After school program

Pearl had her After School Program year-end program today. It was kind of a bittersweet day. As a working mom, I know my kids have missed out on a lot because I'm not home with them. And I know nothing takes my place. But I am forever grateful that our child care has always worked out so perfectly for our little family. When Pearl went to first grade and wasn't in my office building's child care/kindergarten program anymore, I had no clue what we were going to do. Luckily, living in the poor part of town has it's perks. Namely an excellent school and an after school program that has been just fabulous!

Seriously. Pearl told us we weren't allowed to pick her up before 5 p.m. Ever.

The director, Shawnelle, is a young, energetic, always smiling, super awesome girl! The kids just adored her. She always had fun activities planned. All of the teachers were young college kids who were everything a parent could have dreamed of having in an after school program.

The program was such a blessing for us with our work schedules. Pearl had so much fun with her friends and Shawnelle. I am praying Shawnelle comes back next year.

Pizza celebration

Here's how we celebrate Cole passing his test to go into Ms. Penny's Kindergarten class a year early {our daycare has a kindergarten program and will test in 4-year-olds so they can go for two years before moving on to first grade}.

We let the kids pick a crappy pizza restaurant, snap at the kids to sit down, stop whining, and behave all while wondering why on earth we just didn't stay home and let them eat candy for dinner instead!!!!

Let's hope Kindergarten is much more enjoyable. For everyone.

1st grade program

Pearl had her first grade program today, which she has been very excited about. They got to show off some of the important life skills learned in school this year, like art, singing, buckling up, brushing their teeth, and math. It was fun until we lost Cole amongst the hundreds of proud parents, siblings, and students. 

It's on to 2nd grade for our smarty, sassy pants!

Another homework funny

My neighbors will get a kick out of one of Pearl's writing book assignments.

I wonder what her teacher thought. But she's right. We are the "ditto" house.

Homework funnies

Every Monday, Pearl gets a packet of homework to complete by Friday. Included are several pages of math, stories that have to be read and then three questions answered about them, and a spelling list. For spelling words, Pearl has to write a complete sentence with the word in it.

I'll let you guess what word was included in this week's spelling list based on the last sentence on her spelling sheet. 

I was not amused. 

{But for the record, Pearl laughed hysterically because she knows I'm not 45... which made Jeff laugh and then me laugh. And then Cole because if everyone else is laughing something must be funny. }

I have a dream

I find the minds of 1st graders quite hilarious. Especially as they are learning to write complete sentences and thoughts about a given topic. The last parent-teacher conference Jeff and I attended with Pearl's teacher {which she passed with flying colors}, we stood outside of the classroom and read the latest thoughts her classmates had on Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech. And we laughed.

"that all peple need food. So peple do't diy. Give food to thame." ~ Pearl {yes, our Pearl... we're still working on spelling and handwriting}

"I have a bream that we have friends and they are nice to a chather." ~ Asthon

"That all pepul will be rich." ~ Anonymous

"That all peply will have mineh cklos. their will bee lots of food." ~ Zach

"I have a dream. For the food. Everyone should have food. I am glad for food." ~ Logan

"That all people love my songs and all people love my vhoous and people can have a backsage tikids." ~ Emma

"That everyone has a home and everyone doesn't have a war. and they don't kill." ~ Bilal

"That I have a wish that evrbudee reeds. I wish that evrbudee whrk. I wish that evroun have a hom." ~ Gabriella

Apparently kids this age are pretty concerned about food, including Pearl. Which is kind of surprising given Pearl has never gone a day in her life hungry, at least because she didn't have something to eat {complaining about what I cooked is another matter though}.

School Lunch

{I'm not entirely sure who was in charge of getting the kids ready this day... but I'm claiming innocence, as evident by Pearl's crazy hair. Seriously crazy hair. But I love those two pipsqueaks crazy hair and crappy phone camera and all.}

Pearl invited us to her "Loved Ones" lunch day. Apparently it's not politically correct to call it "Grandparents Day" like when I was a kid. Cole was super excited about eating school lunch with Pearl. That kid really thinks his big sister is pretty cool. 

