Snowy Morning

We woke up about an inch of snow this morning. More accurately, Anya screamed "Mom! Dad!" as she ran into our bedroom early this morning, jarring us awake (I thought her jelly fish had finally succumbed), but no, she was excitedly screaming that it was snowing.

As soon as a parent was willing (early in morning, that's usually Chris) they went outside to play and start a snowman.

Here is the proto-snow man Dad and Anya managed before Dad left for work.

Here's the snowman Anya and mom finished about 45 minutes later when it was light outside. We played in the snow, threw snowballs at the (equally excited) dogs, and lazed a bit until we walked to catch the school bus and continued the fun with a snowball fight with school bus stop friends. School was delayed for 2 hours, so many a gleeful kid/family got in some play time before it all melts this afternoon. What a treat. :-D

Nutcracker

Ever since Anya was a baby, I looked forward to the day she was old enough to go to the Nutcracker at McCaw Hall. I had never been (to any performance) and taking my daughter seemed like the perfect opportunity to go for the first time. As it turns out, Lynn had never gone either.

It seemed like this year was the right year to take Anya. Because I wanted it to be special, I bought tickets for good seats for Lynn, Anya, and me for this past Saturday. Lynn managed to book a night at the Camlin hotel downtown for Friday night. So we planned to make a girls adventure out of it. That we'd go out to dinner, spend all Saturday morning doing the downtown Christmas activities, have lunch, and then top it all off with the Nutcracker performance. Lynn and I kept it all a surprise for Anya beforehand. I know I was very much looking forward to it - excited about it, even. I think Lynn was too.

The weekend was kind of a bust. Certainly not terrible. There were good times, but it wasn't the weekend I had envisioned. I think we tried too hard and hoped for Anya's excitement too much. It served as a reminder that I need to have low expectations for activities when children are involved -- less disappointment that way. And that Anya will be interested in what she's interested in. As it turns out, there will probably be no "right year" to take her to the ballet.

It started off fun. Lynn came by the house and we surprised Anya at the bus stop and swooped (or as swooped as the traffic would allow) her off to the hotel downtown. Chris and Steve picked us up awhile later and we had a lovely dinner at Ivar's on the waterfront. Afterwards, we girls hung out and read books (The Nutcracker being one of them) until kiddo's bedtime. Unfortunately, I forgot to pack Elephant, so Anya completely lost it and tried to bolt from the hotel a few times. Once it was apparent there was no calming her down (it's usually great that she can be focused, but no so much in cases like this), Chris, Father of the Year, drove Elephant to us (thank you!!!). She was asleep within minutes of being reunited with her lovey. Crisis averted.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast, we headed over to Westlake Center. Anya rode the holiday carousel and we took a picture (which hasn't been posted yet) inside a giant inflatable snow globe. Afterwards, we walked to the Sheraton to see the gingerbread houses. Anya was unimpressed at best. Had lunch, and then took the Monorail to Seattle Center. Anya would likely consider the few minute Monorail ride to be the highlight of the weekend. That, and a pretty pigeon she spied.

We hung out at Seattle Center for a bit (Anya wanted to play in a toddler room while Lynn and I kicked back and listened to a high school jazz orchestra). Then we headed to see The Nutcracker. Anya's behavior wasn't great (from about mid-morning on), so it took away some of the enjoyment. But the performance, set, and costumes were beautiful. I loved it. It was too long for Anya by about 1/2 hour. Even with the intermission. I don't know whose young kids could possibly sit through that long of a performance, but there sure were a lot of kids younger than Anya there. Mine sure couldn't. She was very fidgety and only moderately interested in the whole thing.

So, once it was over we took the monorail back (excitement again from the kid) to the hotel, picked up Lynn's car and went home.

It was nice to have girl time and do something special for just us. But I don't think there will be a repeat of this particular outing. A bit of a bummer, but now we can all say we've seen the Nutcracker.

