First Day of PreK



We're now into our fall routines...and it's 102 degrees outside.

Crazy.

Actually, this week hasn't been too bad with an ever so slight breeze outside. It's been fairly chilly in the low 90's.

Jonah started PreK yesterday! Last year he went to Mother's Morning Out twice a week and this was the face of an excited three-year-old on his first day of breaking free from Mama's apron strings....

So precious.

(Note the high-protein/low-carb breakfast. I'm pretty sure he ate more than just sausage. Maybe.)

This is the face I got yesterday from an experienced four-year-old who knows practically everything one needs to know about life in general....

I'm serious. That is the face he gave me. I used my best high-pitched "Aren't you excited!!!!????!!!" and he gave me that.

(I'm glad to see that in addition to sausage this year, we have cinnamon toast and cheese grits. Good to see we're back on the carbs again.)

Later on, he got a little more into it...

"Inja" Style

[Click here if you need more explanation.]

Oh yeah, baby! We're excited now!

Finally, a serious one to appease Mommy.

Good friends of our's told us to pick a spot in your house and use that same spot to take the "First Day of School" pic every year so you can see how they've grown. This is said after raising two boys. Their youngest had his "Last First Day of School" pic this year. I'm pretty sure the facial expression was probably the same as Jonah's breakfast picture.

Gosh, he's so big! And yes, that's the same bookbag. It was practically unused so we're using it again. And note that we're going to Lunch Bunch this year! I'm telling you, the boy's pretty much grown.

He was nervous getting in the car. How could I tell?



Every toy had to come with us. Last year, everyday at the same red light we would pray for Jonah's day. This year, we reached the same red light and I asked him if he would like me to pray for his day. He nodded.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7 

I snuck a picture. Don't you just love that he's big and tough and Mommy is absolutely insane to take a picture at breakfast but it's completely normal to stroke Lovie's ears when you're nervous and want to pray? I love it. Big...but not too big....yet.

After we prayed, he was all smiles.

He said, "Mommy, I'm SO excited about my big day!"

     "I am too, Buddy."

     "Why are you excited? It's not your big day, it's my big day."

Gotcha. Still all about you.

He went right on in and had a blast! And he left every single toy in the car...after kissing and hugging Lovie good-bye, of course. Did Mommy get a kiss and a hug? No. {sigh} Oh, well. I'll make him when he goes off to college if I have to tackle him in the dorm and sit on top of him in front of the whole hall. Just you wait.

This morning, everything was back to normal...

...including a Pop Tart for breakfast in the car and pulling up about 5 minutes late. It's gonna be a great year. :)

My Little Angel

Jonah starred in his first big production this week. His preschool put on their annual Christmas play for the parents and while I have always considered him to be an angel, he officially got his halo on Wednesday.

Isn't he the cutest thing?

Here he's singing "Come On, Ring Those Bells" and he was just a ringin'....so much so that one of his jingle bells flew off and went into the crowd!

Here he's singing, "Happy Birthday, Jesus".

I filmed the whole thing and am including it here just because it's my blog and I can if I want to! :) He was very serious about his singing so he looks like some Nazi Angel. He was also very serious about "holding a bubble"- for my non-teacher readers, that's how you keep little ones quiet in the halls. They have to "catch a bubble" in their mouth. I also caught him being very serious about picking his nose but I tried to avoid it the best I could. The funniest thing was that when the chorus of angels was singing a funky "Twinkle, Twinkle Christmas Star", Jonah decided that there weren't enough verses. Everyone ends the song and he belts out as loud as he can, "SHIIIIINING..." but then quit when he realized he was the only one going to the 3rd verse. Doesn't he know that Baptists only sing the 1st & 4th stanzas? We only take advantage of all the verses if we're trying to exhaust an invitation. He's still in training. What was even funnier was the girl next to him turned and looked at him like, "How many times did we rehearse this?!" It was all I could do not to wet my pants as I struggled to hold it together.

Feel free to watch it when you have an extra 15 minutes or so (It's actually 14 minutes & 11 seconds long). Just ignore the narration done by Ouida. ;) And pause my player at the bottom of the screen.

Cookies & Cocoa

Tonight was Cookies & Cocoa with "You Know Who" at Jonah's preschool. I'm proud to say we survived relatively unscathed. We started out in the craft room making ornaments. Jonah made a gingerbread man...

...and a snowflake "for Esther Grace".

I was really proud of Bear. He got into it.

Then, we went into the snack room where Jonah got to make "Snowman Soup". I really want this recipe because it's like froo-froo hot chocolate (if hot chocolate could get any more froo-frooier).

Yes. That is powdered sugar. I'm sending the bag with him

tomorrow night when he spends the night with Pop & GB.

