8.29.2013

Tiny Tales Thursday...

This week brought to you by kindergarten....


After we dropped Radley off on the first day of school, I was taking the girls to daycare. Emmy had lots of questions...

Emmy: When will I go to kindergarten, Mommy?
Me: In two years, baby.
Emmy: With Rad-a-ley?
Me: Yes, maybe.
Emmy: When will I go to Radley's new school?
Me: Well, do you want to learn Spanish?
Emmy: No.
Me: Really?
Emmy: No.
Me: What if Mommy and Daddy want you to learn Spanish?
Emmy: No.
Me: What if Gigi and Pops want you to learn?
Emmy: No.
Me: What if Radley wants you to learn?
Emmy: I NOT LEARN SPANISH.
slight pause
Me: What if KK wants you to learn Spanish?
Emmy: Ok!

Wow. I feel the love.

This week we have been parking and walking Radley into school and picking him up in the gym. We talked about the other options such as just dropping him off and waiting in the carpool line to pick him up.

Radley: Hmmm. You can probably drop me off, Momma. That's cool. I can walk in.
Me: Ok, buddy. What about picking you up? Do you want to wait in the gym or can we do the carpool line?
Radley: You can do the carpool line.
Me: Ok.
slight pause
Radley: Well, wait. What if Daddy decides to pick me up one day and I think you are coming. And then I see a car that looks exactly like your car and I open the door and get in and put on my seat belt and then look up and say 'whoa...you're not my mom. That's weird.' I mean, what if that happens? ... ... You should probably just come to the gym.

He's funny, huh?

8.27.2013

First day of school...


So we survived the first day of school - actually we ROCKED the first day of school.
(I say "we" because it was Ryan and I's first day as parents of a kindergartner and well, we didn't completely ugly cry in front of anyone.)

Everyone was up bright and early to take the 100 obligatory pictures. 


To be honest, I took both versions because I'm a consistency girl and I'm not totally sold on having a chalk board in the kids' first day of school pictures forever. One on hand, it's cute and would be real funny to have him hold this as a 13 year-old teenager. On the other hand, it's one more thing I have to remember to do.

:) 

But isn't he just adorable?


And while there is no real break in "school" for the girls, Emmy was moving up to her new class and we wanted to make it special for them, too. 

Please note the silly faces - they are very into the silly faces. 


Then we all hopped into the car and headed to Radley's school! We even made it early (score!) but we did forget his lunchbox at home (oops!). 



I don't think his grin could have been any bigger if he tried.


Then the doors open and we made our way to his class and met some friends along the way. How amazing is it that these two literally met in the hospital - can't wait to see their story continue to grow and unfold. 


He was an old pro at this - he hung up his bag, gave his "homework" to Mrs. K, and found his name at his desk and started to work away. 


One more pic with our big man.... 


and a farewell kiss from baby sister... 



and we were off...and headed straight for the "Boo Hoo Breakfast" that the school was hosting for the kindergarten and first grade parents. 


And we ALL did it - with just a few little glistens here and there. 



And by the time we were finished with our bagels and coffee we saw their class practicing for lunch and then it hit me - he is in SCHOOL. Real school. And he is going to ROCK! And he is going to LOVE kindergarten! 


Then we were off - Ryan to go get that lunch we forgot and me to drop off our girls. 

Our own little Miss Sunshine moved up to the Sunshine room and she was thrilled!! And we are, too! Radley absolutely adores Mrs. Prafull and Ms. Paula and Emmy will, too! Can't believe our tiny tot is in PreK-3!


And for the next 6 hours, Ryan and I sent texts back and forth about what we thought Radley was doing. Did he eat his lunch? Was he listening? Did we think his shoes were going to say on at recess? etc... 

We met at the school to pick him up and as I pulled into the parking lot, I saw him. On the playground, smiling, laughing and having the time of his life. Just like I prayed that he would. And in moments like this, He sends us sweet gentle reminders that He had it all under control to begin with. Josh Radin's Beautiful Day came on the radio just as the chorus was playing... 

Oooh ooohh my my
I'm learning to fly
Hey hey what's that you're saying
Lets not forget we're alive

Gonna climb that hill behind my house
See what this place is all about
Cause from above it all
You can't help but say
It's gonna be a beautiful day
It's gonna be a beautiful day

But let me hear you say

And clearly I held it together (if by "holding it together" I mean that the car next to me could only barely hear my sobs). I also only slightly looked like a creeper when I pulled out my camera to take pictures of the kids walking back (I did hold back from using the 300mm lens because being arrested on the first day of school is probably frowned upon). 



And then we walked to the gym and picked up our big kid. 
Who even after 8 hours in kindergarten is still unable to keep his eyes open for a picture in the sun.


Ryan headed back to work, me and Rad grabbed a snack at Sonic and then headed home where I proceeded to make dinner while my big kid did homework. At his desk. In his room.

Like he is 20 years old.

(ps. Isn't that desk awesome! It was Ryan's grandfathers and we have big plans for it!)


We ended up our night at Spoons celebrating the BIG day and Uncle Pete's (ehm) 25th birthday!



