Coco Louco Brasil

We planned an adult night out tonight in a effort to celebrate Allan, Kevin, Craig, and Rachel's birthdays which all fall during the same week.  Our original plan was to go to the bike races in Lafayette Square and eat at the Italian restaurant, but the heavy rain scared us away.  I had bought Allan a Groupon-type coupon for a Brazilian restaurant with the hopes of using it for his birthday dinner, so I coerced the gang into going there.  I had mistakenly thought it was the all-you-can-eat type of place where they come around with big slabs of meat and carve it onto your plate but, alas, it wasn't.  Most of us still enjoyed our meals and, of course, we had a great night sans kids.  The guys and Rachel all ordered Brazilian cut steak which is served on big sword-like skewers.  The presentation was impressive and we naturally had to have some fun with the swords.

Each skewer came with three big pieces of meat.

Krista pretending to take a big bite of Rachel's steak right off the skewer.

Kevin knighting Craig.

Craig showing off his knife swallowing skills.

Notice Brian's lovely face in the background?  He does it to me every time I'm taking a picture!  I hate to admit that it cracks me up every time and Krista is annoyed because it just eggs him on :)

Tearful Mornings

Allan and I breathed a sigh of relief when Delaney's first three days of school went off without a hitch.  She came home saying that it wasn't just a good day it was a super great day or, in her cute way of speaking, that it was a "perthect" day. 

Needless to say we were surprised when out of the blue during the second week of school she told me that she cried for me at lunch.  Then the next day she cried so hard because she didn't want to go to school at all!  I even got an email from Mrs. Roney saying that Delaney had a teary lunch time one day and suggesting that I send a picture of myself in her lunch box.

Of course, I agreed to send the picture, but I was confused.  Delaney never seems to miss me and she has been away from me at school  for several years now.  Also, as soon as lunch was over everyday, she had a great afteroon.  I knew that there must be a bigger issue.  Thankfully, Mrs. Roney is an observant teacher and was able to get to the root of the problem.  Delaney is a pokey eater and was so afraid that she would have to go to the "transition" table which is the table that children can move to if they aren't finished with their lunch when their class goes out for recess and the next class is coming in.  They don't have to move there but Delaney didn't realize that.  So for about a week, she would start out the morning feeling anxious, not wanting to eat, crying, and asking us to not send her to school.  She even cried off and on all morning in her classroom.  It made us all so sad and we did everything we could to reassure her that things would be okay.  I made sure to pack smaller lunches and Allan went through her lunch box with her every morning to talk about what she should eat first, etc.  Most importantly, we had our friends and family praying that Delaney would have peace and begin to love going to school again.  By the end of the week, we had it all under control and she came home from school on Friday reporting that she didn't cry at all! 

We thought we were in the clear until this week she started getting weepy again on Monday.  What?!?!  It turns out that now that the lunch problem is solved, Delaney has started getting anxious about sitting in the gym in the morning while waiting for the morning assembly to start.   She says that she is nervous because Mrs. Roney isn't standing right by her.  We've talked and prayed through that problem and, as of yesterday, school was back to being "perthect".

Sorry, Delaney, it appears that you have your Mommy's fear of change and anxiety over new situations :(

A smiley, happy  Delaney eating breakfast with Harper and Alayna before getting on the bus this morning.

Bike Store Demo

The Cyclery hosted a BMX demo performed by a group of professional riders in the parking lot today.  The Joneses, Rudds, and us went out for a while to support them and nibble on some free hot dogs, chips, and soda.  The riders were ok, but we had more fun playing on the treadmills inside and watching Allan, Craig, and David P. try to ride David's high wheel bike.  (By the way, I googled the name of the bike and it is called a Penny-Farthing.)

Chester

We had a visitor at our house tonight - a raccoon named Chester!  It was Delaney's turn to bring home one of  Mrs. Roney's take home pets.  Chester is the main character in a book called "The KissingHand".  The assignment was to read the book and play let Chester participate in your family's activities for the evening, then draw a picture and write a sentence about the fun you had together.  Once everyone in the class has had a turn it becomes a class book.  

 Chester is not allowed to play outside or sleep in your bed with you (good thinking, Mrs. Roney!), so this is a picture of Chester watching Delaney, Harper, and Daddy play out on the back porch.

Delaney chose to draw picture of our house with Chester in the kitchen sharing a pumpkin bar when Honey and Grandpa came over.  Her sentence was, "We ate pumpkin bars."

Edwardsville Criterium 2012

The bike races were back in town today, so we headed downtown as soon as Allan got off work.  This year they were held on a Saturday, which was great for the local restaurants and bars.  They even had bands playing in the street by the courthouse, making it a very festive environment.  The beautiful weather was just the icing on the cake!

Both girls competed in the Kids Race, adding to the week of "firsts" for Delaney.  Mama braved the crowds to come cheer for them.  They rode in separate heats according to ages.  Both races were about 100 yards long.  Neither of them won, but it was a good lesson for Delaney that not everyone gets a medal every time.  It just means that she needs to work harder and practice more for next year's race.

When the girls were finished we walked around the race route, then met up with the Joneses for dinner at Sgt. Peppers and a little dancing in the street.  Ness and I took the kids home to bed around 9:00 and the guys stayed until the last race was finished at about 10:30.

All in all, it was a fun night but I think next year we might get a sitter to watch the kids so we can all enjoy the festivities!

First Bus Ride!

This week at school has been full of new experiences for Delaney.  She bought her first lunch (turkey sub sandwich, Chex mix, applesauce, pudding, and chocolate milk) and, more importantly, rode the bus for the first time ever!  She was a tad bit anxious after hearing a story about a boy who accidentally got off at the wrong school, but we assured her that her friends and bus driver wouldn't let that happen to her.  She absolutely loved it and wants to ride all the time now, but she will probably only ride it a couple of times a week.

