School Days.... over all too soon

It was finally here, the highly anticipated first day of kindergarten.  Eliza had been looking forward to this day for a  while.  And actually, her mother was too.  I really thought I would have some hesitations and sadness about sending my oldest child to kindergarten.  After all, once they hit school age, their lives change, and they just don't stop growing up.  However, I was excited for her as well because I knew she was going to really love it.  I didn't mourn the loss of my daughter for half a day like I thought I would.  

I signed Eliza up for afternoon kindergarten because she tends to sleep late, and take an exuberant amount of time to get ready.  It doesn't necessarily take her a lot of time to get ready, it just takes a lot of time to convince her to get ready.  I didn't want the concept of forcing her to get up and get ready to carry over to her not liking school, so afternoon kindergarten worked well for us.  

However, the morning of the first day of school arrived, August 29, and she really surprised me.  At 7:30 I heard the bath water turn on.  Eliza had gotten up, given herself a bath, got dressed, ate breakfast, and got her backpack on.  At 8:00 am, she proudly proclaimed, "I'm ready for school.  When do we leave?"  I couldn't help but smile.  Her efforts were amazing. I was pleasantly surprised, and she was slightly disappointed when I told her that her kindergarten didn't start for another 4 hours - she had to wait until after lunch.  Her response, "Oh, Ok.  I guess I will practice writing my letters and learn how to spell my name while I wait."  What teacher wouldn't love this girl.  

When I went to pick her up after school, I asked her how her first day was.
"I LOVED IT!  Can I please go back tomorrow?"  

I'm really glad she liked it because, yes Eliza, you can go back tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that.  I'm really glad she had that attitude because Eliza is the type of person who has to be self motivated.  Once she is on board with something, it never becomes an issues of complaint or fighting.  Her reaction was what I was hoping for from the beginning.  

Zabien started preschool on October 4.  He attended the Pennridge Nursery school at Pennridge High School.  This is the 3rd year our family has participated in the program.  It is run by the child development class at the high school.  They go 4 times a week for an hour and a half a day.  This isn't a very long time.  In fact, it is so short that I really don't get very many things done when they are at school, but it isn't for me anyway - it is for them, and they both have really enjoyed attending over the years

Hazel really wasn't sure what to do when I dropped the kids off.  She spent the first day wandering around the house saying "E-I-Ya" (which is how she says Eliza), over and over again.  She kept looking for Eliza to help her and play with her.  When we started dropping of Zabien she would do the same thing.  "ah B ah B"

By the end of the school year thought, Hazel was all to happy to wave goodbye to the kids and enjoy the one on one time with momma.  

Both children did some neat things this year in school.  Eliza participated in her first Race for Education at Sellersville Elementary.  After rallying some monetary donations, the children were supposed to race around the track (the parking lot) as many time as they could in 30 minutes.  

I was really proud of Eliza.  Not only did she garner over $100 of support money, but she also ran the longest and fastest of all her classmates. Even when the others stopped, she kept going - I was pleasantly surprised; especially with how hot it was.  

Not only did she run nearly the entire time, but she did it with a smile on her face.

She actually enjoys running - having gone running a couple of time with her dad in order to "train" for this.  On one occasion, she ran 1.5 miles without stopping.  I was amazed by that.

Stopping for some quick refreshment, and then she was right back at it.  

All of our children were invited to participate in the race.  Zabien was probably the fastest runner, but he also would take some time to rest after just one lap.   Hazel took a couple of laps on daddy's shoulders, and she ran a couple herself as well.  

After the race, everyone got popsicles and sat in the shade under the tree.  It was a lot of fun to watch her participate, and she seemed to really enjoy it.  

That evening, they had a race for education celebration at the Perkasie carousel in Menlo Park.  The kids got to ride the carousel as many times as they wanted for free.  

                                                     

     

                                                 

  

                                                  

They also had balloon animals and face painting.  

Another fun day they had at school was field day.  She was on the green team and participated in a lot of age appropriate physical fitness activities.  I wasn't expecting to watch her since field day was scheduled for the day after my due date, but since the baby was late - I got to watch her.   

I volunteered quite a few times in her classroom - I helped with the fall festival, winter celebration, Valentines Day, and 100 days of school party.  It's fun to put faces with the names of the kids she talks about at home.  She went on a field trip to the Sellersville theater to watch a production of Peter and the Wolf.  That was fun to be a chaperone with her on that trip.  Afterwards, we had a picnic inside the classroom since it was raining that day.  

Eliza loved school so much.  She cried on every holiday and every snow day.  She wanted only 1 day of spring break, and not 3.  She told me over and over again that she strongly disliked Saturdays because she couldn't go to school.  It didn't matter what we spent our Saturday doing, she would rather have been in school.  I think she may be the only person in the entire world who hated vacations from school.  

I'm so proud of her and how much she learned at Kindergarten this year.  She is a super star reader - surpassing Kindergarten level.  Her penmanship is very good for a post kindergartner as is her ability to sound out the spelling of words.  She is very bright and caught onto things so quickly.  If I could sum up how Eliza feels about school in one picture it would be this one.  

Pretty soon, the dreaded last day of school, June 8  came upon us.  It happened very quickly. I couldn't believe it that my little girl just finished kindergarten.  

