school, germs, long weekend, and a TOAD!

The second week of school has ended and all is going well. The superstar is doing very well - he just needs to stop talking when the teacher is talking! - and the princess is doing great too. The superstar learned to play "battleship" in after school care and loves it. He had one more gift card from his birthday and just bought the game. He and Daddy are sitting down to play it now. What fun! The princess' upper respiratory infection is clearing up, I think. Her nose is still a little runny from time to time but doesn't sound as horse. My throat has been hurting at night - probably from over use during the day and I've been suffering from a terrible sinus headache all day today. Thank you FL allergies, rain, and Kindergarten germs!!

My class is looking like a dream class! They are very bright and willing to do whatever is asked of them. I am really enjoying this group so far. Last year's class was a real challenge so I am really enjoying the change this year. I have a little bell (I'll post a picture of it another time) that I can ring and my students stop whatever they are doing, stop talking, and look at me for a direction. AMAZING! I call it my little ringy-dingy bell. We've also started a new reading series which has the students creating an ABC Scrapbook throughout the school year. We completed the A page this week and the projects look super cute! Again, I'll post a picture of this later - I left my camera at school yesterday! Oops!

I am very thankful for the long weekend we are enjoying. Today was a day of rest for me - my headache wouldn't let me move for most of the day! Now it is on to laundry, cleaning up the house, hosting a BBQ dinner with the Pirate, Mermaid, & their parents, and enjoying time with my kiddos.

On a side note, when we came home this evening in the pouring down rain, a toad jumped into the garage. I am TERRIFIED and thoroughly disgusted by frogs/toads of all kind! My husband tried to get the thing out but it hopped under something and it is stuck there now. I hope it gets itself out of the garage but it will probably die under there. ARG!!! I managed to come into the house - how, I don't know. But I may move somewhere else.

the weekend...

Fay is STILL bringing us rain! We had several "PE inside" days last week at school and this weekend, it rained off and on. The lakes in our neighborhood are nice and full. The streets around town are nice and flooded :)

The Superstar was a big helper this weekend. He worked hard in the garage cleaning out things and sweeping the floor and driveway. Way to go, superstar!

The Princess had a difficult night. She was exhausted during dinner so we put her down to sleep. She spent over an hour crying and not able to lie down. She's had a runny nose for over a week. I hope she doesn't have an ear infection. At the beginning of last school year, she had an ear infection each month for the first 4 months! Daddy will be staying home with her tomorrow to take her to the doctor. Poor baby!

the view from our front porch...

We are getting wind and rain and can occasionally hear the shutters on the windows rattle. Thankfully, the power is still on and the cable is still working!!

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for us. The Princess started at Ms. Sara's house - a new sitter for her. Ms. Sara took care of the Superstar when he was little. I was nervous for my princess because it was a new situation for her but she did very very well! She barely gave me a wave good-bye and when I called in the afternoon, she had done super all day. Good girl! Ms. Debbie must have trained her well last year :) She did manage to take her BIG silky blankie in with her and dragged it all over the place, Linus style, during the day. Oh well!

The Superstar had a great first day of first grade. He got to have art class with the Pirate's mommy and sat with the Pirate at lunch (they are in the same class too!) The superstar was very happy about his day. Hooray!

My day was a good typical first day of Kindergarten. The students started out very QUIET but became talkative after PE class. Hmmm... Overall, they did do very well compared to other groups I've had. It's too bad we won't have class tomorrow so I can keep up with "training" them with how to do school! Herbie's class was a bit more talkative/active/loud/etc. She'll get them in line soon! I'm not sure how Spinnie's day went. I did see her moving quickly through the hallways several times today. She's always on the go to help someone in crisis!! Go, Spinnie, go!

storm prepping

Like I mentioned, my dear husband put the shutters up on our house. The Superstar "helped". I just took pictures and stayed out of the way :)

It's looking a little better...

We're still watching this: but things are looking a little better for us! We'll keep a close eye on things. School will start tomorrow! The Superstar will begin his first grade year and the Princess will start staying with Ms. Sara. Oh boy!

still watching...

We're still watching and waiting to see what Fay will do. She's looking a lot like Charley but hopefully not as strong! We're busy getting shuttered up. It is getting dark in the house already. No word on school tomorrow...I guess we'll be starting for one day?? We will have to see.

What we're watching...

Will Fay come here? Will we start school on Monday? Will we have school on Tuesday? Will the Princess get to "hunker down" for the first time? The Superstar was 2 years old for his first hunkering down experience. That was the year of Charley, Frances, Jeanne, etc... What a year that was! We'll have to wait, watch, and see what happens!

guess who loves lasagna?

Family Vacation Part 2 - Theme Parks!!

Saturday morning we woke up, went to breakfast at the hotel (kids ate free - hurray!) and went on to Universal Studios. I was able to "do" the Princess' hair before we left. It was sooo cute! I've been wanting to starting putting her hair up since before she was even born. And she is just starting to have enough hair to do it. But, the Princess usually won't let me do her hair. Oh well! I'll keep trying.

I took a picture of where we parked in case we forgot when it was time to leave:

We started walking in Universal Studios and right away saw Scooby, Shaggy, and the gang! The superstar was SOOO excited! He watches their movies and shows whenever he can.

