She's a Kindergartener

The standard front steps picture




We all walked down and waited with Relia for the bus to come. She hopped on like a pro. We had a small argument, because she didn't want me to come to her school to walk her in she actually told me she wants to be independent. She almost had me convinced. I know she can do it, I just wanted to go for ME (and a little bit of "just in case she needs me").

So we compromised. Well, I did. After she got on the bus I drove over to the school, went inside and hid behind a sign and waited for her to show up. FP had joked that she'd have 4 friends before she got off the bus. Wouldn't you know it, she walked in the door holding hands with another girl. I tailed them down the hall and peeked in her room to see her already having put her bag away and chasing after her teacher to find out what to do next. I don't think she knew I was there, and I think I'll keep it a secret for a while longer.

 Afterward, the PTA was holding a little gathering at a coffee shop a couple of blocks away. I got to meet some nice people and hear how much they like the school. What a great way to make a parent feel confident.

Oh, and the bus driver DID let her off at the wrong stop, but it was only the other end of our block, so no harm done. 

Tomorrow is the big day

Relia's first day of Kindergarten!
 She went to bed fairly easily. I asked her if she had any questions, and she asked "When will lunch be?"

I walked down the hall at work today, and counted seven "rapunzel" backpacks, just like Relia's. This evening I convinced her to let me draw stars on hers. (I also wrote her name inside)

I'm trying to feel confident. Almost all my worries are so much more about me than about her:
How do I be a parent and a teacher? Please please please let her teacher be just phenomenal, so I don't have to struggle with whether to say something or not.
What if the other parents don't like me :)

But my worries for her:
The bus driver will let her off at the wrong stop on the way home
There will be some screw up with her lunch

Teachers have such power. I know I don't remember that as often as I should.  Especially at this age, what they say is gospel. I just pray that everyone is kind and helpful to her.

Fair

We got to go with the Gilberts this year
Leo's first State Fair. He spent most of his time here.

Our convoy (Don't tell chad he's in this photo.)

Fries for breakfast? Sounds good!

After his first trip down the slide, Felix said, can we go up again?

Relia and Marshall reenacted a trip down the slide. I told her to "look terrified" She said "I always do."

Heidi, Marshall & Relia on the Ferris Wheel.

Then it was tractor time!


After lunch, Marshall, Heidi, Donna, Relia and I took a trip through the Ye Old Mill.

It was great to have such a high adult to kid ratio. There was always someone who could go on rides with Relia & Marshall, someone to chase Felix, and someone to sit around and make sure Leo didn't wander off. Marshall is such a nice kid (and his parents are pretty nice too). I wish we could spend more time with them. Chad and Donna even got to go do some grown-up type stuff.
And finally, we took our first family of five Fair photo. I think it turned out great.

Also, Leo happens to be wearing the same shirt Felix was wearing at his first fair.

Leo's got a big ol' crib

Shortly after Leo was born, Donna's friend offered us their old crib, but they didn't exactly know where all the parts were. That's okay, It would be a few months before we'd move him out of the bassinet.

And here we are months later and it was time to go get the crib.

My baby who was growing out of his little bassinet looks so very tiny in this huge thing. I'm sure that feeling won't last too long.

This evening we had Relia's birthday party. Our first attempt at a "Friend party". We survived, and I think everyone had a pretty good time. 

Bashing Cinderella with a baseball bat was very popular.

As soon as the candy started to fall, Felix got right in and picked it all up. 

But the hammock was the hit of the party

Nana provided the cake (and Grampa provided the grill). Relia was dragging. She had her check up and shots in the morning. I convinced her to catch a 15 minute nap right before everyone arrived, but she was still a little tired.




Cinderella continued to take a likin'
Leo slept through most of the part, but decided to make an appearance at the tail end.

Five

She's finally five. She has been planning this moment since she was 4.009

Sadly, I got to spend hardly any time with my big girl today. I said happy birthday before I left for work. Raced through the day, came home so we could attend her Kindergarten preview, then had to rush back to work for our meet your teachers night.

Fortunately, Nana and Grampa offered to take Relia out to dinner. A romantic dinner, as she called it. I asked her last week what makes a dinner romantic, and she answered, "The lights are low, and there is music from Daddy's computer." Okay.

The preview was good. We found her room at the very end of the hall, met her teacher and set about completing the list of tasks assigned. She found her seat right away, put her supplies away, washed her hands, found her cubby and the bathroom, checked that her address was correct, and said goodbye to Miss Miller.

I counted 29 kids in her class, which was disappointing. But that is the allowed district number, and I know we wouldn't have done better at the other schools we looked at. FP commented that he only saw one name plate with a traditional Euro-american name. So no worries about Aurelia's "unusual" name.

After we visited her classroom, Relia demanded that we spend some time on the playground. She made a friend immediately. I think she might be disappointed to find that the other little girl will not be in her class.

Then she went off for dinner and I had to dash back to school. Sniff.

Back to school night was actually fun. I've made a decision this year to invest most of my time and energy in the grade I am supposed to be working with, rather than spreading myself super thinly. So I got to see a lot of kids that I worked with a couple of years ago when they were in 3rd grade. They are so BIG now.

Relia had a wonderful time with Nana & Grampa. They went to Macaroni Grill and ate out on the patio by Centennial Lakes. I think she felt pretty darn special.

Tomorrow, we celebrate with family and friends!

whew!

FP had a long night with Relia -Apparently she dreamed that she and I had a fight, and she wanted to continue it after she woke up at 1 am. He spent a good hour convincing her not to. Thanks, babe.

The big kids and I spent much of the morning tidying up the back yard in anticipation of Relia's birthday party (Please please please let it not rain!).