Up next? Make our family Christmas plate. However, "You Know Who" was in the room that you had to walk through to get to the family Christmas plate station. I held my breath and we pressed on. Thankfully, the cookie table was opposite the "You Know Who" station and we found ourselves completely engrossed in deciding which delicacy we would be trying after making our plate.

We made our plate (Sorry! No pictures...our fingers were all dipped in paint making fingerprint Christmas lights on our plate tree. Trust me. It's very cute!) and headed back to the cookies. I knew what would soon follow.

"Hey, Daddy! I want to get a picture with Santa."
"No, Buddy. Let's eat our cookies."
"But I really do," in a quiet little voice.
"No. Oooo! Look! Red, sparkly cookies!"
"See? Santa is real."
Yikes. That got me a look. I quickly intervened.
"Hey, Jonah. (I'm whispering because I don't want every pre-school parent sending me hate mail in Jonah's lunch bunch envelope.) Remember when we talked about St. Nicholas and how he helped people? (Nod.) Remember when we talked about how good people dress up like him now and help make people happy? (Nod.) That's why that man is dressed up like that. He's pretending to be St. Nicholas and he helps give to the poor and needy."

Jonah now probably thinks everyone that goes to school with him is on food stamps. What can I say? It's better than telling him how that man probably makes six figures in just two months out of the year. Add to the scene Bear stepping in to say that man probably enjoys taking advantage of little children's parents during a time of year where everyone's materialism exponentially increases instead of their selfless sacrifice of love and service in the Name of the person you are to be celebrating. Trust me. It wouldn't have been pretty. (On a side note: the "You Know Who" was really very good. I encourage everyone to visit the Lake Oconee Ritz Carlton and see him for yourself. Of course, I don't think that would be top on my list of priorities if I ever made it to the Lake Oconee Ritz Carlton...they have a spa.)

Bless him. Bear really was trying to be festive. I was very proud of him. And I was proud of Jonah for not pitching a fit. He was very grown-up about the whole thing.

We all enjoyed our cookies...um, some a little more than others.

Before you go posting comments about her

white dress, let me just say- that's what a

Clorox bleach pen is for.

Then we took family pictures together as a consolation. Well, we tried to take family pictures together.

I'm pretty sure she's stealing Jonah's cookie in this one.

Could someone please tell me why my children look be-you-tiful with their Daddy in every picture ever taken

but with me, we get this:

I don't know if that's panic in my eyes because we're

sitting 20' away from "You Know Who" or if it's

excitement that it's going so well. Either way, I look

like a deer in headlights.

A little better but Esther Grace is more interested in

her candy cane. (It matched her dress. She had to have it.)

And WHAT am I looking at?!

Jonah, the amazing jumping bean

Esther Grace is mad because her candy cane's gone.

Why can't I just have a normal picture with my kids???!!!

Anyways, after that Bear headed back to work and we drove around a little bit looking at Christmas lights. I was waiting on the candy cane to wear off before unstrapping her out of her car seat. We have a decorated tree at home that thanked me as soon as I walked through the door with her in a snoring heap.

All in all, it went well. Bear was glad we went as soon as he saw Jonah beam as he introduced us to every friend & teacher he saw. He even showed us where the bathrooms were "in case we needed them in anumerjincee". And don't you worry about Beanie being disappointed about no pictures. Bear promised him that on Sunday, we will be getting our picture made with Baby Jesus at Journey to Bethlehem and he's pumped! He has already cast a mini-series in his head about how he and Daddy "are going to 'scape from King Herod's evil soldjers and rescue that Baby so's no one can kill Him".

That's my boy.

His Banner Over Me is Love

So Tuesday I dropped Jonah off at preschool and he cried. Again. For the bazillionth time. I've mentioned this before but I've never known what to do about it. I've pretty much just been ignoring it and not making a big deal thinking that when he realized he wasn't getting anywhere with it, he would eventually stop. Can we say 'persistant'?

His teacher mentioned something to me about his negative attitude in class when I dropped him off and I realized that it had to be addressed. We had a brief but serious "Come to Jesus" meeting in the teeny preschool bathroom and then I went to Bible Study. (If anybody can guess where this is going, I'll give you a free prize!)

So, this week in Isaiah (Ding! Ding! Ding! If you guessed correctly, you get an automatic page refresh. Click on your browser bar to reclaim.) we're looking at chapters 11 & 12. In chapter 12, the Lord spoke to me. I knew just what to do.

"In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples..." Isaiah 11:10

I put EG down for her nap and got busy. I showed Jonah in the Bible where Jesus is our banner.

banner: (noun) anything regarded or displayed as a symbol of principles; a flag formerly used as the standard of a sovereign, lord, or knight; leading or foremost

standard: of recognized excellence or established authority

Jesus is to be our prinicple, our Sovereign Lord, our leading cause for life! When He is the established authority in our life, His excellence will be recognized in us!

