Kindergarten Red day

It's color week at Kindergarten. Today was Red and I put a reminder on my phone.  Seems like other parents were on top of it too.

It was a sea of (mostly) red in the class.  I helped for a few hours while Serafina was in preschool.

Before "free choice" the kids sign up for an activity or area.  I expected Leo to pick Legos, but he went with "dollhouse".  He hung with some of the girls and was happy playing with the dolls and furniture.  

He put grandma in the wheelchair and then he dumped her out.  Hmmm.

He seems to be happier in class than earlier in the year.  The teacher is focusing less on behavior and more on activities and projects.  When I see him in class and interacting with the other kids, he reminds me so much of myself (pretty introverted) that it's kind of amazing.


And here are some Princess Leia buns just for fun.

Birthday fun

Our neighbors, Enrico and Sophie, had their 8th birthday today.  We've been attending their birthday parties for years now and it is always the same and always fun.  They have a big backyard so everyone gathers there, plays, eats pizza and cake.  A few years ago, they got a trampoline for their birthday, so now that's the big attraction.  Serafina spent almost the entire time on the trampoline, even when the big kids were in it.  

Here are the birthday boy and girl; Sophie isn't too happy about quality of the birthday song. 

Serafina took a break from jumping to eat cake and discovered this dog.  It shook and barked and was generally annoying.  She looks so charmed by it in this picture, but she lost interest almost immediately after.  

Can I just say, it is very hard to pick a present for an eight-year-old boy.  I didn't struggle too much with the girl gift, but the boy one...oof!

This little lady was easy to shop for.  This is Annie and she celebrated her fourth birthday at Raynor park today.  Her big sister was in Leo's preschool class two years ago and her mom is the VP at the preschool this year.  The big garage sale that almost killed me last year is coming up this Saturday.  Her mom seems to be handling it much better than I did.  

Here's Annie in front of her gourmet S'mores birthday cake.  

It was made by my friend who is also named Anni.  She's a professional baker that has her own company with her mother-in-law.  I think they specialize in cookies, but these cakes are pretty serious business too.  

Because one cake isn't enough, here's the peanut butter cup cake.  

Yum!

Eileen, the birthday girl's mom, was doing some face painting at the party.  Leo went for a simple, subtle design.  

Yeah, right.  He went for full, green face monster.  

 On the way home, he fell on his bike and started to cry.  When he realized he was messing up his face paint, he started to cry harder.  I got him to stop and assured him that he still looked good.

Serafina doesn't usually have the patience to sit throughout this type of activity, but she wanted some too.  Here she is mid-butterfly.

All done.  

Decorated kids.

 Leo washed his off shortly after we got home, so I'm not sure why he was so distressed about it possibly smearing from tears.  Serafina didn't want to wash it off so she wore it out to dinner.

 Family root beer float time.

While we were waiting for the check, Tom went to fetch the car and Leo got up and was dancing around.  He made some move that caused his Croc to fly off his foot and land on some innocent people's table.  It was horribly embarrassing and extremely hilarious.  We booked it out of there as fast as possible.

Tom washed Serafina's face before bed and she cried and cried.  She said she wanted "her butterfly back."

Duel biking and early bird special

Both kids rode their bikes to school today. It went pretty well.  Serafina did fall and need a bandaid outside of her classroom, but that was to be expected.  Despite the topple, she's getting really good on the balance bike and will probably move up to the "big girl bike" any day.

Tonight Tom went to a concert so I took the kids out to dinner.  We went to a diner-style restaurant and got there around 5:45.  There wasn't anyone under 75 in the joint.  In fact, one woman was celebrating her 95th birthday.

In addition to being a popular destination for the older crowd, this place is good for kids.  They bring out some fun fruit right after you sit down.

And of course, crayons.

The kids ate well and were mostly well behaved.  I'm glad we went out and spared me the cooking/cleaning up.

Ice Cream Social 2013

When I took the kids to ice cream yesterday, I forgot they would be having ice cream tonight too. Oh well. This is probably the last preschool ice cream social. We've done it for the past three years (the first one Serafina was sporting a big cast).

Leo had soccer practice so the kids came over with Tom later since I needed to be there early to help set up.

The VP this year had the idea to hold a silent auction with final bidding and winners announced at the social.  I donated this auction item.

Leo wasn't that interested in dancing to the live music, but Serafina was happy to boogie.

Blue Day Award Winner

After returning from the field trip, Serafina and I just stayed at school because the first "Blue Day" awards were being presented a little later.  

Once a month, Leo's school has "Blue Day".  Kids and staff were their blue shirts and everyone comes together for an awards ceremony.  They give out Citzenship awards and another award for the monthly theme.  This month was "Respect".  Last week, I got a note home from Leo's teacher that he had been selected to receive a Blue Day award.  The teacher was proud of him and so were we.

Here's the Principal, Joy Shmeuli, leading the ceremonies.  She is very invested in her job and sometimes make my job as preschool president miserable.  Sigh.  It's only one year, I remind myself often.

Leo was part of the first group to be called up.

Here are the kindergarten Citizenship winners - one from each kinder classroom.

Tom was able to come and see the ceremony.  I didn't get a picture of him, except for his hand which is holding the award in this picture.

At the end, they had all the winners stand up one more time for some more applause.

A picture with his teacher at the end of the school day.

I'm so proud of him!

Kids in their school shirts.  

Of course, we had to celebrate with some ice cream after.

Our friend Ana won a "Respect" award for the first grade so she celebrated with us too.

Her little brother Navid is in Serafina's class.

Award winners!

Serafina's First PreK Field Trip

All the PreK kids at Serafina's school went on a field trip to the park today.  I was a working parent so I got to ride the bus with all those four year olds and keep them wrangled at the park.  Added bonus: as school president, I got my ear bent by teachers and parents alike.  I guess if I'm just standing around a park it seems like the perfect time to let me know all the things that should be done differently.  I don't really mind; it's my job, after all.  

Anyway, here they are lining up for the bus. 

We always take pictures in front of the bus and the kids are always stuck looking into the sun.

Off the bus and walking to the park.

Silly fun with friends.

She was the first one done with snack (because she didn't like most of what she was served), so she got to be line leader.

A better group picture.

Riding the bus home.