Like all good things must, kindergarten has come to an end...

And this mama is a little overwhelmed. My first baby's first year of school has come and gone in the quickest of eye blinks. She's gone from toddler to schoolgirl but OH MUH BAYBEE!! Wears muh baybee??

First day of Kindergarten. It feels like we just got started. Oh how it hurt my mama heart to let her go.

Last day of Kindergarten. It's slightly bittersweet. I'm SO ready to have her back home with me EVERY SINGLE, but it concerns me how quickly the days are going.

Oh my. It IS going to fast. Next Zofia will start school and I'll have no more babies. Excuse me, I need to go breathe into a paper bag...

End of Year/Teacher Appreciation Gifts. What do you buy?

As I mentioned in my fruit-sculpture post yesterday this week is teach appreciation week. I am on the board of Athena's school's PTO and we put on a luncheon for them and gave the teacher lounge a Keurig. The year is almost over so this has me thinking end-of-year thanking as well. This is Athena's very first teacher, she really likes her, and watching my child blossom has been an incredible gift. Since I've never dealt with teachers in this capacity before, what's the protocol on Teacher Appreciation/End of year gifts? What do you do?

End of year/teacher appreciation gifts: Do you buy them and what do you spend?
	Yes! $25+
	Yes, a small gift $5-$10 max.
	A card and flowers/plant.
	A child-made card.
	No gifts.
pollcode.com free polls

(Also accepting gift ideas.)

Everyone's got needs.

Every day after school I peruse Athena's backpack and she shows me all the work she did that day. Today they made a book of wants and needs and cut out pictures from magazines.

Athena's Wants:

Butterflies and princess dolls,

And a neat-o new tent.

Now, onto Athena's needs:

Some ham and bacon salad,

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand this dude right here:

I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with this girl.

Athena's First Cheer Performance

Is it just me or do we spend a lot of time doing school fundraising? Why don't I remember my mom having to? After juggling a bagillion pounds of fundraiser cookie dough, a toddler, and Athena all balanced precariously on a double stroller and getting it to the house, I then had to further solo-wrangle everyone to McDonald's for an athletic's boosters fundraiser and Athena's first cheerleading performance.

First up? Adorable kindergartner Christmas carols:


(Sorry about my phone zooming in and out. It's being a hoser lately.)

Here's what Zofia thought:

Athena seems skeptical herself.

Cute and ready to cheer:

Athena and a cheer pal:

The videos all turned out wonky this time so I just have to document this with a picture. Womp Womp.
Go Otters!!

Another First for Athena

It might look boring but boring is good when it comes to this form. What you are looking at is one perfect progress report for a Miss Athena Bee. I'm so proud. Treats will be purchased and fun will be had. I hope it's the first of many.

Athena's Week in Kindergarten

Even with the lurgey taking over our house, a certain exuberant schoolgirl still had places to be. Still had homework to do and still had... boys to talk to?? Ahem...

I give you Athena's first gift from a boy:

Work on the street is rectangles are the new expression of love. His name is Jacob, and even though I told her we're Team Edward, she would not be swayed.

Girlfriend is starting to READ! This just amazes me for some reason. She loves animal stuff.

Little Miss Bee also had a test like a daggone teenager or something. She got a 95%. My "A" student. I love her :)

Having a school-age kid rocks my sock off, man.

More Conversations With Athena

(Athena holding her cookie dough fundraiser brochure. Want some?!?! I'll ship it!)

Athena is very excited about all things school related. Football games and Spirit Days are totally her thing. We've done a few fundraisers so far for the school and a can drive for a community program. She's SO excited to participate, can spot a Box Tops for Education product a mile away, but I wanted her to understand what we're doing and why. I began by explaining the school need some extra help so they can take the kids on field trips and that the principal's dream is to have iPads in the classroom. I also told her there are kids out there whose parents really need help so we give them our extra food and money

Athena: "There are people without money or food?!?!"
Me: "Yes Athena, and they need our help. They need food and money for their houses."
Athena: "We give them our extra food and money so they have it? When we need food and money Dad has it. IS DAD OUR FUNDRAISER?!?! WE'RE LIKE DAD?!?! AWESOME!!!!" *jumps up and down*

By jove, not only does she get it, she's learned to appreciate her dad's work. She makes me smile :)

Look at my kid!! Halloween Video Edition

Last night Ottawa River Road Elementary and the Summit Street McDonald's paired up to do a fundraiser to raise money for school field trips. McDonald's generously gave 15% of all profits that night and it was a monster-smashing success.

Athena could NOT wait to go. School staff was manning the counter, cheerleaders were performing, and Athena's music class showed off their vocal stylings with 2 songs:


5 Little Pumpkins (Miss Bee is in the center with the leopard print pants on.)

 The Itsy Bitsy Spider (Happy Halloween!!)





"Ermahgerd! Erce creeeeeeeam!"

"Ermahgerd! Scooby!!!!!"

"HellOOOOOOOO BOYZ!"

We had so much fun. Having a kid in school is as awesome as it sounds :) 

Happy Halloween!!!

