Last day of school!

It's a beautiful sunny summertime Friday and it's the last day of school!

Ella will be off to kindergarten!

I think Aaron and I were a little nervous about the whole High 5 thing. We weren't entirely sure what to expect, since the public pre-K was going to be very different than what Maisie did at her Montessori preschool. Happily, it's been a great year. Ella's learned SO much! She made a lot of friends and is really well prepared for kindergarten. High 5 was a great way to begin her school years.

And of course, Maisie's on her last day of first grade!

It's been a challenging year in some ways, but mostly a really good one. We had homework struggles, pen pal letters and packages, lost teeth, and best friend sleepovers without much sleeping at all.

We've got some big plans for the summer - swimming lessons, art camp, CONvergence, Chris and Kim's wedding, and even a week at Salolampi for Maisie. Can't wait to get started!

Happy summer everyone!!

Ella update

The last post was almost all Maisie, so I figured I'd share some Ella pics, too!

I love this one - I think she looks a LOT like her cousin Nika.

Aaron took this one a day or two ago, as she was getting ready to go to school.

Ella really loves school, and she's doing really well. We didn't have conferences this quarter, thanks to all the days cancelled for cold weather - the school district decided to hold classes those days instead - but her teacher sent us a really sweet email. She said that Ella's "just been a rockstar" in their classroom, and her love for learning and for life bring smiles to all her teachers. It was a lovely note, and made us very happy.

Grandma Liisa taught her to eat Oreos this way

She did say that Ella tends to get chatty during lessons and will forget to raise her hand before speaking, which wasn't a surprise to us. Ella is very, very verbal - she talks a LOT! She also seems to process things through talking about them. She's talked through movies, plays, and orchestra performances, narrating the whole experience to whoever is sitting next to her. It's exceptionally cute, and a fun little window into how she's experiencing what she's watching.

She does have her stubborn moments... Ella is frankly one of the most stubborn people I've met. (Some apples don't fall far from the tree, I guess!) When she digs her heels in about something, woe unto you if you're trying to get her to budge. Aaron and I have to pick our battles pretty carefully, because when she's made up her mind, trying to get her to go against her decision is not a fun experience!

Truer words were never worn on a shirt

But even with the stubborn moments and tantrums, Ella brings us joy every day. She's smart, funny, and generally a wonderful person to have around. We're so lucky to have her in our lives!

Color days

One fun thing that Ella's preschool class has been doing is color days! For a few weeks now, each day has been assigned to a certain color. The children then note who's wearing something with that color on, they talk about foods and things that are that color, and so on. Ella has really enjoyed planning her color day outfits to maximize the amount of the day's color that she's wearing. So I figured I'd share a few of her color day outfits with you!

Here we have Pink Day:

Pink jacket, pink shirt, pink pants.

This is from Red Day:

Ella's favorite animal is pandas, so she adores this shirt.

Along the way we've also had orange, green, brown, blue, gray, black & white, purple, and yellow days. This week they're wrapping it up. We had favorite color day (she wore all purple), and it's ending with today's theme:

Rainbow day!

School days

It's back to school time!

Maisie started school on Monday: first grade! She was really excited to be heading back. As you can see from some of these first day waiting-for-the-bus pictures, she was feeling happy and silly.

There are several of her friends from Kindergarten in her class, including her best friend Ophelia. Because her school is a Montessori, they're in a mixed-age classroom - instead of just first grade, it's "E1" with first, second, and third graders all together. This is great - it means that she and Ophelia will be together for the foreseeable future.

Another reason I really like the Montessori model of mixed-grade classes is that it's easier for all the children to work at their respective levels. For instance, Maisie's math skills are at first grade level, but she's reading at a second- or third-grade level. So the mixed class makes it easier for the teacher to get her appropriate reading material.

Ella has also started school!

Her first day of High 5, Minneapolis' public pre-k, was Wednesday. She was so excited!

She was a little nervous too, but fortunately one of our neighbor kids is going to Kindergarten at the same school, and rides the bus. So right away, Ella had a bus buddy.

