Old School

It was a HUGE day in our house, Patrick started kindergarten today! As far as I can tell, I was the only parent sobbing at drop off. Thankfully I had some lovely oversized sunglasses to hide my tears. Patrick was so excited. He loved it, proclaiming that he was happy there was "no math" and that his favorite part of the day was "recess". How is it possible that my little guy is off to big kid school?

Molly's also growing up quickly, she's dangerously close to being potty trained and is showing interest in sleeping in her big girl bed. My babies are growing up and there's nothing I can do to stop it. Hold me!

Paint It Black

This was how Patrick looked when I picked him up from summer school today. The teachers let the kids do their own face crayoning ("They were crayons, not paint!" Patrick will remind me). While some of the other kids painted crayoned themselves as Transfomers or Spiderman, Patrick decided to paint himself as a burning house. Oh yes, a burning house. Should I be worried? Thankfully the paint crayon all came off in the shower and his shirt came clean in the wash.

Autograph

Conversation with Patrick today as we left the grocery store.

P: Mama, how come nobody asked me for my autograph in there?
Me: Your autograph?
P: Yeah, my autograph.
Me: Do people ask you for your autograph?
P: Yeah, I'm a famous singer and dancer.
Me: Oh.
P: Do you want my autograph Mama?
Me: I'd love one!

I love that kid :)

State of Independence

Happy 4th! Sadly, I did not get a good picture of the kids together. They had cute little matching outfits, you'll just have to trust me.





And from the last few weeks, here's a picture of Molly playing in the yard, and Patrick in the shower. Who knew goggles were necessary for the shower?

Dancing Machine

I vow to take more videos with our Flip Camera. Because how cute is this little guy?

My Heart Belongs To Daddy

Happy Father's Day, to an amazing dad and husband!

School's Out For Summer

I've been a little weepy all day today. Patrick had his last day or preschool. He's officially off to kindergarten in the fall and I don't think I am ready. A few weeks ago Tom signed him up for AYSO soccer which resulted in me bursting out in tears. How is my little baby old enough to play soccer and be sent off to school every day? A school where he won't be singing and riding bikes and playing with play-doh, but instead will be learning reading, writing and arithmetic. A school where circle time will be mandatory, and not just suggested. A school where someone else will judge his work and rank him against his peers. It all makes me so sad. It's so grown up. And he's my baby.

Patrick's class had a little party today. His teachers told me they would be sad to see him go, that they enjoy having him in their class. He'll be around this summer for camp, but it isn't quite the same. Patrick's favorite teacher will be leaving a few weeks into the summer, to pursue her dreams (she's going to grad school). It's an amazing opportunity for her and we're thrilled for her. But there's a part of me inside that is sad because Molly will never have her as a teacher. Which brings me back to weepy...

I'm not sure it has all sunk in for Patrick yet. I don't think he understands that he isn't going to see all of his friends next year in kindergarten. That he will have a new routine, new teachers, new friends, a new school. Hopefully he will have happy memories of his time in preschool.

Little Seahorse

We took a lovely little day trip down to Monterey today. I had been anxious to see the new seahorse exhibit. It was way cool, check it out if you get a chance. They had everything from teeny tiny baby seahorses to sea dragons. The sea dragons were particularly amazing. They look like they are covered in ruffly leaves. Patrick took one look at them and asked if their look was for camouflage. Smart kid!









This week is Patrick's last week of preschool. I cannot believe my little baby will be starting kindergarten in the fall! It will be so strange to have him gone 5 days a week. Patrick seems pretty unaffected by the changes going on. This summer he'll be attending camp at his preschool, back with his favorite teacher. He's looking forward to that. And then in the fall Molly will start 2 days a week! That will give me the time to volunteer at Patrick's school, we've decided to send him to the public parent participation choice school here. So I'll be at the school 3 hours a week. I'm crossing my fingers that it all works out. In the end we figured that any of the choices we made involved a leap of faith, and this was the one that felt most comfortable at this point. We'll see!

Crazy Eyes

This is why I never have decent pictures of both children. I'd really love to hire a photographer to do beautiful portraits of my children, but I worry "stink eye" and "the sprinter" would make it impossible. Sigh.



