Getting ready for school / Meet The Teacher

School starts on Monday! Parker is very excited, but also very anxious about it. Although we've been doing little things to get ready for the big day....we're still not nearly ready.

I've put a big calendar on the fridge and we put apple stickers on important school days, ballet stickers on ballet days, etc. She marks off the days and it helps us count down to special events.

We got a new backpack and new lunchbox, in her new favorite color, blue. Also notice the pj pants and tank top...her new favorite pajama combination. She has 2 pairs of these and wants to wear them ALL THE TIME.

Tonight was Meet The Teacher. Bob came home early from work to attend. Parker changed clothes 3 times before she came up with the right outfit. I'm still super stressed about what she's going to wear to school. She wants to wear jeans 24/7 (when she's not wearing pj pants), but it will be way too hot for jeans to start with, so I have no idea what type of bottom she's going to wear. She has many pairs of capri pants....but I'd have to tranquilize her to get her in them I think.

Her teacher is nice, Parker likes her, and she has many years of experience with 4 and 5 year olds. When we first got there, they took the kids on a tour of the school and the parents met with the teacher. She went over some of the basic info and the parents went around the room and introduced themselves and said if this was their first kindergartener, or last, or whatever. 2 moms got weepy (not me!). There are 3 other parents from our neighborhood....but they all have boys. Parker returned from the tour looking pretty shaken. The teacher had everyone do a dance, but Parker just stood there sort of frozen. She'll snap out of it, but it might take her a few days (weeks?). At her table are 2 boys and another girl. The other little girl was sobbing the entire time and was glued to her mom...not good. There are more girls in the class than boys, and many of the girls have gender-neutral names like Parker does. Hopefully she'll find a buddy quickly.

Part of the evening's events was for the kids to put away their schools supplies. Instead of running around buying everything, you could order supplies from the PTA back a few months ago. I COULD HAVE SWORN I DID THIS. But apparently not. Our package of supplies wasn't there, and I can't find the canceled check...so even if i did order them, I haven't been charged for them, so I'm moving on and hitting Target first thing tomorrow to get what I can. It looks pretty standard, and a lot of it is communal stuff, and then we'll pop in and drop it off tomorrow afternoon. Not even the first day and I've already dropped the ball, created chaos, and put us behind the 8 ball. Not a good way to start things, but hopefully it will all work out. It will all work out, right?

Back to Ballet

A couple months ago Parker announced that she was ready to go back to ballet lessons. I'm not sure why she took a break, but she has been happy just to put on her ballet stuff and dance around the house up until now. Of course she had grown out of everything except for her ponytail holder, so we made a trip to the fancy dance store and had her re-outfitted. She was thrilled of course.

We've switched studios to one closer to home. It's not your normal dance place either, it's a serious ballet conservatory, whatever that means. I got very nervous at the beginning of her first lesson when I heard the teacher explaining that they are to answer "Oui, Madam" instead of "yes ma'am" .

But Parker loved it and did really well. There is definitely a no-nonsense approach at this studio, but Parker loves a structured teaching environment. At the end of her class, the next class had accumulated in the lobby...little girls probably ages 7-9 all decked out in their ballet gear w/ their hair in buns. Parker loved seeing the 'older ballerinas'.

In addition to the usual spring recital they get to participate in the city production of The Nutcracker at Christmas. I was thrilled about this....until I saw the dates of the production. It's the same day as the White Rock Marathon/Half Marathon that Bob and I usually run. So things that weekend should get very interesting.

Granbury Visit

Last weekend we did a short trip out to Granbury to visit Parker's Gigi and Papa. Here, it was raining and icky, but out there it was nice and sunny. Luckily we decided to take our swimsuits, since Parker spent a lot of time floating in the lake. I was a little surprised that she still wanted to swim even though her cousins weren't there, but she did and had a ball.

Tap Dancing on the raft

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing


First ride on the jet ski

Up until now, she was adamant that she didn't want to ride the jetski. Apparently they talked her into it if Gigi drove and went very very slow. (I was napping)

10 minutes into the ride home

She looks really red here. She had a tiny bit of sunburn, but the car was really hot when we got in too and she gets super red when hot.

Today's project

This will make my mom happy.
Today I organized part of the pantry. I hadn't cleaned or organized it since we moved in 5 years ago, but I though I'd go ahead and do it whether it needed it or not.

I am VERY space challenged with this pantry, so I'm going to confine my purchases to just what will fit in my bins.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the top half done. Stay tuned.

Wednesday update

Here's a random picture of Parker hanging out in the office with me one day when I was working. This was a great day....I got a ton of work done, and Parker amused herself all afternoon with coloring and computer, etc. Normally, this is all I hear:

"Can we call Sarah over?"
"Can we call Sarah over?"

"Can we call Sarah over?"
"Can we call Sarah over?"

"Can we call Sarah over?"
"Can we call Sarah over?"

Sarah is a constant fixture at our house this summer.