Her first day report was kind of scattered. She talked about going out to play on the playground, and that they had to be quiet like little bunnies in the hallway. Also, she got to wear a nametag. And, that's apparently it!

When Ella got home, Aaron said that she had really pink cheeks. We figured the bus must've been really hot. Turns out, it was probably actually her school... the school district has closed the non-air conditioned schools Thursday and Friday of this week, and Ella's school was on the list. So her first week has turned out to be a really short one. Maisie's school does have A/C, though, so she doesn't get the extra days off that Ella does.

I'll be glad once we get past Labor Day and back into our regular school-year schedule. The transition is difficult - getting Maisie used to getting up so early is not easy. Much like her daddy, she likes to stay up late! So mornings have been a challenge this week both for her and for me. But it'll work itself out and we'll find a comfortable rhythm again.

I'm sure we'll get there by the time May rolls around. :)

Miscellany...

A few random thoughts for a Monday morning...

It's the middle of August and already you can tell that summer's coming to an end. Nights are getting cooler (yay!), it gets dark a little sooner, and morning comes a little later every day. At the same time, it's definitely still summer - days are warm and sunny, perfect for bike rides and playing outside. It's kind of a sweet spot in the year. We went to the farmer's market on Saturday and bought sweet corn, which I was surprised to see already. It was wonderful; the girls ate it all and we had to go back on Sunday for more so that Aaron and I could have some too. The vendor remembered us and said "I'll be back at Midtown from 3-7 on Tuesday if you need more!" I laughed, but yeah... of the six ears we bought yesterday, there's only one left. So we might need more tomorrow.

We're two weeks away from Maisie's first day of first grade. She's SO excited to head back to school and see her friends... we've only had a few play dates and birthday parties over the summer, so she really misses her buddies. I got her and Ella's school supplies bought this weekend - thanks to Amazon Prime, I was able to do it in my jammies on Sunday morning, drinking coffee. So much easier than running from store to store trying to find the right brand of watercolors.

Two days after Maisie's first day, Ella will start High 5, which is Minneapolis' public Pre-K for kids who will enter Kindergarten the following year. Priority is kids who get free or reduced-price lunch or receive special ed. services, so we had to cross our fingers for a spot. Luckily, Ella got one! It's half days, five days a week, which should be perfect. We wanted to find a program to help her get used to being in a classroom environment before she starts Kindergarten. We felt that it'd be a really hard transition for her to go from just being at home with Aaron, to being one of 30 kids in a classroom, for a seven hour day! Unfortunately it's not at Maisie's school - her school doesn't have a High 5 class - but they'll be back together the following year when Ella's in Kindergarten.

So, two more weeks of summer. The girls are heading up north with Gramma Liisa & Dylan later this week, and we've got our State Fair trip planned. Aside from that, it'll probably just be trying to pack in bike rides and Dairy Queen runs and other lazy summer activities while we can. Fall will be here soon enough, and winter close behind.

Everything I need to know...

So, Maisie's kindergarten year has come and gone.

Here she is, on her first day of school back in August...

so excited! And look how short her hair was!

Here we are, waiting for the bus in the morning and so excited for her last day...

 And here she is, school year complete, now a first grader.

Why Ella's clinging onto her arm like that, I do not know. But it makes for a cute picture!

Aaron and Ella made Maisie a cake to mark the occasion. It was yummier than it was photogenic, which is fine, because cakes are for eating, not for photographing. We also let the girls stay up a little late watching a movie of Maisie's choice - The Secret World of Arietty. It was a nice evening and a lovely way to celebrate the end of the school year.

Maisie's kindergarten year was wonderful. She had a great teacher, and she learned and grew so much. A number of years ago there was a schmaltzy book out called All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. So, I thought I'd share with you some of the things she learned this year, which I think will serve her well for the rest of her life.