Thanksgiving Break

Seattle Public schools was on break all week, so Anya got some time off from school. What a great week!

Sunday to Monday, she spent the night with Lynn and Steve (thank you!) and played while Chris and I attended a parent-teacher conferences. Anya's teacher says she is doing well, loves science (duh) and is excited about reading.

 

Here is a candid shot of the kidlet and her "sneaked" reading material for the evening.

Teacher goals for our kiddo are to know her 3-D shapes (I was surprised they have to know those at this age), consistently write her 3's the correct way/not backward, and know her sight words without having to think about them or sound them out. She's on the cusp of reading fluently and knowing those sight words will help get her there.

We went to the park and on a few "adventure walks" (Anya randomly picks direction, marking the sidewalk or landmarks with chalk so we don't get lost). Also had a playdate one day. Chris took off work for 5 days, so there was lots dad-daughter time. One day, they went to Carkeek Park all afternoon and watched the salmon run.

This salmon died at Anya's feet moments before this picture was taken

Thanksgiving was nice. Lynn and Steve hosted this year. Tons of food, Anya ran around a lot with cousin Will and played a little with the other cousins. And while on our way home, Anya says she saw our Elf on the Shelf, Peter, flying through the sky and jumping down into our chimney. When we walked in the door, he was sitting on the fireplace mantel :-)

I can't fully remember what we did Friday. I think Chris and Anya started watching Star Wars movies while I decompressed from all the cooking I did. And we went on another "adventure walk" with the dogs and there was visiting with Eloise and family in the afternoon.

Saturday we randomly decided to go to Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, so we hopped on a ferry. As it turns out, our friends Brian and Melinda (who live on Bainbridge) were around and invited us over for lunch first. So we got to visit with their family - Anya was thrilled to see Cora and Brooks and we got a nice visit with Brian and Melinda. We don't get to see them often, so it was a treat. While there, they mentioned that Islandwood happened to be open to the public that day (they usually aren't), so we scrapped our idea of Bloedel Reserve and checked out Islandwood. It was awesome - such a good decision. We hiked around through the trails, climbed a tower, discovered the tree houses and neat little natural attractions, and generally wandered (or in Anya's case ran) around the grounds. (Anya's favorite feature was the Bird Blind in the marsh). We all fell in love with the place and can't wait to go back when they next open it to the public for an afternoon. I hear they have family camps in the summer, so I'll have to look into it.

crawling through a hollowed-out tree

Sunday, we brought the dogs and a kite to Magnuson. Anya wanted to fly a kite up at Kite Hill. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, the wind died down. So kite flying was only semi-productive. So we did a long wetland walk. Anya hunted for frogs while the dogs hunted for sweetgrass. In the afternoon, we went to our annual PEPS kids joint birthday party (all the kids were born around the same time, so we have a PEPS birthday party). This year, it was at Om Culture, which was a great space for our group.They had various fun contraptions for kids and adults to play on (mini-trampolines, balance beams, aerial harnesses, suspended silk rope-sheets for aerial acrobatics, giant cushions, etc.). The kids had a blast. And we had a drum circle too. The adults got way more into it than the kids, but the kids took turns dancing and being conductors, having us all drum certain beats. Fun fun. Kids opened presents (Anya got a solar system science kit, which she loves) and we all had cupcakes and snacks. A great time. Then about half of us went out to a brewpub for dinner to end the evening.

6 year olds, posing for their annual photo. This time on a trampoline

Now we're all back to the grind, but it was a fun week that allowed us all to recharge.

Moon Jellyfish

Warning: this post will be full of parental bragging, since we are so darn impressed with our kid.

She did it! Anya saved up $230.00 to.the.penny and I ordered her moon jellyfish tank this morning.

