First Day of Kindergarten

So here is where I shamelessly show off pictures of Little Girl from her first day of Kindergarten.

Trust me, you are lucky, if you worked with me, you would have had to already endure me pulling out my iPhone and showing you my pictures and waiting for the required awwwwwww.

I dropped her off at her dayhome; she took the bus (along with all the other kids from the dayhome) and then I drove to the school and waited for her to arrive.

I wish I had gotten a picture of her on the bus and although I could have given my camera to the dayhome lady, I didn't want to stress Little Girl out more than I already feared she was stressing.

She was beyond excited and only showed some of her nervousness while we were lined up waiting for the bell to ring, but she didn't cry and went happily into the school with her class and teacher.
(On a side note - I didn't cry either - yeah!!!)

When I picked her up from dayhome at the end of the day, she came running up to me exclaiming how much fun school had been and she can't wait to go back, and then she proceeded to talk my ear off all the way home and the whole time I was making dinner about every little thing they did.

Alright, I think she is going to enjoy it - for now - we will re-visit this when she hits high school.

School Lunch Ideas

Little Girl starts school is just under a week, Kindergarten for her is all day Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoon – so that means, 2 times a week she gets to bring her lunch.
This also means 2 times a week, I get to make her lunch.

Check out what I found for her:

Thermos brand - found at Superstore.

When I was in grade school and taking my lunch, my parents never made my lunch – all 4 of us kids made our own lunch.

I know this is what some “experts” say helps kids eat their lunch – having them make it themselves – and I do agree it helps kids put in the foods they are likely to eat, but I think instead the child should be involved in the process, but not completely responsible for the whole lunch.

And honestly, I have no problem making her lunch – I am actually excited and looking forward to it – so much so that I have been pinning blog posts and blogs with school lunch ideas since early spring.

But last week I asked Little Girl what kind of food she would like to bring; you want to know what her first response was?

“Peanuts!”

Seriously? Peanuts?  The only thing she is not allowed to bring – contraband peanuts, she wants to bring?

So after explaining to her about allergies and how no peanuts were allowed in the schools, etc, etc. she came up with some ideas:

-          Ham & cheese wrap
-          Pickles
-          Carrots (from my garden)
-          Granola bar
-          Fishy crackers

I am in love with the Bento lunch idea (the simple ones that look like this):

Source: Bent on Better Lunches

 

Not the crazy ones that look like this:

Cute, but someone has way too much time on their hands.

 

Here are some of my ideas for school lunches:

-          Banana bread

-          Mini muffins
-          Hard boiled egg
-          Crackers & cheese
-          Gold fish crackers
-          Pretzels
-          Pickles
-          Cheese string
-          Rice cakes
-          Pepperoni
-          Yogurt raisins
-          Raisins
-          Popcorn
-          Granola bars
     

Entrees:

-          Cold chicken fingers
-          Cold grilled cheese
-          Cold perogies
-          Wraps
-          Rolled up deli meat
-          Pasta
-          Soup with crackers
-          Bocconcini & tomato salad
-          Quesadilla
-          Mini quiche
-          Mini frittata
 

Fruit

-          Apple slices
-          Strawberries
-          Grapes
-          Cantaloupe
-          Pineapple
-          Orange slices
-          Mandarin orange
-          Fruit salad
-          Fruit kabobs (on toothpicks or straws for little kids)
-          Apple sauce

Veggies

-          Cucumber slices
-          Cherry tomatoes
-          Carrot sticks
-          Red pepper slices
-          Steamed broccoli (cold)
-          Snap peas
-          Hummus and veggies to dip


Are you making school lunches this year, or do you have a few years under your belt already?  Have any ideas for me?

Ready for School

 

School supplies – check
School uniform – check
Lunch bag – check
New day home organized – check
Bus schedule – check
Little Girl ready – check
Mom ready – nowhere near!

We are ready for school or I should say we are physically ready and Little Girl is mentally ready, I am still wrapping my brain around the fact that 5 years ago right now she looked like this:

September Long weekend - 2007 (Little Girl - 4.5 months old)

 And now she looks like this:

Last Day of School

Last week it was Little Girl's last day of preschool!