Now growing up, I would invite my Grandpa and Grandma Allen to come to Grandparents Day for lunch. That is, until my Grandpa - after at least two years of this - decided he'd rather spend the money taking me to lunch somewhere else. You see, every single year my elementary school showed it's culinary skill by serving the most disgusting meal ever. French dip sandwiches. Ick. I can still taste it! Oh but the last straw for my Grandpa was the tator tots. I'm not exaggerating but those lunch ladies actually counted six {six!!!} tator tots on our trays and took one back because they gave him an extra one. 

I'm dead serious.

Well, times have changed. School lunch looks like this now.

Kids get to choose every item on their lunch trays. No more eating what you're served. I'll refrain from my public health rant on what we're serving kids for school lunch, but at least the give them options for fresh fruits and veggies. And bonus, now the milk cartons have jokes on them! And pretty funny ones at that.

Why did the tomato turn red?

He saw the salad dressing.

What did one math book say to the other math book?

Boy, do I have problems.

That's good humor right there people.

But more exciting than not having your tator tots taken away... Pearl lost a tooth! She has a tendency to wait to yank her wiggly teeth out until they're hanging on by a single root. She could almost twist this tooth around in a complete circle with her tongue so it was bound to come out sooner or later. She took a bite of her pizza and out it came!

Maybe next year we'll invite my Grandpa Allen to give school lunch one more try.

The faces of thanksgiving

I think it's clear that Pearl doesn't like me taking pictures of her. I think it's more her way of rebelling rather than not wanting her actual picture taken.

Anyway... for school, she had a Thanksgiving feast. The kids were encouraged to dress up as pilgrims or Indians for the day. Luckily my Mom had an Indian costume from when I was a kid that we were able to talk her into wearing. 

She was thrilled about the idea.

So thrilled in fact, she covered her face... 

To hide tears...

She did humor me with trying to smile...

But then she was upset that her eyes were going to be red and when she got to school, her friends would know she'd been crying. It probably didn't help that I was laughing at her...

Trying really hard to smile through gritted teeth for her mother...

That's a little better.

And I'm still laughing about this!

1st Day of School {only 4 weeks late}

I'm only four weeks late with the traditional first day of school photos.

I wanted to try and get some pictures of the kids before the actual first day of school. I figured Pearl was going to be so hyped up the last thing she'd want to do is fake a smile at her mother. I should have tried my luck when she was actually excited to put on her school clothes and pretend to go to school. There was a lot of whining and screaming on my part to "smile" and "look happy" and "look at me with your eyes" and "smile nice"... why? Why? Why?

Oh well. That little pipsqueak is still cute.

"Mom. Seriously?! Uh, this is so lame! I am totally annoyed at you."

And the famous face when she is absolutely DONE with pictures. Every. Single. Time. {And yet, these pictures always make me laugh and smile.}

Not to be left out, Cole insisted on joining our little photo shoot. Do you think he is influenced at all by his big sister?

And we can't forget the furry child. She's never far from me or Cole.

Pearl is doing fabulous in school. She's made new friends and really likes her teacher. A little boy in her class ran up to me the other day and said, "Are you Pearl's mom? Can she have a play date with me? We're friends." She's well behaved in class, listens, and tries really hard on all of her assignments and tasks. Pearl is way ahead with reading and gets 100% on her math tests. She loves, loves, loves her after school program too. And having the option {"We have CHOICES Mom!"} to eat hamburgers and grapes for lunch everyday - mixed in with the occasional PBJ from home {I need to step up my "sack"lunch game} - is an added bonus to her day. We haven't had very many arguments or meltdowns about bedtime or getting ready for the day because she is so excited to go to school every day. Now the homework... that's taken some getting used to. Thank heavens for after school programs and Jeff! Homework is always done and ready to turn in on Friday.

