Kissing Hands and Multiplication

Before his first day of school, we made "kissing hands" in his class where we both placed our hands on a folder to make a heart shape, traced them, cut them out, and decorated them.  It followed along with a book called the same thing and it talked a little bit about how a momma raccoon and her baby going to school.

In between the hands, Mrs. DeColli placed a picture of Michael and I from his orientation day.

Well, that came home today.  Michael told me that when he saw it in his folder, "Mommy, I sniffed and I missed you so much.  I wanted you to play with me at school."

Awww....

That same boy is now playing in the iPad and couldn't care less where I am right now!

Today is "Friday" as Michael has off from school tomorrow!!! YIPPPEE!!!

On another exciting note - last Saturday, September 22 - Michael showed me that he can multiply.

Nothing too high...but definitely the smaller numbers.

He knows anything multiplied by 0 equals 0.
Anything multiplied by 1 equals itself.

He got correctly:  2x8=16
Also:  4x2 = 8
Also: 3x3 = 9
Also: 3x4 = 12
Also: 5x2 = 10

From the top of his head, without using fingers.  He just thinks about it and blurts out the answer.

So yes, he can do arithmetic.  But lately we've been working on more word problems and trying to apply these concepts instead of being able to just recite them.

Johnny Appleseed's Birthday

Today at Michael's school, they are celebrating Johnny Appleseed's birthday!

As requested, Michael came dressed up in a pair of jeans, a plaid shirt, and a HOMEMADE (read - Parent Homework) pot.

Just had to take a picture of the antics they are doing at school.  I am sure (hopefully) there is some reading in there!

AND he had to take a sack of diced apples into school.  NO problem considering our apple picking a couple of weekends ago (that I still need to blog!  Maybe today!).

I was just glad he didn't have to wear a uniform.  And super thankful for my mom who gave him a plaid shirt a while ago!!

Love,
P

$$

Two of Michael's latest funny sayings have involved money.

At How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular, Grandpa gave him (or to grammy via Michael) $5.  Michael asked, "Can I keep this for the rest of my life?"

Nice - $5 might buy you a stick of gum in 80 years.  Maybe.

Yesterday, he asked us if money was invented before he was born.

We are entering the funny school years and it is really a good time.

I've got to finish proofing pictures from Grammy/Grandpa's weekend here.  Luckily, I finished my senior session, so I might be able to finish them up this weekend!  :)

P

Poconos Labor Day Weekend!

One big perk of being a semi-decent photographer?  You can trade away your services for vacations!

My friend, Kim, recently acquired an adorable cabin in the Poconos near the town of Hawley:

She graciously let us stay during Labor Day weekend!  We arrived in plenty of time on Friday to play in her creek that runs right outside the cabin doors:

Michael spent many a time throwing rocks into that creek!  But I have no pictures because my camera (or operator - haven't decided which yet!) really barfed on all the pictures!  They are all fuzzy and pretty terrible!  So I apologize in advance for the quality of some of the images in this post.

Here is Michael - so excited to travel and help out with his items.  So responsible!

He brought his rest mat from school - so cute.  His Thomas the Tank bag is FILLED to the brim with stuffed animals.  This was in addition to his thomas the tank SUITCASE that was filled with clothes.  Michael has not yet learned how to travel light!  :)

Here he is preparing his bunk bed in his room:

On Friday, we basically arrived, bought groceries, went to eat at a terrible rib "barbeque" joint and called it a night!  Michael spent some time throwing rocks in the creek and we got settled.

Kim had lots of fun toys and games - so we were well cared for!

On Saturday, we woke up and enjoyed a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage.  Brian had coffee on the chairs set outside by the creek

After a relaxing breakfast, we drove first thing to Bushkill Falls, the Niagara Falls of Pennsylvania.  Bold statement.

On the way, we took a picture of Lake Wallenpaupak:

We drove about 45 minutes and hiked to see the Niagara Falls of Pennsylvania, Bushkill Falls:

It was a rather hot and humid day, but I wanted to make sure we made it to one of the big reasons I have been wanting to go to the Poconos in PA!  

Mother and son with the waterfalls back there:

Family picture - just happy we could get something and that it was in focus, kind of:

Love my guys!

