Inner Preschooler

Today I went back to preschool for a little while.   

The kids were doing a community outreach project for their upcoming 

Lego League competition and I got to be the one to accompany them. 

Their mission was to teach the preschoolers a little about music, so they brought instruments to play for them….

 a fun book to read to them (The Happy Hedgehog Band ),   

and in general got to channel their inner four-year-olds.  

The kids had done most of the planning themselves, which made it all the more a genuinely fun  experience  for me, the kids, and the preschoolers.

In the end, though, it made me all nostalgic for when my kids were cute  little peanuts too. 

This picture was taken only four years ago, but man do I miss those days!


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Pomp + Circumstance ???

pomp [pɒmp]

noun

1. stately or magnificent display; ceremonial splendor

2. vain display, esp of dignity or importance

3. Obsolete a procession or pageant

[from Old French pompe, from Latin pompa procession, from Greek pompē; related to Greek pompein to send]

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Splendor?   Dignity?  Stately?        Not a chance.

 This preschool graduation ceremony was more like
ROMP and Circumstance!

 Ellie the preschool graduate!

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Thus ends a decade and a half of mothering babies, toddlers, and preschoolers...

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So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye...

After: 

• 10-1/2 straight years, several of those being "in charge"...

• At least 180 lessons prepared...

• Over $25,000 saved in tuition fees...

• Countless late-night trips to Michaels for that "one more thing"....

• Gathering an arsenal of creative snack and craft ideas...

• Developing wicked fast scissoring skills...

• Knowing that my kids are being taught by righteous and creative mothers who share similar values to me....

  I taught my last preschool lesson today. 

 I didn't know if I'd be happy or sad when this day finally came and now that it's here I don't feel remarkably one way or the other.  In fact, I mostly just feel tired and like I need to go to bed. 

Yay!  Boo hoo!  Zzzzzz....

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Day 337--Tiny Tots

It's a tradition each year that I take any preschoolers I have to the high school's Tiny Tots Christmas Concert.  This year we had over 50 kids from our ward preschool groups.  The band plays holiday songs and popular characters such as Dora, Bob the Builder, Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Rudolph, and of course Santa and Mrs. Claus come and awe the kids with their star presence.  Afterwards everyone gets a chance to meet the characters, giving them high fives or hugs.

Day 334: Spirit of our Home

This cute little cardboard house happens to be a part of one of our favorite family home evening lessons. A friend of mine asked for pictures of it, so she could reproduce them for preschool.  It happens to be the only thing I took a picture of all day, so here you go.  I'm finally done with November a whole month late!!!!!

Day 324: Preschool Thanksgiving Party

First things first,  I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tired of this Project 365.  If it weren't so close to the end of the year there is no possible way I would finish it.

Today was the preschool's Thanksgiving celebration at the church.  Everyone brought a dish to share ( I made Fresh Fettuccine with Roasted Chicken and Spinach) and the kids just ran and played together...

Ellie likes this co-op preschool as much as I do! 

 

Day 323: Gratitude at Preschool

Today at preschool we learned all about gratitude and Thanksgiving.   We reviewed the story of the Pilgrims and how the first Thanksgiving came to be.  They seemed to remember it perfectly!  

Then we went outside and gathered our own bountiful harvest---these carrots from our garden.  Once again the kids were thrilled!  

They were completely enraptured by this Thanksgiving sticker scenes from OTC and spent a good 20-25 minutes laboring over them.  I actually ended up having to pry them away after a while. 

Then we made this harvest blessing mix where each child contributed their own part.

Then we made these little gratitude trees.  The kids were so cute and loved talking about what gratitude was and what they were grateful for.

Another fun day at preschool and now I'm done until February!

Day 321: Pilgrims at Preschool

Today at preschool we learned all about Pilgrims.  I was amazed at how much the kids just "ate" up all this information.  As I was telling them a little flannel board story about the Pilgrims they were completely enraptured and were later easily able to retell the story back to me. 

We went on a ride on the Mayflower and went searching for a land where we could worship God they way we wanted. 

We painted little turkeys starting with their own footprints

and later made little turkeys out of apples. 

Once again, it was days like today that remind me why I do this preschool thing year after year after year. 

Day 317: Rhythm and Drums

Today we had a rhythm and drum day at our house with Ellie's preschool group.  I collected a bunch of coffee cans from Freecycle and helped the kids to make their own drums.

  The kids had a fun time repeating rhythms and discovering all the different sounds their drums could make (marshmallows make cool sounds and taste good afterward). 

Then we made little Indian vests since they had just learned about Native Americans the day before.  They were cute as whooped and hollered and beat on their drums. 

It's fun days like today that remind me why I like doing home preschool so much!

Day 288--Maps and Geography at Preschool

It was my turn to teach preschool again and I must say today was a lot more smooth running than last time. The kids had a great time learning all about maps and people living around the world. They loved these little globe balls and by the end could even point out where the USA was on them.
They had fun playing with earth colored play dough and tried to make their own little globes. In reality though they mostly just squashed it, poked it, and rolled it around.


And me?
Well, my hands look like this now and I'll sleep like a log tonight!

Day 286--Preschool at our House

I had originally hoped that all of our remodeling would be complete by the time it was my turn to teach preschool, but since it's actually barely begun I knew we would have to get creative with toys and space issues.

Luckily it seemed hardly noticed the absence of our main playing area (the basement). Partly I think they were a little scared of all the banging going on, but with the very favorites of the toys upstairs they didn't seem to miss the extra space.

