The Twins Turn Five

One of my best friends has twins that are six months younger than Campbell.  We look forward to celebrating their birthday every year.  It's a guaranteed time that I will get to see most of my girls and most of our kids will be together. 
This year was a petting zoo and a face painter. At first the kids were a little disappointed that it wasn't a swim party (this is the first year it hasn't been). As soon as they saw the animals, the disappointment was over!

Campbell's Recital

Campbell finished her third year of dance and had her recital.  This is the first year she has really known the dance without watching the other kids or the teacher.  She was really excited about showing everyone how much she had learned this year. 

We are only allowed to video the dance at rehearsal and of course Mommy forgot her camera for rehearsal, so I won't have video until the DVD is ready later this summer.  I did get lots of pictures of her and her BFF, Brooklyn.

End of School

Brandt finally finished second grade last week. It was a week of playing and parties and a great way to end the year. Each day they had a different "camp" in class. One day they took blankets and books and read on the floor. One day they took boardgames and played games all day. One day they rotated to the other classrooms and got to be in the other teachers classes for a while. Thursday we had their end of the year party - Luau Style. They had snow cones, played games and had fun with their friends.

Friday they had a Celebration of Learning.  The class voted on which of their classmates should receive which award.  Brandt got the Milky Way Award for having the far out and creative ideas.  He also got his final report card.  He made All A Honor Roll for the year!!  He didn't really see the excitement in it, but we were pretty excited.

I can't believe when we go back to school he will be in third grade and Campbell will be in Kindergarten!

Summer - Day 1

Today was Campbell's first day of summer.  She finished preK yesterday and I woke up with that feeling of dread this morning.  That question every mother is asking right now.  What are we going to do this summer?  If you ask her, she is going to swim, do crafts and have sleepovers with her BFF, Brooklyn.  She doesn't want to go to any camps, she doesn't want to sign up for anything, she is only going to swim, craft and have sleepovers. 
Today was Coloring Camp.  She literally colored for 6 hours.  I was doing a few things around the house and she was busy with a Dora coloring book, so did not bother her.  Later Blake was still not back to feeling 100% and needed a little snuggle time while we watched Max and Ruby.  She kept coloring.  She took a little break for lunch and went right back to coloring.  We got dressed for our last dance class and she colored until it was time to leave.  We are home from dance and that book is full.  She is now upstairs searching for another book to start coloring.
One day down.  How many more until August 22?

She's A Graduate!

Okay she's a PreK graduate, but there was a ceremony and a certificate and a reception after.  She even wore a little cap!

All lined up and ready to go

With Ms. Erin, her teacher

Fast Track

A couple of weeks ago I had my last parent-teacher conference with Campbell's teacher, Ms. Erin.  We went over all the things she has learned this year and compared her checklist with our previous conference to see progress.  We also discussed Kindergarten readiness.  There is no question that she is ready to go to Kindergarten.  She has mastered everything on the readiness checklist except knowing our phone number.  When Brandt went to Kindergarten, your phone number was something they learned the first month of school.  They also had nap time after lunch and that is gone now too.  How things change in three years!!
I decided this morning we would start to work on learning our phone number.  We could work on 214 for a week or so and then add 705, etc...  So we talked about it and I asked her if she knew our phone number.  I asked her to repeat 214.  She did a couple of times and then said I know what comes next - 605.  Almost - it is 705.  So we moved on.  She is now dancing around the house, clapping out 214-705.  So glad I thought we needed the summer to learn this. 

Outdated, Again

Today on the way to school Brandt told me it was Wordless Wednesday at school. This is TAKS week for the upper grades and they try to keep things quiet during testing. He wasn't too upset because Mrs. Liesveld still lets them talk by writing, he explained. So I assumed they would write notes and pass them back and forth. When I asked him about passing notes, he looked at me a little funny and said, "No Mom, on our whiteboards". They all have small, personal whiteboards to write on and erase.
Then he asked me what passing notes meant. Once again, Mom is too old for school today. No, they don't have real blackboards either. Those are dry erase whiteboards too.

But Are They Ready For Her??

Last Thursday I registered Campbell for Kindergarten.  Round Up was all last week and I realized on Wednesday that I was subconsciously putting it off.  There were three forms that I needed to fill out at home and then dig out her immunization records, birth certificate and social security card.  I know where all of these things are, I know the school registrar, I was just putting it off.  Something about registering her was a big step for me.  She is the one I have always been home with.  She was three and half before she went to preschool.  I know she is ready, but am I ready to send her?
Registering Brandt was different.  We had just moved to Frisco and I was scrambling to get the house unpacked, everyone settled and oh yeah, I had a five year old I had to send to school.  The decision to send him had been a long and difficult one.  We were still in Dallas and not yet planning to move.  He is a May birthday and I wasn't sure he was ready to go.  I consulted my friends who are teachers, his preschool teachers, my sister-in-laws, most of my friends.  I looked at our elementary school and private school options.  We eventually decided that even though our elementary was a great school, it was still in a large urban district, was largely minority and was probably not our best choice.  We enrolled him in a private kindergarten with the plan to reevaluate at the end of the year and decide if he needed to repeat public kindergarten the next year or go on to first grade.  Then we moved to Frisco with its great schools and off to school he went without a second thought.
I didn't have these thoughts with Campbell.  I know she is ready. 