A very short ways into the hike, we reached the falls.  After the many stairs down, we started to hike along a trail and found ourselves facing this sign:

I turned around and immediately saw this sign:

Let me tell you what Lazy Phuong was voting for!  :)  Luckily, we went on the hike!  In all honesty, I really love to hike.  I'm pretty slow going and not sure-footed at all, but I do like it!

Here's a "spectacular view of Delaware Valley":

One of the many falls we saw on our hike:

My guys scrambling up a wall and being happy:

Here's a view of where they were going up:

Michael's posing with his hand on his hip lately:

We did lots of hiking alongside streams.  Michael LOVED hiking.  Like Seriously Loved It.  He was MANY times better than me!!!  Here he is playing by a stream:

This would have been an adorable picture because right before this, Michael was kneeling down and playing in the water.  However, I was busy enjoying the moment as his mother and just barely got this picture to help me remember.

Then, very fuzzy out of focus family picture at the bottom of this falls:

Oh well - you get what you can get with a stranger and a 5 year old DSLR!  :)

We saw several of these along the way, which I have never seen before!!!

Chipmunks!!  So cute!  Brian kept reminding me they were rats.

After the hike, Michael enjoyed a Dole Real Fruit Strawberry popsicle while Brian lost his phone (which we had to go back to get!).

Then, Brian found himself some funnel cake.  I volunteered for a marketing survey because I'm one of those sick people who enjoy marketing/business items.  To my great surprise, they gave me 2 tickets to visit Bushkill Falls again!! SWEET!  That's a $22 value!!

We were excited to see that we avoided the HUGE crowd and line that formed after noon.  So glad we got our hike in when it wasn't busy.

Michael spotted some putt putt.  He LOVES him some putt putt.  ESPECIALLY when a totem pole is involved:

 Or a bear:

Can't believe I have a little boy now:

You should have seen this picture before I saved it in Photoshop.

On Sunday, I had a busy morning.  While I was reading my magazine outside with my morning coffee right by my running stream, I see a deer come up to the edge of the stream and look around.  I stayed quiet and saw the deer look behind it.  At this time, I saw a baby fawn emerge from the brush with another adult deer.  I assume it was a family!

Well, I tried to stay quiet, but then a chipmunk came right up to my chair so I stood up to shoo it away.

The deer didn't like that so he eyed me, and stomped his feet at me.  I ran inside because I'm a city girl who is scared of nature.

Then, I went back outside after the deer ran away.  Enjoyed the rest of my coffee.

When the rest of my family woke up, we had another relaxing breakfast and headed to the little town of Milford, PA for church. Brian found us a Catholic church there so we went for mass.

Then, we headed over to Greys Towers, a national historic site.  I had seen pictures and thought it was picturesque - PERFECT opportunity for family pictures - especially for our Christmas card.

Note to self - you got to FEED your family before they go.

Michael - was great.  BRIAN was a BEAR.  Our session ended with me saying:  "If you don't fix your attitude, I am buying airplane tickets to Albuquerque and letting KIM deal with your bad attitude for family pictures."

and

"Forget it.  I'll set up a tripod and get pictures of my only son with me BY MYSELF since you can't be patient and do this for me."

All of this was in response to Brian yelling at me about Michael:
"He's not doing anything he's supposed to and he's going crazy.  How am I supposed to get this picture?

Me:  "What, you think all children just light up when I take their picture?  You have to play with them and make it fun!"

Brian:  "Well, it's not MY job to do that."

Oi - VAY.

So we got what we got - which is under wraps until Christmas.
We went to Milford, PA - ate lunch - and the Bear named Brian found himself in a better mood.

And I thought to myself - I'm going to PAY someone next year to do this for me.  Or photoshop Brian into my family picture that I already took with Michael and I.  I keep it real around here folks.  Not every moment is peaches and cream here although we do have many happy moments!

We had lunch at a cafe (read - cheaper option!) attached to historic Hotel Fauchere restaurant.  It was a perfect lunch.  We shopped a little bit in the quaint downtown street that was there and headed home.

It was a low-key vacation, which I loved!  As Brian said, "This is just like our woods and our house."

I beg to differ!  Their stream and fire pit are RIGHT outside their door.  We have to hike down a steep hill to get to ours and our firepit is 2 stories below our deck.  This lazy girl sees a difference!!!  :)

Also, I loved that our hikes resulted in something exciting - waterfalls!  Our hikes here result in fields, fields, and more fields.  Oh yes, maybe a covered a bridge.  The views were also very nice as well in the Poconos.

