Bribes

I got a call today from Beeb's teacher. Apparently when she got to school she went up to Mrs. J and gave her $10.00 and told her that it was for being such a great teacher.

My mid-year conference with Mrs. J is next week, thanks Beeb for greasing the wheels a bit. :)

Beeb's piggy bank is going into lock down tonight.

Simplicity

Beeb left me a little message on the driveway while waiting for the school bus this afternoon.



Really, it doesn't get much better than that.

Today Was Fun

Today was a fun day. Of course I would have had to work at it for it not to have been fun since the sun was out first thing this morning, the birds were chirping and the fragrant scent of spring flowers was wafting through the air. So it was an excellent start which put me in an excellent mood.

After getting Mr. B on his way Beeb and I lounged for a bit watching home videos of our little family (mostly Mr. B & Beeb) when they were teeny tiny. Oh how it made my heart ache. These kiddo's of mine are growing up just way too fast!

Next Beeb and I made Oatmeal Raisin cookies together. They turned out super soft and chewy and sooooo yummy. In fact they were so good I even took some to Beeb's class today to enjoy as an impromptu snack time treat.

(Beeb adding the applesauce (butter substitute) to the cookie batter)


Beeb primping before the bus arrived.


After Beeb went off to school I headed to Mr. B's class to volunteer for the afternoon. He was having a great day and I got to join him at recess but unfortunately he wasn't interested in playing kickball and instead was very much involved with his friends in playing "super spy" to which I was only allowed to observe.

Once everyone was home from school Mr. B ran off to play with our neighbor while Beeb and I threw the hacky sack around and tried our hand at hitting the wiffle ball with the plastic rackets. Daddy came home and played some more with both kids outside.

As it turns out Beeb has already turned into her mother. This evening she came to me requesting a nice warm bath to warm her up since she was so cold. Ha! That is a true trait of mine showing through and she's only 5! (note to self: tell AH about Beeb's bath request) She may look like her daddy but her personality is greatly my own.

Enjoying some suds with Dora.


Once the kiddo's were in bed I had a case of the munchies hit me and proceeded make some super yummy mini frittatas with ham and cheese this evening. Let me tell you, so so delicious!





All in all a truly fun day. My feet are cold now so I guess I wrap it all up and go take a nice hot bath.

Ladies Night

They ladies had a little night out. It was wild, it was crazy and I am super thankful to RoseAlba for taking out Mara on the race track as she was close to passing me. :-)

The Ladies


Mara's hair speaks for itself - really it does, it shouted, "Hey, I'm over hear!" during the entire laser tag match.


These crazy (and I really do mean they are all certifiable) ladies went on the "swing". I wish I had been able to capture some of their expression mid-ride, it did not entice me to try it.




Bumper cars. I was highly disappointed. The new bumper cars have super soft tubes around them so there was no whiplash sort of jolts. Very wimpy!

The Accidental 5K

Last Saturday I got up at 6:15am (crazy, I know) to go help out as a volunteer for a local St. Patrick's Day run a friend of mine puts on. It was a chilly couple of hours as I helped to input timing chip data in to the computer for those who registered the day of the race. By the end my knees were very nearly frozen and obviously so was my brain as I decided at the last minute to jump in and run the race as well.

I've never run a 5K race before and wasn't planning for this to be my first but the opportunity presented itself and well, you're only young(ish) once. Thankfully I have been running on my own and have successfully run that distance in my training but it was a whole new world to do it with 800 other people. I ran with my friend Lacey and it was a good partnership (I think) because we seemed to have the same pace (I think - she might have slowed down for me) and having her there helped me to not walk up the last hill which made me very happy. (who puts a hill at the end of a race?????)

As a result I readily admit the feeling was awesome and I am officially bitten by the bug and am contemplating what other races I can register for in our area. My only regret was that I wasn't wearing my VFF's but I can do that next time.

Mr. B's Perfection

Mr. B did it again. He's had two weeks in a row of perfect spelling tests:



On Wednesday night he and I spent 2 hours working on these spelling words. There were lots of tears and frustration on his part and he assured me that he would not be able to remember how to spell any of the words come test time.

Fast forward to today and Mr. B literally bounced off the bus and announced that he had gotten 7/7 on his test! He opened his backpack while we were still standing on the street and brought out the test just for me to see. His face was beaming and his pride was soaring.

I am so proud of him! It is these moments that carry me though during the next homework meltdown.

Beeb Time

Last Friday Beeb came home from school requesting that she and I have a picnic. I readily agreed and put together a fantastic feast to enjoy. It was a beautifully sunny day and I really cherished sitting in the warmth of the sun talking with my daughter.









Beeb provided the entertainment by showcasing her skateboard talents:




I even documented our unusually spring like winter weather by snapping some shots of my flowers that have been blooming since the end of February!








Saturday afteroon Beeb requested that we walk to the viewpoint of the falls. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time before the dark would set in so I opted to drive us over to the actually falls and walk around the newly relandscaped grounds:


Of course Beeb is quite the little goof lately so I had to document that too! :-)
















Where was Mr. B during all this? He was playing with the neighbor boys. Beeb's best neighborhood friend was gone all weekend so that is why she had to settle for playing with me (much to my delight).