Notice Molly's new hair cut. It was sad to see her sweet little curls gone, but her hair was sort of out of control. Her new bob is sweet, but makes her look older. She was a champ during the haircut, no screaming and no barfing (unlike Patrick at that age). Phew!

Hey Mickey

My poor neglected blog! Still waiting on that new laptop (which I have yet to order), so please do excuse my disappearing act.

Earlier this month we spent a week down in Southern California at Disneyland, Legoland and Seaworld. I look forward to the days when traveling with kids isn't such the production and may actually even be a little relaxing. We had a wonderful time, especially Patrick and Molly. Patrick was completely fearless at Disneyland and was pretty much willing to ride anything. His favorites were Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad and Star Tours. Molly declared everything a "fun ride!", but seemed particularly impressed with anything in Fantasyland. We had lunch with the princesses (per Patrick's request). He told them all his name was Luke Skywalker. Without missing a beat Cinderella replied "Oh, your kingdom is very far, far away!". Patrick was still smitten with the princesses, although he was a little disappointed that they didn't remember him from his last visit with them (at Disneyworld last year).









After Disneyland we went a little further south and spent a few days in Carlsbad. I wasn't quite sure what to expect at Legoland but we had a really, really great time. Patrick was at the perfect age to really enjoy it. We had only planned for one day at the park, but next time I would plan on 2 days (especially since the park has very short hours). The Lego displays were pretty amazing, there was a recreating of Barack Obama's inauguration, complete with a tiny Aretha Franklin and hat. Awesome! Legoland also has a small aquarium, complete with Lego people in the tanks. It was sort of interesting, but not worth the extra price of admission (we had free coupons).











Seaworld was just OK. The Shamu show was awesome and makes me rethink my decision to major in business when I could have gone to school for marine biology and been an orca trainer. But the other exhibits were pretty similar to things we can see at the San Francisco Zoo or the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Yawn. I would definitely skip that one the next time.



More pics on Flickr!

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

Patrick and Molly had check-ups with the pediatrician today (one of the benefits of having birthdays close together, they can go in at the same time). For some reason Patrick was super excited about seeing the doctor, even though his last visit to the pediatrician involved 5 shots so we could register for kindergarten. Patrick has a little bit of a problem with the vision test, it was hard to tell if he was having a hard time seeing or if he was just bored with answering the nurses questions. We get to go back in in 3 months for another check. I'm really hoping he doesn't need glasses. Patrick weighed in at a petite 37 pounds and 41.5 inches, which puts his around the 20th percentile. I guess I hadn't realized that he was on thew small side, but it was confirmed today when I tried to put a pair of size 5, elastic waist shorts on him and them slid right down to his ankles. Molly weighed in at 26 pounds and 32 inches, which puts her in the 90th percentile. Go figure! She took her 3 shots like a champ, no tears at all. Not like a certain drama prone boy whose name rhymes with Batrick.

Now that the whole swine flu thing seems to have died down, and Tom is not longer slammed by it at work, we are going on a little road trip. Yeay! We're planning on seeing Mickey, Legos and Shamu. Please, oh please let the kids be angels in the car. Pretty please with a cherry on top. I'm begging.

Celebration

I'm a blogging slacker! In my defense I still need a new laptop, I can't resize photos on this one. Since I last posted we went to Tahoe, celebrated my birthday, celebrated Easter, celebrated Patrick's birthday, and had a party for both kids. Next up is Molly's second birthday on Friday, then our wedding anniversary. Add in a few birthday parties for small friends and we have been busy! So click over to Flickr and you can see some pictures of what we've been up to, here are some previews! The first one is from today at the zoo. Molly is a tad obsessed with rhinoceroses right now, so we thought she would enjoy the chance to view one in person. Who knew they stunk so much? Molly was happy, but kept asking if the rhinoceros would bite. Hee!



And can you feel the birthday love here?











And in school news....Patrick got into both the public school and private schools we applied to. Last week we made the decision to send him to private. But I don't seem to be sitting well with it :( which makes me think we need to rethink it. I wish the future of public education in California didn't seem so bleak. Sigh.