A funny conversation yesterday:

Parker: "Mom, did I have my vitamin today already?"

Sarah: "I don't take vitamins anymore. We used to, but we don't have to anymore."

Parker: "I used to take Hannah Montana vitamins, but now I take Flintstones because they have vitamin D, and the doctor said I need to take the kind with vitamin D."

I guess she remembers all the vitamin D talk from her doctor's appointment/well check back on July 1.

Her 5 year well visit went just fine.
Her stats:
Height: 40 3/4" (10-25th percentile)
Weight: 34 lbs (20th percentile)
Vision: 20/25 in both eyes.
I can't find last year's report, so I'm not sure how much she's grown, but most of last year's clothes are too small, so she's getting taller at least. She seems pretty petite when compared to other kids her age.

We went to the dentist today too, and she got a good report. Apparently she's very sweet and cooperative there. At our last visit when they did xrays, he estimated that it would be a couple years before she starts losing teeth, and that's fine with me.

I"m nearly done with my July project, and Parker is done with 'summer school', so we're filling the days the best we can. So far we've been running errands in the morning and then playing with friends in the afternoon. We are enjoying the cooler weather and the rain, but I'm ready to have the option of burning the afternoon hours at the pool back.

7 more hours until bedtime......

The slide

It really shocks me that Parker likes the slide at the swimming pool. If it were up to me, just padding around in the 4' deep section would be totally fine. I'm really pleased that she does something that all the other kids do, and she's not afraid.
The audio for the still photos is all direction: "take a picture of me on the ladder! take a picture of me waving! " I do as I"m told.

And then splashdown. For some reason she swims to my legs first this time...I guess because I have the camera rolling.

I hope this video works. If it doesn't, check back, I'll fix it. I never can tell until I offically post it whether or not it will work.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Garden update: Corn

At school Parker's class did a unit on plants and seeds and such, and she planted some "indian corn". She brought it home and we planted it in the garden, and it grew! Since I'm making room for fall tomatoes and other veggies, it was harvest time for the corn. I don't think we watered it enough because there weren't many actually corn kernals on the corn cobs. We enjoyed the process of planting and harvesting just the same.

Excuse the arm tattoos, sunglasses and pajamas. By the end of the day I'm done worrying about how she looks.

New favorite color

Emily's comment on the New Belt post, "don't think i didn't notice the toenail polish/shirt coordination" reminded me that Parker has a new favorite color. Blue. Prior to now her favorite color to wear has been pink, followed by purple. But now it's blue, followed by red. She's also a big fan of the red, white and blue combo, what she calls "4th of July colors". She has about 3 blue shirts that she alternates, and gets very agitated when they aren't clean.
The holy grail of all shirts is the one in the picture. It meets all her standards.
Blue? check.
Halter? check.
Sparkles? check.
Notice that "clean?" was not one of the requirements. Neither is "fits?" or "doesn't have a raggedy hem?". Last week she was about 5 minutes away from going to school in pajamas because none of her blue shirts were clean and I wouldn't allow her to wear a dirty one.
This is not bad timing, since we need to get her lots of new school clothes...she's finally outgrown some things, but I am still having a LOT of anxiety about back to school shopping. I'm wistfully remembering the days when I could dress her up like my little doll. Now, I'm just trying to prevent her from being sent home from school.

New Belt

Just a quick update. All my computer time lately has been dedicated to my CAD work, so I'm behind on blogging. Hopefully I'll be done this week, and have more time to report on how we are filling our summer days.
Today was belt shopping. Parker has had "belt" on my shopping list for weeks now, ever since she noticed that her jeans and denim shorts have beltloops. So we went to Target and picked out a couple belts for her. She's modeling it in the picture. (on her waist, not her feet, that's something else.) We spent lots of time today doing and undoing the belts, trying them on with different bottoms, and tucking in her shirt so her belt shows.
I checked the kindergarten website, and halter tops are against the dress code. We might be homeschooling her unless can convince her to cover her shoulders.

Dinner and dancing

Last week I was in serious need of a pizza fix from a favorite pizza restaurant, so we braved the crowds and met friends for dinner. Parker was very patient while the grownups lingered over the meal visiting, but when we were done, she wanted to go play on the lawn. She loves the duck statues and entertained us by climbing up on the mama duck and dancing. She did this for quite a while...and didn't know I was filming her.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing


In other news we are plugging through the hot busy summer. I've got some CAD drawings to do in July, so Parker is going to 'summer school' 3 days a week, and the other 2 days I"m filling in with sitters and swapping out playdates. She's having fun, but between that and swimming, she's usually pretty exhausted. She's gotten very comfortable in the water, and I'm sure NEXT year will be my year lawn chair sitting. This year I"m spending a lot of time by the slide or the diving board, and I usually wind up getting drenched.


On cheerful days, Parker is quite delightful. In the picture below, she has 2 clothes pins clipped on her pants. She lifted up her shirt to show me and said "look a diaper". (I use clothes pins for chip clips). She doesn't have a concept of the old style of diapers that pinned in the middle...just velcro on the sides.


