Kindergarten!

The day (week) has come to let my first born fly from the nest! 

Brief Aside- In Baltimore Country the kindergartners have a staggered start.  Tuesday is a half day with parents, Wednesday is a half day alone, and Thursday is a full day (the first REAL day in my opinion). 

Evie and I had the house to ourselves Monday night and Tuesday morning as the boys were still in Cincy.  It was nice to have a little quiet time together before her big day.  For weeks everyone has been asking if Evie is ready, excited, nervous.  The same for me.  I am definitely not sad or nervous.  We've been home together for 6 years; I am ready for a change!  Evie didn't seem one way or the other.  She is definitely eager to tell her brother she is going to Kindergarten .

We are excited about Evie's teacher this year, Mrs. Sugarman.  She's been there a long time and is apparently "the one" parents want.  Score.

Tuesday was the day I was worried about the most; Evie is typically clingy when I am in the room with her.  This held true a little.  Mrs. Sugarman did a great job of having the kids on the carpet with her while parents sat at the tables.  Today's school day was brief and pretty uneventful other than our first walk to school with our friends Clara and Niki.

Obligatory First Day of School Picture

Evie missed the point of a BACKpack and walking to school WITH friends.  She looks a girl on a mission.

 Still just holding her BACKpack, but improving on the obligatory first day picture smile.

Half day #1 over!  And the girls are outta there!  (Notice improvement with one strap on and walking WITH Clara now)

Full day #1!  It's time to really fly from the nest today.  Backpack fully on and Mom's first lunch of the year.  

Big Girl is READY!
(Whatever "ready" is...)

And so begins our 13 years of living based on public school schedule.  Looking forward to a fun year at Hillcrest Elementary, home of the Hedgehogs!  (Best mascot ever)

Cape May Cousin Trip

The Hollencamp cousins took over Pops and Paula's campground trailer in Cape May for a few days.  It was a lot of togetherness and a lot of fun.  The dads were at home working while the moms did our best to feed ungrateful preschoolers, get whiny worn out children to sleep, and keep the peace between 4 kids all wanting their way.  Besides those set backs, the kids really did have a fabulous time together.  Pops and Paula were great hosts with lots of adventures planned.

Now that photo dump.

Making s'mores

The boys being silly 

I was not thrilled when Pops said we were doing a dolphin watch excursion.  I am not a fan of boats and marine wildlife around me.  I had this vision of dolphins jumping over our small boat and all of us being shark bait.  I was relieved to see a huge ferry boat and dolphins doing their own thing :)

Much bigger boat than I expected, to my relief.

A mid week, cloudy day = empty boat

Looking for marine life in the wrong direction

Checking out the Lewes-Cape May Ferry

Dolphins right at the end of the channel!

a large pod of them kept us entertained for a while

hi friends

Looking down at the ocean

After the boat ride, we had lunch.

Yes!  A restaurant with something to
occupy the kids while the adults ate!

There were golf cart rides, bikes rides, bating practices, trips to the playground, and games of cards.

To wrap up our quick 3 day visit, we hit the Cape May beach.  

Always my happy place, the Jersey Shore

With no Daddio, I had to take over hole
digging duty :(

And of course we needed a group shot to end the trip...

Evie 6, Heidi 3, Luke 5, Braylen 4

Can't wait for our next Cape May trip!

Pre-K Graduation, Take 2

A second year of pre-k was a great decision for Evie.  6 months makes a big difference in abilities and I am glad that Evie will be on "par" next year in Kindergarten.  She doesn't have an interest in reading still, but I have noticed a large improvement in her artistic abilities.  She sits for a longer period of time, carefully planning out her project with various colors.  Her people look like people now.  If you could see Evie's room, you would notice her love of writing letters on paper and using tape to hang these notes.  

Another area of improvement is her interactions with classmates.  Last year Evie didn't really have a buddy or ask to play with all the kids on the playground after school.  This year Evie quickly had multiple buddies and begged to run around with them after school.  The boys in the class seemed to enjoy chasing Evie since she is so fast.  I loved watching her smile and giggle as she escaped across the monkey bars.  I really enjoyed the moms of the kids in this class too.  Jungle Room was a great experience for all of us and I couldn't be happier with my decision to give Evie another year to gain more confidence and grow in all areas.  She hasn't grown as tall as I hoped, but we still have a few months for that growth spurt :)

T/Th Jungle Room
Lots of boys!

Graduation was the same adorable ceremony as last year.

Cap and Gown Photo, Signature Dog,
and a collection of pictures and artwork from the year

Processing In

Class photo on the cake

Singing a bunch of songs.

Evie sang all the songs on stage without the hand motions.  She practiced those motions and songs at full volume many nights in front of her mirror.  I enjoyed the concert she did for us at home.

Unfortantely Evie was still too shy to stand up to receive her diploma.  I had warned her teacher about last year, so she quickly took her hand and didn't make a big scene out of it.  