Backstory: at some point earlier this year, I can't even remember when, Anya spied this moon jelly fish tank in her Insect Lore catalog. She told us she wanted to save up for it. It's $460. Considering that she only gets $5 a week in allowance and she was only 5 years old and somewhat fickle, we figured there was no way she was going to reach this particular goal. But, since it seemed she *really* wanted it, I told her that if she managed to save up half of the money, we would cover the other half. It seemed like a safe bet that Chris and I would be keeping our money and that she'd move on to something else within a few weeks.

She made it through months and months of saving. Sometimes it was torturous for her, especially over the summer. She'd hear the ice cream truck down the block and come tearing out of the house, a bit of her allowance stash in hand. But every single time, she'd stop in front of the ice cream truck, pause, look at her money, back to the pictures of ice cream offerings, back to her money, sigh, and walk back home, saying she wanted her moon jellyfish more than ice cream. It was all her. No pressure from us. 

And there were a handful of times I took her to the toy store to pick out birthday presents for friends. Anya decided to bring her allowance. She would sit quietly in front of the horse figurines (or other toys, but usually the horses) while I shopped, trying to decide if she really wanted to spend her money at the toy store or save up for the jellyfish. The jellyfish won out every single time and she decided to leave the store with all of her allowance. 

She received some monetary help around her birthday from some generous family members and friends who wanted to see her reach her goal (thank you!). This morning I gave Anya her weekly allowance. We counted up what she had, thinking she was a bit short. But when we added in her change, she had exactly $230.00. Not a coin left over. So she handed it all over to me and we ordered the jellyfish online.

Now comes the other hard part for her of waiting for everything to arrive. 

She is so unbelievably thrilled this morning. I heard many an ear-piercing scream of excitement. She told everyone at the bus stop this morning, and by now I'm sure her entire class knows. 

She is also very proud of herself, as she should be. Chris and I are proud too and quite impressed that she managed to pull it off. Congratulations, kid!

School Pictures

So here we are with the very first (of many) annual school pictures. These are memorable for two reasons. 1) they are the first and 2) Anya got in a little trouble with us over them.

On the morning of picture day, we (OK, I) had picked out and ironed a cute dress. The bodice was the perfect blue-green to complement Anya's pretty blue eyes. Over breakfast, we talked about why it was important that she look nice for picture day and wear the outfit I picked out (normally, I let her wear whatever she wants as long as it's weather-appropriate). She said she wanted to wear pink like one of her friends. The compromise was that she wear the dress for pictures, which were first thing at school, and then could change into whatever she wanted to wear for the rest of the day.

As you can see below, it didn't quite work out that way. After Anya got off the school bus, she proudly told me that she decided to change into playclothes *before* the pictures. Unfortunately, the pink shirt she grabbed was pretty stained and I think was in her dirty clothes pile.

Her consequence for her decision to go against us was to cover the cost of retakes (if needed) and the cost of the class picture, since we can't retake that. Fortunately, the stain isn't obvious and we didn't bother with retakes. But funny how she's front and center in the class pic. Notice her shiny dress shoes :-)

In the moment, we were pretty annoyed with her. A few weeks out, though, it's funny and now there's a story to go with along with the pictures.

Halloween

Now that Birthdayhalloweenextravaganza week is behind us, time to update on the Halloween bit.

It was fine this year. I suppose it always is for the kid. Halloween was always my favorite holiday, up until Anya was born. Now it feels more like a chore to get through, since I put a lot of energy into her birthday. But there are some fun bits to it. For one, we always start the Neighborhood Boo (fill a bag with treats for neighbors with a ghost image to put on their door, showing they've been boo'ed. They need to do the same for other neighbors and keep it going). I started it years back in our micro-neighborhood and it finally seems to have caught on. This year, pretty much every house on our regular walking route had our little ghost on the front door. That filled me with glee. What I also loved is that we got boo'ed by someone using a different format. Not our ghost. I'm guessing a classmate from a different neighborhood. Fun!

Anya also really got into decorating the house/yard this year. There were cobwebs all over every picture and many decorations in the big picture window. She wanted a little scarier this year, so we hung a zombie-thing from the tree out front and put up grave stones. And more cobwebs over all the bushes. It looked pretty good.