Notice the tank top. This is what she considers a tank top....which I think are technically spaghetti straps. Either way this is pretty much all she will wear, UNLESS a halter top is clean. Or semi-clean. She has 2 halters that she alternates between. Actually she has 3, but the 3rd one doesn't have sparkles on it, so it is way far off her radar. She's been bugging me for some 'tank top pajamas' and I found some super cute Nick and Nora ones at Target (pic coming soon). She told me she loves them, but what would be really great, is tank top pajamas that show her belly. I am really really dreading back to school shopping. Hopefully kindergarten has a strict dress code so she's not going to school in bikini tops and mini skirts.

California Vacation pics - 1

Better late than never, here are some pics from our trip to San Diego.

Parker did really well on the plane. She was VERY excited to get to California. In the pic below, she's reading the seat-pocket brochure with the instructions for evacuation. Parker *loves* instructions.

Happy and cheerful on the plane. She has to sit by the window, and Bob sits in the middle and does kid management. I sit on the aisle and dole out gum, snacks, magazines, coloring books, ipods and toys. We put some episodes of her favorite Disney shows on the video ipod and that really helped burn up some time.
The view outside the window isn't flash glare, it's fog. The day we got to San Diego it was so socked in with fog that the pilot had to make 2 approaches to land. But since we were coming from 100 degree heat, we were thrilled to see fog, clouds and highs in the 70's.

Day 2 on the beach. It's amazing how much entertainment miles and miles of sand can be.

This was the day of hole digging. Parker and her cousin spent pretty much the whole day digging a huge hole. I think Bob might have given them a head start though.

July 4th

This weekend was the annual neighborhood 4th of July Extravaganza. It always kicks off with a parade. Since Bob and I always run on saturday mornings, it's a bit of a race to get our runs done before the parade starts. This year we had a drum line that marched in the front. The rest is kids with decorated bikes, folks showing off their classic cars, and people on lawnmowers.

Drum line

Decorate Golf Carts

New this year: a gal on horseback

And so I don't get complaints, here's a picture of Parker

She had a very full day on the 4th. After the parade there were kid games and other activities that she attended. The evening ends with fireworks and a band, which we attended. Parker and her friends were only mildly interested in the fireworks, they were way more involved in playing with the glow necklaces we brought. We were all up until midnight, which does nothing to help our lingering California jetlag. Hopefully we can finally get back on a normal sleep schedule this week.

I'm still working on the vacation pictures/posting. Hopefully by Tuesday I'll have something up.

We're baaaaack

We just got back from our annual trip to California. The high there was usually about 75, lows in the 60's. The high in Dallas today, according to the temp readout in the car on the way home from the airport, was 105. That's a hot welcome home.

I'll try to get some pictures posted from the trip soon ( in between doing the mountain of laundry and battling an overtired jet lagged kiddo) .

Birthday pics - last

Then they escorted the girls to the cake room. Notice all the fancy table decorations that I didn't have to provide? I love this place.

Parker chose a rainbow cake from Costco. An odd choice since she doesn't LIKE cake. She probably would have like a chocolate one, but she was adamant that she did NOT want a chocolate cake. Whatever. Costco has DELICIOUS cakes. Inbetween the layers is cheesecake mousse!

And finally, we sing and she blows out her candles. Right before this picture was taken, the girl on the left leaned over and strongly admonished her sister, the girl in the purple, to NOT blow out Parker's candles. She managed to refrain.

Parker was very pleased with her party. This has been a big deal, turning 5. She's been counting the days for months now, and she's thrilled to finally be 5. I don't remember all the fuss about the number last year at 4, but I do at 3. I guess it's an every-other year thing. Good thing, because next year's party is going to be considerably more low key. I hope.

Birthday party part 3

Next activity was a 'fashion show' where they walked on the runway, and then did a pose at the end. Notice all the Hannah details in the background. They re-decorate for each type of party. (better them than me)

Next the girls taught them the dance that is in the Hannah Montana movie. A movie that Parker hasn't seen yet. Whoops. She caught on to the dance just fine though. They all did.

And then they wrapped up the games with a little karaoke. Sort of tricky since most of them can't read. Luckily they all know every word to every song.

Next up.....cake.

Birthday part 2

For phase..what...3? we had a party with all her friends at a party place. They offer many different themes, and she chose Hannah Montana. When everyone arrived, the girls were escorted to the dressup stash and chose a costume.

Blue glitter top and gold jacket. Oh yeah.

The best part....they have high school girls that act as hostesses, and they lead them through several games. This one was sort of like Musical Chairs and Follow the Leader. All set to Hannah Montana music of course.

Group picture. She had 11 friends attend...I think 100% of who we invited. Oddly enough, she doesn't really remember who was there. She keeps asking "was X at my birthday?". Good thing I took lots of pictures.

More pics tomorrow.....