Back to "Work"

So today was my first day back working at the preschool. Laney attends (and Mia attended) a cooperative preschool that is run by the parents and the parents are aides to the teachers in the classroom. I only have to work every other Monday, and I've been off since Carina was born, thanks to some very nice friends who traded me for their co-op days in the early fall.

I was a mess this morning, but managed to keep it from the kids in the class - I almost cried. Instead of bawling, though, I grabbed a few of the kids who love to build and made a huge fort of blocks.

It was good for Carina, for Laney, and for me, but I missed her. And Aurelie, her babysitter today, was wonderful. Whew.

Settling In

Today Carina had her one week (plus a few days...) check up and all is well. She's gaining weight back she had previously lost, her color is good, she's eating well, though not on any schedule yet, she's looking around, and she's in overall good health.

The doctor's office is out of flu shots (H1N1 and Seasonal) and it's a race in this area to get one. Evidently people are lining up at 3 in the morning when the listserves announce a place that has them available, and they run out in less than an hour. Our family is in the high risk group with Carina being so young, so we may spend the next few weeks getting up early and camping out at various locations trying to get a flu shot - sounds like fun.


Mia and Laney are being great big sisters. They get diapers and wipes, give Carina her pacifier, and want to hold her all the time (supervised of course).

Our friends from Laney's (and previously Mia's) preschool have coordinated a meal schedule so our dinners are taken care of each night. What a difference that can make, and how wonderful it is we have a supportive group of friends and neighbors to make the transition easier! We feel so blessed!

Mia has a bad cold and is home from school today so the girls are playing and getting into mischief today. So, life's almost normal, but with a quieter Mia since her voice is almost gone - poor thing.

P is for Patrick

Yesterday was P day! We made Potato stamps and Painted Pictures with them, and Mia had a Playdate with her PreK teacher, Ms. Jennifer. We also talked about how Daddy's name starts with a P and got excited about a Potential visit from Aunt Patty!

What a great P Day!





Books we read: Pocahontas, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Touch and Sparkle PETS, Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Piglet's Big Movie

Laney Turns 2!

Happy Birthday, Laney!

Laney shares her birthday with our country, so there is a lot of hoopla and hurrah around when her day arrives.

We started the day with the Takoma Park 4th of July parade, but unlike last year, we got to walk in the parade with the girls' preschool, which was a whole lot of fun! Mia walked the entire way, Laney rode in our stroller, and our wagon was lent out for the tired little legs of our friends.


Then everyone headed back up to our house for some grilling and cupcakes to celebrate the big 2! Laney took a nap while the kids took turns giving wagon rides, jumped on the trampoline, and played on the swings! What a fun party!

After a dinner of Annie's Shells N Cheese (Laney's favorite) and a few more cupcakes, Laney got to open her presents and play with her sister and her new trike. The night concluded with the National 4th Celebration on TV, glow necklaces, and a peek at the Takoma Park fireworks out on our front porch. What a fun day!

Mia's Birthday Party

Mia's party was a lot of fun, and definitely worth the extra week of cleaning, purchasing and cupcake eating baking. The party started out with a little horse decorating, where the kiddos got to color faces on their hobby horses and then they took them to Patrick to add the stick and bandana. Then, outside, we had swings, panning for gold in the sandbox, bean bag and ring toss games, a chalk drawing and bubble blowing station, snacks and juice boxes. Later a hot dog lunch was served along with cupcakes and a pinata finale. The pinata did not burst forth with it's goods, however, and we had to tear it to get the goodies out. But it was sure fun for the kids trying to hit it. Mia had a great time seeing her friends that she's missed over the summer and loved her party - we were so lucky to have many of her friends available for a second date.

And here's a funny video of the Pinata Whacking:

SSNS Truck Touch Photos

Mia's preschool, Silver Spring Nursery School, has a creative and wonderfully preschool-centric fundraiser every year called the SSNS Truck Touch. What a fabulous event! Saturday, we enjoyed face painting, live music, truck-related arts and crafts, food, a book fair, and of course TRUCKS. Besides a UPS truck, tractors, a cherry picker, a police car, a school bus, an ambulance, a hang glider, and various other trucks for the kids to climb into and onto, the local fire station lent us its hook and ladder for the affair. Like any star, the engine arrived with fanfare about an hour into the event, and rushed off an hour later to a real emergency. The parking lot was noisy with children beeping horns and adjusting seats, squealing and flying UPS frisbees - just what every preschool aged child would want a truck touch to be.

Brilliant.

AAhhh - CHOO!

Well, it's been a few weeks since I've put anything interesting out here. Mostly we have been dealing with colds and I'm considering buying stock in Pfizer, the maker of Sudafed (ha ha).

Aunt Amanda came to visit the last weekend in February, and we had snow, so we built a very original punk snowman. Later, Mia splashed in the puddles left from the snow and then rain we had. It's snowing again today, but it looks like not even close enough for a snowman.








Other news includes the fact that Elena is now officially 8 months old and is trying really hard to crawl. She can get herself going backwards, so I hope to include a video out here soon of her crawling. :) She's also enjoying picking up Cheerios and other small easy to mush foods.



We also received our first rejection letter from a preschool. We're still holding out hope for the Purple House, however. We dont know when they are planning to let us know one way or the other, so we are just waiting.

PreSchool!!

Preschool Application Season is here! The competition is ruthless, as there are only 4-5 spots in the 3-year-old class at each school for next year.

We have been busy going to Open Houses, Classroom visits, and filling out and sending in applications to all of the cooperative pre-schools in the area.

This all reminds me so much of applying for college, it's almost silly. For instance, many of the classes choose their students by gender, race, and age, trying to find a nice balance of each. (I'm not so sure that isn't reverse discrimination, but for now, we won't complain lest we are deemed "unsuitable" for attendance.)

Thank goodness we got into one of our favorite schools already! (They were nice enough to choose by lottery, and I happen to be a generally lucky/blessed person.) Now, we are just waiting to see if we got into the Purple House, our all-time favorite, as well as the favorite of most of the girls in our playgroup.

Whew! The Pressure!