As for costumes, Anya wanted to be a ghost-fairy (something she saw in a friend's costume catalog over the summer). Easy enough. I just serged some gauze together to make a tattered tunic and underskirt. She wore a ballerina outfit and some wings and it was done. I was supposed to be Medusa and Chris supposed to be Perseus, but I didn't manage pull the costumes together. Instead, I was the Queen of the Spiders and Chris a fisherman. Easy. Done.

The kids got to wear costumes to school and had a big party in the afternoon. I helped run it. There were a handful of games and activities and a bit of sugar. The kids had fun.

Once home from school we put on or refreshed our costumes and headed over to Liam's house to meet up with PEPS families. The group went out en masse for trick-or-treating, but pretty quickly separated into Type A and Type B trick-or-treating personalities. It's a pretty easy guess which group Anya was in. After a little while, our family drove back home so Chris and Anya could trick-or-treat in our neighborhood, while I handed out candy.

Chris and Anya ended up meeting up with some neighbors (Anya's school / bus friends Naomi and Paul and their parents) and they had fun collecting tons of candy.

Speaking of Anya's candy haul, her Kindergarten class collected Halloween candy to send to soldiers. Anya wanted to trade most of her candy for a necklace that holds bugs anyway (priorities, people), so she turned in lots for the cause. For that I'm glad, since once it's out of the house, there's none for me to sneak.

Birthday Party

We threw a "Halloween Birthday Bash" for Anya the other week, as kiddo wanted a Halloween-themed birthday party this year.

She invited seven friends over to the house for fun and games. Two were new friends from school. The rest were friends she's known awhile. Everyone wore costumes.

Scary ghost-fairy

Queen of the spiders

 

We did a few games. One was the fishing game, that we've done the past two years (at Anya's request). Basically, I hide behind a curtain in a doorway while the kids cast a makeshift fishing rod over the curtain. I clip on prizes for them to "catch". The kids love it. This year, Chris dressed up as a fisherman and he was the kids' expert guide. 

Another game was the balloon popping game. I put pieces of paper in a bunch of blown up balloons, one with a star drawn on it. The kids pop the balloons. Whoever finds the star gets a prize. That one didn't go over as well as we had hoped. Three of the kids were too afraid and didn't want to participate. But the rest had a blast. 

Anya also insisted on bobbing for apples. Almost all of the kids loved that one, Anya more than anyone. She soaked through several costume/clothing changes since she kept coming back to bob for more apples. 

Anya: "I got 3 Apples"

 

We made all sorts of "gross" foods to eat (totally fun for me). Mummy dogs (hot dogs wrapped in crescent dough strips), blood punch with zombie hand (mixed fruit juice and sparking cider with ice frozen in the shape of a hand), inside-out caramel apples (thanks, Pinterest!), banana ghost pops, and our favorite: worms. 

worms made from jello and molded in bendy straws

chow time

And instead of cake, Anya requested Top Pot doughnuts again this year. Works for me; one less thing to prep. 

blowing out her birthday candles on doughnuts cut in the shape of a 6. 

 

Afterwards, we set up the bounce house in the back yard and let the girls start burning off all that sugar until their parents arrived. Anya had a great time. Happy Birthday!

Six!

My goodness, Anya is 6 today.

What to say? She's a great kid.

This past year has had the big transition of ending preschool and starting Kindergarten. There was a jump in maturity just weeks after preschool ended and lots of learning has happened in just the last month and a half since Kindergarten started. She's made many friends at school. I'm not surprised, since she is not a wallflower. That's something I admire in her - her ability and desire to put herself out there and just charge forward. Her best friend in class is named Eva. Eva loves jaguars and they hunt for bugs together and dig in the dirt. She has (had? I never know from day to day) a boyfriend, Finn. Nice kid. He's very physical and high energy like her. School itself is going well. It seems Anya's reading currently falls in the "mid-year first grade" level. She can sound out most words easily (minus those that adults would find difficult), but is not a fluent reader (meaning, doesn't read at a pace that sounds like she's talking). She's learning about dates and gets how calendars work (she keeps on on the fridge and counts down days to important dates), and they are learning how to tell time. All in all, I'd say she's thriving at school. She looooves riding the bus and lives for recess and lunchtime.

