Savannah Goes To Kindergarten

Welp, the day I have been literally dreading all Summer is here. Savannah's first day of all day school is today. We got up, got dressed, snapped pics and headed to school.

She was very excited and happy and I did my best to not be a debbie downer. I am very excited for her but I will miss our time during the day.

Not even the rain could keep her from being ready to get out of here today. As I think of her being gone all day I can't help but wonder if I took advantage of all the time we've had together until now. All of the endless days of free time and fun will now be shoved into evenings, weekends and school breaks.

And that sucks.

But I can't help but be so proud of her. She is fearless, open, kind and takes on new challenges with ease. Savannah has always been a delight to be around. She's never really given me a hard time. 

She's so smart and ready for all day school. I can't wait to pick her up (and rush her to ballet) so that I can hear all about her day. She's never had a shortage of words so I do expect a full recap when she gets in the car this afternoon.

Her going to school has put a lot into perspective for me. I don't want to beat myself about all of the times that I had to clean or get work done but today I do wish that I had maybe cleaned less and played more. 

I feel like this happened all too fast. She's absolutely fine at school. I'm sure she's having a blast. It's just a little tough letting go. My sweet girl is growing up.

If this is how I feel about her going to kindergarten I may just need to send my husband to college drop-off alone. I can't even imagine...

Happy Birthday Savannah...

Woot! Woot! It's time for a little family turn-up!

My baby girl turns four today!

I can not believe how fast time has passed. I feel like it was literally just five minutes ago that I was bringing her home from the hospital. Now she's a big girl.

This morning before school I made her the ever so popular "birthday pancakes". She loved them. We put a four candle in them and sang happy birthday before she went to school. She got to open one of her gifts from us - tickets to see the Fresh Beat Band. Her squeals were out of control.

I took Frozen themed cupcakes to her class. After school she'll try a gymnastics class before our evening family party. I can't wait! Saturday is her birthday party with friends. I'll share all the details on that after the celebration. She's having an "artsy" party.

These days my four year old is all about Disney princesses, bouncing and twirling and telling me the news of the day. She likes to pretend that she's on the news, it's funny. I should tape one of her stories for my YouTube channel….

I am so proud of the big girl that she's become. Just as sweet as can be...

Preschool at Home: And at School

After giving it some serious thought over the summer we decided to put Savannah in a preschool program this year. This wasn't a super easy decision for my family to make but it was an easy one for me. (insert smile)

Over the summer I realized that I was doing her and myself a disservice. We were spending a lot of time together. Going to play dates here and there. But I noticed that many of our days were spent with just each other. Day after day.

Of course we were still going places and doing things but we were still going to those places and doing those things with just each other. She wasn't getting much time with other kids her age. I have to admit part of that is my fault because I am not really a playgroup person. I prefer personal play dates with people we know. You know, cause in order for play dates to work you have to like the Mom and her kids.

Then there's also the fact that I have a tendency to be in my little bubble where I forget to actually schedule things like that. So. I figured that a great way to give her the social time she craves would be to put her in preschool.

She can learn, have playtime and be back at home in time for lunch. It's perfect.

Preschool has actually changed my life. I'll talk more about that in another post though.

We're still learning at home because I want to make sure she continues to progress academically. Much of what she already knows will be reinforced in class. She'll be learning new things like geometry (on a preschool level) and spanish.  Then there are those life skills like - waiting your turn, working well with others and being quiet when someone else of authority (like a teacher) is talking that she needs to be learning.

I wasn't sure how I'd feel once she started going to school everyday. I think the fact that she really seems to love it has made it a smooth transition for all of us. Our new schedule/routine has been amazing. It's like we're getting the best of both worlds.

I finally feel like I'm checking off all my "Mommy boxes". How has "back to school" been for you? Any tips you want to share with me as we adjust to having a child in school?

Weekend Recap: Soccer and a 5K

This weekend was pretty busy. And full. I'm currently participating in a run challenge with my girls in Operation Snapback™. Our challenge is to run thirty miles in thirty days. There was a free 5k being offered on base in support of Suicide Awareness. I thought I'd go for it. 

I was lucky enough to be given my hometown area code as my running number. My naive mind took that as a good sign. That 5k kicked my butt.

I'm a treadmill runner. I want to become a street runner. Saturday's run let me know that I have a ways to go before that becomes a reality for me.

A couple hours after the race we had to trek over to Savannah's first soccer game of the season. It was also team picture day for her team. When I tell you it was hot out there...

Despite the heat we had a great time. Watching a bunch of three to five year olds play soccer has got to be one of the most entertaining things I've done since becoming a Mom. Sav scored one goal and had two assist during the game. Not too bad for her first game. I was so proud of her. I literally jumped out of my seat when she scored.