Little Leprechaun

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hello It's Me

I still haven't bought a new laptop but I did want to post 2 quick pictures. We're all doing well. In addition to worrying about kindergarten for next year I am now worrying about summer camp and what to do for that. Last year I signed up Patrick for 3 or 4 weeks of summer school, which probably wasn't enough for either one of us. Molly's vocabulary is rapidly expanding, it seems like she picks up a new word or two every day. Her newest words include "appie" (apple), "sippy" (sip), "pree" (pretty) and "bing" (bling). Now who would teach a baby to say bling? ;)

A few weeks ago Patrick went to a birthday party where "the real life Spiderman!" made an appearance. Patrick was in heaven. Spidey was kind enough to pose for a quick picture with his biggest fan.



And Molly continues to be completely stubborn about her hair, despit the fact that it hangs in her eyes when she pulls out her hairclips. Tom held her arms down so I could put in little piggies the other night. She screamed until she could get out the rubber bands. Sigh.

Little Valentine(s)

Happy Valentine's Day! Patrick declared today "the best Valentine's Day ever!". He went to a birthday party this afternoon where they had a jumpy house INSIDE, which just about blew his mind. Add to that a little Valentine present and some chocolates an he was over the moon. We had a nice dinner at home, which even included heart shaped brownies for dessert. Hope you all had a great day too!

Where Did I Go?

My laptop had a small crash last month and while it's somewhat recovered, I cannot load any software on since the CD-ROM drive is completely broken. So no photos, and I know what's what you all come for anyways so I haven't been updating. Bad me. I hope to get a new laptop soon.

So what's new int he last month? I've pretty much been focused full time on Patrick's schooling for next year and the big decision between public school and private school. I've spent way too much time on this, you wouldn't believe the applications for kindergarten. For the private school you even need recommendations! For a 4 year old! It's crazy. We ended up applying to a public choice school that provides a "progressive education", a Catholic K-8 school, and a private K-12 school. We won't hear anything on any of the programs (the public one has a lottery) until sometime in March. I have a feeling my anxiety level will not do down until we sign on the dotted line somewhere.

Patrick is doing well, he has started to do a little bit of reading. He goes back and forth between being really interested and being completely uninterested. I'm trying not to push. Batman, Legos, and Matchbox cars are still obsessions. New obsessions include Barack Obama and Chinese New Years. Go figure. We talk a lot about kindergarten and Patrick seems to be excited, but I am going to miss him so much when he is gone every day.

Molly is stubborn. That's the one word I would use to describe her these days. It is a battle to get her dressed in the morning, to change her diaper, to get her to eat, to get her in her carseat, etc. She loves her big brother and they play together pretty well. Their favorite game is chasing each other around the house. Molly's current obsession is shoes. She likes to change her shoes several times a day, and if you come over she will want you to take your shoes off so she can try them on. I've signed Molly up for preschool in the fall, starting in September she will go Tuesday and Thursday morning, just like Patrick did. I hope it helps her come out of her shell, she doesn't have as much exposure to other kids as Patrick did at this age. And for that I have mommy guilt.

In grown up news, our bathroom remodel is finally completely done. Tom's been busy at work and we're thankful that he's in an industry that seems pretty recession proof. I've been sewing more and cooking more and working on perfection my domestic goddess skills. I have a looong way to go.

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays To You

Once again I have been a neglectful blogger. We've been so busy over the last few weeks, hopefully next week will give us a chance to decompress.

In the past few weeks we...

Visited Santa



Made gingerbread houses at cousin Danielle's



Went to Patrick's preschool holiday sing (in the rain, ugh!)



Celebrated Christmas Eve at Grandma Mildred's



Set out cookies for Santa (and carrots for the reindeer)



Opened presents Christmas morning



Spent the afternoon with cousins and grandparents





And had dinner with Nana and Papa, where Uncle Nick gave Patrick this awesome Batman Big Wheels



And my Buche de Noel turned out fantastically



So there you have it. The last 2 weeks in pictures. Hopefully we'll have some adventures to report on next week :)