Kindergarten 2012: A year of Firsts

I lost my way on this here blog for a second. I started paying attention to comment numbers, stats, revenue and began trying to write for other people. Obviously this bombed. I had horrible writer's block for a year and stopped using this site for what it was intended: a space for me to share and document our lives. Not for blogger stats but for ME. Because of this blog I can go back and see what Athena weighed at 2 years old and compare it to Zofia. I can go back and look at holiday pictures from any given year. I'm going to appreciate this so much down the road when I need to reminisce about my babies. SOOOOOO..... let's get back to that, 'kay? Yes.

Athena started school last month and it has gone so differently than I had expected. She's been fairly sheltered and never been away from me for long stretches of time so I thought there was going to be a huge adjustment period. I thought she was going to miss me, miss home, miss naps. I thought she would cry for me and beg me to stay home. Oh how this is not the case. She LOVES it. She loves the work, the playing, the socializing. It's all so amazing to her. She had no idea there was this world full of kid out there for her to play with.

My style of parenting has come under fire for years. I was told to cut the cord a million times and if I didn't, my kids were never going to learn independence. They were going to be clingy little whiners that wanted nothing but their mama. Heh. Right. Athena is flourishing.

She asked for her own room, she asked to sleep by herself, and she marched right in that classroom and got down to business. 

In fact, one month is and she already asked me to stop helping her in the classroom in the morning and to just drop her off at the door. Sorry kid. You're 5, not 15. Mama's still coming in.

To those that knock attachment parenting and say that it breeds clingy kids, I kinda wanna say "nana nana booboo, stick your face in doodoo." But I won't. I'm too mature for that. I'm the mother of a school-aged kid now after all.

Up next: How Kindergarten is affecting my OCD.

August 1st.

Today is August 1st. That means Athena officially starts school this month.

She is ready.

I am not.
My first baby is getting too big too fast.

Homeschool journey coming to an end - A new beginning for Athena.

I have been homeschooling Athena since she was a little over 2. It's been one of the highlights of parenting for me and she has really excelled. She always asks to get her schoolbooks down and for me to pull up her school sites. (I talked about our favorites here and here. The plan was to do this for as long as Athena wanted to, and if she ever decided she wanted to go the conventional school route we would. Well, that time has come. She is almost 5 and so excited about all of the new possibilities kindergarten at a public school could bring, and I feel it wouldn't be fair if I held her back based solely on what I want.

We better get ready.

We turned to Nickelodeon's Dora Beyond the Backpack for readiness quizzes, activities and information. After we went through our personalized assessment we're getting to work.

Correctly holding a pencil and scissors aren't something I've been all too focused on,

so we're doing lots of practice with that.

(Her spelling is getting GREAT.)

(Scissor practice is surprisingly tricky.)

Perhaps this lovely lass will take to homeschooling too. :)

So now we study, practice, and wait. Athena's application is in at a local elementary school and we're hopeful it will go through. I've loved doing this will her, but it's time to let her branch out her own way.

So I guess I'm doing this...

Hold my hand, internets. I'm skeered.

When I was a fresh-faced 17-year-old, I enrolled in college to pursue a degree in Psychology focusing mainly on children. I took a job at a government mental health facility as a respite worker for troubled kids. I ADORED working with the children, but the way they were handled and the jaded dispositions of everyone above me left me with a horrible taste for the career path.

Next I attended a career school for real estate. I loved my work and made great money. The hours were so ideal I figured this would be the perfect career for me to stick with after having children. Well, I don't have to tell you guys what's happened to the housing inustry in the United States. The career of Realtor has changed so much and is so unsure, I just don't see myself surviving out there right now.

The kids are going to get older. They're going to go to school and not need me sitting at home all day
.

I enrolled back in college.

I'm nervous, excited, and hopeful. The ultimate goal that my husband and I have worked out is me finishing this program, get my foot in the door at the university hospital where my mom works, start contributing to our health insurance and retirement, and secure a discount on our kids' college tuitions.

Big steps. Adult steps. College text books again. Exams again. My head is a bid swirly.

This is a good thing, though.

Underachieving

For quite some time now I've been thinking about finally finishing up my degree. I've been working on it off and on for 12 years, but every time I really get going in school I panic and stop. My whole life I've always stopped just short of achieving my goals. You see, if I don't try my hardest to complete something, then I don't have to worry about the embarrassment of failure.

My intelligence and success in school were always points of pride for me when I was younger. Classes were generally a breeze for me and I rarely had to try very hard. "Rarely" being the key word. Superman has his Kryptonite and I have mine: Math. Calculus, algebra, basic math; it doesn't matter. They're all terrifying words to me. The one and only negative note my mother ever received about me was that I was struggling with my math lessons. I. Was. Mortified. From that point on, all the way through high school, I did everything I could to cover up my struggles. I cheated. Rather than ask for help, I cheated. Can you imagine the mental relief I would have felt if someone would have set me up with a math tutor? I can tell you one thing, I'll be much more aware and watching for any signs of struggle with my ladies. I don't want them to feel like I did in school.

And hopefully it's not too late to get some math help for me. Someone would help this elderly college student, right?