Sarah took this picture of Alayna and Delaney getting ready to board.

1st Day of Kindergarten!

Woo Hoo!  Today was Delaney's first day as a Glen Carbon Miner.  I was able to run home on my plan time to snap a few pictures and go with Allan to take her to school.  Allan said she wanted to wear her backpack all morning as she was getting ready.  

I am proud to say that not a tear was shed by any of us, although if anyone could have cried it would have been Allan.  He got a tiny bit sentimental in the car ride over, but it was quickly pushed aside by the anxiety at how long the drop off line was!  Luckily, we found a spot in the back parking lot so we could all walk in together.  

Mrs. Roney was very accommodating as a I took a few more pictures and gave one last hug, then we were on our way without looking back.  It helped that we kept running into people that we knew in the hallways to talk to and distract us.

Allan and Harper picked Delaney up at 12:15 and went straight to have a picnic at the airplane park with our neighbors, Sami, Emma, and Mr. Bob.  

Delaney says that her favorite part of the day was recess (naturally) but her least favorite part was how many kids were playing on the playground equipment at the same time as her.  She was also proud to report that she lined up to go in the first time Mrs. Roney blew the whistle but it took some kids three whistles to line up and they have to miss three minutes of recess tomorrow but she doesn't!  We are working with her on obeying the first time we ask her to do something, so that was a big deal for her.

Love you, Big Girl!

Harper was not happy that she wasn't part of the action.

This is a horrible picture of our family, but I wanted to document that we were all there.  I wish someone would invent "squinty-eye reduction" technology :)

Daddy giving one last hug and piece of advice.

Time to go home for today.  See you tomorrow Glen Carbon Elementary!

Last Hurrah

***WARNING**** I was too lazy to make everything we did this week into separate posts resulting in what is probably the longest blog post known to man!

I go back to school on Monday, so we tried to make this last week count!  We packed almost everyday full of some activity or another.  I think the break in the unbearably hot weather made us all itching to get outside!  The best part is that every single thing we did was free!  You obviously don't have to pay a lot of money to have good fun and make great memories.

Sunday - we went to a birthday party at the YMCA outdoor pool.  We hadn't been there all summer so I was excited to learn that both girls could touch in the shallow end.  That made a much more enjoyable time for me because I could just sit and talk with Ness and Krista :)

Monday - The girls spent the day with Mama as usual and I worked in my classroom.  In the evening, we attended a Kindergarten Playdate for all of the kids in our neighborhood who are starting kindergarten this year.  It was organized by one of the moms and was held at our school's playground.  I met a few new parents, but Delaney just played with the girls she already knew.  Oh well, there is only one girl from the neighborhood in Delaney's class and she is already a friend of ours.  Afterwards, Delaney and I went to Target to buy a shower curtain and rug for her bathroom.  Allan and I hope to get her to start taking her own showers this year.

Tuesday - Daddy's day off, so we took a family bike ride with the girls on the pedal trailers in the morning and went to SIUE pool in the afternoon.  The Garman's were there too - bonus!

Delaney, Alayna, Harper, and Lucas (?) all playing lifeguard

Wednesday - Allan and the girls played in the backyard with the hose and kiddie pool in the morning, then the girls and I went to the YMCA pool in the afternoon.  They spent almost the whole time going down the slides.  At 6:30, we went to the library for the last story time of the summer.  The theme was Cowboy/Cowgirl Camp.  It ended up that only 5 girls attended that night.  I love that they not only hear a few stories, but they sing, dance, have several crafts and games, and a snack.  The librarians do a super job!

The girls on their ponies trying to lasso up some cows.

Delaney in her handmade mustache

Where's Harper?

Thursday - It was time for a Mommy activity, so the we went to Marshalls and Old Navy to find a dress for my first day of school and ate at yummy Chick Fil A (ok, so maybe not everything we did was free :))  It is a brand new location and the play land was nice and clean.  At 4:30, we had Delaney's kindergarten orientation.  It was the day we had been waiting for!  We finally got to meet her teacher, Mrs. Roney, and tour the school and her classroom.  I was very impressed with her teacher and got so excited as I sat and listened to all of the things they were going to do this year.  Delaney is going to love school!  Thanks to Honey for letting Harper stay with them while we went to the meeting.  Daddy had to go back to work for awhile so the girls and I enjoyed the beautiful sunset on the front porch.

Delaney was inspired by Mrs. Roney's speech and wanted to work on some of the little workbooks we had gotten in the dollar section at Target.

Friday - We asked the Sarah and the kids to go with us to Glik Park in the morning for a bagel breakfast.  The weather was actually a little bit chilly!  Sarah had the idea to bring the kids' bikes to ride the path around the perimeter of the park and we also fed the fish and turtles with our leftover bagel pieces.  Friday afternoon the girls went to Mama's while I had my hair appointment.  Then they spent the night with Honey and Grandpa so Allan and I could have a date night!

Saturday - Sarah texted at the last minute and asked if we would like to go with them to Forest Park for another picnic.  She had to meet quickly with the people organizing the Families ROC 5K at the visitor's center and there is a nice playground there to keep the kids entertained.  As I mentioned earlier, the triple-digit temps had kept everyone cooped up inside for more than a month, so we were so happy to be back out with our neighbors again!  

Phew!  As you can see, it was a fun-filled week.  We made the most of everyday and wore the girls out.  They both took 3 hour naps when we got home this afternoon!