We actually couldn't get her to smile because she was sad it was the last day.  But then Bruce started mentioning some of the boys in her class and the smile appeared.  

Walking down the sidewalk on the last day of school.  I'm sad that I didn't get a picture of her with Mrs. Lennon.  She really loved having Mrs. Lennon - she is a great first teacher to have.  Yes she cried (more than once) that day, but we kept telling her that soon she would start again and she would get to go for the whole day - that was the only thing that would appease her.  I'm sad that I didn't remember to get a picture of Eliza with Mrs. Lennon.

Zabien also got to do some fun things in his preschool class this year.  He went on a lot of fun field trips - the aquarium, Crayola factory, LEGOLAND, the zoo, the fire station, a pumpkin patch.  I only chaperoned to Crayola, the pumpkin patch, and the fire station.  The Thursday before mothers day, his school had a special luncheon for all the moms.  They gathered around and sang a cute little song to us before we ate a nice lunch of chicken penne, lasagna, fruit, salad, and lemonade.  

(He is wearing sweatpants under his shorts because he went running with his dad that morning and Bruce wears running tights under his shorts)

Hazel enjoyed the festivities as well.  

Zabien's last day of school was May 25th. I didn't know if I would be able to go since that was my due date, but once again, baby was late so I was there.  

Although he really enjoyed his time in Mrs. Reim's class, he was not nearly as attached to school as his sister, so there were no tears on his departure.  

After the kids received their certificates of completion, we all got ice cream Sundaes.  YUM!

Even Bruce had a great school year this year.  At the beginning of spring semester, he was awarded tenure and promotion.  He went from being an assistant professor to an associated professor.  He was also voted by the student body to receive the award for most dedicated service to the University, which was an honor.  He was a little sad to say goodbye to these senior students who he worked with on the dairy challenge team.  He spent so much time with them and did so much for them that they jokingly call him dad.  Some were even sure to wish him a happy Father's Day.

So far this summer, Eliza spend her time reading - to herself, to me, to the other kids.  She also writes stories every day and does a lot of drawing and coloring.  She practices a lot of the skills she learned in school every day, but still find the time to play outside as well.  She has started selling her original stories for either 3 dollars, 3 quarters, 3 dimes, 3 nickels, or 3 of anything we want to give her.  She is quite the entrepreneur, and tells us that she wants to either be an author or an illustrator when she grows up.  I sincerely hope that she does.  She seems to love books and reading as much as I do.  

Tball

This year, we signed up Eliza and Zabien to play T-ball.  This was the first time for either one of them to play any organized sport.  Zabien was the most excited - he had been wanting to play for a long time.  He was dressed and ready to go within minutes.  

After telling me more than once that she wanted to play, I signed her up.  She seemed excited at first, but as it got closer and closer to the start date, she started to change her mind.  As she always is when something is new, Eliza was difficult and didn't want to get ready to go.  She fought me every step of the way from getting her clothes on, to putting on her shoes to getting in the van.  She wanted to quit before she even got started.  I told her that she could quit, but she had to pay me back all the money I spent to register her.  She had recently competed in a talent show and earned some prize money, and I threatened to take it if she didn't cooperate.  Even after I forced her into the van, she continued to drag her feet.  

When we got to the fields, I literally had to drag her where her team was.  I forced the team shirt on her, and I compromised to not make her wear the team hat.  

After meeting up with their team, they headed to the field for some practice, and to learn basic skills.  They did everything from throwing, catching, hitting, running the bases, catching pop flys.  Zabien's favorite part is throwing, and Eliza's favorite part is running the bases.  

By the time the hour long practice was over, Eliza was sad to go home - she wanted it to keep going and was appalled that she had to wait another week to come back.  On our way back to the van she told me that she had a really good time and thought the whole thing was a lot better than she thought it would be.  It just goes to show that you shouldn't formulate opinions about something unless you are sure to try it first.  

She finally let me take a picture of her in her team shirt.  

The next week both Eliza and Zabien quickly got ready to go.  The second week, they practice for the first half hour, and played a game against another team the second half hour.  

The coaches who work with these kids have a lot of patience as they try to teach them the rules and how to play the game.

Eliza got pretty good at the defense position "down and ready."  

Zabien just stood in the field with a smile on his face.  He wasn't as aggressive at getting the ball as I thought he might be, but he was having a good time anyway.

Zabien did a very good job of hitting the ball - we had to teach him the point of running the bases though.  He wanted to go get the ball himself after he hit it (because that is what he does at home).

I was pretty proud of both of them for standing up and participating in the game.  So many of their teammates sat down in the field.  One of the girls kept putting her mitt over her face, and another one kept running off the field to her mom on the sidelines.

I cheered for my children every time they came up to bat and every time they tried to make a play in the field.  Other parents just watched the game.  I guess I am one of those annoying moms that goes crazy over every thing my children do.  What can I say?  I'm a proud momma!

I could tell that their skills improved after the 6 weeks of playing.  The best part was seeing how much fun both of them were having.  

Hazel was a good cheerleader too.

The most important thing is that they each had fun. I hope they also learned how to listen to their coaches and get along with their teammates.

      And they were both very proud of their medals - it made Zabien feel like a super hero.