I am happy to report she passed and is moving on to Kindergarten.  LOL

I am super bummed that school is over, I really wish preschool went right up until mid-August.  Not only does Little Girl love it, but it is also a great break for her from her brother and an wonderful way for her to spend some energy.

I know next year I will be singing a different tune - I know I will be happy there is no homework for a few months, but for now we both will miss it.

And now a few pictures for you:

First day of school - September 2011

 

Last day of school - June 2012





  

Little Girl and her super wonderful teacher!



We're In!

Since I have been talking quite a bit about what we are doing for our schooling next year, I thought I would update you all and let you know that I got a call on Friday afternoon, letting me know that Little Girl has been accepted into Kindergarten at Foundations for the Future Charter Academy.

If you live in Calgary and have heard about the school, you know that they have a fantastic reputation and it is pretty hard to get in.

I put Little Girl on their waiting list when she was approximately 4 months old (and by the way we were number 62 on the list).

Although this school is not for everyone, I am fairly confident it is for us (or at least for Little Girl).

We had requested to do their full day Kindergarten - meaning 2 1/2 days a week and that is what we got. But now the challenging part comes: what are we going to do for child care.

She has aged out of the day home we currently have both kids at, and besides there is no way for our day home lady to get her to and from school, but if / when we move her, do we move Little Boy as well? I know he will miss her dearly (and her him) especially on those full days that she is not in school.

I am looking for a fantastic before and after school program or home, hopefully either very close to our house and they can drive her to school, or very close to her school and they can walk her.

No one said having kids was going to be easy, but it is sometimes super hard to make decisions in February to determine what you are doing in September.

What about you? Are you a working Mom also struggling with kids going to school next year?

Or did you already go through that and what was your solution?

Blog Watch - Bent on Better Lunches

I love to share with my readers great blogs I come across.

I stumbled onto this one a few weeks ago and LOVE it!  Bent on Better Lunches.

Cristi is a mother of 4 – and she blogs about the lunches she makes for her kids.  I love her creativity and her drive to have her children eat healthy meals, but also to eat a lot of variety.

Next year we might have Little Girl in full day Kindergarten and that means I will be entering into the wonderful world of school lunches.  As we have gone through the decision to do full of half days, I even asked hubby – “What am I going to send for lunch every day?”

I have a feeling this blog might be my school lunch bible for a while.

Take a look at one of the lunches she sent to school:

Here is a lunch she provided for a child at home:

Okay, I want those lunches!  And I am a big believer in 'food tastes better when it is fun'.

I have already used a few ideas of hers, and now I am keeping my eyes open for silicone cupcake liners on sale.

Daddies

As we raise our 2 children I often sit back and marvel at the different kinds of relationships children have with their parents.

I know quite a bit of it is due to each parent having different personalities, but more times than not, I hear from my girlfriends about how their children and my children are the same in wanting Daddy for things over Mommy.

Today Hubby is going to be the parent helper in Little Girl’s pre-school. 

She is beyond excited about it.

He is bringing the snack – okay I planned and prepped the entire snack – he just has to remember to actually bring it.

Does he want to be the helper today?  Not really, but he is going to do it because he loves his daughter and it is going to be so special for her to have him there.

Dad’s hold such a special place in a child’s heart, I am so lucky to have a husband that is involved in his kids’ lives.

He is an amazing father!

Fishing together last summer.

Parent Information Night

I blogged a little while ago about how we had an upcoming parent information night for Little Girl and Kindergarten next year.

Well that was last night.  We got our baby sitter and hubby and I went together.

I was so glad I brought him along; the school we want her to go to is Foundations for the Future Charter Academy. 

It is quite a bit different than the type of schools we both went to as kids, and I really needed him to see and hear that first hand.

First they require 20 hours of parent volunteer time each year, and it is very academically based compared to what we know from the past.

Kindergarteners sit in a desk and have structured subjects and homework almost every day.

