting with her so she doesn't fall. She's really nice!" I'm not sure if she was talking about the special needs girl or the adult, but she seems to enjoy riding the bus, so for now, so be it!

Ben had a morning playdate with his old pal Christian and his new pal Sammy. I was concerned the old pals would ignore the new guy, but Ben was a stud and included Sammy in all the fun. Go Ben!

Ben starts preschool tomorrow. It's just a one hour intro session called "Meet the Teachers" and the parents stay, so it should be a breeze. Not that I doubt Ben whatsoever. This kid loves me like no other, I know that, but he has no problem whatsoever telling me to "go to the office" and leave him to play with someone other than me!

1st day of Kindergarten

For the second year in a row our 1st day of school has been rainy. But, that did not dampen the spirits of our dear 5 year old on her first day of Kindergarten. She was up and out of bed at 6:45am, was relatively compliant in the getting dressed and eating breakfast in a timely fashion department, and hoofed it out the door with no complaints when we announced it was time for her to get on the bus. The bus is supposed to come at 8:45, it was about 5 minutes late but thankfully it did show (!) and she didn't hesitate at all when the doors opened to scoop her up and whisk her away. Daddy, Ben and I stood waving at the bus as it pulled away but I don't even think she was looking out the window.

At 3:45, the whole crew + our favorite neighbors hit up the bus stop to be her welcome home committee. It was supposed to drop her at 3:48. At 3:55 two buses coming from opposite directions stopped at our intersection, both with red lights flashing. (What's the chance of that?) Daddy and I split up, and I came up with the smiling 5 year old. (The other was flashing his lights so cars behind him would know a kid was in the street.)

She was definitely more excited to stay outside and play for a bit with our pals than to go inside and spill the beans on her day. We slowly got bits of information out of her. She definitely enjoyed it, ate her entire lunch (bread and all - go peer pressure!), and used the bathroom four times - something I was worried about because she likes to hold it too long and then leaks...

Her teacher then called me to tell me she was an absolute joy in the class, has impeccable manners, was extremely helpful and friendly with the new kids in the class, and she looks forward to being her teacher this year. I swear, as soon as I hung up the phone, Emma pretty much beat up Benny the rest of the night, sassed til she could sass no more, got put in time out 3 times, and had her privileges threatened to the very last ounce of my patience. ...at least she is good when she's not around me, right? Right? Anyone?

Daddy took the morning off so he could be at the bus stop and then hang out with me and Ben for a while. We smothered him with solo attention and he loved it. Ben and I hit up the library around 10:45 and ran into some new friends of ours that Ben will be going to preschool with. Ben was super cute, "Hi, I'm Ben! What's your name?" and later, "Hey, Sammy, can I give you a hug?" What can we say, the kid is a snuggle bug!

After the library we had lunch and then chilled out with some Timmytime. Then we built towers of blocks, played Zingo, trains, legos, and Toy Story Chutes and Ladders. I pretty much blew through my list of fun things to do and I still have 179 days of school left. HELP! I found myself looking at the clock a lot today - partly wondering how Em was doing and partly wondering how I am going to entertain Ben. I am looking forward to his preschool starting next week. It is only two days a week, 2 1/2 hour sessions, but we are sure to make new friends and get some play dates scheduled. That should help!!

Kindergarten, HERE I COME!

Waiting for the bus, a family affair!

She walked right on and didn't look back!

Waning moments of Summer in review

Schools starts for Emma tomorrow so we have been squeezing in as much fun as we can before early to bed / early to rise kicks in. There have been many evenings at our favorite ice cream place in the village. A small costs $2.25 and it's ginormous. Seriously, it can feed 2-3 people easily. We usually get two and end up overeating because THERE CAN BE NO WASTING OF ICE CREAM!

"Chocolate chip chocolate caramel" is our favorite!

Emma now loves to swim and jump in pools!

Even little pools wearing borrowed bathing suits. Yep, Ben is rocking his Thomas underpants.

Riding the roller coaster with our pals at the Greek Festival!

Frequenting C'est Cheese too often! I think we went 3 times last week! CHEEEEEEEESE.

Long hikes to work off all the dairy calories!