We left just in time because it rained for our whole drive back.  We stopped at Hobby Lobby in Easton and Ikea in Conshohocken.  Might as well!  It's on the way! :)

Fun break after our semi-week at school!  We missed apple pickin' but that ended up working out well as we apple picked with Brian's parents when they came to visit the following weekend!

That post up next! :)
P

School Musings

So - it's been very fun listening to Michael's thoughts about school.  He is very chatty about it, which I love!  It feels like Michael has been going to school all this time.  It is strange, yet new and fun!

Unfortunately, I did not write down a lot of his thoughts about the first week of school.  However, I will do my best to recall as much as I can.  So this entry really is for me to remember - might be a bit boring for you!  Sorry!

He tells me about lots of details!  I love it!

• Michael was pretty excited to sit next to a girl with a Pokemon lunch box for lunch!  He told me all the characters on it and said that she also liked to play Star Wars Legos.  Her name is Kayla and I told him she sounds like someone that has a lot of the same interests as him!
• Having recess 2-3 times a day has been pretty exciting for Michael for the first week of school.
• If you do not like your food at lunch, you must try at least one bite.  If you do not like it, you can throw it away or take it home with you.  I found a bag of carrots in his book bag one day and I'm not sure how long it had been in there.
• At recess, he plays a lot with Ryan, Geno, and Kat.  They do a lot of duck duck goose and tag.  There was a new version of tag, but I did not understand it.  I am old already.
• At lunch one day, he sat next to a girl (I think her name was Bianca) and they had a great time telling jokes.  Like "Why did the chicken cross the road?"  To get to the other side!
• Today, Maggie or Mimi (I can't remember which) couldn't find the Z on the keyboard for technology so Michael helped her find it.

It is interesting how his story changes even between 3pm and 6:30pm when Brian gets home.  

One of the things Michael had to do last week was come to school with his "Me in a Bag."  The kids had to bring 5 things that represented them!

 

Michael brought this snow globe with a state of Texas inside of it that we got at the airport before we left.  It says, "don't mess with Texas" on it.

Anyways - at 3pm, I get this story from Michael:

I told Mrs. DeColli that my family lives in Texas.  Mrs. DeColli told me that my family lives in PA!  I told her, Oh, I meant my WHOLE entire family lives in Texas.  Like everybody else.

At 6:30 pm, Brian got:

I told Mrs. DeColli that my whole family lives in Texas.

That's it.

He was really cute though for his Me in a Bag.  They had to get up in front of the whole class and present it.  He told me, "I was really nervous.  But then I saw that I went second and it was ok."

Brave little boy he is becoming!

He is starting to wrap his mind around "Religion."  It has been fun seeing him understand how much God loves him.

The other day, he brought a crucifix to me and said, "Mommy, this is a cross and this is Jesus right here.  I am going to keep this by my bed to keep me safe."

Today, he prayed at dinner with a new prayer that he learned at school.  He recited all the lines and Brian and I repeated the prayer.  I don't remember it, but it was very cute.  I'll see if I can get him to say it for me again!  :)

More about today - 

I asked him, "What is your favorite part about school?"

I was fully expecting - snack, lunch, recess, technology - something along those lines!

But he said, "Learning, Mommy.  I just love to learn.  And reading!"

And my heart swells with pride and love for him!

Today - yes again with today - 

He had Library today.  They go and check out a book.  He chose a silly book about a dinosaur.

And then he opened it up and read about 80% of it all on his own.  He needed a little help with some words and a lot of help with a few words, but honestly - he read it.  I asked him to see if someone had read it to him already and he just remembered.  He told me no - that it was his first time.

So he's been so excited that he's reading.  He's been telling me, "I can read Mommy!"

I asked him, "how long have you been reading then?"

He said, "Uhhh...a while." 

I don't know about that - but I'm just so happy for him!

Michael also told me today that the class was reading and working on "I am."  Today, they were reading a sentence that said, "I am blue."  Michael told me the whole class said, "I am" but he was the only one that said, "blue."  Mrs. DeColli told him she was proud of him for being able to read the word all on his own, and that made Michael pretty happy.

I don't know what the year will hold for him, but I am happy that he is happy. I am happy that he is having fun learning because that's something I can't teach.  I hope this is something that he carries with him no matter where he is!

