The Track

Katie has P.E. (physical education) class from 8:30 am to 9:00 am. On Wednesdays they walk around the track that rings the football field and parents are invited to walk with their child. Of course I motored up to the school. Katie and her friends ran most of the track, but I chose to walk. I think Katie went around the track three times which would be 3/4 miles. The school has a running/walking incentive where once you walk 5 miles you become a member of the 5 Mile Club. Walk 10 miles, 10 Mile Club. And so on. I thought Katie did pretty good despite not changing into her tenny shoes. It was only 80 degrees this morning, so she wasn't too warm with her black leggings and long sleeve shirt. There was one little boy who was very overweight, obese. I was walking behind him--Katie and her friends had left me in the dust--and he started throwing up. He said he was okay and sat down. Further up the track I met the mother, who weighed at least 300 lbs, coming in the opposite direction. I told her he was sitting because he was throwing up. She replied it was probably his asthma. I don't think so. I think it was his weight, but his mother might have been embarrassed to say so. He made it once around the track and no one walked with him, including his big mama. My heart broke for the little boy. Chances are he will struggle with his weight all his life and through no choice of his own. How is a young child supposed to eat healthier food if all the food in his house extremely calorie laden and fat filled. He sure can't go to the store and buy it himself or cook it himself. I am somewhat angry because allowing your child to eat until he has double chins, waddles when he walks and throws up after walking 5/8 can be considered a form of child abuse. Actually in Texas there have been cases where a parent has lost custody of their child because the child is horribly obese. I am conflicted with this topic. I don't agree with the State telling us what and how much we can eat. Heck, the government has already decided what light bulbs we can use. It bothers me how many laws state and federal governments are enacted to keep us safe from ourselves. That is not their role. Oops, I felt myself stepping onto my soap box about our socialist leaning Commander in Chief. Getting down now.

Since I was at school, I decided to drop off my registration form for the PTO (Parent Teacher Organization. I wonder why it is not the PTA anymore?) I also wanted to pay for Katie lunches for this semester. The Principal saw me and I chatted with him for awhile. One positive thing about a small school is that the principal will know you and your child by name, and not because you're a troublemaker. From the conversation I learned why it takes Katie 1 hour and 15 minutes to get home. Elementary School lets out at 3:05 on. The middle school does not let out until 3:30 pm, so Katie sits in the cafeteria until 3:25 and then sits in the bus in the parking lot for another 10 minutes. She doesn't start her journey home until 3:40 pm. Once ballet starts up I will be picking her up four days a week. I might as well five. 

I wanted to include some pictures from this morning's walk, but I only had my iPhone and I had a very hard time emailing a picture to myself. When I finally got a picture, it was so small that there is not pointing posting it. But don't fear, I found a picture from two months ago that is appropriate.

 Kisses, Daddy. Kisses.

Well, I gotta go and scrub the pool. The walls look a touch green

Don't Lose Your Cubes!

Friday evening, we went to the Anson Elementary Kick Off Bash. They had free sno cones, hot dogs, pony rides, dunk tank with the principal sitting up top, wet sponges to throw at your teacher's face, and so on. It was a good time until Rick spoke with Katie's teacher, Mrs. Jobe. Our sweet daughter go into trouble twice during the first five days of school. Really? Twice? In the first week? That means she was good only 60% of the time. Her first crime was talking in class. The second was messing around rather than going to her place in the line. For the younger grades, the discipline program is based on these little connecting cubes. They start out with 5 various colored cubes, strung together on the corner of their desks. When you are naughty, you have to remove a cube and put it on the teacher's desk. That is better than having your name on a board, which can be extremely humiliating for a youngster. I believe that they get back their cubes at the end of each day. Also, if I remember correctly, the teachers give a verbal warning first and if you do it a second time, off comes a cube. Let's hope that was a learning experience for her and she understands what the teacher's expectations are. I reminded Katie that she needs to conduct herself in school as she does in tae kwon do, such as "Yes ma'am.", "No ma'am."; eyes on the teacher, being at attention and being a strong leader.