I know there are a lot of parents that feel that Kindergarteners should not have home work (I actually know parents of junior high school age children that think their child should not have homework either), but as they explained in the session last night, the homework is actually a review for the kids, designed to help reinforce and solidify what they have learned in school, not designed to actually have the parents doing the teaching.

But now we start the process: full days or half days?  If we go with half, what half?   Morning or afternoon?

Right now Little Girl is in pre-school 4 afternoons a week, so to add on an extra day (Friday) would not be much of a stretch, or do we go out of our comfort zone and put her into full days, where she would have to eat lunch at school?  Oh that freaks me out!  I am not sure I am ready for her to be that old yet.

The other question we need to answer is what are we going to do with her?  How are we going to get her to and from school and what do we do while she is not in school?  I work full time.  Our day home is not able to do before and after school care and it is now where near the school anyway.

So the research starts.  I will be looking into day cares, etc. and trying to find what works for us and our family for next year.

What about you? 

Any of my readers have / had children in FFCA?

How is / did your school selection process go?

School

It seems like every time I get together with a group of Mom’s the conversation at some point in time turns to school.

Little Girl as you know is in pre-school and next year will be heading to Kindergarten.

I grew up in small towns, so there was never any question as to what school you went to.  You went to the only school in town, but now living in the city; “what school are you sending your child to next year?” is a question I hear a lot of.  There are a lot of different options out there – and I guess everyone has to find what works for them.

Do you choose the school that is within walking distance of your house?  Or do you choose a different school you might have to bus your kids to?

Either way, Little Girl will not be able to stay at the same dayhome, so we are going to have to drive her somewhere. (Day home lady does not take before and after school kids.)

Just after Little Girl was born I heard about Foundations for the Future Charter Academy from an acquaintance that was about to send their son there.

I heard them speak very highly about this school and knew I had to look into it.

I immediately put Little Girl onto the wait list.  She was only 4 months old.

When Little Boy was born, I put him on the wait list too.

Every year we get an email from the school letting us know it is time to re-new our wait list position.

And every year it feels so far away, someday, eventually they will go to school, but that is not something I have to deal with for now.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday I got a different email from the school.  An email letting us know about the Kindergarten Information Night coming up in early January!

Holy Crap!

I knew this process would start in the New Year, I was just not mentally prepared to deal with this until after Christmas.

But we are excited.

I am crossing my fingers, but I know that Little Girl just slaughtered her Dad in a game of memory on the weekend – yup – she’s brilliant!  Or does that say something about my husband?  Ha ha, kidding honey.

What about you?  Where do your kids go to school or where are you planning on sending them?

No Tears!

Yesterday was Little Girl's first day of pre-school!

She was so excited in the morning - getting out of bed the first time I asked her to - getting dressed right away and letting me comb her hair (a daily battle I often don't fight).

Here she is in the morning - ready to go to day home with her backpack.

She will be going 4 afternoons a week, and she gets to go with her best friend.

Here they are together right before going in.

In the class room with her name tag.  Look at how excited she is!

Bye Mom!

She has a great first day.  She was super excited to be there and did not cry or fuss at all - she made sure I said good-bye, but then was more than ready for me to go.

I am so super proud of her.  We were not sure what to expect, it was just under a year ago we had swimming lessons that ended up with her not even in the water for more than half the classes.

Amazing how fast she is changing and becoming this independent little girl.

Firsts

It is hard to keep track of all the 'firsts' we have had already as parents.

Some you remember like they happened yesterday some you want to forget.

Tomorrow we are having a very exciting 'first'.

Tomorrow is Little Girl's first day of school.

Preschool starts tomorrow and we are all excited.

A lot of my mommy friends did this last year, but since I work full time and the kids are in a day home we decided to skip the age 3 preschool year and just do the age 4 one.

We have a backpack, some new clothes and a new pair of shoes.

I have the afternoon off work and I get to take my baby girl to her first day of school.

Little Girl is pretty shy when she first meets anyone. Swimming lessons last year were an absolute disaster, so we felt it necessary to get her into preschool to help with her shyness and also to give her more exposure to other kids her age. She is in a dayhome, but there are only 4 kids total, she is the oldest and Little Boy is the next oldest. So we felt it to be important for her to have that exposure.