As for interests, she still has a love for all things animal -- maybe even more than before if that's even possible. When at home, she loves to be out in the back yard hunting for bugs, digging in the compost bin (yuck!), or talking to the birds that fly near. She loves to fish just as much as her dad. For her birthday/Christmas, she's only been asking for a few things (since the summer): a frog hatchery, a necklace that holds bugs, and a jellyfish tank. Did I mention she likes animals? She tells us she wants to be either a veterinarian or a herpetologist when she grows up. Not a surprise.

Physically, she is still a climber and probably always will be. I wish rock climbing gyms were more convenient, since I guarantee she will be into it if/when she is officially introduced to the sport. Still very agile and fast. Good at gymnastics. Although, she requested that she drop from 2x a week for gymnastics pre-team to one day per week and take swimming instead. Still *very* active. She hardly stands still. If she's waiting in line, she tends to quickly jump in place. I wouldn't call her hyperactive, since she's quite capable of focusing and sitting still. She just has energy to burn. I wish I could bottle that stuff.

Some of her current favorite things:

Music: First Aid Kit's "Emmylou" and Nirvana's "Smells like Teen Spirit" (by way of the Muppet Movie version)

TV Shows: The Jeff Corwin Experience (sort of akin to the Crocodile Hunter for kids). Most recently, she's found and liked movies with talking dogs (Easter Bunny Puppy, etc). We don't have cable or satellite, so she finds all sorts of random kid-friendly shows on Netflix on the ipad. But Jeff Corwin is currently her favorite.

Friends: Eva L, Eloise, Eva H at school, Max (neighbors' grandson). She has lots of friends, but those are the ones she wants play dates with most often.

Food: Spaghetti and meatballs (which I have simmering right now for her birthday dinner), any kind of fruit, blueberry pancakes, bean and cheese burritos, and Grandma B's recipe for pumpkin cinnamon-swirl bread.

All in all, her personality hasn't really shifted since she was in the womb. She's full of life, curious about the world around her, independent, bright, funny, stubborn, empathetic, and (usually) a joy to be around.

Summer

Now that autumn is just about here and we are getting into the swing of Kindergarten, let's recap summer.

We had a lovely, short, and busy few months after preschool graduation. There were lots of half-day camps (zoo camp, nature camp, one at Roaring Mouse, one at Sweet Pea Cottage, and others). Swimming lessons a few times a week, as well as many outings (at Anya's insistence) to the beach at Magnuson Park. We did several playgrounds, walks, tide pool time at Carkeek, and various playdates. It was one of the sunniest, warmest summers I can remember in Seattle. A little too sunny and warm for my preference, but I get to enjoy most of the rest of the year here and it was a nice change of pace. 

We also had a few highlights. We did our annual camping trip with PEPS friends on Bainbridge Island. It was a good time as always. 

Monkeying around, waiting for the ferry to Bainbridge 

 All PEPS kids (and younger siblings) successfully posing for the camera. One of the moms brilliantly mooned the kids to get them to all laugh at the same time.

