4th week of October, 2017

It was a FULL week!

I did a craft with the kids - like for real...  I did a craft with the kids!  (I feel like I don't do enough of that.)  they each made their own beaded pumpkin.  Even Emmalyn was able to participate.

All done!

Maxwell had his turn at the pumpkin patch after Kindermusik.

Lots of pumpkins to choose from

The special one

Go Cubs!  So excited to wear the shirt I got at Wrigley field.  They are going to take it all the way!

Emmalyn doing a great job riding her trike.  She's got the pedaling down.

Look at that mess of hair!

The only time it goes straight is on a slide with tons of static.   :)

Costa Vida finally opened!  We were excited to go try it out for free on their practice night.  I was in heaven with the pork salad.  :)

We went to the annual Halloween party at our next door neighbor's.  This year we went as hippies.

Tyne and me

The decorations were fantastic!  (Katherine and me)

Group picture

She was so sweetly sleeping when I got home that I tried to get a pic, but whoops, the flash bothered her.

I painted the kids' fingernails.  Maxwell was really excited about his orange/black fingernails

Maxwell's wall still has his poster and maps from preschool.  He worked hard on finishing up the maps when he was there this summer.

I had a work trip to California and stayed at Julianne's house.  This was my first time going to her new house.  It was a gorgeous home up in the hills with an amazing view.  I went out on Sunday so I could spent a little more time with her.  We spent the whole day just talking.  At one point, Derek joined in for a few hours.  It was so relaxing and enjoyable.

We cooked dinner!

Lemon, basil, asparagus chicken pasta

The next day after work, I hung out with Jules on set at her show, where she's a judge.  

All dressed up for the show.  I was feeling going about my weightloss so far and felt really pretty in this dress (with some serious heels, you can't tell how high they are in this pic)

I got to sit pretty close to her so we were able to talk a little during breaks.  I was coughing at one point and she kindly got up and gave me her water.  We were also naughty and texted a few times.

After the show

Jules, Kristy, and me enjoying some amazing Greek food after the show

It was nice spending a little time with Derek during this trip

The next morning we had time to go to breakfast before I had to go to work.  It was a really great visit with Julianne.  We had tons of deep, meaningful conversations.  I love her tremendously and I always leave her feeling uplifted and inspired.

I got home pretty late from LA.  While I was waiting for my luggage, I looked through my purse to find my car key... except it weren't there.  I started to panic a little bit but figured it must just be in my luggage.  I got my luggage and tore through it multiple times and couldn't find the key.  I had driven Peter's car and we only have 1 car key (we think Maxwell may have thrown the other one away when he was little).  

So, long story short... Peter had to drive all the way to the airport to get me.  I tried to get a locksmith out there but no one was able to come out that late and make me a new key.  They could let me into the car but every I called didn't have the specific type of key on hand to be able to make me a key.  Poor Peter was a trooper because at one point he had left the house and I called him and told him to turn around because I had found a lock smith who would be able to help me.  Well, then 10 minutes later I get a call from the lock smith saying they couldn't do it until the next day so now Peter had to leave AGAIN to come get me.  I really appreciated that he had a good attitude about it because I felt so awful.

The stinking key!!!  Julianne ended up finding it in her bag that I had borrowed and the next morning she overnighted it to me.  Peter and I decided to still have the lock smith come to the airport because it would be tough being down a car for two days plus it would be good to have two keys again.

So the next morning, I drove Peter to work and then continued to the airport to meet the locksmith.  That was an ordeal!!  He worked for like an hour on my car and then told me he needed to go back to his shop to get a certain machine.  So, I ate lunch at the airport while I waited.  Finally he finished and so I drove back to Peter's work that afternoon in my car and then we went back to the airport so that he could drive his car.  It was such a hassle.

The locksmith

Unfortunately the locksmith ended up taking basically my whole day and that night I was hosting a craft party, which I had planned on spending my afternoon prepping for.  So instead I scrambled to get everything together.

The spread turned out okay than to everyone bringing stuff too

We all did Thanksgiving/Holiday themes on either canvas or chalkboard

My friend Andrea does this as her business and was a great teacher!  It was fun to have both neighborhood and work friends there.

The finished products

Maxwell came home with his first reported card from school.  They don't get letter grades at this point.  He was meeting all expectations on the report card.  For math, he had achieved all parts of the kinder curriculum (which I thought was great but a little ridiculous since it's October and he already knows everything he's supposed to learn this year and they aren't going to challenge him to go beyond that).

Maxwell goes to Kindergarten!

The night before, Maxwell read "The Night Before Kindergarten".

We laid out his clothes for the first day the night before (He calls this making a Maxwell).

I wrote his teacher this note all about Maxwell.

Landen and Hayden ready for the first day.