Today on the way to school, he asked me, "Mommy - have you been all around the world?"  And then, "Have you been to all the United States?"

So you see - I don't want him to ride the bus to school.  Because then we don't have this 15-20 minutes each way where we talk about all sorts of neat stuff.  And I'm so glad I have a kid who doesn't just say, "Fine" when I ask how school was.  I get a novel.  I love that!  I am going to enjoy that until it is not cool to tell mom everything anymore!

Oh - and he LOVES gouter everyday.  And he loves our devotional that we read each morning from our new-to-us book.  

We are having so much fun watching the school aged kid he is becoming.  Sorry for the novel, but this was for me. 

First Day of Soccer and Mushrooms

September 9, we went to Michael's first soccer game of the season with the Southern Chester county soccer league.  Here is Brian playing goalie before practice:

Brian enjoyed his first game as a parent instead of coach!

For some reason, Michael started his kicks with this random robot pose:

Following through:

Team Green Wackadoodles was a bit of a mismatch for our red team.  Here is Michael in action:

After the soccer game, we popped over to the annual Mushroom Festival in Kennett Square, since we were just right there:

Lots of local businesses and restaurants had tents out. Hope you like mushrooms:

Funnel cake and festivals go hand in hand as does Brian and funnel cakes:

We grabbed our l-inner (lunch/dinner) and sat on the sidewalk to enjoy.  Here is Michael being a 5 year old son of a photographer:

Our spread!  We got the mushroom risotto and mushroom mac-n-cheese from Talula's Table.  The strawberry lemodade in the cup was absolutely delicious!  :)

Afterwards, we went to the kids' section of the festival.  Michael got one of the best seats in the house:

To see this guy perform:

That's right.  A juggler!  Michael loved it!  I was joking around saying, "Do you think this is his big gig for the year?  The mushroom festival?"

Then come to find out his big gig of the year was performing at the Lakers halftime show in the quarterfinals (or semifinals, or whatever).

I need to factcheck.org that!  :)

It was a spontaneous field trip and super fun!  I have been wanting to go to the mushroom festival since we moved here and finally glad to be able to check that off the list.  With the gorgeous sunny weather in the 70's - we gave it a go!

For the record - I wanted to buy a newer home.

When we were buying a house, we went back and forth about a newer home vs. an older home.  Either way, you have to spend money - on a deck/window curtains/etc for a new home.  Systems for an older home.

After living in an older home - I would much rather have a newer home.  Because it's way more fun to spend $1500 on furniture/decor than something like this:

This is our well pump, buried 120 ft underground.  It is a corroded mess of metal that just went out.  It went out 2 years ago, but luckily was just a wire that needed to be replaced.  This time, it's toast.

Average lifetime of a well pump is 12 years.  Our was going on 20.  Here's another corroded view for you:

And the people we have to call:

And what they do for us country bumpkins:

Our well opened up:

In case you come over and want to see my well, this is where it is with respect to my house:

If I was wondering if we could go to Paris or not this year - well - here's my answer.

BIG FAT NO!

I do love my house though.  The thing about an older home is you STILL have to spend money on paint/window treatments/decor - because unless your house is EXACTLY like you would like it, you're gonna want to change something!

Another thing - for my next house - I am going to pay attention to where I would place my beds in my bedrooms.  Because I don't place my beds perpendicular to the road.  And in ALL my bedrooms, the place that I think would look best for my bed placement is all PERPENDICULAR to the road.

These are all note to selves.  I have more fun blog posts coming up.  Michael's first soccer game this year, visit to Kennett Square's mushroom festival, and trip to the poconos.  But for now, I'm going to wallow in self pity and start looking for a job!  :)

Love,
P

Mommy's First Day of School

There were no tears.  I did that last Thursday!

Mommy's First Day of School was all about efficiency.

I had a schedule.  It went something like this:

45 min - walk

45 min - eat breakfast while answering personal e-mail/facebook/etc

1 hr - Editing for La Lume

30 min - Marketing for La Lume (Facebook/blog/website work)

30 min - Lunch

1 hr - organizing (my whole house needs a good organizing session)

1 hr - cleaning something (bathrooms/floors/etc)

Pick up Michael

It goes surprisingly quickly.  I am really good at wasting time if left to my own devices.

