Olivia's 1st Ballet Class

I am so excited that Olivia is FINALLY in a real dance class. We've taken her to a summer dance class before that was 6 weeks, but I've always wanted her in a real dance class where she will do recitals, etc. She was beyond excited, too. I have to admit I watch Dance Moms and I let Olivia watch the performance part since there is too much drama with the rest of the show. She loves watching it. Even Luca is excited for her. When we bought her tights and shoes she just wanted to dance around in it all day.

There is something so cute about a little girl in a leotard and tights with her hair pulled up in a bun, so cute!

Make Up

Olivia loves to watch me put make up on. Today she said "Mommy you always look beautiful." It was very sweet.  I have a Mac Brush Set that I let her and Luca play with and they pretend to put blush and eyeshadow on each other (with no make up on it).  Today, she asked me if she could put make up on and I usually will let her put my lipgloss on but she wanted eyeshadow and I told her no.  She responded "When I have kids, I will let them put make up on." 

1st Day...

I saw this worksheet on Pinterest and had the kids fill it out on their 1st day of school. I spelled it out loud to Olivia but after she wrote it all I decided to write it down on the side so I could remember what she wrote in case I couldn't read it in the future.She was over this worksheet by the last question and started to put dots all over the page.

This is Luca's and it cracks me up.  Look at #11!  He thought very long and hard on this question.  He was able to spell out quit a few words on his own.  I am so impressed at his reading skills, too.  When I put them to bed I usually read 2 stories to them (sometimes more when they beg me) and then Luca will read 2 Level 2 library stories to me, too.  He definitely has most of his sight words down and can sound out words and he's understanding what he's reading, too.  Makes me so proud.  He also knows his multiples of 2,5 and 10!  We've been working on it and he's got those down pat. 

That's Amore!

My kids were so excited to hear that Nonno and Nonna were in town and I was so excited when they told me they were going to make homemade pasta!!! The kids love it and enjoy making it with my parents.

Luca loved this part!

Olivia was a good helper and put the pasta on the tray.

It's like the Italian version of Play-Doh, but edible!

Family pic bummed it's blurry but oh well!

The picture does not do it justice, this is soo yummy!

Luca asked if he could have it for lunch tomorrow at school.  I bought him a thermos so I wouldn't have to just pack boring sandwiches and now he can bring warm stuff like soup, pasta, etc.

Olivia slurping the pasta!

The typical Sunday Italian meal!

Olivia whispering to me "Can we eat now?"

Spikey Legs!?

Luca touched my leg this morning and said "Why do girls have spikey legs?  So boys won't touch them?"  Have to put this in his book for sure!!

Kindergarten Rocks!

I had to write this all down before I forget all the details but I'm so happy that Luca's 1st day was a huge success! He loved Kindergarten!! YAY!

His school starts at 8:05am so we couldn't take too many pictures.  But the ones that I did snap I couldn't pick he is just too handsome in all of them!

Corey and I both wanted to be there when we dropped him off.  Unfortunately, he won't go on a school bus because our school district won't pick him up and drop him off because the private school he goes to is in Arlington.  So I think I would've been teary eyed if I had to see him go all by himself on a bus.

He was very excited.  I checked out about 30 books about going to school, kindergarten to get him pumped and prepared for school.  I pinned a lot of those books on pinterest.  I would highly suggest reading the book to yourself before reading to your kids.  A lot of them had the word "Hate" which I don't like to use that word and also some of the books weren't motivational but seemed like it would give them more anxiety.  But there were also some really great books we liked, too! I think that helped as well as us talking to him about school to him, too.

He was very excited to bring his lunch.  I was very nervous because they only get like 25 minutes for lunch and he's a slow eater.  I have been telling him everyday for the past few weeks that he has to eat fast or he'll be hungry at school.  The 1st thing he told me when I picked him up was I ate all my lunch...I ate my crackers for snack, then I ate my sandwich for lunch 1st and my fruit, yogurt and chips last.  He also told me he opened his yogurt and crackers all by himself, too!

This was at school.  I felt awful we were 2 minutes late.  We passed 3 different schools to get to his school and with buses and school traffic it took us way longer than we planned.  We definitely know to take a different route so we don't have to pass any schools. He looks pretty happy to be at school!