Sunday after church we headed to the mall to grab some sneakers for Savannah's first day of school. They aren't allowed to wear open toe shoes to school and I didn't realize that all she had in her size at the moment was sandals until the night before school. Mommy fail. 

Anyway, her first day of school was a success. I'll be talking more about that later this week. I hope you all had a great weekend!  Any big plans for the week?

BabyM Turns One (Photo Heavy)

On Father's Day weekend we celebrated BabyM's first birthday. We decided to make it a family affair by having a small low key party with just the four of us. I can not believe he is one already. Time truly does fly. I feel like I just had him yesterday.

I kept all of the decorations simple and easy. When Savannah turned one we were living near family and she had a huge party that hit our pockets deep. Call it second baby syndrome but I was more than happy to have this low cost family only party.

To add a special touch to his birthday I took his photos myself. This was my first time ever trying my hand at a real photo shoot. I think his pics turned out great. I was really happy with them. I now understand why you only get about 6-10 shots from a photographer, LOL! I edited the pics using picMonkey. Oh. And taking his pics made me want a DSLR even more. Maybe for Christmas?

During his one year well baby appointment the doctor was pretty pleased with how he's grown. Remember BabyM was born five weeks early?! Look at him now. So big and strong! He talks a lot and is standing up but hasn't decided to walk yet. If he's anything like his sister he'll wait until he's good and ready to walk which could be a couple months from now. (Savannah was 14 months when she decided to walk.)

Speaking of Savannah, here she is serving (and enjoying a lollipop). She has been such a great big sister this past year. She plays so well with her baby brother. Every now and then I do have to remind her to share but other than that I am so happy that she didn't put me through any of the nightmares I hear about toddlers reverting when a new baby comes home. Shout out to Sav for being such a big girl!

How do you think my pics turned out? Any photographers have tips for me?

Happy MLK Day

If you follow me on Instagram you might remember me sharing a pic of Savannah on set in front of a green screen. She was participating in a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with the 264th Medical Battalion. I am sharing the video below. It came out great. Enjoy!

264th Medical Battalion Equal Opportunity MLK Observance 2014 from JOE MUSTANG on Vimeo.

PreSchool at Home: Mixing it Up

Today I thought I'd share some of the other activities we do to create days full of learning. I have recently figured out that chopping up activities and offering different learning opportunities throughout the day really work well for Savannah. It keeps her from getting bored with what we're working on. 

Another thing that I like about this new way of offering activities is that it limits her "free" time. There really isn't much time for TV when we're both actively engaged in an activity together. Now. I know for some people you're wondering how I can do other things if I'm so glued into this new way of learning. The truth is much of it is self directed by Savannah. I set up the expectation that we're going to do something and then she does it independently for the most part. 

While she's working on the Starfall site or doing a page in her workbook, I'm cooking. When she's doing her phonics board in her room, I'm folding laundry. It's a great way to multi task. I can get things done while she's learning. It's great. 

Here we are together working with her phonics board...

Other activities that we've been adding to our day include playing the matching game, playing alphabet bingo and she's recently really taking a bug interest in cooking.

She received this alphabet bingo card during her weekly PreSchool class and she's been playing with it ever since. 

And here she is in her kitchen. I've been letting her help me in the kitchen more since she seems to have a genuine interest in cooking. I think I'm going to let her be my little sous chef when I make the baby's food this weekend. She's going to love that.

By sharing how we've been filling the day I hope it's giving you more ideas. Does anyone have any ideas for me? I'm always open to trying new activities!

Teaching Your Toddler How to Treat You...

I mentioned recently in this post that I was giving myself a break when it came to my behavior expectations for Savannah. Her personality has blossomed quite a bit over this past month and I can not say that it is agreeing with me. Actually. Her sassiness is just not going to work for me. On any level.

Now. While I am still holding true to the statements made in that first post I am back with another "revelation". It came to my attention one day last week as I was repeating myself for the fourth (or fifth or sixth) time that just as Savannah begins to assert her independence this is a great time to teach her how to treat me. After all, she is in a learning stage. She is figuring out what she can and can not get away with, and I am here to let her know that certain things just aren't going to work for Mommy.

Somewhere between repeating myself and being told "No, Mommy." it hit me. "I am going to have to teach this girl how to treat me." Don't we do that with everyone else in our lives? We teach them what we will and won't accept. As a (somewhat) new Mom I had been focusing all my discipline efforts on teaching her what to do and not to do but not necessarily teaching her how to appropriately address me (and other adults). I grew up in a house where we said "ma'am" and "sir". Now that Little Miss Vocabulary has started getting a little bit too sassy for my taste it's time to start nipping this in the bud. I remember when my youngest brother went through this stage it drove my parents nuts. Now I understand why...