BUT - then we found this chair at Ikea on Labor day Monday:

And it was $119.  I need 2 chairs for my living room, which I could only find for a minimum of $250 a piece at Marshalls.  I needed 2 matching ones.  I'm sure you can imagine that 2 matching chairs at Marshalls is almost equivalent to winning the lotto.

Much less 2 chairs that would have arms and be comfortable and make both Brian and I happy.

This Storsele chair is sold out at every ikea within an hour and a half drive from me.

EXCEPT ONE.

So for Michael's first day of school, I jumped in the car and drove to South Philly's Ikea to buy 2 of their 8 chairs, because that's what the website said was in stock.

First of all, it's an hour and a half away.  Second of all, it's in awesome south philly.  Not.

What was AWESOME!?  I got a "Big Breakfast," which was 780 calories and a free cup of free refill coffee for $1.99.  $2.15 with tax.

So I spent the entirety of the first day getting these 2 chairs, which I love.  I don't know, something about them excites me!  I got 2 plaid cushions at Ikea, which were marked down:

  And I bought these 2 pillows to go with it that has all the colors in my living room:

I don't think it would be an exaggeration if I said that home decor is taking over my life right now.

Brian said to me, "I don't care how much it costs.  I don't care of it's regular price.  GET THIS HOUSE DECORATED."

With house guests coming for the next 2 weekends, I will be obsessed with this, Discussion group leading for MOPS, and La Lume.  Sessions don't edit themselves!  :)

So I spent Mommy's First Day of School at IKEA and then came back to call all my peeps in my discussion group for MOPS.  DOne.  And a super unproductive day for my first day of school.  The next several days were much better!

P

First Day of School For Michael!

Today, Michael had his first day of all day Kindergarten!  I just wanted to take a second to write down some conversations we had today!

His Grammy asked him to remember 3 things he learned today.  Michael answered:

1.  To push his chair back in under his desk when he is done.  If he notices someone forgot to push their chair in, he should help that person by pushing it in for them.

2.  Be polite and kind to others.

3.  These are the rules.  There are more, but he couldn't remember.  Apparently rules were a big deal today!

Michael told me (on the way to school) that he really didn't want Veggie Straws as his snack.  That's crazy talk right?  RIGHT?  :P  He told me his teacher said that if he didn't like his snack, he could put it back in his bag and take it home to eat.

Michael asked me if he stayed at school for 3 hours today - because it sure felt like it was a long time.  I told him he stayed at school for 7 hours today, and he has been telling everyone in an incredulous voice:  "I STAYED AT SCHOOL FOR SEVEN HOURS TODAY!  Can you believe that?"

He told me about the story they read today about a cat who went to school.  He really liked it because he recounted the entire story to me.

He played tag today at recess.  There was a new version of freeze tag, but I can't remember the name of it.

You are not allowed to say, "Oh my God" or "Oh my gosh" at school.

He rested on his rest mat by closing his eyes and laying still.  Some girls fell asleep and the teacher had to wake them up!

He saw Abbey.  He said Hi and she waved back.

They went to recess TWO times today.  (that was a hit!)

When I picked him up today - he RAN toward me super fast with a huge smile and gave me the biggest hug.  Sometimes, I don't take pictures because I want to savor the moment in real time.  This was one of them.  He wasn't as enthusiastic to see me after his mini day of school last week!

At Home:
This morning, we read from a super cute kids' devotional that I found at a small used bookstore in Milford, PA:

We read one every morning at breakfast as a peaceful way to start our day.  I really love this devotional because it relates stories of the bible in a way that makes sense to 4-7 year olds and also is entertaining! Michael LOVED it and we did 3 of the 52 this morning at breakfast.  I will be making prayer popsicle sticks next as part of our morning prayer basket idea that I found on pinterest.

When we got home, we started a French tradition, which I love called "gouter."  Everyday after school, the French kids would crowd the boulangerie and purchase an after school snack.  We did not have croissants so we settled for Pez.  Hey, it's sweet and a treat!  DONE!

So we both had gouter and shared about our days, and I can already see that it is a tradition I want to continue - and will make it harder for me to go back to work!  I don't want to miss gouter!  Tomorrow, we are off to Giant to 1) do grocery shopping and 2) get croissants for gouter!

So this was the day for Michael.  I'll blog tomorrow about my first day of school!  :)