Last night I wrote out the chalk which he wamted because Olivia got to take a picture with chalk.  I was planning on it anyway, but this morning it was washed away from the rain!  He was a little sad and I told him I would re-do it while he was in school and that we could take the picture after school.  He was happy with that but it was soo bright they didn't turn out and he's squinting in all the pics!! :(

He insisted on this pose and I told him he need his glasses on!!

Smooth!

I asked him what his favorite part about school was and he told me recess and playing and that he met a new friend but he didn't ask his name but it was on his name tag and he couldn't read it.  He told me he didn't like quiet time (they have 15 minutes of that after lunch). But he told me that the teacher played a lullaby and turned off the lights during it.  He went to the school library and they read Kindergarten Rocks which is one of the books we've read to him and also a Pete The Cat book about a school bus or going to school. He told me that next time he can pick out a book and check it out for a few days.   He said he went to Spanish class and that he learned "Como Estas and Buenos Dias." He also mentioned when he sees a friend in the hall he can say Olah." He also told me that they did a fish craft and a lot of the kids complimented him and said his looked cool. He also told me he went to the bathroom and the kids in his class waited for him and he didn't know how to turn on the water because you had to step on a bar to turn it on and someone helped him. He also told me his "bin" was the 1st one and his backpack hanger, too.  (Most likely because of his lat name).  He was very happy and said "Mommy, Kindergarten does Rock!"  It made me very happy to hear that!!!

What is also sweet is that he said "Mommy, I want Olivia in the picture with me."  Look at him giving me a thumbs up!  Love him.  P.S.  I didn't edit this pic and look at how you can't see the chalk that's how the other pics looked, too but I had to saturate it with more color which I don't like that it looks too processed but oh well!  Kindergarten Rocks and that's all that matters!!!!

He had his 1st homework assignment which is for him to think about what he wants to learn in Kindergarten.  The teacher will discuss it on Monday.  He doesn't have school tomorrow because today was a full day with just half his class.  Tomorrow the other half gets to go and then on Monday they will all be together.  So when I asked him he told me this "I want to learn how to paint like that guy on TV (he is referring to Bob Ross on PBS!) and I want to learn how to read. I want to be able to read to Olivia at bedtime without your help."  I thought that was a great answer.

One on One Time with Luca

Since Olivia started her 1st real day at pre-school, Luca was very excited to just have some one on one time since he doesn't start until next week. He told me he was excited to spend time with me. I took him to Giant Eagle to get some food for dinner and he asked me if I could buy him some Gatorade. I said sure. Then we went home and his plan was he wanted to have popcorn and gatorade and watch Beauty and the Beast with me. I really wanted to take him to see the movie Planes just him and I, but since O's school starts at 8:20 the earliest movie time was 11 so Beauty and the Beast was his pick. He wanted me watch it with him and he would talk about his favorite parts. He also told me he wanted to be The Beast for Halloween.

In other news, as I had mentioned when Olivia started school I just didn't get that warm and fuzzy feeling on her 1st day.  I called TUMPS their pre-school from last year and was so excited when they told me they had one spot available for the 3 day a week 4 year old class. They told me they would LOVE to have Olivia back at Tumps.  I was so happy when Corey told me it was ok.   It broke my heart on her 1st day when she told me "I asked the girl with diapers on if she wanted to play with me and she said NO.  I asked the little boy, too and he said no."  There are only 2 other kids in the class and part of pre-school is about socialization!  She needs a little more classmates than that. .  At Tumps it was so structured and well planned out.  They would have themes each week for their creative play, and crafts to go with it. They always welcomed Olivia and Luca when they stepped into the classroom and they always got down on their level to make eye contact.  I was disappointed with the new school she came back with two pieces of construction paper and colored it in crayon.  Tumps plans out their crafts and they also gave us calendars for each month that explained what they would be teaching the kids, what crafts they do, etc.  The teachers also always came out of the classroom and talked about what they did.  I felt like I was pulling teeth when I asked the teachers what she did.  Their response was "she had fun and had a good day."  I am so excited that she'll be back at Tumps again this year and I think she will be thrilled, too. She will have Luca's old teachers, Mrs. Johnston and Mrs. Kientz. 