Giant s'more

Another highlight was our now-annual trip to Long Beach, WA with Lynn and Steve. It was relaxing and the company was good. We introduced  Anya to the joys of cheesy beach town mini-golf, taught her her ping pong, and she got to ride a horse on the beach with Chris (who tore his ACL playing soccer and was about 2 weeks post-surgery). She also got *lots* of pool time with Lynn and Steve, which she would probably consider the best part of the trip. There was also the usual beach play time too and a little kite flying.

kite flying 

At the beginning of August, Chris and Todd took Anya, Eva, and Javier camping at Camas Beach. I hear it was a good time. They made friends with some other campers and there was much running around -- to be expected with three high-energy kids. 

 camping on Camas

And here we have PEPSapalooza,. This time it was up in Everett and at a great facility. We were joined by another PEPS family and other friends. It was a fun afternoon for kids and adults alike. 

rabbit petting

dancing to the Not-Its

We also did our summertime ritual of  the Evergreen State Fair. This time around we went with Tracey, Eva, and Greta. Anya did the same two rides as last year (the harnessed trampoline - she managed to do several flips this year, and the water "zorbs"...I don't know what they're really called, but giant hamster ball that kids go in and roll around on top of the water). Much livestock viewing, wandering, etc. It was fun. 

Taking a break, watching teenagers do horse obstacle courses. We look bored, but aren't. Me, Eva, Anya in the background. 

Miscellaneous summer pics....

a Wednesday concert at U Village

Anya and Jules coming back from zoo camp. 

taking a breather on a hike at Twin Falls

Tooth #2

This morning we're all at Seattle Gymnastics Academy for a Saturday morning lesson. Anya didn't want to go because her tooth was loose and she, "might knock it out while doing jumping jacks or something."
Ten minutes into her lesson she came to me and asked me to pull the tooth. I did.
She immediately ran back on the floor yelling, "I lost my tooth, I lost my tooth!" All the other girls gathered around to check out the new hole, and the wonky sideways adult tooth coming in behind it.

Addendum: the tooth fairy ended up coming, but was confused when she couldn't find Anya's tooth under her pillow. It turns out, Anya put the tooth under the cat for safe-keeping. Of course.

Fortunately, Gossamer Moontree (that's the tooth fairy's name) was resourceful enough to write a note about the missing tooth with the glittery dollar bill attached. All is now well. The dollar is in its rightful place with the kid and the tooth is with the tooth fairy.

Fish and Tell

Today Anya produced this picture to share with her kindergarten class when she was asked to "Draw a real story that was definitely not pretend".

Center stage you can see Anya reeling in a fish, followed in the upper right by "Dad using a knife to cut open the little fish to use his guts as bait", and lastly you can see Morgana the cat (under foot)  eating said fish.

So while Amy is telling the world of Anya's more notable achievements of the first weeks of school, daddy is (of course) proud of her newly found love of fishing. 

Anya's dad is an obsessive person, and it warms the stream-chilled depths of my heart to hear Anya give voice to my thoughts as we pass any river stream or pond: "You think there are fish in there?"  She's really taken to it.  When mom says, "What shall we do this weekend?" Anya will invariably say, "Go fishing. Or how about a hike TO a fishing river," in hopes of making mom think there's something in the deal for her.  But we all know it's about the fishing. 

The last three times Grandpa and/or I have taken her fishing, she has been the one to catch the fish. It's starting to make her a bit cocky. She gives advice and helps me pick out lures and bait. 

She's pretty good at casting. 

Given the choice between reeling in a fish and netting a fish, she'll always choose to net one...which is fine by me. 

She just informed me that the above was a "sad picture".  This is because the fish who died, was young, and small and died when it swallowed the hook.  No one wanted it to die.  This is always traumatic for Anya.  That being said, once a fish is above about 12 inches, all bets are off and she's asking to be the one to club it. I guess she supposes that, as a fish ages, it becomes necessarily and irrevocably corrupt and therefore has it coming. 

Here are some other photos of the kid fishing.

Grandpa holds ups a little perch Anya caught at Twin Ponds.  She caught three that day.

Anya holds up a worm she would eventually use to pull in a little Rainbow Trout at Fish Lake near Leavenworth.  We fished with her cousin Kalea and "uncle" Matt and her great uncle Rick.  We caught and released that little guy, but not before the girls dropped it on the deck and knocked it senseless.  We assured her it lived...but I have my doubts. 