Speaking of tae kwon do, Katie was strong in tae kwon do this week. However, Friday she was super duper strong. Twice the instructor stopped the class to show the class how strong Katie was, how she was paying attention and the fact that she stayed in her fighting stance while waiting her turn. Compliments are jet fuel for that child. You get pretty darn far with compliments as opposed to reprimands.

Katie enjoyed her first weekend during the school year. I didn't want her to stay up late just because she didn't have school the next day. I want to try to keep her on her schedule and it will be a lot easier come Monday morning. I figure her rewards for the weekend days is that she gets to sleep in, which means instead of 6 am she gets up at 7 am.

Rick is traveling this week so you have his daily picture to which to look forward. In the meantime I have included some photos from the Bash.

 Stylish ensemble for the Bash

Mmmmm, sno-cones

 Mr. London, Katie's principal. Katie's aim was off so she didn't give him a swim in the water.

 Throwing darts. She popped one balloon.

 The mascot for Anson, a tiger.

 Pony ride

Mrs. Jobe, Katie's teacher

She Made It Home

Katie made it home on the school bus at 4:15 pm. I did notice that she had a sticker on her that had her name and bus number. Of course there are pictures. They might be boring for you, but I plan on printing this blog one day as a book for Katie.

You can see Katie's head in the bus. This afternoon Katie was the last munchkin to be dropped off so the driver turned around in our driveway.

"Hi Mom!" Katie being Katie she hugged the bus driver good bye.

The School Bus

Today Katie took the school bus to school. She gets picked up at 6:55 am at the end of our driveway. It is a 1/4 of a mile to her "bus stop" and this morning Rick drove the golf cart. I was worried about how I would feel about that bus pulling away with Katie looking out of the window. It was a part to which I was not looking forward. However, I didn't bawl because Katie was so excited to be riding a school bus. Since she was young she would scream out "SCHOOL BUS!!" whenever we passed one in the car. I am sure that Ms. Independent is just basking in the glory of having ridden the bus by herself and because that is such a big girl thing to do she'll come home today acting like a 10-year old.

I spoke with the bus driver and sent Katie to school with a note for her teacher. I wanted to make sure that her teacher understands that Katie takes the bus home on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Because I picked Katie up yesterday, I feared that her teacher would group her with the pick-up kids and then she would miss her bus and be standing outside all by herself and the teachers would leave and she'll still be standing there with her little pink backpack waiting for a ride home and . . and . .see how a mother's mind thinks? Anyway, I also gave Katie a little index card with her bus number on it, #4. This morning she told me that her friend from church told her that her bus number was #4. I thought she meant Christian, a boy from her Sunday school class (there were only three in the class and he was the only boy) but she said no. She was talking about the tall one. Then it dawned on me that she meant Principal Mr. London who does attend church with us. I guess that is good that she thinks of the principal as her friend.

Here are the photos from this morning when the Doodlebug went on her first school bus adventure.

I didn't realize until the bus driver told me that he will go down the road, pick up another child and then get Katie on his return. He doesn't want Katie crossing the road to board the bus, but today she was allowed to because Rick and I were there.

The back of the bus as it headed west down the road to pick up the other child. Katie is on the bus in this picture and this when I was sure I would start crying. There is something about seeing the back of a bus or car as it drives away from me when I know that my Doodlebug is in there that gets me teary eyed. Short story:  The first time that Katie rode her tricycle up the driveway, I got teary eyed. Not because of her accomplishment but because I realized in that in 15 years or so I will be standing in the same spot in the driveway watching the back of her car as she leaves home to start a new phase of her life. Uh-oh. Watery eyes.

The bus going east. Our baby is on it. Look how much the sky lightened up in five minutes.

I am sure I will have pictures of when the bus brings her home. You can skip that post if you don't have kids because you cannot even imagine the feeling if you don't have youngsters. Til later . . .