Radley and his Uncle Pete - can you see the family resemblance? 
How I pray that Radley is as generous, kind, determined, honest, and hard working as his beloved Pete.



(but maybe he could get his school habits from me!)
;)



8.25.2013

Twas the day before school...

And what else did we do
Thank celebrate the event with a popsicle or two?


We each had our buddies
And put on a grin.... 


And wondered how in the world
We got  here from then...


We brushed up on lessons
and cleaned up real nice... 


And with all of our sweet
Added some spice... 


Here's hoping that school brings just as much joy
To two sweet sisters and one big boy!! 




Radley's Kindergarten Lesson Plan...

The Kindergarten Countdown has officially ended. As of this moment, we are officially the parents of KINDERGARTENER! And as much as we loved giving him presents, taking him shopping, meeting his teachers and celebrating with his friends, our favorite part was getting all of his favorite people involved in the celebration, too!


We emailed Rad's nearest and dearest and asked them to send us a "lesson" that they wanted him to learn this year. More than reading, more than spelling, more than writing and math... what ONE thing did they want him to take away from Kindergarten. And the results brought some major tears to our eyes but more importantly a giant smile to his face!


We read a few to him each night and talked about what the lesson was really about and what the true meaning behind these precious words was. I love gifts like this and if you have a milestone celebration coming up, then take my advice - get others involved and let them help you send the message you've been dying to give. I wrote a little Dr. Seuss inspired intro to the whole thing...


and then the lessons began...

and some of the words, I had heard before...

His eyes just lit up each night we read a lesson... 


he really loved that all these people had all these words... 



just for him.


He loved really loved hearing the story of the first time KK watched him!



He thought Nana's advice was gross.


He thought Karli's advice was great!


He got serious with Aunt Jenni's because she is a kindergarten teacher. :)


He wanted to know more about Mr. Emerson...




and loved that "his" Miss Shanon sent him something, too.


Tia gave him a special lesson - she translated her verse to spanish for his backpack.

And he thought he was super cool that Uncle Josh told him the same thing that he tells his runners.


And of course we had a little something to say, too.

Wouldn't it be nice if life gave us lesson plans wrapped in a pretty package all the time? I know that this whole parenting gig could use a plan sometimes. Hopefully, Radley would give us an "A" because in our book, that amazing, kind, larger-than-life kindergarten boy is total aces!!









Kindergarten Countdown (6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...)

I feel like this is going to be the most anti-climatic post in history, but since I started the countdown the achiever in my HAS to finish or I will stress for no reason. 

(I may need help).

Day 6

Fun was had by all.

Day 5

He got his first official chapter book and was so exited! He even helped me read a couple of pages. It still amazes me that he can read - isn't that WHY he is going to Kindergarten?! :)


He also got his lunchbox that he picked out ages ago and was still THRILLED about it!


Day 4

This was his date night with Mom and Dad and Meet the Teacher! 

We got caught in a summer down pour on our way into the school - so it was a good thing that Radley had his shark shoes on! :)


We were excited to go see which class he would officially be in but when we scanned the list, all of the kids enrolled in the dual language program were listed together! The suspense is killing us to see if he will be in class with any of his WDS friends!



We made our way to his classrooms to meet his two teachers for the year. 

First up, Mrs. Kammerer - she is the English teacher for the kids in the DL program. She has 2 kiddos of her own, has been teaching for 13 years and has been in the DL program for 6. We are excited to have her!


Our sweet kindergartner!


And look who we ran into! Radley is so excited that he will be in the same class and program with these four! Crazy to think that they will be speaking Spanish at this time next year. 
(Well, at least some words in spanish! ;))


Then we got to meet Señora. Weberich (Ve - beh - reesh), his Spanish teacher! 


Then we headed out to dinner at Newk's with the whole crew. We really had the best time with these families just talking about the year, crying happy tears, and watching our kiddos have fun.

We finished the night with some froyo at Spoons - 


one giant bowl and 3 spoons to share!



Day 3

When we took Rad on his school supply shopping trip he really wanted this Superman thermos. 

"Mom - I can use it when we eat soup."

He never eats soup.


I posted this pic to prove that the King Kiddos don't always look at the camera and smile.

:)

Unless of course they are in the spotlight.



Day 2

A few moms wanted to make the end of the year/era of our kids' at the WDS a big celebration, so on Saturday we had a Friendship Class Splash Bash for all the kiddos at the WDS! 


We all had fun splishing...


and splashing...


and jumping...


and celebrating... 




What a fantastic crew Radley has been surrounded by these past five years!

 From left:
Launa, Garrett, Connor, Davis, Jackson, Caroline, Radley, Isabelle, Kayla, Carlos, Jaden and Cade



As we were taking the picture I told the kids to yell "Kindergarten ROCKS" on the count of three and when they did all the Moms completely lost it. 

Such an unexpected surge of emotion - it was a good thing we had on our best Jackie Os to hide the tears!


But you know what? There wasn't one single tear from these kids (well except the ones that didn't want to stop swimming). They were all smiles - filled with excitement and wonder and joy!


Day 1

 Today we've just been hanging out and trying to rest up for the big day tomorrow!


Kindergarten really is going to ROCK!