The whole day I was just excited for him.  No tears were shed (pretty good for me).  But it was hard to feel sad when I just knew he was so ready for this!

First day of Kindergarten - he wants to be a police officer when he grows up (I had no idea what he was going to say when I asked him the question so this was a surprise to me.)  Then he wanted to draw a picture of himself and me on the chalkboard too.

Ready to go!

Peter and I drove him to school (we left Emmalyn at Mrs. Mary Ann's) and walked him inside.

He found his spot for his backpack - number 11.

He just walked in so confidently, hung up his backpack, and went to class.

Saying good morning to Mrs Garza

Looking for his spot at a table.  The dad in the picture was blocking Maxwell's spot so he had trouble finding it and I could see him getting a little nervous when he couldn't find his spot.

Found it!

And then we left...

He immediately got engaged in working on his page.  It was no big deal to him.

Emmalyn had a great time at Mrs Mary Ann's and didn't want to leave when we came to pick her up.

Peter and I had both taken the day off so once Emmalyn was home with Brittany, we got started on our date day.  We dropped off his car to get some work done on it and then had breakfast at Panera. (Or - more accurately, I had breakfast at Panera while Peter watched because he was doing intermittent fasting.)

We drove back past the school when it was time for recess and watched him for a minute.  He was easy to spot thanks to those yellow shorts.  He was playing on the playground with Landen.  There are more than a 100 kids in Kindergarten and they were all outside playing on this playground.  There isn't any large field or grass area like when I was in school.  Just the playground and some bball hoops and cement.  The line to get down the slide was quite long.  :(  It was good to see him having fun though.  I wish I could be a fly on the wall and watch his whole first day!

After we spied on Maxwell, we went to the craft store to buy the wood letters for Maxwell's birthday pictures.  After that, we went to the mall to have my wedding rings inspected (I do it twice a year).  Peter decided he wants to start a new tradition of buying me jewelry on the first day of school, so I got some topaz earrings and a pretty pearl bracelet.  We will see if this tradition continues...

A funny thing happened as we were walking to the jewelry store.  We ran into Emmalyn and Brittany!!  Apparently Britt had brought her to the mall to play on the kids playground (she was missing having all the boys around).  She was still wearing her PJs...not a usual occurrence according to Britt.  Emmalyn was sad the first day and asking where Maxwell, Landen, and Hayden were.  She's going to be lonely home alone all day for the first time.

Emmalyn was NOT happy when we left.  Poor girl just wanted to be with her mom and dad but we had a kid free day planned.

After the mall we picked up Subway and went to visit my old boss, Michelle, who had just had a baby - Jack.  He is so tiny!!  It was a odd juxtaposition of events to be around this little baby on the same day I had dropped off my baby to go to school.  It's just amazing how my baby Maxwell turned into a school-aged kid.

Baby Maxwell - big kid Maxwell

A little snapchat fun with Emmalyn

After our visit with Michelle, it was time to pick up Maxwell so we went and waited in the carpool line (that took forever!!!)

I was excited to grill Maxwell about his first day.  He said it was a good day.  He asked if he could have school lunch tomorrow because those kids got chocolate milk (laugh, priorities for a 5 year old).  He also asked if I could do scooby doo crackers for snack.  Uh, not going to happen.  I'm sure it was a bummer to have his healthy lunch next to the many treats of those sitting at his lunch table.  He said the best part of his day was getting to go in Ms Corrigan's class twice.  Apparently they move into other classrooms for parts of the day.  He is in the same rotation group with Avery, his friend from our neighborhood, for "specials" and they sat by each other.  Specials are Art, Music, 2 days of PE, and Health & Wellness.

After we picked him up, we took him to target to spend a giftcard he got for his birthday - he loved doing that!

Pokemon cards

Then, we stopped on the way home for an ice cream cone to celebrate the first day of school.

Emmalyn loves playing doctor

Look at how tight that curl is!

Playing with chalk

More bike riding practice

Emmalyn running after them.  He was able to ride down our side of the street all by himself!  Now, we just need to work on starting and stopping.

The next day of school, we dropped him off again (because I wanted to get a pic with his teacher since we haven't done that yet).  He was very excited to go.

I asked her impression of him.  She was he was a very sweet boy, was a good listener and did everything she asked.  She used him as an example to the other kids a few times of how he was behaving, like in line.  (proud momma moment)

He is bringing home papers with coloring...and cutting lines.  He did write his numbers and alphabet.  It all is so very basic.  It may take a few weeks before he is challenged.  Hopefully he is challenged at some point.  He has sight words to learn but since he since he already knows them, we are making them spelling words for him to practice.  The kids don't have any formalized homework in Kindergarten.  They want the kids to have time to play, be kids, and just ask that we read with them every day.   I love it!

On the third day, Maxwell was nervous to be dropped off rather than walked in but he said it went okay.  So, a great start to public school!