Now the boy. He's a whole other story. That twerp practically lives in timeout at school {and home some days too}. I feel bad for the kid and think some of the expectations the teachers have for a three-year-old boy are kind of ridiculous. He never naps, not even at home, and he doesn't know how to use "an inside voice" really well so during nap time he gets in a lot of trouble. But how in the world is he supposed to sit still without making a sound for two hours on a tiny mat? Ridiculous. Oh, and apparently pretend shooting your friends at school is also frowned upon. Double ridiculous. Fern boy never wants to go to school probably because he's always in trouble. He is a little pill to get ready and Pearl is an anxious wreck at even the slightest possibility that she will be late to her school. I don't blame him though, last week I had had it with all the notes and timeouts. When the first thing he tells you in the morning is that he will try to not get any timeouts or have any accidents, and then the first thing he says when you pick him up is how many timeouts he had, something isn't working and it's time to try out some new solutions. Uh. Have I mentioned I love the threes? Yeah. Way more fun than the twos. Oh well. Pearl was a little twerp at this age too and she's definitely grown up a lot since then.

Kindergarten Graduation

I can't believe Pearl has graduated from Kindergarten.

It's going to be really weird not having her with me at work everyday. I'm sure I'll freak out the first few days when she goes to "real" school. It will be sad and I feel bad I didn't take more time to go down for breaks with her now that it's really going to end soon. I will miss knowing she is just downstairs from my office. And I'm going to miss knowing she is with teachers and friends who have known her since she was three months old. 

Ahem. 

Before I get all teary-eyed, the real intent of this post was to brag about how smart Pearl is. She finished Kindergarten with a perfect 4.0! Ok, so it's not a GPA but seeing that 4 sure made me smile big! She takes after me, obviously!!!

This year's kindergarten graduation ceremony was filled with fun songs and lots of tidbits on what the kids had been learning. I'll tell you one thing, those kids know more about animals, habitats, planets, numbers, and the way the world works than I do. Pearl had her part memorized weeks ago and was very excited {and a little nervous} about saying it with the microphone. It wasn't as memorable as last year's part {O is for orbit...} but she was very excited that everyone got to yell "Thank you" after she finished.

Each kid got a packet with a report card, their writing book, a certificate showing how many books they had read, and all of their school projects. We were very proud of Pearl. She read 64 books, with most of them chapter books. And her class read the most books of any class before... 1,004 books! She loves school and I sure hope that continues for the next 12+ years!

Pearl was also very excited that the class voted for chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. We were still in Yellowstone on the day they voted but luckily that's what she would have voted for had she been to class that day.

Pearl and Ms. Penny.

I love the self-portraits of all the kids. And their class portraits are hilarious. Pearl told us she wanted to have a colorful hat for her picture. 

Pearl has a sense of style all her own. When all the other girls in her class wore skirts or dresses to celebrate their accomplishments, Pearl chose to wore a tee-shirt, cut-off shorts, and flip flops. What a goober!

Good job Pearl! We are so happy to have you in our family! You are smart, kind, thoughtful, sweet spirited, funny, and just a "gem" {I couldn't resist} to have.

Occupation Day

It was occupation day at school last week. Not job day. Not career day. Occupation day. Or as Pearl called it "occudation" day. But definitely not job day. Sheesh mom, get it right!

Since our dress up supplies are limited and she was supposed to dress up as her dream occupation, Pearl told us she wanted to be either a cheerleader or a sandwich girl. 

We're glad she's aiming high. It makes us feel good as college educated parents knowing Pearl thinks a career - excuse me, occupation - at Subway is the way to go. Since her cheer leading outfit was a little too short to wear to school, that first choice was out. And after some discussion with her dad about her future aspirations, Pearl decided to be a professional baker instead.

She did make a cute baker. Maybe we can combine all three occupations and Pearl can get a cheer scholarship to college and then work at Kneader's to make ends meet.