Today our lesson was on Christopher Columbus. Being that it was my 4th or 5th time teaching the topic, I've garnered a few favorite activities over the years. This "boat ride" on a blanket around our house (complete with sailing hats and telescopes) is always a hit! I was a little worn out after motoring around 7 kids on a "boat", but the kids seemed to really get it afterwards. During free-play time they even pretended to sail to America.

Day 282--Fire Station Field Trip

It's one of our favorite field trips of the year--the fire station!!!

The kids gave the fire fighters their rapt attention...

at least for part of the time anyway!

Here is most of the group posing with firefighter Karl!

Day 275--Healthy Bodies

This week at preschool the kids have been learning about taking care of their bodies. On Tuesday they made these body part vests and learned about some of the marvelous wonders of how our bodies work. On Thursday they learned healthy habits, like washing their hands, eating healthy, covering your cough, etc. (Thanks Alex for a fun week at preschool!)

Then on Friday (today) we met at Mina's house and had a healthy bodies party where everyone brought healthy foods to share, played active games, and modeled their body part vests for the camera.

Ellie had a fun time with the hula hoop and jump rope, which she actually couldn't do exactly right yet, but it didn't stop her from having fun trying.

I love our preschool group!!!

Day 260--Preschool, Play Dates, and Babysitting

Ellie is totally loving being back in preschool. She comes home talkative, happy, and downright exhausted! Today we had her friend Rachel over afterwards for a playdate. They were happily playing dress up and kitchen, but unfortunately after Rachel cut her foot pretty badly (on a piece of a broken lamp) she had to be taken to the doctor. I volunteered to watch her baby brother Michael during the unplanned doctor's visit to make it a little easier for her mom.

Ellie and I totally enjoyed our little baby fix, while we fed him, played with him, and just plain snuggled him.

As soon as he left (Rachel was fine and didn't need stitches or anything) Ellie laid down on the couch and fell fast asleep.

I'm beginning to feel like this afternoon napping might be becoming a trend again. Not such a bad thing in my book.

Nine Hours a Week!

After the first day of school I knew I was in for a long week with Ellie before preschool got started. She was missing her playmates terribly and thought that I could replace all four of them--wrestling and giggling like Spencer, reading books and snuggling like Cami, playing dress-up and dolls like Emma, and playing house like Adam.

On any given day I can hold my own pretty well with any of those activities, but those first few days of school found me a little (okay A LOT) stressed getting everything together for preschool and preparing for my cousin's family to arrive from Utah.

I was distracted enough that when she randomly took her nap in the middle of the kitchen floor, that I did not even notice until I realized it had gotten kind of quiet.

This week I've been a lot less distracted by stressful pursuits, but even still Ellie has been a little lethargic and lonely without her brothers and sisters around all day.

Until today....

there's no need to be sad and lonely with a group of happy faces like these to play with at PRESCHOOL!!!!


I'm not sure who was more excited about preschool, me or her.
For my first time EVER, I don't have any kids at home with me 3 hours a day, 3 days a week!

Already today I finally got some good exercise, got caught up on the 365 blog, cleaned up a bit from my 20-month-old cousin (once removed?) who likes to dump out toy bins, and Ellie magically stopped begging me for food and friends nonstop all day.

Next week my house will be spotlessly clean, I'll have lost 20 lbs., I'll have written a Pulitzer Prize winning blogpost, and Ellie will be reading at an eighth grade level....

Day 258--Back to Preschool!!!

Today is a happy day at our house. After almost a week without any siblings to play with all day, Ellie finally started preschool today!!


She was as eager as can be about going and I won't lie. I was probably even more excited than she was.

I finally got some exercise, got this 365 blog all caught back up so Glen can stop calling me a slacker, and Ellie isn't begging me for food and friends all day! Woohoo!

Day 253--Relief at Last!

Finally! Two huge things checked off my list.

My cousins arrived from Utah last night (and all of the accompanying scrubbing and straightening was done) and today we had our preschool planning meeting (which meant that I finally finished making the curriculum and making the final decisions on grouping {which was much more stressful than usual this year} ).
We met together at Alex's house and scheduled out the whole year. It was a huge, huge burden off my shoulders to finally have the meeting (and have it go well) and be all set to start preschool next week! I was equally relieved to learn that the other group's meeting went well too. Finally I can sleep soundly again, which is a good thing now that I'm waking up at 5:30am.
It's going to be a fun year!

Unbalanced

I'm unbalanced.

There's just no other way to put it. My whole equilibrium is so off-kilter right now, I'm not even sure I have an equilibrium.

It may have something to do with the fact that school has begun again (and way too much homework for it being the first week of school)...

or the fact that I have yet another sick child....

or the fact that I've hardly seen the sun last few days (and that I have a beautiful middle school daughter who comes home and talks about cute guys that look like Zac Efron)...

or that I've spent night and day the past couple of weeks trying to get our ward preschool groups (for 35 kids) up and running...


or that my house is still under construction (no pictures until it's all done!)....

or that out-of-town visitors have come to stay with us for the week....

or that I have three kids participating in Fall sports....

or that I have three places to be at once on Thursday nights....

NOPE!! It's not those.


It's the commencement of early morning seminary.

Suddenly Glen, Spencer, and I are awakening a good hour and a half earlier than we have in a LONG time and I'm lucky if I can keep my eyes open past 10:00, let alone stay up to blog (or comment on anyone else's).

So how tired am I?

I'm so dog tired, I actually told Cami that sheeeeeeee coulllld azhljkalhizzzzzzzzzzzle//jzhoiujzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz andnd seheeh didd itttttttttnnzzzzzkj