After lunch, FP had an appointment to give blood, and in typical MPS style, they gave us just a week or so notice about the "Resource Fair" at the new district headquarters (which is very nice and has a room for nursing moms. Awesome news, since I'll be there a couple of times a month this year). We heard kids would be able to practice riding a school bus and Relia was very excited about the prospect. Felix too.

We got there, and I talked to the transportation guy, and asked if the kids were supposed to go with their adult, or if there was a district adult they'd be going with. You go with your kid, except they didn't want me to take Leo. I totally get that. But, um, what could I do with him? Well, it isn't like I don't know a bunch of trustworthy educators who happen to be working at this thing.  I looked around and asked the first familiar person I saw if they would be so kind as to take her on the bus. Thanks Colleen K.! Colleen also confirmed that Relia was super ready for K and for riding the bus.

Then there was the fun stuff. Relia dragged us from booth to booth gathering free stuff, to get her face painted, sit in the fire truck, and  jump in the bounce house. (Nice touch MPS) This was Felix's first bounce house experience, and after about a minute of getting used to the constant motion, he got a big grin and started circling the house.

When I broke the news that it was time to go, Felix realized that he had not had his bus ride yet. He resorted to tears and limp body. So I promised him a ride on the city bus. I needed to take a trip to the MOA this afternoon anyway, why not take the bus and a kid too?

I took the long way home and showed the kids my various north Minneapolis homes. Wow. My previous homes seemed to have fared well after the tornado last year, but wow. There are still tons of houses that are boarded up. Even really nice ones. So incredibly sad.

Of course Relia wanted to go on our bus ride too, so I quick checked the schedule and we headed for our friendly neighborhood bus stop. the bus was 20 minutes later than the schedule had said. And it wasn't going all the way to the mall. Whatever. We'll just take this one for a while and get on the one behind it when we get off. I'm not holding these kids next to this busy street any longer.

The MOA was busy, but the kids were great. We accomplished our goal, and had FP come out to pick us up.

And just because we need a photo in the crazy long post,
here's Leo loving on his feet. I don't think my other kids have been so into their feet.

Once again, mowing the lawn led me to a project.

Before, well, imagine a bunch of sedum filling up that empty space, and the barberry bushes merged into one long low bush



Now



I dug up the buried pavers from under the gate, and used them to edge the garden, then I pulled plants and flowers from all over the yard to fill in the extra space. I pruned the barberry for the first time in 7 years, and now I remember why. Ouch!

Four months

I'm sure you were all wondering if he made it to four months. He did, I just forgot to post the pictures.



This one was very hurried, and not among my favorites, but que sera, sera (I think that means "That's what happens to Sarah" in French, right?)

Pop pop's street

Is all dug up at the moment. Felix is fascinated.

"Don't drive in Pop pop's dirt, daddy"

As we were leaving the Fair, dropping Steve off, "Pop pop do you want to go to your own dirt?"

The digger that broke up the sidewalk said "Knock knock"

Clang Clang Clang went the trolly

When Grandma D came to drop off Relia today, we invited her to come ride the Trolly with us.


Isn't Felix's goofy smile priceless?

Redecorating

Like the new design on the peninsula? It is a mixed media piece: dry erase and sharpie


Let me introduce you to my designers:

I still haven't figured out exactly which one is responsible. Felix took the blame at first, but then Relia 'fessed up.
I'm not sure it's really my style.
It makes me smile to know that I am not the only one.

What a day!

FP is at his 20 year High school reunion right now. It happened to coincide with the Mower County Fair. He wanted to take the kids, so we decided to take the family in both cars. Then I would take the kids back home.
It started off rough with a flat tire false alarm. Fortunately, we were near our tire place, so we just drove up and had them take a look at it. I'm very happy it was a sensor malfunction and not an actual flat, but that ate up at least half an hour on our way out of town.

When we arrived in Austin we picked up Pop Pop and headed straight to the fair.
Felix was all about the tractors.





A little Mike Mulligan, or is he a baby bird?



"Hi friend!"
A guy plucked a chick out of the pen and let Felix pet it. Pop Pop prompted him: "Say thank you honey" Of course Felix says to the guy: "Thank you Honey!"

Relia wanted to try these, and frankly so did I, but I didn't think to wear shorts under my skirt like she did.

It really was awesome and they let her stay a long time. Until they needed it for more people.




While Relia was tumbling, Pop Pop talked Felix into riding a pony. He was reluctant at first, but by the time I arrived with the camera, he was having a blast. He loved it when the ponies would stop and start again.Yee haw! giddy up!



Almost time to leave, but we had to hit another group of tractors.

Then When FP told Felix it really was time to leave Felix said "No no I forgot to go on more tractors!"
FP whispered, "What if we get some mini doughnuts?"
Felix replied, "Yes I would have some doughnuts"

And so we did.


Then it was time to go home, well, Relia was getting dropped off to spend the night with Grandma D. We left FP & Pop Pop and hit the road. Until Faribault. Then we stopped. literally. 10 minutes at a dead stop on the bridge north of town. Then we crawled for the next hour. 7 miles in one hour! The kids rocked it. I suppose they would have been in the car for that hour anyway, but considering no one but Leo had napped at all today, there was no whining or fighting the entire time.
The seven miles of potential construction ended in a rest stop. Leo was getting hungry and I needed a restroom so we stopped, ate and played. BTW I am beyond grateful to the rest stop guy who waved me over to the family restroom when he saw me walk in with my brood.

Traffic cleared up and we made it to Donna's. The boys and I finally made it home about 6:30, and now that everyone is asleep, I am relishing this little quiet time.