Back to School

Monday was Punkie's first day back to preschool. This will be her 2nd year of preschool. Next year, she's in kindergarten. I'm not ready for that just yet! Since our preschool program is within the elementary school, they follow the school calendar and Amelia had the summer totally off.

I think she was a little nervous going back to school because Sunday night, she did not get to sleep until midnight. We were both a bit tired Monday morning but she transitioned very well her first day and enjoyed herself. As she puts it, she is now one of the "big kids" in the class. Last year she was the youngest as she turned three the day before school started.

Here are a few pics of her first day.

It was (still is) chilly Monday morning so we threw on a fleece jacket.

I could not get a nice smile out of her inside...

Walking into her classroom...

Writing her name....

All done!

She truly surprised her teacher when she held up both her hands, showing 3 fingers on each and said to her teacher "3 and 3 is 6!" Her teacher was VERY impressed.

My Punkie Pie is a GENIUS! LOL!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Last Day of School

Punkie (and Mama) made it through her first year of preschool with no problems. PHEW! Punkie has learned a LOT in school. According to her report card (more of a progress report), Punkie has mastered ALL the 1st year preschool benchmarks and was well on her way of mastering ALL the 2nd year preschool benchmarks. Meaning, she's pretty smart for a 3 year old and is neck and neck with the 4 year olds going into Kindergarten in September. She can recognize 51 out of 52 upper and lowercase letters. It didn't say which one stumped her but I'm curious. I'll have to ask her. The progress report had a bunch more to say but I'm working from memory.

Here she is on her last day of school...



The fabric baskets were very well received. I had Punkie color on brown paper bags and write the teacher's name on the bag... did I take a picture of them? NO! I'm so mad! But I wrapped the baskets in cellophane, each with a thank you note inside. Punkie was so proud to hand them out. She decided which teacher got which basket.

I didn't think of the contents that I would be putting into the bag or I would have used a stiff interfacing to give the basket more structure. The bottles and such were a bit too heavy for the fabric so the sides collapsed on themselves. But I stuffed them with tissue paper to help. I also have a different way to try to do the lining. I will have to give it a try for my own basket. I bought fabric for it but I haven't gotten around to making one for myself. But I'm happy with the outcome overall. Even happier that it ALL came out of my stash!




Today is my 100th day of not smoking. Come back tomorrow to see what little goodies I'm giving away in celebration!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

So, I am in need of some ideas...

The end of Punkie's first school year is coming to a close very quickly and I was thinking of End of Year Thank You gifts for her teachers (she has 4 of them). And of course, I had BIG plans to get these all done a MONTH ago... but we all know how that goes. Amelia attends preschool within our elementary school and follows the school's calendar so she will have the summer off.

My first question... is it customary to give End of Year Thank You gifts? I gave them each a little something for Christmas but I would also like to give them something as a thank you for making Amelia's 1st year of preschool so enjoyable.

My thought was to make them each a fabric basket and also make a homemade sugar scrub and do a little pedicure basket. You know, getting ready for summer and cute feet. But I thought that was a bit cheesy but I need to put SOMETHING in the basket. I just have no idea what.

My other thought was to make them each a tote. But I wanted to give them each a monogrammed tote. I recently bought the Fat Quarter Fonts pattern book and I thought HOW CUTE to make them each a tote. I'm thinking I will hold off and do that idea this coming Christmas. I'm almost certain by this Christmas I will be laid off so I will have more than enough time to get 4 totes done so that I'm not rushing and making a mess out of seams or anything.

So? Any ideas out there other than what I'm thinking of doing? Is the fabric basket a cute idea? What do I put in it?? HELP!!

Jen

I'm an official parent of a student

My husband and I just got back from our very first Parent-Teacher conference. Felt kind of weird being in the "parent" spot and not the child dreading the outcome of the P/T conference. LOL.

Amelia is doing very well for her first months in Preschool. I believe she is the youngest in the group, being that her 3rd birthday was 2 days before the school year started. She can recognize 9 colors - 2nd year Pre-K should recognize about 15, I think the teacher said. She can recognize 35 out of 52 upper and lowercase letters - 2nd year Pre-K should only be recognizing 15 so she's pretty advanced there. Doing really well with numbers and writing her name. We have some areas to focus on and I'm glad to hear that they are all acedemic and not "personal" issues like hitting, pushing... that sort of thing. The teacher also said that Amelia is extremely polite and she can be a role model to a lot of the students in the Pre-K class.

All in all Amelia got great reviews from her teacher. I'm quite pleased with my first parent/teacher conference.

I will stop bragging about my ultra smart 3 year old now. LOL!

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Welcome to Preschool!

Since I have nothing currently on the sewing front, I thought I would share with you my baby's first day of preschool. Or as she tells me "Mama, I'm not a baby! I'm a big girl!" Yes. Yes you are and I'm SAD that you are growing up so fast!

Here she is, walking into school. She looks so SMALL, walking towards those big double doors!

And walking into her classroom. I can't believe she's old enough to go to preschool now! She's really enjoying it. She only goes 3 hours a day (mornings), 5 days a week.

My MIL is having a hard time adjusting though. My in-laws have been watching my daughter since she was 4 months old when I went back to work full time. My husband and I are truly lucky to have them around and for them to do that for us. They've enjoyed her and Amelia loves hanging out over there. But she was ready to go "play with the kids" on a daily basis. Amelia goes over to their house after school until my husband or I can pick her up.

I can't believe my baby is going to school!