So while I still don't expect her to behave like a five year old I DO expect her to act like a very well behaved three year old. We never experienced the "terrible twos" so this has been a crazy past couple of weeks. She's real slick too. She doesn't yell and scream like you see the kids on TV doing. Her tone is very grown up which I think is more insulting, ha ha! Anyway. Moral to the story is if you spare the rod you'll spoil your child. If you allow them to be a sassy three year old they'll be cursing you out by the time they're in second grade. It's not happening.

Welcome to the Sassy Threes where little girls get their first attitude adjustment.

PreSchool at Home: Update

It's been a while since I've shared some of our PreSchool activities. In an effort to get into a really good routine I have been trying to simplify our schedule. Now that Sav is going to a Preschool class once a week I have been using what she's learning in class to guide what we do at home. We still do our own activities but I really try to reinforce the lessons she learns in school.

My main focus with her right now is reading and phonics. We've been spending the majority of our "learning" time on that. We had been doing letters and phonics for a while but I didn't really know how to take the next step to help her start learning to read. Her teacher suggested that I try Starfall. I had heard of Starfall before but never really looked into it. Sav loved the site.

This month we are working on the short "a" sound. At first, I couldn't tell if she was really reading or if she had memorized the book from reading it so much. When my husband came home from work I had her read it to him to see if she could do it and I was very surprised that she could read it to him with a little help from me. She was also very proud of herself.

Today we did our reading in the morning (after I realized a planned trip to the zoo wasn't happening) and some pumpkin painting in the afternoon.

 

So slowly but surely we are settling into a routine that I am happy with. Can't lie. Cutting out a lot of play dates and moving dance to the evening has given me more time to spend with her. I have also been able to get so much more done around the house. These past few weeks have been really great. Anyone using Starfall? How do you like it?

Mommy Reflections: What I've Learned So Far

I can not believe my baby girl is three already. Whoa. Time sure is flying. I remember the day she was born. She was a tiny little angel with bright pink lips. Her hair was jet black. I held her as much as I could and she went every where I did. Always. She was my precious sweet little baby.

Fast forward three years and here we are. She's a big girl now. She's full of imagination. Her bright eyes fill me up. She's still my baby but she's a big girl now. I find myself thinking about how we got to where we are. She's so smart and funny.

This past three years has taught me a lot. I've learned to be less stressed about the little things. I still struggle with it but it helps so much not to get all worked up over every little thing. Perhaps the biggest lesson that I have learned is to keep things simple. As parents we want to create all these amazing memories for our kids and I think sometimes we forget that you don't always have to be over the top and perfect. Savannah has reminded me that it's the little things that she enjoys. I don't have to throw her big parties or fancy play dates. I don't have to spend a lot of money or buy her the latest greatest toy. All she wants from me is my attention and time. Both of those things are free. 

I am reminded that children are just like adults in many ways. All they want is to know that someone is paying attention to them. They want to know that someone cares about what they have to say and how they feel. You don't need superMom powers for that. You don't have to be the craftiest Pinterest pinning Mama for that. All you have to be is yourself. After all, God chose me to be her mother so I am enough just the way I am. Of course, there's nothing wrong with trying or learning new things but I am enough just like this. 

As I am coming into my own as a Mom I keep reminding myself that the tough times are temporary. She won't always be this little. She won't always be this busy. She won't always need me. While she still does it's important that I soak it up. I have to learn to slow down and not just go through the motions of the day. I am learning that every moment that we have together (even her sassy testy moments) are times that I should enjoy. I've got to become better at taking a deep breath and not letting every time she misbehaves send me to a bad place. It's not always that serious.

I must remember that she's only three. It's not fair to her for me to expect her to behave any older than that. So I've learned to appreciate the days where she acts five and understand the days where she struggles with growing up. It's going to happen. I won't always be the perfect Mom and she won't always be the perfect kid -- And it's all going to be OK.

The Beach vs. An Amusement Park

So here's the thing. My baby girl asked for a trip to the beach for her birthday. Of course the weekend that we're suppose to be frolicking in the sand and sun mother nature decides to call for a little rain. Now I'm stuck with trying to figure out a quick plan B. My husband has already taken off from work so there's a part of me that feels like we should just go and make the best of it.

I considered taking her to a local amusement park as a plan B. After calling and speaking to someone about their water park admission I learned that it would be $75 for our little family. Our general admission is free since active duty military get one free trip to the park this year. However, I just can't see spending $75 to go swimming.  Maybe I'm being cheap but I see that $75 as gas money to the beach. Round trip.

So in true Mommy fashion I have spent the day researching other activities for us just in case we get rained out. Hopefully the rain will provide cooler weather for the baby. One can only hope. Anyway, I will be doing laundry and packing for this getaway for the rest of the evening. I can't believe my baby girl will be three next week. Time flies. What is she going to want for her birthday when she's 16 if she's already asking for beach trips at three?