The princess didn't care for the GIANT dog.

We made our way to the Barney area. Barney is a new FAVORITE of the Princess. I was so glad that they have a Barney show and we caught the first one of the day! The Princess LOVED LOVED LOVED the show! She danced and sang along with her favorite song "I Love You." I was so happy to see how happy the Princess was! After the show we even got to meet Barney. I was worried that the Princess wouldn't like the GIANT dinosaur because of her reaction to the GIANT Scooby-Doo. But she did fine UNTIL, he bent down to kiss her. Because of Barney's open mouth, it looked like he was going to bite her head off! The Princess was ready to leave the Barney area!

Afterwards, the Princess fell asleep...And the Superstar got grumpy!I soon found out there's almost nothing that a giant swirly lollipop can't cure!

The Princess took out her very pretty hair doodles and had funny hair for a bit:

We made our way around the park, met Shrek:and then went over to Islands of Adventure. We spent most of our time in Seuss Landing and had LOTS of fun going on the rides there.

We spent about 12 hours at both parks and had fun!

Family Vacation

We decided to take the family to Universal in Orlando. We left after I got my hair done:

We checked into the hotel, went to dinner and shopped around. The Superstar got a new Bionicle Lego set and had fun playing with that before going to bed.

We put the Princess to bed BUT, she didn't want to go to sleep because we were all in the same room. Around 10:30 pm, she finally fell asleep. Around 2:45 AM, I heard a little voice saying, "Mommy, blankie! Mommy?? Blankie! Mommy, blankie!!" I woke up to see that her royal highness had thrown her blanket out of her crib and onto the floor. After playing "fetch" a few times - usually I wouldn't have played but I did NOT want to wake up the Superstar who can be a DRAGON if woken up!! - I got the princess up, changed her, and she thought it was playtime. She jumped on my bed, tried to climb Daddy Mountain, and run around the room. By 4 AM, I decided that I had enough and was EXHAUSTED so I put the Princess down again and luckily, she fell asleep right away! Whew! Isn't it amazing that Daddy didn't wake up at all during this?? Hhmmm....

A Last Hurrah for Summer!

Mommy Doodle and I took the Pirate, Mermaid, Superstar, and Princess to the aquatic center today. They have a super fun kiddie pool there. There is a slide and everything! We brought our lunches and made a day of it. It was great to get together for some summer fun. Wanna see??

Ther Superstar and Pirate splashing around...

The Superstar going down the slide!
brother and sister enjoying some time together
The Princess splashing around.

Cheesy Princess!

PLEASE HELP!!

Did that title get your attention???

In my "welcome back to the school year" annual letter, we are asked to bring in a motivational quote to share. I'm kind of stuck and can't really think of one. Please leave a comment with a motivational quote and maybe I'll steal your idea and use it myself! For you other Skyline Stars out there - ha ha ha! I thought of a way to get help finding my quote! Don't steal any of them! HA HA!

playing with friends...

The superstar got to go over to his friend's house today for a playdate. He was soooo excited and had a whole lot of fun playing and swimming! And luckily for me, his friend's mom didn't mind me leaving the superstar at her house for the morning so I could go up to school and work a little more on my classroom. I brought the princess with me. Here's she is pretending to be a Kindergartener:

I asked her if she was going to Kindergarten and she said, "ya". :)

The pirate and the mermaid showed up with their mom at school and the mermaid and the princess had a snack together:

I got some stuff done with my classroom and then left, picked up the superstar and we went home. What a day!

Doctor visits!

Both the superstar and the princess had checkups with the doctor today. The are both doing fine. The superstar had to get a finger prick and pee in a cup which he didn't mind either of. The princess HATED being weighed and measured! But she enjoyed playing with the mirror while we waited int he exam room!

Both kiddos got one shot each. The superstar did NOT feel super about this:

Poor guy, he screamed and hollered about the whole ordeal! The princess screamed while being held down for her shot but stopped after I picked her up. Whew!

Afterwards, we had lunch at Burger King where the superstar still was not a happy camper but then got happier when saw the Crayola kids' meal toy!! He said it was the best kids' meal toy EVER! Silly! We all got to get new school shoes and could be in a New Balance commercial! Outside of the shots, it was a good day :)

CUTE!!!

I may be biased but, isn't she just the cutest thing you ever did see???

more swimming lessons!

The princess and I watched the superstar have another swimming lesson.

"cheese"

He's doing well! I'm happy with his progress. The superstar is no longer completely fearful of being in the pool without being held. He's still nervous about the deep end but hopefully, that will keep him safely away from that area! He'll have another lesson next week. I would totally recommend his swimming teacher to anyone! Let me know if you are interested and I'll send you her contact info.

another birthday party!

This has been a busy birthday month! The superstar was invited to a friend from school's roller skating party. He went to another roller skating party about six months ago and hadn't skated since. Usually, the superstar is nervous about doing new-ish things but not today! He got his skates on, rolled around on the carpet for a little bit and was off and rolling on the floor! His friend, the pirate, was there too: Doing the chicken dance...
Singing "happy birthday!"
The superstar is a skating fool! He wants to go back skating again SOON!