Here is Anya's word-for-word retelling of the story:
Once I got a fish, deep in the water.  Even though the fish were lurking right below us we tried our best, even though we only caught one for each kid in the boat.  Well, the dock boat.  When the fish struggled on the pole, we definitely knew when they're on. The fish of course, got a dream of sadness when the fish bumped his head. The little bass that Kalea caught, in our little dock boat, on our fishing trip didn't bonk his head but it struggled.  It was the bass of course.  Then I got a stamp from Seattle Gymnastics Academy (AKA end of story)

Kindergarten part 2

So here we are starting the first full week of school, and with full days. Last week, the Kindergartners just went for 3 hours and had a 1:1 evaluation slot with their teacher afterwards. We dropped them off in the cafeteria and picked them up outside the Kindergarten classrooms.

This morning, I drove Anya to school. As soon as we reached the building, she saw her new friend, Eva* and they hugged and ran towards the playground together. It was interesting watching her. She put her backpack on the ground in her classroom line and played with Eva (plus other kids). The second the bell rang, she lined up with her class. Gave me a quick hug, then waved bye and walked with the other kids to her classroom.  I almost got teary-eyed. She didn't need my help at all and seemed like such a big kid, while I stood a little ways back chatting with other parents. She has it down already. I'll give it one more week of driving her to school daily, and will then let her ride the bus. She's been itching to do it. After witnessing her this morning, I'm not worried about her knowing what she should be doing with the morning school routine. It's bittersweet for me. I love that I get to witness this important time for her and see that she's thriving, but at the same time, she's pulling away from me further, becoming more self-sufficient, and is no longer a baby, toddler, preschooler. Aaaand, now I'm teary-eyed from writing this, thinking about my now big girl.

*So this is neat. Last weekend, Chris, Anya, and I went up to Twin Falls for a hike. It's near North Bend and about a 45 minute drive from here. On our way back down to the trailhead, we saw a little girl with her dad in front of us that reminded us of Anya. She was blonde and had the same haircut. The girls immediately started talking and noticed that they both had feathers clamped in their hair in the same place (Anya has a yellow one and this girl had a pink one). They were excited to find out they were both 5 and starting Kindergarten in a few days. As it turns out, they both go to Wedgwood. Unfortunately, they aren't in the same class, but it hasn't really mattered. They always find each other during recess and have become quick friends. How random that they met on a trail kind of far from home.

First Day of Kindergarten

It's finally here! Anya started her first day of Kindergarten at Wedgwood Elementary yesterday.

excited for school 

obligatory pose in front of the school sign

It was a big day and Anya (after a little prodding to get out of bed) was excited to go. She was all smiles on the way. And when we parked and walked to the building, she ran ahead, ready to get started. The Kindergartners and families met in the cafeteria and then had to line up by class to go with their teachers. This is sort of where things fell apart. It was hot, we had to wait (what felt like) a long time, and there was lots of nervous and emotional energy throughout the room. So there was a lot of build-up. When it came time to leave with her class, Anya suddenly latched on to us, crying. I had to pry her off of me and Chris carried her until the head teacher kindly swooped in and walked her to class. It was a bit heartbreaking seeing her so scared and crying. But, of course, I hear she got over it quickly and had a wonderful first day. 

This Kindergarten thing a big transition for the whole family and the last few weeks were full of lots of emotion and uncertainties for all of us (well, mainly Anya and me). For starters, we weren't even sure if we would get to start school yesterday. The school board and teachers didn't come to an agreement until about 12 hours before school started. A strike was a possibility (although I'm not sure how strong a possibility), so we were all in limbo.

When we received Anya's class assignment Wednesday, I was initially disappointed. The teacher is out on medical leave and Anya is starting her school adventures with a long-term substitute (Ms. Moffitt). We don't know when or if her "normal" teacher is coming back. The substitute is young and new to teaching, so I have to admit, it made me a little nervous. However, after meeting her at the open house, she seems competent and kind with lots of energy. Anya immediately liked her and told me (and the neighbors) that she seems like "the nicest teacher ever".