Science Fair

Science Fair last night at the school. Here are some fun images from the event:








Beeb's sugar cube building (brown roof) on display.


That is a real dead brain. Beeb's statement afterward was, "I thought it would be more pink." Not so said the man holding the brain - that's just in diagrams.



The line to see the live kangaroo was too long but over all there were many fun and interesting things to see and do. Very well done!

Kick Star - Coolest Mom on the Playground

When I was in elementary school kickball was played like baseball. A ball was rolled to the kicker and after it shot off you tried to run the bases before the ball was returned and you were tagged with it. Thursday I volunteered in Mr. B's class and got to enjoy afternoon recess with him playing the new kickball. The new, and not really improved, kickball consists of two teams on two opposing sides of a court (think tennis court except it's not a tennis court) divided by the horizontal center line. If you want to earn points you simply have to kick the ball over the fence (about 18 feet high - there is one at each end of the court) from no closer than center court.

I ROCKED kickball. I was so good that my teammates would catch balls and bring them to me to kick instead of trying to kick them on their own. The kids on the receiving end had moved to the far side of the fence and would throw their arms up, screaming in anticipation each time I got a new ball. By the power of my bionic right leg I earned hero status from both sides. On my own team I was told, "We're winning!" several times as I was handed the ball. From the opposing team I was told, "You're awesome!" by some of the pint size players as the end of recess bell sounded.

Let me tell you, it felt good to dominate the kickball court. Mr. B literally glowed with pride that I was his mom. I held my head high and my chest out the rest of the day and told everyone within ear shot of my success and blatantly ignored the rude comments about my being so much bigger than these 5 to 7 year old wanna be master kickers. Size doesn't matter, it's all about skill and natural talent. :-)

Self Inflicted Hickies

I just got this from Mr. B's teacher. It made me laugh with remembrance of when my friends and I did this in elementary school.

Hello Room 12 Families-

Today we had a discussion in class about sucking on our arms and hands. I have noticed that children are sucking on their arms to the point that they are leaving marks.

We discussed why we do not do this to our bodies. We talked about the marks being a way for our body to tell us that it doesn't like being sucked on. We also discussed that at school there are many germs and licking or sucking on things causes the spread of germs and can make us sick.

The students had great ideas about reminding each other not to do this if we see someone sucking on their arm or hand. We also talked about not chewing or sucking on our sleeves as well. I was glad to hear the students come up with great ideas on how to solve this issue. They understand why we should not do this.

This is the first day that I have noticed these behaviors in several children and so am working to insure it doesn't continue.

Thank you for your support. Please let me know if you have any questions.

I don't think I'd make a very good teacher; I'd be laughing the entire time and probably enticing the kids to do more of the things that I did when I was their age.

Daffodils

It's March 2nd and my daffodils are blooming. Isn't that crazy? The east coast keeps getting slammed with snow storms by the foot and it was 63 degrees here yesterday. So very strange.

Yesterday after school, as I walked with the kiddo's home from the bus stop, Beeb noticed that our daffodils were blooming. She was so excited! I promised her that we could put some in the house to enjoy and so today, before school, she and I went out, hunted up the best daffodil in the garden and it now resides on Beeb's bedside table.



I love spring flowers (even though it is still technically winter). :-)

Bragging Moment

Be forewarned that this is a post where I get to brag about my daughter. It may get kind of sappy but I am so proud of her that I had to write it down and share it.

At this stage of the year in kindergarten kids are expected to know the standards such as all 52 letters of the alphabet (upper & lower case) and be able to count to 99. Beeb has been working on these at home and can not only meet the standards but is exceeding them in many areas.

Here's the bragging part of what Beeb has achieved:

Count to 200 and beyond (only needs to go to 99 for school)
Identify all the letters in the alphabet (upper & lower)
Identify all the letter sounds of the alphabet
Knows all the high frequency site words (only needs to know 10 for school):
I, see, the, like, you, me, up, in, my, to, said, go, do, yes, am, and, at, a, is, on, it, no, can, did, are
Prints her own name legibly (first and last)
Writes words using at least 2 correct letter sounds consistently
Reads aloud numbers through the hundreds (only needs to go to 20's for school)
Orders numerals through hundreds (only needs to go through 1-10 for school)
Identifies and extends a 4 & 6 part pattern (only needs to go through 2 & 3 parts for school)

In addition she has passed off:
Counting to 100 by 5's and 10's
Counting backwards from 20 (we are working on backwards from 50 right now)
Her art work is always a 4 (the highest level of detail) thanks to her weekly art lessons from Ms. Kori.

To say that Beeb loves school is a gross understatement. Beeb LOVES and LIVES for school. She is always excited for Sunday night so she can go back to school the next day and school breaks are spent questioning me as to how many more days until school starts again.

We are so proud of Beeb and her academic accomplishments. I pray that her enthusiasm for school lasts another 18 years (through her Masters degree).