Zelda Goes Back to Preschool

On Friday, Sept. 7, Zelda returned to the park district preschool program. This year she began the four-year-old program; she'll attend three half days a week. No need to rush her into school five days a week; full-day kindergarten will be here soon enough.

Can you tell Zelda just loves to pose for the camera? (Photo Project 2012 - Day 250)

Back to School for Annalee

On Aug. 23, Annalee began fourth grade, for the whole day no less! While I rather enjoyed that school started with a bang, she was not pleased to begin with a full day rather than the historical half days she rather liked.

My beautiful girl is growing older by the minute, and it really shows in these images (Photo Project 2012 - Day 235). Even more so when you compare them to last year's back-to-school pictures.

Last Day of School

I can't believe that Annalee is a rising fourth grader! Though this year didn't go by in too much of a blur, it's still shocking to me that my older daughter is nine and has just completed third grade.

This is how she looked on the first day of school...

And, here she is on June 1, the last day of school (Photo Project 2012 - Day 153)...

Every time I take a picture of the girls together, Zelda always wants to hug Annalee. I've decided to call this the 'death-grip of love' hug...

I'll only boast this once and say Annalee had an outstanding school year with a report card to show for it. Better than the report card, I'm thrilled that she participated in five clubs during the year. One club's activities even has us gardening and composting!

Congratulations, Annalee!

Photo Project 2012 - Days 101 to 118

Day 101

Annalee has taken to making herself a fried egg every morning for breakfast. However, she hasn't quite gotten the hang of it. If the yolk breaks in the pan, it's a goner. On April 10, it took three eggs to get it right. These are the first two that went into the garbage. From here on out, I told her I'd eat the broken yolked eggs.

Day 102
 

I made these candles for friends and family at Christmas. I'm happy I kept one for myself.

Day 103

An ooops day, as in ooops, I forgot to take a picture.

Day 104
 

Zelda and I had a 'pleasant party.' "You have to be pleasant," she told me in her Snow White sing-song voice.

Day 105
 

Our nephew Carter turned one on April 17. We celebrated on April 14 at his first birthday party, smash cake and all.

Day 106
 

For the first time, I took on coffee hosting duty at church. I had so much fun baking and trying new gluten- and dairy-free recipes that I've signed up to do it again in a couple months, with help from mom. I baked everything except the store-bought glutenated coffee cakes in the top right of the picture.

Day 107
 

Zelda had been asking me for bumbleberry jam, my homemade specialty. It has been months since we've had any in the house. So, we made a triple batch. She's already asked if we can give one each to her two preschool teachers. Good thing we made a lot.

Day 108
 

For spring school pictures, Zelda wore a new dress that I ordered from zulily. We love it - the dress and the online store!

Day 109
 

I can't believe I was able to wait two days to crack open a new jar of bumbleberry jam. It is mighty fine!

Day 110

The girls and I are on a smoothie kick, so I bought four bunches of bananas. As they ripened, I sliced and froze them. Now when we want a smoothie, I just grab a handful of frozen banana slices and toss them in the blender with the other ingredients and, voila, icy cold smoothie. How do you like the Roseville bowl? It was my Grandma Rose's. Every time I look at it, I remember how it sat on her dining table (which was the kitchen table) in Elmwood Park.

Day 111
 

Yes, these days were uneventful. Hence, the pictures of fruit. Here is a pear I sliced after school with the apple slicer.

Day 112
 

Ron took this picture for me, while I hung out feeling icky on the couch. The girls enjoyed a lazy Saturday morning in our bed watching TV.

Day 113
 

I had everything I needed on the ottoman.

Day 114

Annalee is in Go Green Club at school. They planted marigolds and morning glories. So far, only the marigolds have come up. Or is it the morning glories? I don't think we'll know for sure until they get a little bigger.

Day 115
 

As the days get longer, the sun rises further north. This is my view out the kitchen window at around 6:15 a.m.

Day 116
 

A clear sign of spring - Canada geese on the roof of the building behind us.

Day 117
 

Boredom. The light cast from my sweet little computer lamp.

Day 118
 

Annalee's school has been doing a two-week unit on decades from the 60s through the 2000s as the school celebrates 50 years. For Decades Day on Friday, everyone dressed up in decade fashion. Can you guess which decade Annalee chose? I think she was most excited to wear flip-flops to school. It's the first time I ever let her do that!

