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)

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

Operation Quit Thumb Sucking: Mission Accomplished!!!

Evie is celebrating 1 month thumb-free tonight!  She decided on Sunday night, March 5th, that she was done sucking her thumb at night.  We made her this sticker chart to earn prizes at 1 week, 2 weeks, and a biggie at 1 month.  We are so proud of our little lady for kicking this habit before the summer deadline given by her dentist.

We came from early Easter dinner at the Hettinger's to find the Amazon box containing her big prize waiting on the porch, a double baby stroller.  The baby on the left is her week 1 prize, another baby doll.  (SOOO glad we didn't spend the big bucks on a real American Girl Doll since her "American Girl Doll" quickly got replaced by this baby...) .  Evie picked out a Barbie for her 2nd week prize.  We are hoping the money we spent on prizes will be a small portion of the money we are saving on orthodontic work in the future.  Braces are coming no matter what, in my opinion, but at least our 6 year old will not be sucking her thumb in Kindergarten this fall!

Her next chart is some kind of attitude chart... 

Little Kickers

The kids selected soccer as their winter sport.  This was Braylen's second experience with Soccer Shots, Evie's first.  We put them in the same class expecting the worst, hoping for the best.  There were only 4 kids at their time slot (after some begging of mama on facebook to get more friends).  

Orange shirts, a dream come true for Bray

Braylen improved his soccer skills as well as his emotions regarding scoring goals and being told time was up.  I'm not sure why parents push their children to do sport earlier than 5 or 6.  I'm realizing we all THINK we have to get our kids into sports to socialize them, teach them about teamwork, or get them started early so they can be on the traveling allstar, Olympic team at 12.  They can't handle an organized sports at 3 or 4!  I am realizing this with my children as I see the tears and frustrations on mom and dad's part get less and less as they get older.  This session was better for Braylen, but I think it was still a tad early for him.  Backyard soccer is still best at 4.

 Evie had a difficult time focusing with her brother and best buddy, Tyler, from preschool there.  Since every kids has to do soccer, check, she did it.  This mama is NOT a soccer fan.  I would be happy to have them doing something other than soccer.  Sorry all the soccer fans in my life; it's just not my thing.

Hollencamp vs Hollencamp

Cheers to the end of soccer (hopefully for good... hehe)

Operation Quit Thumb Sucking: Her Decision

Similar to when Evie told Daddio she didn't want the training wheels on her bike, then was riding without them completely one day later, she told Daddio last night that she didn't want him to take the "thumb stuff" off for bed that night.  Seeing her determination to master the two-wheel bike, we are hopeful this is the end of the thumb forever.

I was in complete shock when Jason told me that Evie fell asleep last night without her thumb (I was at a meeting for bedtime).  AND there were no tears!  This is the day I wanted to come; the day when SHE wanted to stop, not US forcing her to stop.

Tonight was night two of falling asleep without her thumb.  This is huge people; this girl has been sucking her thumb to soothe herself at bed for five years.  Cold turkey is hard.  Last night it meant that she needed some middle of the night snuggles from mama to help her get back to sleep.

Is this the end????

Two Less Wheels for Evie

Today Evie reached a big milestone, riding her bike without training wheels!

Evie recently moved to a bigger bike since the baby bike seat she received for Christmas didn't fit on her little, white bike.  She's been riding the bigger bike for a few weeks now.  Evie has been a comfortable bike rider for years; I'm actually surprised she didn't take to riding without training wheels sooner.

On Friday, a few families from our street gathered on "the lane" for happy hour.  Evie suddenly wanted to ride the little bike with one training wheel up.  Daddio worked with her for about 30 minutes, helping her to balance without the training wheel.  She asked to practice again on Saturday.  We only got in about 10 minutes before the spring-like storms rolled in.  Then today, we encouraged her to try without her training wheels...

This is her ride back from her first trip down the lane sans training wheels

We are so proud of our little girl!  And though she be little, she is a fierce bike rider!  :)

Even more thankful the County paved "the lane" across the street from us this fall; it is the perfect spot to learn to ride a bike: flat, very smooth, not too long, not too short.

Operation Quit Thumb Sucking: Fail

I gave in; Evie is allowed to chew gum now.

Since we are trying to help her kick her thumb sucking habit, maybe gum will help during those boring/down times when she is tempted to put her thumb in her mouth.  She is super excited about chewing it in the van; my van is covered in gum wrappers.  She was handling it well: no gum stuck in random places, no bubble blowing, limited begging for multiple pieces in one day, and not gloating to Braylen about being able to chew gum.

Then it happened....

I got a text from Jason when he and Evie were at our other home Home Depot... the gum was in her hair.  He made it seem like we needed to chop her hair off completely.  No fear, Google is here!

A little peanut butter in her hair while she ate dinner...

... and voila!  Gum slides right on out.

Crisis averted.

It's kind of a right of passage for a girl, right?

School Bells are Ringing

After a fun summer of vacations and carefree days, I am ready to get back to the fall routine.  Both kids are back at Mother's Day Out of Westchester (MDOW) this school year.   The kids have been talking for weeks about moving up to the older classroom and wondering if they will have lunch or rest time together.

Evie is a pre-k repeater this year.  She is in the Jungle Room, which is a different room from last year's Pre-K.  She is going two full days this year, with an added afternoon on another day to build her stamina for next year.  Evie is so excited to be on the "other side" of the hallway.  She already knows the Jungle room eats and naps at the different time than the other rooms.  

Feeling confident!

Braylen will be in the Bear room, which is where Evie was last year.  He is not in Pre-K yet, but has the same teachers as Evie.  He's also looking forward to being in an older room.  Some of his Heart Room buddies moved to Pre-K this year; I hope he will find his new crew.

Someone is not as willing
to smile for 1st day pictures

Today will be a full day of school for both kids.  Mommy will be prepping for her first MOPS meeting later tonight as well as rejoicing in 6 hours of freedom.

Here's to a great school year!

Pre-K Graduation, Take 1

Today was Evie's pre-k graduation from Mother's Day Out.  MDOW put together a lovely ceremony for Evie's class (the Bear Room).    The photo displays on the table were precious.

Be still my heart

"Pomp and Circumstance" started and in came the graduates!

I'll take her playing with her necklace over thumb sucking

Then the Bear Room friends sang us a few songs.  I am SO proud of Evie: she did NO thumb sucking and sang every song!

My petite girl among the giant 5 year olds
On the wall behind them is "Owl About Me", like star of the week
from the school year

The ceremony was short and sweet followed by a lovely lunch

little brother clapping for the singing

Evie's piece of cake with her face!

And of course, the obligatory graduation shots with the 'rents and teachers

Ms. Rachael and Ms. Carol

At the end, the Bear Room friends got signatures on their graduation dogs.  Adorable.

No tears were shed from either of us today since we will be doing this all over again next year.  We decided months ago that we are not sending Evie to kindergarten this fall.  Ms. Carol supported our decision and we are sticking with it.  Evie understands that her pre-k class is going to kindergarten and she will be back at MDOW next year.  She is really excited to be in the Jungle Room and be at the same school as Braylen.  She will have new friends, new teachers, and new experiences.  I have seen a lot of progress in Evie's confidence this year, but she still wouldn't go forward when Ms. Carol called her name for her diploma.  It's things like this that I worry about her going to kindergarten.  She is a shy kid and probably the smallest.  We want her to be successful in school and we don't feel she is ready to take on the big bad public full-day kindergarten program.  I get another year with my girl :)