First Day of Kindergarten

Today was Katie's first day of Kindergarten. She was so super-duper excited for which I am thankful. Katie is an extremely positive, adventurous and out-going girl who welcomes new things. One of her classmates was sobbing and I imagine it was difficult for that mom to walk away. I may complain about Katie's joie de vivre but there are certainly positives. You will be also happy to know that neither Rick or I cried. If anything it has made us more reflective. A few years ago a very wise MOPS mentor was speaking about raising children and one of her comments has stayed with me. "The days are long, but the years are short." So true, so true. And without further ado, here's the kindergartener.

 Wild-haired girl eating her first-day-of-school breakfast.

 Hi-ho, hi-ho it's off to school she goes.

 Walking to school. Just kidding. We drove her to school this morning. We had her walk up the driveway and turn back just for the photo.

 Katie and I.

Walking into the elementary school.

Settling in. She gave us a big smile and blew kisses to us as we left.

The Twirling Princess and Her Princess Friends

We're back from Disney World with 600 pictures and you need to view them all. Just kidding . . . Actually I am not done slogging through them.

All in all, we had a pretty good vacation. Katie had her moments when she won't listen and moments where she was over excited, but we made it through the five days. We did visit all of the parks, but spent the most time in Magic Kingdom.

We arrived Friday evening and just got ourselves familiar with our resort. We stayed at the Comtemporary and in an upgraded room which meant we could see Magic Kingdom and the nightly fireworks from our balcony.

 Katie and I at the Orlando airport.

Katie and Rick watching the fireworks from our balcony.

Fireworks. Cinderella's Castle is in the middle of the white flash. It looks like it is blowing up.

Saturday was our first day in the parks; however, before we even got off of the resort's grounds, Katie fell and skinned her elbow and knee pretty bad. So it was back to the room for us until Katie could calm down. Throughout our stay, Katie shared her boo-boo story with everyone. I mean EVERYONE. Anyway, we started off at Magic Kingdom. Katie met the princesses and got autographs, as well as rode rides. Magic Kingdom's rides are all pretty tame and she really liked Snow White's Haunted Adventure. We had a dinner reservation at the Prime Time Cafe in Hollywood Studios. The meal was outstanding as was our waiter. 

Sunday was Katie's birthday and we had made her a 10am appointment at the Bippity Boppity Boutique. We had purchased the Castle Package for her which included hair, make up, nails, costume, shoes, wand and tiara. Katie wanted to be Ariel, but she did not choose the pretty ball gown, she chose Ariel's everyday outfit because she wanted fins. Rick and I tried to persuade her to do the ball gown, but she would not have any of that. Actually, I was rooting for the Belle gown. It was absolutely gorgeous. But since it was her day, we let her wear fins. She also got to pick out fake hair. She immediately insisted on black, but we reminded her that Ariel had red hair and Katie relented and chose the red. Whew! She would have looked so goth with jet black hair.

In all the preparation to get ready for the trip, I forgot to buy a card and wrapping paper. Rick made a card and used newspaper for wrapping paper. As you can see, she was happy. Besides the vacation, we got Katie a Princess snow globe and a Princess bracelet.

Waiting for the Bippity Boppity treatment.

While she was at the BB Boutique, her back was to the mirror and when the stylist was finished she swung Katie around. Oh how happy Katie was.

Katie cracked us up. As we strolled through the park, she waved a royal wave and bowed her head every once and while. She was delighted when people commented on what a pretty princess she was and when they wished her a happy birthday. (Her sash says, "Birthday Princess.")

Katie is extremely out going and friendly. She was continually striking up conversations with people. In each line that we waited in, she made a friend. Each monorail or shuttle bus that we rode she made a friend. It didn't matter if the other person spoke English or not, Katie chatted with them. When she was talking with a little Italian girl, the two of them carried on a conversation in their respective languages and by their expressions it was a fascinating conversation. In the above picture Katie is making friends with a Disney photographer.

 Posing by Cinderella's castle. She sure has the princess stance down pat.

 We were greeted by Cinderella when we went to her castle to dine at her Royal Table. 

 While we ate, Snow White stopped by . . .

. . . and so did Aurora. (Katie was intrigued by her long hair.)

 Belle made an appearance also, but she didn't have on her ball gown. However, below Belle had her gown on when we stopped by the Princesses' character meeting area.

