Kindergarten!

Don't let the expression fool you -- Thomas is ready and excited to go to Kindergarten! This afternoon the elementary school where he'll be attending Kindergarten held their orientation. We met the teachers, the principal, the PTA women, the after-care coordinator, toured the classrooms and found the bathrooms. I liked that the Kindergarten classrooms (all 3 of them!) are clustered together in a separate building with their own bathrooms and teacher workroom. It's reassuring to know he won't be wandering long hallways by himself.

Today Thomas tried out the SmartBoard in one classroom, read a book in another and checked out the computers in a third. We peeked into the boys' bathroom and talked about the square toilet paper we found vs. the rolls we're used to. We found the students' cubbies.

In a few weeks we'll go back for a full campus tour with the principal. We'll also try to attend the all-school carnival in early June to familiarize ourselves with the campus even more. And there's also the option of "Kindergarten Bootcamp" in mid-July should we choose to enroll. Lots of fun things and big changes coming our way!

Thomas & Allison

Meredith takes her dance class at the YMCA. Every week we pack a lunch and have a picnic with friends in the Y's courtyard where they have picnic tables, a fountain, grassy areas and a playground. The kids all eat together and then play while we three moms catch up and finish our lunches. It makes for a very enjoyable Tuesday afternoon.
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Today we skipped our picnic lunches and went out for Mexican instead. Thomas loved eating out with his friend, Allison. The two were quite a pair all throughout lunch -- hanging spoons off their noses, having little contests with each other, etc. It was an adventure, as it always is with one little friend in particular, but loads of fun for the kids.

karate class

Last week Thomas started a new karate class. It's an after-school class for children 5 to 10 years old. Oh, but Thomas isn't 5 years old, you say? His teacher made an exception because she felt he was ready so he's in the class. He does a great job and although many of the kids are bigger than he is, it does not mean they are any better. He misses his "4 year old class" (as he calls it) and having his pal Tyler in class with him, but he's really doing great and improving already after just two classes. He's really focused and tries his best -- it's so fun to watch him do karate! It's especially nice that this new class is offered at a location near Mike's work and starts at 4:30pm. Today he was able to leave work a little early to watch Thomas' class. They both loved that!

Bela love

Bela received lots and lots of attention this morning when we hosted Meredith's Monday morning playgroup. We love having this small group of girls to play with every week and today, Bela got to join in on the girl fun. She loved every minute of the attention she received. It isn't clear who had the better time here -- Bela or the girls!

a Disneyland celebration!

We had a great time spending the day after Meredith's birthday at Disneyland. It was a full 8.5 hour day for us there. It sounds like a long time at a park we've been to several times in the past year, but there is always new things to see and do. I would guess we only did or saw two or three things all day long that we'd actually seen and done before. Every visit is like the first time. And it really is a fun place for a celebration. We'll be heading up again in just two weeks for Thomas' birthday, but then probably not again until sometime this fall.
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Sometimes I wonder if we visit these big attractions too often. But the kids' enthusiasm and excitement never wavers and, really, who knows what the future will bring, so we go. And we enjoy the big attractions we have so readily available to residents of Southern California because we can. I would really regret having lived here and not taken advantage of all that is offered. But really? I know that would never happen because that's how our family is. We like to get out, explore new adventures and enjoy all our opportunities. I can't imagine living any other way.

Meredith is 3!

Today is Meredith's third birthday! It's been a busy week of preparations that ended with a fun birthday party earlier today with friends. The festivities began at 10:30am which meant this morning we were scrambling to finish up last minute things, pick up coffee & bagels, and get the cake from the baker. But all the hard work came together beautifully. Twenty-two little friends joined us for bounce house fun, a tiara/crown craft, bubbles, playing all over inside and outside the house, a champagne brunch, and a yummy mermaid birthday cake. Guests left with sea-inspired chocolate pops and a special item picked from the treasure chest. Very, very fun!
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Three hours later, we were all wiped out from the party. We have been relaxing all afternoon, doing a little jumping in the bounce house and pretty much just taking it easy because tomorrow we're off to Disneyland for the day!
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tennis lesson #1

Above is my favorite shot from Thomas' first tennis lesson this afternoon. During the last round of hits, he actually nailed all four of his balls and received a Good Job! from his coach and all the parents watching. It didn't take long for Thomas to figure out that holding the racquet with two hands gave him much better control. This group of 4 year old boys were so fun to watch. Their tennis coach did a great job engaging them and making it a lot of fun for both the boys and their moms!
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Meredith isn't taking tennis lessons (you have to be 4), but you know she's already asking for them anyway. She did, however, enjoy watching the lesson and sharing a snack with her little friend, Harper. At the end of the lesson, she picked up more of the balls than a couple of the boys.

