The beginning of private education

I guess it is just one year of private education (until college!)...

I can't think of anything more cliche to blog about than a child's first day of pre-school. With that disclaimer, here I go. :) Actually, it was a great day for us all because Emma FINALLY got accepted into the school just on Friday afternoon (!!) and after I had to write a huge check to the school (and almost said thanks but no thanks), I realized how good this will be for her. Today proved that.

Each child is assigned a cubby and a hook (for a coat, etc.). Never mind that it's 85 degrees...Emma just had to take a coat for her hook. At the end of the day she wanted to bring her entire cubby home...never mind that it's connected to the others and to the wall. She ATE it all up and loved every second. Tyler doesn't love having ME as his new playmate, but I think he'll get used to the one-on-one time (something he's never had), and I'm sure we'll be just fine without Emma for 6 hours a week.

Now for the sad part. And I don't know if it was more disappointing for me or Emma when we found this out, but there are no flip-flops/sandals allowed! It's a sad day when you have to (sorta) give up your foot freedom, let me tell you. But she has lots of adventures ahead this year - I just know it - and I'm confident it will be worth every dollar (or hundred). Welcome to life.

Here she is this morning, posing like a little diva...

Initiation

We made it through our initiation into the ward. One word - Gualala. Camping. Dirt. NOT MY THING. We conveniently missed it last year because my grandparents returned from their mission so we went to Vegas to see them. And boy, we didn't hear the end of that from our friends. It doesn't help that some of our closest friends have been going on this Memorial Day excusion since they were in utero. No excuses this year. It was our time.

The last time we went camping was when we were dating. I hate to be dirty, to smell, and to have brown feet (or nasty shoes). I don't like walking far to bathrooms that are being shared with hundreds of other people. But most of all, I don't like sleeping in a tent in a "bed" that is not my own soft king-size monstrosity. Let me just tell you, everyone kept telling us that "Gualala is NOT camping." And they were (sorta) right.

The Highlights:

*Giant redwood trees everywhere. And even better, the electrical boxes attached to the trees. Oh yeah baby, we had electricity!

*Real bathrooms with flushing toilets! And showers!

*Our friends' site. They brought an entire kitchen (no joke). And we got to eat with them. Folks, we didn't eat boring old camp food. We had Cafe Rio burritos, homemade egg mcmuffins, ribs, and fresh abalone gathered by the brave souls who were willing to sacrifice their body temperatures in that frigid water so we could have a taste.

*Sitting in church among the redwoods. Yes, unconventional. But 2 hour church with no primary for me=happiness.

*It was cold...but we are resourceful people and brought our portable heater. We set it to 70 degrees and it ran almost constantly. We were warm and I never once entered my sleeping bag. Lovely.

*Our blow-up beds. We all had one, and slept (relatively) like kings and queens.

*National Treasure 2. I bought it last week and we watched it in Gualala next to the campfire. Great flick, especially when sitting outside.

I can't say we'll make this a definite tradition like so many others in our ward have. One of my friends is 8 3/4 months pregnant and went this year! And get this - they brought their infant seat "just in case!" Insane! My only real complaint was driving on Hwy 1 up the coast for 22 miles of switchbacks, with sheer cliffs on our side leading down to the ocean. Can you say carsick+terrified? However, there are few things more enjoyable than watching your kids experience something new, i.e. camping. And can I just say how WONDERFUL it was to 1) stop on our way home at In 'n Out for my favorite chocolate shake, and 2)be home last night in my own bed?? Heaven! We had a great weekend!

Here is a layout I made today of our first year at Gualala. See, I'm already talking like we're converted to going every year! The picture of all of us is at Point Arena, up north. There was a totally lame lighthouse there (especially when compared to the beauties on the East Coast) and it was nothing exciting. But, I can honestly say I was colder than I've ever been in my life. That wind chilled my bones. And I've lived in some COLD places. The poor kids almost blew away.And just for kicks, here are a few other pictures.

Check out those feet! She showed me in the car and I gagged. Exactly why I don't like camping! I handed her the baby wipes and she spent a half hour cleaning off her feet. Ahh, the signs of fun...

Jobs

It's almost comical (more like ironic) to me that every single time Spencer goes out of town, someone gets sick. Yesterday, after cleaning a large amount of vomit out of MY BED (which came from an otherwise cute 2-year old), I decided he can't go out of town anymore. He's been gone all week but gets home tonight, thankfully. In his absense I have tried to be somewhat productive. I decied to make job charts for the kids, from a template I got online several months ago. I think they turned out cute and they're at Costco printing right now. Emma's actually really excited about having a job chart. When I showed it to her (on the computer) she said "Woo hoo, jobs!" Clearly she doesn't know what she's saying. I told her if she does everything for two weeks straight, we can pay a visit to the now infamous ice cream truck, that seems to be perusing our neighborhood more and more often. After I put her to bed last night, she called me in and told me she wanted to do a "job" right then. I asked which one and she told me she wanted to read. :) So we turned on the lights, read a book, and she went back to sleep.

The great thing about this format is that I can so easily change the jobs based on their ages and what they're involved in at the time. Hopefully they'll be a little more motivated to help me pick up their crap; it only gets harder and harder to clean up after growing kids! Oh, and it's only like $1.49 to print (each) at Costco! Pretty good!

Template by Brooke Kemp.

Aww

I love this picture of my kids. My sister was here for the weekend for her roomate's farewell, so we took the kids to the beach on Saturday. Seriously, I don't know if I've had that much fun in a long time! They had more fun together and with their Aunt Carly, and I probably took 50 pictures - all of them good ones! They sure were photogenic this weekend. These two are the best of friends and Emma is SO protective of her little brother. She's a mommy in training! And Tyler...what can I say - he's such a boy. He likes to be naked and carry a stick.

Word Art by Bethany Harty.