 And we can't forget Ariel. Katie was pretty pumped to chat with her.

While watching a performance by Mickey and the Gang on the castle steps, Katie twirled and danced and was in her glory. Rick commented, "Like mother, like daughter." (On our wedding evening, Rick and I were sitting on the porch of the Grand Hotel and my wedding dress was made for twirling so I did.) After the show was over a woman sitting near us was chuckling about Katie because she was posing. The lady commented how good Katie was with picture-taking. She also asked me if I entered Katie in beauty pagents. I told her I did not and then she advised me to do so. All I could think of was that show Toddlers & Tiaras. Those little beauty queens and their stage mothers are rather freaky/scary. So it's safe to say I won't be doing that. 

The professional poser.

Katie and Rick waiting for the parade to start. We were very lucky that we found an empty table at a sidewalk cafe.

Here's Katie making another friend. This lady was from London and worked at Disney. Katie also struck up a conversation with the ladies sitting on the curb. Of course each conversation included a recap of how she got her two boo-boos, as well as a showing of the scabs.

Rapunzel and Katie in the Storybook Garden

Well, that was the first few days. I will continue tomorrow. Stay tuned . . .

Fairies, Ashtrays and Hearing Difficulties

When Katie explains something to me I usually get a least one laugh because of what she says or how she phrases something. Today was a two laugh day.

"When you lose a tooth a fairy comes with her checkbook."

Her checkbook?!! She either picked this up from a friend or from TV. I think TV is the source because it sounds like something that would be on a sitcom. The parents don't have any cash on them, so they write a check to their toothless child.

Katie and I were in the pool after tae kwon do. Since she was a baby, I have sung Ring Around the Rosie to her while we bob around in a circle in the pool. Today Katie sang by herself and I listened. This is what I heard.

"Ring around the posy. A pocket full of posies. Ashtray, ashtray. We all fall down."

I suppose the song could be about smoking. A posy could be a cigarette and "fall down" could mean you can  die from smoking. I was curious what the lyrics actually meant so I googled and found the following information at www.scaryplace.com 

"You probably have a vision of children holding hands in a circle, rotating slowly while singing the song, then collapsing in a giggling heap at its conclusion.

Just another innocent and meaningless rhyme? It depends on your definition of innocence, for this song was born during a time so terrible it constituted a loss of innocence for the whole of Europe.

It is quite old... in fact it is more than five centuries old. But even though it is ancient, the origin of this song can be pinpointed very precisely within a 3 year period: 1347 - 1350.

Between these three years, fully one third of Europe's population is estimated to have perished in what was called the Black Plague.

"Ring around the Rosy"

One of the first visible signs of infection were red rings surrounding a rosy bump, all over the victim's body.

"Pocket full of Posy"

A common belief of the time was that the plague was borne on "foul air." The rationale was that people could protect themselves from the bad air by keeping their local air smelling sweet. That, and it also helped them deal with the smell of death...

On the other hand, another sign of infection was the foul stench that would begin to emanate from the victim's body as their lymph system began filling with blood. Those still mobile endeavored to mask their stench and avoid detection by carrying flowers on their person.

"Ashes, Ashes,"

In the terminal phases of the disease, victims would be hemorrhaging internally, sometimes triggering sneezing as it irritated the breathing passages. "Ashes" is a child's approximation of a paroxysm of sneezing. In this weakened state, a victim could, and often did, sneeze their lungs out. Messy...

"We all Fall Down"

By now, this one should need little explanation..."

Katie's misheard lyrics had me returning to a website that I had found years ago. The site is www.kissthisguy.com  and is named after a very common misheard lyric from Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze. The lyric is actually " 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky." If you want a good laugh, check out it out.

Another thought occurred to me. I think everyone has that one friend that can never get right the lyrics to songs. If you don't, it means that you are the one mis-singing. Ciao.