Wendy's

Today I took the kids to Wendy's for dinner because it was 5:30 and I realized I had nothing prepared.  Anyway, as we were in line Luca noticed a donation box that was clear so you could see the money.  He asked me "Can I put some of my money in there?"  I told him yes.  He asked what it was for and I explained to him it was for kids who were adopted.  He asked me what does adopted mean? I gave him the best possible explanation and then I told him that his cousin, Gabri was adopted and that Zia is her Mom but she also has a biological Mom.  I tried to explain to him that Gabri wasn't in Zia's belly, but in another person's belly and that person wasn't ready or able to care for her so she gave Gabri to a family who would be able to take good care of her (Zia and Chris).  He was a little hesitant to put his nickel in the donation box and said "Does this mean you will still keep me forever and ever?"  So cute.  Everyone in line heard the entire conversation and smiled and some even made a comment how cute he is.

1st Day of Pre-School!

Olivia had her 1st day today!  I took a ton of pics.  Here she is eating a healthy breakfast!  I love that she enjoys Oatmeal.  I used to give her the pre-made stuff then found out that they put a bunch of sugar and not real food stuff in there.  Now i just warm up some milk, add oatmeal, some steel cut oatmeal, honey, and cinnamon.  Sometimes she'll let me put raisins in it, too.  It's also cheaper to make it yourself than buy the packaged stuff, too!!

 Luca eating his non-healthy sugary cereal, Golden Grahams!  (That's what I ate, too!) He's very excited to have a few days of Mommy and Luca time since he doesn't start school until next week.

 She's getting so big!!
Look how much she's grown compared to last year!!
http://joanna-andresfamily.blogspot.com/2012/09/1st-day-of-pre-school.html

And look at this 3 years ago...
http://joanna-andresfamily.blogspot.com/2011/08/olivias-1st-day-of-pre-school-movement.html

 It's hard to see the chalk when I take the pic, so I have to edit them a lot and highly saturate the pic so the chalk colors will pop.

 She said "Yay I'm going to pre-school!"

 I saw a bunch of cute little signs on Pinterest that I was going to use for her 1st day of School sign, but since we don't have a color printer, I just bought some cute paper and printed her name and the date on it instead.

 I love this face!

 I'm not going to lie, I really, really loved her pre-school last year.  The teachers were amazing there.  Her teachers had been pre-school teachers for a while and they all had kids.  They were so warm and friendly and it seemed like they LOVED their job which made me comfortable leaving the kids with them knowing how much they cared about them. They also seemed so interested in getting to know Olivia, I always remembered how they would greet her and get down to her level to make eye contact and she loved it. I didn't get that warm and fuzzy feeling with her new teacher at this new school.  We signed her up last year before we knew we were moving because we thought Corey would still be working at Grandview and Luca would be going to kindergarten there so it made sense for Olivia to go to Pre-School there. This program is a peer model program where Olivia is the peer model for some special needs kids.  On the positive side there were only a total of 3 kids in her class including her.  She also has two teachers which the ratio is amazing!  I just have felt it's been very disorganized, we met the teacher for the 1st time today which I was hoping we'd meet her before school started like her school last year.  These teachers are newer so they don't have kids and it's just not that same warm and fuzzy feeling I used to get at TUMPS.  I know sometimes I don't adapt to change well, but I'm hoping that I will feel better after a week or so after going there.  She will be going 5 days a week compared to 2x a week last year so maybe I'm just having a hard time knowing she'll be away from me so long and I just want to make sure that the person who is going to be with her all that time is going to take good care of her (which I'm sure they will).

 Back to the pretty little lady. 

 At school!

Some recent quotes from Luca & Olivia

Today Luca said to me "Mommy, you have a thick butt!"

Olivia said "Papa you are a handful."  I have been reading these "Betty Bunny" books to them and they love it.  In the books, everyone says that Betty Bunny is a handful.  I liked how she used it in sentence, too!

Olivia got her big girl bed a couple of weeks ago.  I need to take some pictures of her new bed. It's super cute.  So sad that both my kids are in big beds now.  They are growing up so fast.