Last Wednesday night she offered to set the table while I quickly loaded the dishwasher.  Dinner had about ten more minutes in the oven and Blake was just starting to wake up, so I really wanted to hurry.  She started to set the table and decided it was dirty so she proceeded to grab the cleaner and paper towels and start to clean it.  She has seen me do this a thousand times, so I let her go.  There is no changing her mind once it is set anyway, so why waste my time?  In a minute she turned around and said  "Mom, you could really be a bigger help here.  I need more paper towels."  (Remember, I am loading the dishwasher.)  I gave her the paper towels and she went back to work.  As I as taking dinner out of the oven she says "Mom, watch this - if you would clean the table this way, it would really be better."  She is halfway on the table trying to reach the other side.  I had to watch her clean the rest, with instruction on the correct way to wipe it off.  I'm still not sure how her method is better than mine, but I did not argue. 

Oh yeah, she is ready for Kindergarten.  My only concern is - is Kindergarten ready for her?

The Modern Day Quiet Game

After school is not a great time for us.  Everyone is tired and cranky and usually hungry.  We need to get home, have snacks and unwind a little.  Wednesdays are really not good because Campbell has dance at 3:30.  That means we sit in carpool line for 30 minutes, try to entertain Blake and Campbell in the car and then have to go straight to dance.  Most of the time I can remember to stick Brandt's DS in the dance bag so he has something to do for an hour at dance, but if I forget, it is even worse. 

Yesterday there was the normal amount of grumpiness and arguing in the car and me shushing them because Blake was asleep and I wanted him to stay that way.  Blake asleep at dance makes things MUCH easier!  They decided to play the quiet game, which sounded delightful to me.  It went something like this:

Campbell:  Quiet game number 1, starting now.
It was quiet for about 10 seconds.
Campbell:  Pause.  Brandt, stop kicking that seat.  Unpause.
8 or so more seconds of quiet.
Brandt:  Pause.  Stop looking at me.  Unpause.
Campbell:  I'm not looking at you!
Brandt: You loose!
Campbell:  Mom!!

And I can't stop laughing and they are both mad.  This is the quiet unless you have something to say game.  Not quite the way I remember it.

That's It

Inspired by my friend Amy's blog, I decided it was time for a new look.  Not really sure what I was looking for, I started looking though the template sites that my friends use for one that fit my current mood.  I finally went back to Cutest Blog and started to look through theirs.  They have so many and I knew I would have to spend some time playing with it since I moved the original template around when I started.  (And I still have some work to get it perfect!)  When will I learn to leave things alone?  I saw a couple that were okay and then one stood out to me.  I kept looking, but after a couple of more pages went back and was set on the red and gold.  It is named "Clara".  Amy had a really cute font too and I decided it was time to update that as well.  I started looking through all the available ones and saw the one I wanted pretty quickly - Covered By Your Grace.  I knew I had found my new look. 

Some days I miss my Nanna more than others, but the past couple of weeks have been harder than most.  My grandfather celebrated his 85th birthday, we spent several days in College Station for Spring Break (Brandt always cries when we leave).  My birthday is exactly one month after my grandmother's was, Blake is at the most fun age - developing language skills, dancing, talking non stop, and I am facing the reality of sending Campbell to Kindergarten in the fall and I don't get to share any of this with her.  Sometimes I think she has a funny way of letting me know she is still here for me, but I got the message this time.

I have so many things to catch up on.  Pictures and videos and stories and I have to get it all done before I start forgetting.  This is my kids baby book and my journal and the way several of my freinds and family keep up with us.  We'll catch up!

Snow Days

We have been iced in for the past four days and are going on 100 hours of below freezing temperatures.  The kids and I have not been out of the house since Monday.  Will has been into work everyday and made a few trips to the store.  I went on Monday, but was not prepared for this much ice and then snow today.  Brandt ventured out to the neighbors to play today and I took Campbell and Blake out to play in the snow. It lasted about five minutes - 20 degrees is just really cold! Hopefully tomorrow will bring warmer temperatures and we will begin to defrost.  We have at least an inch of ice and about 8 inches of snow, so I hope it melts fast!

Some Days

This wasn't the post I intended to start 2011 with. It was supposed to be something witty and funny about my goals for the year, my reflections of last year, how I was going to blog more, blah, blah, blah. Here it is January 20 and I am typing a post on my phone because Blake will scream if I get on the computer and in a rare moment I have actually been able to wrestle the phone away from Blake and make him take a Yo Gabba Gabba break. He watches it continuously on my phone all day if I let him.
Today has been one of those days. Everyday is me against the kids and some days they win. I just have to know when to call the battle. Tonight Will took Brandt to basketball practice and I stayed home with Blake and Campbell. Campbell made up a song that included the lyrics "To the left, to left, to right, to right" and something about "Until the Daisy Dukes come out". I thought it was a real song until I asked her and she said she was making it up. I am too scared to hook up the Wii karaoke now. She doesn't need to learn actual songs! Blake sang back up by repeating right, right, right.
I finally gave up when I asked her to go put her pajamas on. She asked if it was bedtime and I said not for thirty more minutes. Her response? Rock and Roll!!
I surrender.
Happy New Year!