Rick's Thursday Pictures

Another day, another tae kwon do class. Yesterday Mr. Ben, an instructor at Team Chip, had the Little Dragons do some 380 kicks during a half hour class, as well as their forms. I could see Katie losing her steam, but then she would reignite. When she receives her next belt, which is blue, we will probably have to slow down our progress in tae kwon do. With school and ballet added into the mix, I don't want to run her too hard. Also, with the slower belt advancement she really gets to perfect the form she is learning. After all, it is not a race.

Still working on our Disney vacation. I am not trying to plan our days down to the hour because you know what they say about best laid plans. I have a short list of the things I know Katie will enjoy and I hope to hit on those. So who wants to watch the Meatball while we are at Disney? Anyone? No one? That's what I thought. I won't want Goofy Gobbler visiting my house either.

The weather. What can I say besides it is stinking hot and will remain so at least until the middle of August. I have lost the battle of the flowers. I only have a few planters left and they are struggling also. My grape vines are barely hanging on. I can water my flowers and plants, but I cannot do anything about the blazing hot sun beating down on their delicate petals or leaves. This heat has also caused the flowers to be smaller. That is two years in a row now that my flowers have suffered the extremes of nature. Last year it was the year of the locust.

Well, I need to get into gear here and tackle my to-do list all though I am seriously lacking motivation. There won't be too many things crossed off that list today.

Here are your pictures for the day, Rick.

Katie and Cody

(Rub my belly, rub my belly, rub my belly.)

Playing with the photo editing software.

Rick's Monday and Tuesday Pictures

I have been meaning to do a post for the last two days for traveling Rick, but the days go so quickly. This post is going to be a picture post for Rick.

JcPenney's had 50% off girls' dresses. In the above photo Katie is modeling the dress that she and I chose. It looks like such a school dress. We also agreed that she will wear this dress for the first day of school, which is only three weeks away!

 

 Today I curled Katie's hair and of course she wanted me to take pictures. Her hair is difficult to curl because it is soft and silky and once I get a curl in it doesn't last that long. She looks so different with curled hair.

 Above and below are two more modeling shots of Katie. She loves the camera, not sure if the camera feels the same way though.

And what would pictures of home be without Meatball, the dog that has great aspirations to chew our entire house and its contents.

Before I snapped the above picture of Cody, he was sleeping. I purposely woke him up so I could snap a pic. Poor thing, before he could get his bearings I flashed a light in his eyes. Rude awakening I tell you. Perhaps I was getting back at him for the daily, morning wake up sissy barks and mini whines. ( I can't believe I got such joy in paying back a dog.)

 

Katie got another stripe today at TKD. She was not awarded one in class, which surprised me. Katie was super strong today and knows her form up to 20, which is all that is required for Little Dragons. After class we ran into Ms. Karen and Katie told her that she did not get a stripe today and the instructors must have forgot. Ms. Karen said she would watch Katie do her form--right there in the lobby--and see if she deserved a stripe. Short story even shorter, Katie got a strip. Yeah Katie! Testing for her blue belt is next Saturday and we leave for Disney the day prior. Ms. Karen is working on an alternate testing time for Katie, which is very nice for her to do. It will most likely be before our vacation which would be for the best. After our vacation Katie only has a few days before she enters kindergarten. My intended point of telling this story is that I was proud of how Katie handled the situation. She could have cried and told Ms. Karen that the instructors were wrong not to give her a stripe. Instead Katie remained relatively up beat and gave the instructors the benefit of the doubt. I am also proud that she spoke up for herself. Most kids would not have voiced their opinion with an instructor.

On a not so happy note about Katie, today she threw a temper tantrum in the grocery store. I have not seen one of those for a while. I am not sure why she reacted the way that she did when I started pushing the grocery cart that she had been pushing, but regardless she morphed into a sobbing almost hysterical child. Perhaps she was tired or had pent up unhappiness from TKD. I got her to calm down by ignoring her and putting her in the corner in the cereal aisle. When we first entered the store, we ran into the principal of the school that Katie will be attending. (He and his family attend the same church as we do.) I really hope Mr. London was done shopping and out of the store before Katie had her melt down. She was definitely heard by every patron and worker in the store. Oh well . . . nighty night.