• Love of reading: Minneapolis schools use the Scholastic Leveling Chart to measure students' reading ability and progress. Maisie started the year at level B, and finished at level I, which is a little ahead of the curve. She enjoys reading on her own (she brought comic books in her backpack to read on the bus!), and especially likes to read nursery rhymes to Ella. (Ella likes that too!) We're very happy that she's developed a love of reading.
  
• Love of art: as a Montessori school, Maisie's school incorporates art into almost everything they do. They really encourage the children to be creative and artistic, and Maisie's definitely taken this to heart. She draws all the time - both things she's made up (princesses and fairies are popular) as well as things she sees around her. If you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she'll tell you that she wants to be an artist. She's well on her way!
  
• Curiosity about the world: She loves to ask questions and try to figure out why things are the way they are. Her science classes have done a wonderful job at fostering and encouraging this curiosity. Even if her hypotheses aren't always correct, she's putting a lot of thought into them. It's so fun to hear her say, "You know what? I bet this is this way because..." and then to explain her ideas and thoughts.
  
• Speaking and listening: Maisie's a champ at expressing her ideas, thoughts, and feelings. At the beginning of the year, her first reaction to any frustration was to burst into tears, but as the year progressed, she got better at expressing herself in ways other than crying. She does still cry when frustrated, but she's able now to use her words to tell us exactly what's going on. She's also very empathetic; seeing another child upset will upset her, too, and she will do what she can to remedy the situation. These traits combine to make her a wonderful friend and a positive person to have in any group.

So, that's a lot of what Maisie learned in kindergarten this year. There was a fair amount of more academic work, but I think that these things might serve her better, in the long run, than knowing how to tell whether an animal is a mammal or a reptile. (Not that that's not important! But, you know.)

Pack a lunch!

For the past three years, we packed Maisie's lunch every school day. This year, with starting kindergarten at a public school, she has the option of hot lunch! So exciting! But she had hot lunch exactly once. And aside from that one day, it's been back to packing her lunch.

For some reason, this packing of lunch chore seems a lot more onerous than it did in years past. I'm not sure why - there's actually fewer restrictions on the food she can bring than before. (Her school is peanut-free, whereas last year they had to keep the classroom free of peanuts, tree nuts, and eggs.) Maybe it's because her school day starts so much earlier? (6:55 a.m. bus pickup, as opposed to Aaron driving her to school for an 8:45 start time.) Maybe she's gotten pickier? Maybe because I know I wouldn't have to do it if she'd just eat hot lunch?!? Whatever the reason, packing her lunch is not fun and exciting, and often led to me and/or Aaron staring at the fridge and cupboards, wondering what on earth we'd send in her lunch. We tried to get her to pack it, but that didn't work either - she'd choose grapes, applesauce, and crackers, and not have a balance. So in an effort to simplify things and pack lunches she'd actually eat, I came up with a chart.

ARGH! I just spent a bunch of time trying to figure out how to upload it here, and I can't. GRR! So I will tell you about it. It has six columns and four rows. The left-most column has the following pictures, all of which I found online by googling for free clip art of food.



Vegetables





Fruit




Grains (that's pasta and cereal above the bread)




Protein

So in the evening, Maisie and I will pack her lunch together. She chooses one item from each category, and checks it off as it's completed. I like to think it's helping her learn about a balanced diet, which it may be. I know, though, it's made packing a lunch a LOT easier!

So, what does she eat? The most common lunch combination is grapes, sugar snap peas, cheese and turkey slices, and Ritz crackers. It's not the most exciting lunch in the world, but she likes it and eats everything. Single-category foods are easiest for her to choose: protein is often an egg, string cheese, or turkey slices. The vegetable is either snap peas or baby carrots. (Although she asked for tomato soup once!) Fruit is usually applesauce or grapes. Grain is usually Ritz crackers. Maisie and Ella are both absolutely NUTS about Ritz crackers! Goldfish are good, too, or a little container of cereal - strawberry Life is a favorite.