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high fives to end the lesson

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Thomas w/pal Griffin

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her special playdates

We started rotating drop-off playdates with friends a few months ago. Thomas' Friday playgroup has worked beautifully. Every week there is a playdate, it rotates equally and the kids all get along great. They look forward to this weekly time with each other.
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Meredith's group hasn't worked as well. We've hosted a few and another mom has hosted one, but then one started working temporarily, another experienced morning sickness... you know how it goes. It's also the first time these girls have been dropped off anywhere (Meredith is the exception). For weeks now Meredith has watched Thomas go play at friends' houses and has been in tears because she wants to stay and play, too.
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But, it looks like our Monday playgroup for Meredith is turning around. The next two months are scheduled so we know who is hosting which days (yes, I've been pushy to get this going). This morning Meredith was very excited to go play at Grace's house. Thomas waited in the car while I walked her to the door but I really didn't even need to do that. She waved and blew me a kiss, then ran off into the house with her friend. I love that. And I love that these playdates will allow me some extra one-on-one time with Thomas. This morning we hit some balls at the driving range and then stopped for a pizza lunch. Grace's mom called while we were eating and offered to feed Meredith lunch so the girls could continue playing and I could spend more time out with my little guy. I love friends like that.
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Meredith really enjoyed her 3 hour playdate -- so much so that she took a 40 minute nap later this afternoon!

journals

I love that daddy is in a chair and his '9' is backwards

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I love journals. I kept a writing one on and off growing up and in college I kept a drawing journal. So you can imagine how pleased I was to see Thomas enjoying the journaling they do at preschool. The students are asked to add an entry at least once a week and it can be whatever they want. Thomas' are mostly drawings.

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I thought we should continue this journal project as a daily exercise during the summer. A few weeks ago we were in Target and the kids each picked out their own journal. We couldn't wait to get started so they made their first entries that day. They have continued making entries almost every day and more often than not, it's because Thomas has asked for his journal. His entries continue to be the date at the top, a drawing of something that happened the day before and I add a few notes at the bottom. Hers are drawings of happy faces and sometimes other things, like today's racecar.

crafty fish

I love this simple craft project. We have had leftover paper plates of varying sizes and shapes in the pantry for the past year so we gathered those and dove into this fish project. We'll use them to decorate for Meredith's birthday party this weekend. I think they'll look cute hung all over the back fence in the yard, creating a feeling of actually being under the sea.

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party invitations

Yesterday we put together the guest list for Thomas' birthday party. He usually loses interest early during writing projects so this afternoon I suggested we start addressing envelopes now. I figured we could do five today, another five in a few days and so on until they are finished. Maybe it's the fact that they are his friends he's inviting to his party or maybe because of the way we went about it today, but he actually sat and addressed all 20+ envelopes without stopping once. I was totally blown away. And I love seeing his writing skills at this age. He's mixing upper and lower case letters (sometimes in the same name!), but I know this is just due to him being silly. Guidelines with a light pencil helped him keep letter size consistent. I think the writing looks great!

celebrations are coming soon!

Birthday season is upon us again! Meredith's 3rd birthday is in 8 short days (what!?) and we'll be celebrating it with a mermaid party at our house. Everyone on her guest list has rsvp'd yes so we're gearing up for a fun time with lots of little friends. About every other day I tackle another piece of her birthday party (mermaid tail and a treasure chest were earlier this week, cake is tomorrow, etc...) and today it was the birthday shirts. The pink one she'll wear at her birthday party and the white one she'll wear the day after at Disneyland. I had intended them to both be mermaid shirts like the pink one, but the mermaid was more work than I wanted to do so the white shirt was a 30 second job instead. She loves them.
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Thomas' birthday is right on the heels of Meredith's. Invitations will be addressed this weekend and mailed and/or given out next week. His theme is still undecided but at least we have a venue booked and their generic invitations ready to address. Thomas' 5th birthday falls on a Thursday this year so we'll spend the day at Disneyland and have his birthday party that following Saturday, the 15th.
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On the 16th, I will rest. Two birthday parties so close together, family in town for a week during that time, and all the other regular day to day stuff will definitely leave me deserving of my girls' weekend in Las Vegas at the end of May.

the butterfly jungle

The butterflies are currently at the Wild Animal Park (SD Zoo) so the kids and I went out there today to see them. They loved walking through the exhibit and seeing all the different colors, sizes and shapes of butterflies. Both really wanted a butterfly to land on them, but none of them did today. However, one landed on my shoulder and the kids got a kick out of checking out that one up close.
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The other big draw currently at the WAP is the new elephant calf born just two days ago. We caught him and his mother at a good time since they were out in the open. Five minutes after arriving to this exhibit the two moved away and were no longer visible from where we stood.

