Young Party of Four

I haven't done a Friday Favorites post in a few weeks. We have been super busy with the end of school rolling around which is also the end of Girl Scouts (sort of - as the main things coincide with the school year) and dance is wrapping up here in the next month so other things have gotten in the way of this weekly post. BUT, I wanted to do a quick post about some teacher gifts that we put together this year because I have been asked about them. This won't be a long one but may be a fun idea for a teacher gift if you need one. This is something I first saw a few years ago. Probably even before we had kids and I have since seen a few variations of it. We tend to go with the "Bucket of Sunshine" option, though I have seen boxes and bags as an option. We like buckets because sand buckets are super common around here. Especially in the summer. The idea is basically this... grab a yellow bucket. Fill it with yellow items. Write a personalized thank you note. Give te...

And just like that... Will has officially finished his first year of school. This year he attended the same school that Kenzie attended for 3-year-olds and VPK. He was enrolled in the 2-year-old class. He started school a year earlier than Kenzie but at almost the same age. His birthday is in October so he misses the cut off for the year and consequently ends up being one of the oldest kids in his class. This year he may have even been the oldest. As a boy, we don't mind that necessarily and we think it was definitely beneficial for him this year. (Side note: Kenzie is typically one of the youngest so it is the opposite with her and we definitely see the "typical" girls being younger and boys being older argument playing out.) Will's end of the year picture sort of cracked me up. He looks so very sure of himself. This is such a change from the beginning of the year when he wasn't sure of what school would be like and although he knew he wanted to go, he was ...

The kids have officially been in school for a little over a month (minus a week due to Hurricane Irma and her wrath... but that is another post for another time) and they are doing great! Will is blossoming in school. The more he goes, the happier I am with our decision to put him in a "year" earlier than Kenzie. Technically he is almost the same age she was when she started but because of how his birthday falls (especially compared to her), he is in a younger class. He is the oldest in the class, I think, but he is having a blast. I remember on his second day when I made it to his school a little early and planned to sit in the parking lot waiting for time to pick him up. His class was on the playground and he was running "with" his friends (they were mostly parallel playing but every now and then would interact some and it was adorable). He went down the big slide a bunch of times and waited in line to go down the smaller slide after some of his classmates. W...

I wanted to blog this as a routine check-in for me to go back to read one day if I want. It's interesting for me to detail some of our routines to see how they morph and change through the year(s). It took us a couple of weeks, but I think we have finally settled into a new routine. This school year has been a whole new ball game for us. Kenzie starts school in the morning earlier than last year. There are two schools I have to visit two days a week. Naps are way messed up on the regular. We have to deal with car lines for drop off and pick up of Kenzie. Kenzie sometimes wants to bring lunch and sometimes wants to buy it. Will is learning to function in a classroom with a steady teacher and peers (somewhat different from an hour or so at church once a week). And I'm learning how to balance my time without children under my feet versus the times when I have one or both of them with me. We started by setting a new routine about a week before school started. Now, when the k...

The time has come. As of today, we have officially sent both kids off to school. I'm doing remarkably better than I thought I would be. Haha! Two night ago (Sunday) as we got the kids ready for bed, Kenzie requested to read Oh, The Places You'll Go. She requested it because I had been talking about taking a picture of the kids together with it and we have read it before. Especially before events like the first day of school. I admit, as I sat in Kenzie's bed with both kids reading it, I had to fight the tears. Kenzie wanted extra hugs on Sunday night. I don't think she was nervous, but I do think she wasn't 100% sure of what Monday would hold for her. Part of it was more excitement than anything else. Will was just mad that he only had Meet the Teacher on Monday and not a real day of school. This kid was so excited to get to go to school like his Sissy and wanted to start right away. I feel like I should specify that I didn't pose her. This is solid Kenzi...

Bear with me... this post is not only about Kenzie's final day at school but all the crazy things (they are just crazy to me because I can't believe that little 7 lbs 6 oz baby is about to be in kindergarten) leading up to it that are preparing her for being a kindergartener so it is a bit long. Aaaaannnnndddd... That's it. We have reached the end of an era for Kenzie. At least the end of a stage of sorts. We have officially left behind the preschool stage and are getting ready to embark on the "school age" section of her life. These last few weeks have been... emotional. About three weeks ago we took our happy selves over to the elementary school and attended the kindergarten orientation for our baby girl. Who isn't actually much of a "baby" anymore despite my protests. We were able to take a tour of the school and see some of the kindergarten classrooms, the specials classrooms, cafeteria, clinic, and media center. The kids were all given t...