Merry Christmas

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and may 2013 be better than 2012.

Santa, repeat

Last year, Sophie cried when she sat on Santa's lap.  It was the same story this year.

 So, we all had our picture taken with Santa.

Later that afternoon we saw Santa at the nativity play.  He asked Lillie what she wanted for Christmas and she replied, "Don't you remember, I told you earlier."  Good thing Lillie wrote Santa a letter earlier in the day, so he could remember.

Recitals and Nativity

Last week, Lillie had her first Piano recital.  She played her Twinkle sequence, Jingle Bells, and Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. She had fun and she did great.

This past weekend, Lillie had a Holiday Dance recital. She had fun.

On Sunday, she was a dove in the Nativity play at church.

Wassailing

The Richland Wassailing was 2 weeks ago.  At the Wassailing Lillie petted the reindeer.  Sophie didn't want to.

After seeing the reindeer, we went to Jack and Jill Preschool to say hi to Mrs. Hoard, make a reindeer antler craft and introduce the school to Sophie.  The sand table and shape/light table were a huge hit.  After visiting the school, she is interested in visiting again.

Sophie's 1st visit to the Dentist and Lillie's School update

Sophie went to the Dentist for the first time today.  She let the Dental Hygientist count her teeth and look in her mouth, but she did not want her teeth cleaned.  After they applied the flouride to her teeth she got to pick out a toothbrush, sticker and bracelet.

Lillie loves school and she is doing great.  Last week, her teacher, Mrs. Barber, had the reading specialist test her reading level.  She is at a 3.4 (3rd grade, 4 months). She can read up to 6th grade, but she began to get frustrated at 4th grade reading level. I was worried about Lillie’s leveling off in her reading but her teacher and reading specialist both said that they wanted to keep her at her accelerated rate.

Her reading comprehension is a solid 2nd grade level.  Mrs. Barber is going to stop having her do the kindergarten reading activities and build a reading tote for her to do, when the rest of the class is doing kindergarten reading.  She is also going to have Accelerated Reading time with the reading specialist and the librarian.  I saw the reading specialist in the hallway last week and she said that she enjoyed reading with Lillie.  Reading with Lillie made her day.  Everyone noticed how happy Mrs. Hoffman (reading specialist) was the day she tested Lillie and it was because of Lillie.

Today, Lillie was pulled out of class to spend time in the ExCEL program with the 1st graders.  They don't offer it to Kindergartners until later in the year, if at all.  ExCEL is a program where students meet with an instructor for approximately 1 hour each week. This is an curriculum program in addition to their classroom curriculum. The program is designed to help them continue to strengthen curriculum, thinking skills, research activities, enhance thinking skills, and develop responsibility and interpersonal skills.

Go Huskers, beat State

Brian and I went to the Nebraska game at Michigan State on Saturday.  

We saw the Cornhusker marching band play before the game and at halftime.

After the game started, we were surprised at the number of unfilled/sold seats.

 We saw this crazy Spartan fan.

 It was a great game and we are glad that the Huskers won 28-24.  It was so cold, (36 degrees) that we were hoping that the game didn't go into overtime.

Election Day 2012

Lillie stood by the election signs 4 years ago, so I thought that Sophie should this year.  She slept in her stroller while I voted this afternoon.

Happy Halloween

Sophie and I have been going to two story times each week.  Since Lillie is a school, I want her to be around other kids more and learn how to socialize with them.  She has been shy about dancing and participating, because Lillie isn't around to follow.  This was the first week that she broke out of her shell.  She danced  and put letters on the bulletin board at story time.  

She wore her Halloween costume to story time this week.

I also helped out in Lillie's classroom for their Halloween party.  Lillie was Kiera from Barbie Princess and the Popstar.  She is in line with one of her good friends, Madi, for the Halloween parade.

Sophie played at a friend's house, while I was at school with Lillie.  After school, Lillie and I went back to our friend's house to eat and play a few Halloween games. Brian met us there after work too.  We also trick or treated in their neighborhood.

Leaves and Pumpkin Carving.

Last Saturday, the leaves were finally dry enough to play in.  Brian made a big pile of leaves for the girls to jump into and play in.

On Sunday, we carved Pumpkins.  Sophie didn't mind cleaning out the inside of her pumpkin.

Lillie designed her pumpkin face and drew on hair.  

 Brian, then cut out the designs.

This month Lillie learned how to tie her shoes and Sophie knows how to sing the Alphabet song and Baa Baa Black Sheep.

Fresh Beat Band, Conferences and No Naps

Last Sunday, Lillie and I went to the Fresh Beat Band Concert in Grand Rapids.  She has wanted to see them for the past year and she had a great time at the concert.

Lillie and I waiting for the concert to start.

Thursday, we went to parent-teacher conferences.  Her teacher said "Lillie was the most advanced Kindergartner that she has ever had." The teacher is teaching them to write and draw summaries of the stories that they read.  This summary was from "If you give a moose a muffin" book.  

Lillie had Friday off, so we went to Olive Garden (Lillie's favorite place to eat) and Chuck E Cheese's for some fun.

And finally, Sophie has given up (or I have) on her naps.  However, last week she went upstairs and fell asleep with the blinds open.  She will fall asleep in the car for a few short naps throughout the week. Yes, she sleeps with a lot of stuffed animals and books.