We do get some combos that allow her to check off more than one category: black bean quesadillas, cut into wedges (grain and protein); spaghetti with marinara (grain and veg); mac & cheese (protein, grain); chicken fried rice (grain and protein); sun butter and jam sandwiches (protein, fruit, grain); cheese pizza (protein, veg, grain); broccoli quiche (protein and veg). As you can probably tell, except for the quesadillas and sandwiches, these are usually leftovers of whatever was for dinner the night before. We will put the portion in her thermos at night, in the fridge, then heat it up in the morning so it's still warm at lunchtime. If we aren't sending something hot then the whole business gets packed the night before, so it's ready to grab & go in the morning.

Anyway, so there you go! It's no super genius idea that'll revolutionize packing a lunch, but it's how we do it. We definitely don't have the beautiful Bento lunch art, but who has time for that anyway? Not this family! So this is our method, and it's made the whole lunch business a lot easier for us. Hopefully others will find it useful too!

Ladies and gentlemen: we have achieved Kindergarten!

It's true, I can hardly believe it, but yes: Maisie has started Kindergarten.

Yesterday (Wednesday 8/29) was her first day. The night before she said "You know what Mom? I'm scared and excited and nervous. You know why? (whispers) I have school tomorrow!"

But we talked about everything that would happen, Aaron helped her practice making friends and sitting on the bus ("Can I sit with you?"), and she got ready: she packed her lunch (grapes, pretzels, yogurt, a jelly roll-up, and pickles) and laid out her clothes (Hello Kitty shirt, flowered skirt). I was worried that she wouldn't be able to get to sleep, but she was out cold about five minutes after bedtime.

Wednesday morning, she woke up bright and early, before the alarm even went off. Got dressed, brushed teeth and hair, and was Ready! To! Go! by 6:30! Unfortunately her bus isn't until 6:57, so we had a little extra time! When it was time to leave, she was halfway up the block before anyone else was even out the door!

She was happy to see another kid waiting at the bus stop - an older girl, maybe 5th or 6th grade, who was very sweet to Maisie. For all her nervous and scared feelings, excitement had really taken over at this point!

When the bus pulled up, she hesitated for a moment, and looked back at me... I nodded, like "yep, this is your bus" and off she went!

She found a seat near the back and waved and waved as the bus pulled away.

Maisie reported a good day on her first day: her classroom is a little hard to find, and she didn't eat much of her lunch. But she made "four or five" friends, including one girl on her bus, and enjoyed music class and playing red light-green light.

She also came home with a definite opinion - she wants to eat hot lunch at school. I said that maybe we should pack a lunch, just in case she doesn't like what they are serving. But she explained that you don't have a choice; if you bring lunch, you can't choose to eat hot lunch instead. So she's buying lunch, at least occasionally.

This morning was similar - very excited to get up and go! go! go! She wanted to make sure she'd be riding the bus, and we weren't going to drive her (no worries there), and that I didn't pack her lunch, so she could buy it. I can't wait to hear about her day!

I'm so proud of Maisie. She's been at Sunny Hollow for three years, since she was not quite three years old. More than half her life! But she's handled this transition like a champ. There were a few tears shed, but that's to be expected. I know she's going to do great at her new school. I can't wait to see it.

First day/last day

Remember this tiny girl?

That was her first day of school at Sunny Hollow. She'd just barely made the age cutoff to start, at not-quite-three years old. She was a little nervous, but couldn't have been more nervous than I was. I remember her running right down the hall without even saying goodbye to me. There was a parents coffee in the garden that morning, and I sat and cried and cuddled Ella, who was all of two months old. I couldn't believe my little Maisie was so grown up!

Just look at her (and Ella!) now, on the morning of her last day at Sunny Hollow:

 As excited as we are that she'll be starting kindergarten in the fall, I'm still feeling very weepy about the fact that, once again, my little Maisie is so grown up. But apparently that's what parenting is: a series of milestones where you shake your head and wonder how they ever got so big, even while you're loving the person they've become, and can't wait to see what comes next.

Big changes!

Yesterday we got the news we've been waiting for - Maisie's kindergarten assignment!