What about you?  Did you put your kids in preschool?  What age and why?

Starting School

4 weeks today, Little Girl starts pre-school.

Ahhhhggggg!  I am totally freaked out.  Just how did she get so big? 
It is funny how much I want my kids to grow up all the time (I am so ready for temper tantrums to be done!), but at the same time, I want them to stay little, to be able to sit on my lap and snuggle.

But we are starting school.
Now I know a lot of Mom's that pre-school was very exciting because they are home all day with the kids, and once pre-school starts, it means they finally get a few hours a week away from said child.

But I work full-time out of the house.  My kids are both in day home, so while Little Girl is in pre-school, I will still be working - no coffee shops for me!

Someone at work told me recently that the pre-school and kindergarten years are the absolute hardest when both parents work.  The logistics are insane. 

No company (at least not Hubby's and mine) gives us a few hours a day to drive our children back and forth to school.  And then there is all the expected volunteering we are suppose to do.

But now we have 4 weeks. 
4 weeks to get ourselves a backpack.
4 weeks to get a first day outfit.
4 weeks to help my shy little girl get excited to go to school.

Preschool!

The preschool question has been solved.

I struggled with this one as many of you know.  Little Girl is 4 now, but she is not old enough to go to Kindergarten next year, so that leaves preschool.

I looked into A LOT of preschools. 
I looked at ones close to our house, close to my work, I looked at ones that were cheaper because they expect quite a bit of parent volunteering, I looked at more expensive ones that still expected a lot of parent volunteering.
I looked at preschools that are combined with day cares.

Seriously, if it was out there I looked into it.

I was stressed, to the point I was in physical pain, not until this was resolved did the pain go away and I realized just how stressed I was.

Here is why I was so stressed about it: Little Girl is very shy, she does not do well in large crowds, and does not do well at all with adult strangers.

We did swimming lessons over the winter - she did not make it into the water for 3 of the 7 classes - and she loves to swim.

So i knew that I needed to get her into preschool to help with the transition into Kindergarten.  I needed to get her out of her comfort zone and help her transition into being able to play sports or do things without Mommy or Daddy by her side constantly.
(Soccer this year - yeah right!)

So a very good friend of mine volunteered to pick Little Girl up from her day home, and drive her along with her son to preschool.
So Little Girl gets to go to preschool with a good friend by her side.

This is the best thing for her.  We don't have to take her out of day home, she will get to stay with her brother for one more year.
They are going to be going 4 afternoons a week, and it is not too far from my work, so I will be able to take a few hours off to come and do my part as a parent volunteer.

I can't wait to go and buy her a backpack!

Pre-school??

Can you tell I am new to this parenting thing?
How was I suppose to know that January means you have to get your kid registered for pre-school or all the good time spots are taken?

We don't even know if we are going to send her to pre-school yet.
Little Girl is almost 4, her birthday is in March.
So that means she misses the cut off for Kindergarten this year, not that I would have sent her anyway,
but that means she can go to pre-school instead next year.

We already did not send her this year, you see both my hubby and I work full time, our children are in a lovely day home with an AMAZING care provider.
There were some (and still are) logistics on getting her from day home, to pre-school and back again.
Day home provider is not able to do this since she is alone and does not want to cart little ones to and from school (in a Canadian winter I might add).

So we skipped the age 3 pre-school, but Little Girl is shy. 
We feel like pre-school would be a great introduction to the whole world of school before we throw her into Kindergarten.

So I start my calls, one day care tells me kids that are in day care do not need pre-school - it gives them too much stimulation.
Other people have told me that the Kindergarten teachers can totally tell what kids have or have not been to at least one year of pre-school.

So what is the right answer?

Should we bite the bullet, pull both (or one kid) out of our day home, put them into a day care that also has a pre-school attached?  Pay A LOT more money per month for this?

Will my child be forever behind the rest of the kids if I do not do pre-school?
Just how bored will she be next year if we do not do some kind of schooling for her?