Pumpkin Time

On Sunday, we went to Gull Meadow farms to enjoy the nice fall weather.  First, we took a wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins.

Lillie and Sophie each picked out a pumpkin.

Then we went to pick apples.

After, we picked apples Lillie and Sophie played on the slides, bounce pillows, and obstacle course. Lillie's favorite thing was the zip-line.

Sophie's favorite was the Apple train ride, but she would only go on it, if Lillie was with her.

We did a lot more in the three and a half hours that we were there, but these were our favorites.

Ahoy Captain! and Sophie time with Mommy

Lillie has enjoyed the first weeks of school and made a lot of new friends.  At school, students are recognized for their good behavior through AHOY slips.  Each week, students names are drawn to be selected as the AHOY Captains of the week.  Last week, Lillie was one of the names drawn and she had her picture taken in the captain's hat.

For the last week, I have been working on the Reading Club program for the PTO.  It has kept me pretty busy, so today after I made copies at school, I took Sophie to the Bird Sanctuary.  She enjoyed feeding the birds, including this goose and duck.  She has been enjoying the past few weeks of time with me.  Her potty training has improved and she is listening better.  She is also learning a lot, she is identifying more letters and when she saw a meijer's commercial yesterday she said "grocery store".

Lunch with Lillie

Lillie generally takes her lunch to school.  On the second day of school, Lillie ate the school lunch and didn't get to drink her milk, because she expected a mom to open it.  (The kids are suppose to raise their hand and someone will come open it.)  I talked to mom that was at school on the first day and she said that Sophie and I could come and eat lunch with Lillie.  The school especially likes parents to come help with lunch during the first few weeks at school.  Yesterday, I packed Sophie a lunch to take to school.  When I told Sophie where we were going she grabbed her Dora backpack and Dora lunch bag.

Sophie was so excited to see Lillie in the middle of the day. Sophie ate lunch with the big kids and I helped the kids open their milks, fruit cups and bananas.  I think that we might go back to see Lillie next week.
Lillie is enjoying school.  She has made several friends, including some that are on both the bus and in her class.  She is a little cranky when she comes home, but she is still adjusting to her new schedule.  Sophie is enjoying this one on one time that she gets to spend with me.  And I love how I can get so much more done during the day, now that our schedule isn't as busy.

She is ready for Kindergarten, but is Kindergarten ready for her?

The day has finally arrived where Lillie gets to go to Kindergarten.  As you can tell from her "Rock star" shirt and hand on her hip, she was ready.

Yesterday, we gave her a Kindergarten book and this poem with "special" dust.  She said that only needed a small pinch, because she was only a little nervous.

Before we went to the bus stop, we had to take our pictures on the front porch.  It was raining, so some of these pictures turned out dark.  Brian went into work late, so he could see her off at the bus stop.

 Sophie was excited to see the bus...but when I asked her this morning "Do wanted to go see sissy get on the bus?" She replied, "no, I want to go see Elmo."

Lillie got on the bus and let us take her picture.  The buses were running late today, because of the new routes and all of the parents taking pictures.

Then Sophie and I went to Lillie's school to see her getting off the bus.  Since, our community is a busing community, it is a tradition to have your child ride the bus on the first day of school, but you meet them at school and walk them to their classroom.

 Lillie's Kindergarten teacher is Mrs. Barber.  She likes parent volunteers, so I will be able to help a few mornings in the classroom.  Mrs. Barber is also very warm and excited about teaching.  She was also excited  to use iPads in their classroom this year.  Gull Lake School district passed a bond for construction and technology improvements.  Every student will be able to use iPads and the high school students can even take theirs home with them.  We are glad that we choose to live in this community.  Lillie has one friend in her class that was at Jack and Jill Preschool and there are 5 other Jack and Jill friends at her school.

We got a "Congratulations Lillie" cookie and balloon to celebrate Lillie's first day of school.  She will be surprised when she gets home and I can't wait to hear about her first day.

Tapping out the Summer

The summer is winding down and we enjoying the last few days of it.  Two weeks ago, Lillie was the Magician's Assistant at the Library event.  After the Library event, we went to the mall and Lillie was officially tall enough to ride the carousel by herself.

Last week, Lillie started her Tap/Gymnastics class.

This last weekend, we went to Frankenmuth, Michigan.  We stayed overnight at a hotel with a water park.  By the end of the day, Lillie's favorite water attraction was the 3 story tubing water slide.  We did some shopping at the outlet mall and at Bronner's Christmas store.  It was a Christmas store, the size of a grocery store.  We only had an hour available to shop at Bronner's and we didn't see everything.  

The next morning, we saw Zehnder (the hotel and water park mascot).  Lillie was excited to see him, but not Sophie.  She still hates life size mascots.  

Congratulations Dan and Sarah!

This past weekend, Lillie and I traveled to Vancouver, Washington to celebrate the marriage of my Sister and Dan. Lillie was the flower girl. When she posed for this picture, she was ready for her flower girl duties.

 Before the wedding, we had our picture taken with my Mom (Nancy), Sarah and Dan.

After the wedding, we had some yummy food and started dancing.  During the first dance, a little boy came up to Lillie and asked her to dance.  No one put him up to it.  They danced to every song and they tried to dance like the professional dancers.  Notice Lillie's hand in the air.

 Lillie and her "Washington" friend, Luke.