Another source of pre-kindergarten nervousness (mainly for me, since I'm rather an introvert) is that Anya doesn't get to start with anyone she knows in her class. We had been going to informal playdates for nearly a year, getting to know lots of families. And not a single one of them is in her class. So, all new kids for Anya to get to know and now a class full of parents that I should get to know.

But now it's after day 2 and I'm happy to report that everything seems great. Anya already made a few friends. We walked home with a mom and daughter from her class yesterday, which was fun. And this morning at drop-off, she knew lots of kids. Drop-off went much more smoothly than yesterday. She was a little nervous still, but I think only I could tell. At pick-up, she was chipper and said she had a good day. And I met several nice parents and have been able to socialize with the ones I've already gotten to know. So we are all off to a good start.

Little Buckaroo

Here's Anya on a pony.

Her preschool had ponies come a few weeks before school ended. Of course, the pony people dressed the kids up and took pictures. And, of course, I am a sucker for pictures of my kid and purchased one.

She had fun though. I'm not so sure about the pony.

A Scientific Day Lived in Anya's Life

As my old friend Chad pointed out last night, we are very consciously raising a kid to be interested in science.  Whether it will stick is anyone's guess, but so far so good. 

 

 

Cassini

Here we are waving at the Cassini space probe when it turned around and snapped a shot of Earth from around Saturn.  We waved for 1 minute just to make sure it got us :-)  It took our photons ~80 minutes to get to Cassini's camera.

 

Chad's family's house
Judy McEvoy was a pre-school teacher until recently, and she adores Anya and loves to share all her sciencey stuff with her. In addition to playing with the bones, Anya also managed to coax 3 large rock samples from Judy's collection.

 Anya trying on a deer jaw for size

Anya with a cobra skin

Deer skull?  Not sure. It's an Anya hat

Anya measuring her six year molars against an elk jaw

vertebrae face mask 

Gymnastics

Yes, even at gymnastics she finds some way to play with creepy crawlies.  Here she is with a "Rubber Python"  the Reptile Guy brought to the gym's adjacent pre-school. She also played with Turtles and was kissed by a Boa Constrictor.

new cousins

On Wednesday, June 26, we were thrilled to welcome Anya's two new cousins to the world: Bennett and Oliver Schmidt.

 Bennett

Oliver

Welcome to the family, boys! We can't wait to meet you.

Preschool Graduation

On Thursday, our baby graduated from preschool. I very clearly recall her first day of preschool in 2010, when she was still 2 (almost 3). Three years later, here we are. Sweet Pea Cottage has been a great fit for Anya. She made several close friendships, and they allowed her so much room for creativity and exploration of ideas. She adored her teachers, and they really seemed to "get" her. Plus the weekly field trips were pretty awesome.

We will miss this place and always remember it fondly.

Here we are at the graduation ceremony. The dark haired woman is Miss Cammie (the founder). Next to her is Miss Tisha, the school director (who also teaches Sweet Pea College - kindergarten prep). And on the left of her is Miss Emily (Anya's teacher) and Mr. Ricky (assistant teacher). 

Anya's "All About Me" poster. She did it all by herself, although I helped her spell "blueberry muffins" and "family". Bottom left is meant to be "tidal pool". 

two of her good friends

blowing bubbles after graduation.

Graduation day itself was fun. Grandma and Grandpa Lodwig came to watch. Afterward, the school had carnival games and treats for the kids (some of us grownups took off and came back a bit later). Then we took Anya out for frozen yogurt afterwards. Anya wore her (way too big) mortar board whenever in public for the rest of the day. She was very proud and wanted everyone to know that she graduated. We are proud too.

Next up is a summer full of various fun activities until Kindergarten(!) starts in early September.