butterfly jungle ~ the new elephant calf & his mother

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my two favorite butterflies today

The Landings Restaurant, Carlsbad

Airports are exciting places. It doesn't matter if you are flying, meeting someone or, as in our case today, just dropping by for lunch with friends. Carlsbad has a small airport just a few miles from our house. Mostly the travel is between Los Angeles and Carlsbad, but there are also charter airlines, flying schools, a restaurant, etc. there, too. I had heard it was a nice place for lunch with the kids since they reopened the restaurant almost a year ago so today we went!
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We checked it out with 9 other mamas and their 15 fun kids. Whew -- talk about a busy lunch! We sat outside on the patio and all the kids loved having a front row seat for the airplanes, helicopters, fire rescue trucks, other misc. airport vehicles and even an Aptera that we saw today!
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Since it was our little friend Grace's actual birthdate today, the kids and I made cupcakes to bring along. After lunch the waitress brought out the cupcakes and we all sang Happy Birthday to You! to Grace. What a fun lunch!

wii dancing

kids- dancing with the wii from c on Vimeo.

We recently picked up a few new things for the wii and one of these is Just Dance. This has been totally fun for the whole family!

the robot project

Last night we made these robots using miscellaneous things we found around the garage, some heavy duty magnets, a couple of empty cans and a hot glue gun. It's sort of a Mr. Potato Head kind of robot because the pieces can be moved around and assembled to make new robots. The kids enjoyed the project and Thomas, especially, was pretty proud of the little guy he built.

our favorite cheerleaders

Yesterday the kids ran in their Junior Carlsbad races and this morning Mike and I ran in our Carlsbad 5000 races. It's such an awesome weekend of events and I'm really excited that our whole family participated this year. Everyone had such great races!
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After the morning races, we split up for some one-on-one time with the kids. Mike and Thomas headed out to see How to Train Your Dragon while Meredith and I went shopping for birthday party supplies. Just two more weeks until she is 3!

Tinkerbell

This afternoon we celebrated our special friend Grace's 3rd birthday with Tinkerbell as the other guest of honor. All the girls loved Tinkerbell, as you might imagine, esp. Meredith. She was in complete awe of this woman -- wanting to play with her, talk to her, and even touch her during the storytime. She's had some interest in Tinkerbell prior to the party but I have a feeling we'll be hearing more about Tinkerbell in the weeks to come.

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Junior Carlsbad

This morning the kids ran in the Junior Carlsbad running event. Thomas ran in the 4 year old division and ran a 1/4 mile stretch. Meredith ran in the 2 year old division and ran 50 yards. This was our first time participating and it was a lot of fun for the whole family. Thomas ran "solo" but Mike followed alongside the best he could in the mob of kids. Meredith and I ran side by side with her waving to the spectators at least half the distance. Both kids were very proud of their running races this morning (as were we)! Tomorrow it'll be the adults' turn to race the 5000m race (the 5K is 3.1 miles) and we'll both be participating in that one. It's a fun active family weekend!

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Thomas and pal Tyler size up the competition ~ post race goodies

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Meredith crosses the finish line & receives her medal

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post race smiles

playdate Friday

This morning we hosted the weekly Friday group. We baked some pear-orange cranberry-walnut bars, read books, dressed up, put on puppet shows, played the game Operation, cut out letters for an Alphabet Search and brainstormed names for the new fish in our family. Talk about a busy morning! But so enjoyable! I love that one Friday every month we have these little friends over to play and that the other three Fridays Thomas spends playing at their houses. It's been a very good thing!

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flower field visit

This morning we joined friends for a visit to the Flower Fields. It's one of the tourist attractions that draws thousands to Carlsbad each spring. The flowers are gorgeous and there's a lot of fun things for the kids to do. Thomas and his pals, Griffin and Hailey, had a great time running all over the grounds searching out the "stamp stations". A favorite for all the kids was the trimming of a palm tree at the resort above the fields and finding a Polar Bear Poinsettia in the poinsettia tent. The boys also had a great time in the sweet pea maze. The three of them ran all around inside the maze and managed to find the exit all by themselves!

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Grace & Meredith ~ watching the palm get trimmed

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T leads the way inside the maze ~ ending the day at the beach

first stripe on belt

Today's karate class was the last one for this session so all the kids were "tested". If they did well, they received a stripe on their belt. Not all the kids received one today and not all of them performed very well -- except for Thomas! He did a fantastic job demonstrating each block, kick and punch as they were called out. Seeing the look on his proud face after receiving the stripe was the highlight of my day. His instructor approached me after class, offered her compliments to Thomas as well and recommended we move him into the next level. Nice job, Thomas!