All smiles back with Mommy

Getting any kind of pictures was near impossible with a sugared up group of preschoolers.

Her best friend Tyler.
This picture captures their friendship
perfectly.  Tyler making Evie laugh :)

Next year Braylen will be graduating!

Evie will be back in the Jungle Room this summer for MDOW's summer session, 2 days a weeks.  I look forward to how she will grow in Kindergarten next year.  

Rite of Passage: Ear Piercing

Evie hadn't been asking to get her ears pierced nor shown much interest after a friend got hers pierced.  Mama got hers pierced when she was six, so I figured it was about time to tell her to get them done bring it up.  She agreed, but not with much enthusiasm.

I was all set to take her on her actual birthday if she wanted to go, but she said she wanted to go the next day.  This went on for a few days.  She wanted to be sure she could sit on some one's lap during the piercing.  So a family outing it would be, I mean, who would take the pictures?!

Today was the day.  We went right after church to The Columbia Mall.  I did zero prep on Evie on what to expect.  This worked to our favor... she was clueless when the big snap was coming.  

She picked out pink heart earrings.  Got on Daddio's lap.  Purple marks were made

Cutie Patootie brother closely watches

Another lady comes over so they can "measure her ears".  

 "1-2-3, And you have pierced ears!"

She had no idea it was coming.  No tears, no flinching.  Her mother cried so loud when she got hers done that the entire mall turned to look at Claires.  Not this girl.  She is so brave!

Ta-Da!

She's all ready for Kindergarten :)

Evie's First Day of SIX

We skipped the birthday party this year since A) We've been to a bunch of pre-k friends' parties.  B) Mama didn't feel like putting one together C) Evie doesn't like attention on her.

Daddio was slightly disappointed to miss his annual cake making session.  Evie asked for Moana heart of tafiti cupcakes for school to give Daddio some kind of project this birthday

Instead of a party, I tried my best to make the day full of Evie's favorite things.

Up first, Daddio brought home a sprinkle donut from DD.

Round 1 of gift opening

A dog walking Barbie from Mema

Another creation by G-
A tooth pillow for that loose tooth

Next, our friend took us to Lifetime's indoor pool.  We originally planned to divide up the girls and boys for a special playdate for Evie with Analise, but I think swimming was more fun for all of them.

Analise, Birthday Girl, Bray, and Cayllum

Swimming is more fun with a buddy.

Lunch at Chick-fil-A... with some quality play area fighting with her brother playing with friends.

Back home to watch a movie so mommy could nap.  

Evie requested her cousins to come over for taco birthday dinner.

Round 2 of gift opening

An American Girl doll from Pops and Paula!!

And girls disappeared until dinner time...

We fed our guests and brother the leftover cupcakes, then Evie and I escaped to Sweet Frog for an ice cream treat with her choice of friends.  She wanted her best bud, Tyler from school, her other buddy Charlotte from school, and of course Miss Emily.

Through all the years, this girl has always been on the top of the list (right after cousins).  They have been best buds since they met the summer of their 1st birthdays.  Emily is clearly the taller friend, but Evie is the older one, which she reminds Emily of all the time :)

Then Evie talked my ear off until 9:45 PM with her new doll by her side.  Mama took nap #2 of the day.   

Awake until 9:40 PM, when she officially turned 6

Jr. Dugout Club: First Orioles' Game

The kids received an amazing gift for Christmas this year: the Orioles Jr. Dugout Club!  For only $25 per kid, they go to 6 Orioles' games, receive a give-away at each of those games, a backpack full of Orioles gear, $1 hotdogs, and the grow-ups get up to 10 extra tickets for $6 or $15 depending on section desired.  Um, that is a DEAL!

We went to our first Jr. Dugout game today

We went for the "expensive" seats this game and brought along our baseball loving grandparents and some Red Sox fans (boo!)

Braylen was ready to catch the home run balls hit into left field

He was pretty close to getting one; a Red Sox home run was hit and caught by a fan 8 rows in front of us in the first inning!  Good thing Braylen was paying attention because mama was busy taking photos 

A true O's fan in her pink.  C'mon G!

Even though the O's lost, it was still an exciting game with lots of hits (by the Red Sox).  The kids love the hotdog race and dancing to the music

 

On Sundays, kids are allowed to run the bases after the game.  We figured the weather was ideal and we didn't have another Sunday game this season, so why not.

Um, standing in line for over an hour might be a reason "why not".  Kids can start lining up after the 8th inning, so we wait as long as the 9th inning lasts plus some.  The kids were tired and hungry after a full afternoon.  

Waiting in line

We played I Spy kind of games while we waited.  Once the line started to move, it wasn't bad.

 It was finally time to get on the field!

It was so exciting to be on the field.

Cue the waterworks for Braylen that it was over... sweet baseball loving boy.

And cue Mommy and Daddio crashing after kids were put to bed