By way of background, Aaron and I both grew up in smaller towns, where there just wasn't that much school choice. So when we started investigating Minneapolis Public Schools, we were kind of overwhelmed by the number of options we had. There's a "neighborhood school" that is assigned by where you live, and to which your kid is guaranteed admission. Then there are various magnets and charter schools in your bus zone, choices like an International Baccalaureate or Montessori or French immersion or environmental science magnet. Then there are all the magnets and charter schools outside your bus zone, which your kid could attend but you need to arrange transportation. There were 16 K-5 or K-8 schools in our bus zone!

We put a lot of work in, narrowing down our choices and comparing schools and asking questions and finally making school visits, to get our choices down to two (which is all that you're allowed to list on your card). And wonder of wonders, we found out yesterday that Maisie got sorted into our first choice! (I really do envision the process happening with a Sorting Hat, like in Harry Potter. Where the school district puts the card into the hat, which shoots it out, yelling "Folwell Performing Arts!" or "Hmong International!!")

So, yay for first choices! It's a K-8 school, which is great, because we won't have to go through this again until high school! And because there's sibling preference, we won't have to worry about where Ella will go either. Yay all around! This does, of course, mean that Maisie will be leaving her beloved preschool that she's been at for three years. We're all a little sad about that, but as someone once said, the only constant in life is change. She's had a wonderful time there and learned so much, but I know that she'll have a great experience at her new school too.

With that out of the way, I decided, the heck with waiting until the weekend. Let's get Maisie's hair cut now! So we did!

In process:

Almost done!

Final product - front view:

And back view:

Maisie is super happy, and just loves her new haircut. I like it, even though it makes her look SO grownup! But it'll be easier to keep tangle-free, especially now that she's going swimming once or twice a week and the chlorine is wreaking havoc on her hair. So that's our big day yesterday!

First day of school!

Today was Maisie's first day of her 2nd year at her Montessori preschool.

For comparison - look how much bigger she is than last year!

I can't believe how much she's grown!

Speaking of growing up... Ella is now 14 months old, and becoming a fully formed person. She walks, climbs, and runs, has fantastic receptive language skills, and can communicate! She is very clear about her likes (milk, being read to, balls, Gramma Liisa, the cats, Maisie) and dislikes (diaper changes, bedtime).

She loves to go to the children's museum, and play with water...

and to play in the outdoor sandbox!

As you can see, she has beautiful curly hair, big blue eyes, and an infectious grin.

We are so fortunate to have such wonderful, beautiful girls!

Writing!

Maisie's Montessori school teaches writing before reading, which I never understood before yesterday, when Maisie said she wanted to write the word "hungry" in magnets on our refrigerator.

We sounded out the word - "hungry starts with 'huh.' What letter says 'huh'? Right, H says 'huh'!" We went through each sound in the word, though I had to help her with the vowels...

And at the end, here's what we got:

HUNGRY!

Maisie wrote that. I couldn't be more proud.

Fall Festival

Yesterday, Maisie's new school had its annual Fall Festival. It was so fun!

There was a pumpkin sale - as you can see, they had huge and beautiful pumpkins. There were also some really beautiful heirloom pumpkins - some were white, others were green. So cool! Maisie picked out a small enough pumpkin that she could carry it. Very cute.

You can also see that Maisie got her face painted, too. I loved that the elementary school children were doing the face painting for the younger children.

Gramma, Auntie Laura, and Dylan came to the fall festival too!

Dylan and Maisie had fun playing, getting their faces painted, and generally just enjoying being outside on a crisp fall day. I was glad that Gramma and Auntie Laura got to see Maisie's school, and meet her awesome teacher. They even got to peek into her classroom!

All in all, it was a really fun way to spend the afternoon - playing outside, and getting to know the people in our new school community!

And of course, Ella came along for the ride!

First day of school

Last Tuesday was not only my birthday, it was Maisie's first day of preschool.

She looks a little apprehensive, but she did great. She really loves her teachers and her classmates, and has a lot of fun at school. She went right down the hall without looking back, and certainly with no tears.

I mean, at least no tears on her part... I was another story!