A Dirty Summer

We had a dirty summer. A lot. I don't mean that we played in the dirt or anything like that, though I think that did happen a time or two. I mean that the girls could have taken more baths and/or showers than I care to admit. We had plenty of nights when we were all too pooped out or were having too much fun together to want to stop and take a bath. And, we often used the excuse that we had swimming lessons or were going to the pool anyway the next day (after which we  bathed, thank you very much). I was even aided in my laziness to bathe by using a natural bug repellent that didn't require a shower every night. So much the better.

Now, I should say that my mom taught me better and probably would (will?) be skeeved out when she reads this (and be horrified that I'm admitting it). But, when all was said and done, we all lived. And, even though I got whiffs of the girls' smelly heads a time or two, they are no worse for wear. They survived being dirty.

Through all of these dirty days, not once did I regret not giving the girls a bath when they probably needed it. That is, until yesterday. Yes, after school had started and I had no swimming pool excuses to use. We came home late from visiting Nana and Grandpa on Sunday evening. And, when I normally would have given the girls a fast bath - at the very least - before bed, I didn't. I let it slide. Monday morning I told Annalee to put her hair in a little pony tail on top so that any dirtiness didn't show. Actually, she looked perfectly fine.

When she came home, though, her pony tail was out. And, frankly, her hair looked dirty. So, I asked her why she took her hair down. Drum roll please.... "The nurse did it. She was checking for head lice."

What? This came after Annalee had been home from school for at least an hour and I had already asked her about her day and what went on. Well, apparently I hadn't asked the right questions. It turns out that someone in Annalee's class was found to have head lice and so the nurse checked everyone in the class room.

I am happy to report that Annalee does NOT have head lice. Thankfully. She just had dirty hair the day the nurse needed to comb through it. That skeeves me out.

And, yes, I gave the girls their baths last night.

One Year to the Next

The end of our summer break came this week as Annalee started third grade. It wasn't just a new grade, but since we have leveled schools, she was going to a different school. She'll be there through fifth grade. Annalee was nervous the night before school and insisted we look online so she could find out what her teacher looked like. Thankfully, I found the teacher's classroom web site and we were able to read a little about her. The next morning, I was even more excited to meet Mrs. Madsen and find her very similar in personality to Annalee's first grade teacher, whom we both liked and enjoyed so much. So far, so good.

When Wednesday came, we rushed around taking pictures before driving over to school. A few years ago, I found a 'First Day' picture frame. I purchased two at the time, in complete preparation for Zelda's arrival. Annalee's been using her frame since kindergarten. On the first day of school each year, I've taken Annalee's picture and get prints made while she's in school. She comes home to find her frame updated with her first-day-of-school picture to look at throughout the year. We'll start using Zelda's in a couple weeks when she starts three-year-old preschool.

It's funny when you look at your children every day that you only notice bits and pieces of the changes they are going through. I see Annalee's changes most in her smile (teeth going and new, larger ones coming) and her hair. Zelda has grown in height and her speaking abilities are quite advanced (have I mentioned how much she talks?). But, to see last year's first-day pictures and then this year's picture was a real eye-opener. Here, I'll show you what I mean:

The above pictures were taken in August 2010.

 

Here are the girls this year.

Annalee is looking more mature than I'm ready to admit.

Zelda has lost a lot of her baby face - and is wise beyond her years. So much so that she even lets us know this. "I....am a genius," she will say jokingly. I don't doubt it.

Second Grade

It feels like summer was just beginning, and now Annalee is a big second grader. Today was her first day back to school, a half day. She loved it!


Before we could all take a picture together, the girls had to check out the rolly pollies on the sidewalk.





Annalee and Alaina became friends when they were in the same kindergarten class. They're together again for second grade.

End of School

Following in my friend Becky's blog tracks, I thought I'd share pictures of Annalee from the start of first grade along with pictures from her last day of school last week. I can't believe she's a rising second grader already! First grade seems to have flown by, no doubt in part because of our travels to China and the arrival of little Zelda.

So, here's Annalee on her first day of school:




And, here was her last day of first grade:




Just to highlight the changes in our family these past seven months, here's a picture of the girls together on Annalee's last day. Annalee and Zelda wore their matching outfits...