Now, this revelation was for me. I didn't exactly use these definitions with my three-year old. But we did talk about how soldiers fight with shields that have symbols on them. These symbols let others know who the soldiers are fighting for. Jesus is Who we should be living for! How will others know this if His love is not overflowing from us to others? He needed a standard, a banner to help remind him that his cause is Jesus.

This is the result of many focused glitter applications. :) It's a badge of excellence because when we love Jesus, His Excellence radiates from us to others. He gets to wear it to school, so long as it's not a distraction, either on his bookbag or his shirt. And when others ask about his badge, he can proudly say, "I'm loving like Jesus does."

"This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith." 1 John 5:2-4



Arktoberfest

Today was Arktoberfest at Jonah's preschool. It was his first theme day at school and my first parent volunteer experience. The children came dressed as different animals that would have been found on Noah's ark. (Except the preacher's son came dressed as a Ninja Turtle.....I guess turtles were on the ark but I'm not sure the Bible's clear on their martial arts skills.)

We took this picture when we came home.
Just excuse the Chick-fil-a on the front of
our shirt.



This is my favorite view. :)
His nose made a roaring sound when
you pushed it.

We pulled up to what looked like a zoo. Granted, most preschools do tend to lean that way but this one is very well managed. :) It was a bit out of the ordinary.

All of my pictures are pre-kids because I can't be in the same room as my child or he breaks out into convulsions, cries uncontrollably, and suctions himself to my leg so as not to allow anyone to tear him away from me. He's not right. We'll probably be in therapy until he's 30. That or he'll just move in down the street and raise his family right underneath me like his own mother did. Who knows- the jury's still out.


He did promise me last night that he wouldn't cry if I wasn't in his room. I guess he was lion. Ha! Get it? Lying? Lion? Now you know where he gets his not-right-ness. Moving on.....


The day followed Noah on his journey beginning with the first part of the story told by Noah himself... & Mrs. Noah- the Bible's not clear on her exact name either. Poor thing. I can relate. I'm known as Mrs. Bear to most of the youth at church.

Does he look like a member of ZZ Top
to anyone else? He was also sporting
a stacked wedge if you looked from
the back.

After Noah began his story, he paused to let the kids help him build the ark. It doesn't look like much but it's a huge homemade floor puzzle that the kids put together to make the ark.

Next up? Snack, of course! You can't expect all those hungry animals to go 40 days and 40 nights without food, can you? The kids gathered food for the animals...which worked well for them since they were the ones in fur.

Then came the games. What else did you think the animals did for all that time crammed up inside a boat? Just ride? No. There was definitely entertainment.



Animal Bowling



Feed the Monkeys Bean Bag Throw




Flamingo Ring Toss
(You can't see the rings but you had to toss them
over their necks.)



Animal Golf



Oh, sorry. Random picture of skydiver in
the children's wing. If only our church had
 this type of budget! This is Esther Grace's
favorite part of BSF. That and the goldfish.




Musical Chairs Noah's Ark Style

The Musical Chairs room was my station. I don't know how it happens but I'm always assigned anything to do with music anytime I volunteer anywhere. I've decided that the workers at Jonah's school have seen my car had to dodge falling objects out of my car so many times through the pick-up line that they figure I'm left-brained and artsy. With organizational skills like that, they probably think I'm destined for Broadway!

Safe in the ark!

After games, the kids listened to Noah tell the conclusion of his story and how God promised to never flood the earth again with a rainbow in the sky. All of a sudden, I hear a familiar voice start saying,
     "Woah, double rainbow! So intense!"
I about died! In case you are unfamiliar, we have a running joke among our close friends involving this video:
 

 
Everytime one of the ladies makes a great dessert or we're just in a goofy mood, we start quoting this guy-who is obviously enjoying some sort of.....um,.....organic supplementation. I'm talking complete with fake sobs, hollers, moans, full out foolishness in front of any and everyone. Football games, church, public restaurants, you name it. We're getting a head start on embarassing our kids when they're teenagers. I don't even know how we were ever introduced to this but apparently someone's picked up on it. Oh, be careful little ears what you hear, I guess.

After all that, the kids ended the day with trick-or-treating in the church's front office. They completely racked up on the candy and even got a Noah's Ark coloring book, crayons, and an animal pocket-notepad.

All in all, the day was great! I actually think that I had more fun than Jonah. It made me miss teaching soooo much! (Shhhh. Don't tell Bear. He'll make me go back.) I was even in the mood to make Monster Mash when we got home as a tribute to my days in kindergarten. After that, I put the kids down and once the house became silent, I remembered what staying home was all about......NAPS!