Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Thankful for Preschool

This is Mrs. Karyn. She is amazing.

She is the preschool teacher at our co-op this year and has done an unbelievable job. The students have a daily calendar time, stories, various crafts, games, and all sorts of activities. She even did some cooking with them last week and hopes to attempt it again this coming week.



Her fulfillment of this position is WAY above the typical "call of duty" for the co-op preschool, but she tackles it weekly with her amazing energy!

I am particularly grateful because there wasn't anything at our co-op for D (age 3) last year. He was at an "in-between" age and made to stay with me in the nursery.

This year I have watched him flourish and blossom under the love, creative energy, and enthusiasm of Mrs. Karyn. He comes home singing his letters. he has learned most of their sounds, and he always has a creative craft to show us.


Even his father, who had to deliver him to school a bit late one day, couldn't believe how excited he was to go to school. D just hopped out of the car and was ready to take off! He LOVES co-op, which is quite the opposite of his poor little brother.

Here he is being the "Letter A" with his friends at school.


At home, we have a "Thankful Tree". The kids add leaves to it each day with something they are thankful for. Want to know what D's first leaf said?

Mrs. Karyn.

He is thankful for Mrs. Karyn. And I truly couldn't agree more.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

A rough age

Dear C (age 14 months),

You will owe Grandmom BIG TIME when you are older. She has watched you ever Friday from 8:30 AM until 1:00 PM. You are her little buddy and she takes you on walks and to the mall. She feeds you lunch and many snacks, plays with you, and just loves on you!

And, WHY do you get all this attention?

Because you are absolutely miserable when mommy leaves you at co-op. You screamed basically the entire three hours one week and it about killed me. That is when I called in your Grandmom for reinforcement.

She came to co-op with us, hoping you would adjust to the nursery more easily if she was there.

This is you on that morning, terrified to let me go. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the snuggles for a few minutes.


Once I left, the screaming began. Horrible screaming. Until your Grandmom put you in the stroller and took you out of the building on a little walk.

You were finally calm for about a half hour...that is until she tried to take you back into the building.

You started screaming again as soon as you got to the front door.

And it pained your Grandmom's heart, so she got the car seat from me and took you home.

And she has been watching you on Friday mornings ever since.

Yes, my boy, you owe your Grandmom for this one day.

Big time.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Science Center Field Trip

Once again, we kicked off the year with a trip to the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore. Each year the Science Center offers homeschool classes for $5 for the first three weeks of September. The class fee includes your admission to the science center that day, for moms and siblings as well! General admission, without a class, is $2 for homeschoolers during the three week period.

We ventured to the science center twice this year. The first round was just the girls and me. K (age 7) took a class and T wandered the science center with me. Then the three of us had a great time touring the place. I didnt take my camera on that trip because I didn't have the stroller.

The next trip was the entire family AND Grandma. The girls were signed up for a class with their friends and we spent time touring the museum together, focusing on the toddler room.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.




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And every year we come at least once with our dear friends, The Fauths. The first time, our 4 kids total sat in these footprints. Now, we fill up the footprints with our crew!



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