it's not you, it's me

The kindergarten transition has been a bit rough on me.  Over the last four weeks, I was convinced that school and the new schedule had ruined Bryce.  I just noticed him being more whiny about everything.  The mornings haven't been too bad, but the afternoons have been dreadful.  After a bit of reflection and much prayer, I have a new perspective this week.  We're two days into this new week and I'm pretty sure the issue has been me all along, not Bryce!

 

 

Bryce got a set of knight figurines from Dennis and Veronica when he was in town for Nanny's birthday and Bryce is really enjoying them.  Sunday night he asked me if he could make a castle for a backdrop for his knights when he played.  It was too close to bedtime so I told him he could do it after school on Monday.  He apparently looked forward to it all day and couldn't wait to get started when he got home!

 

Once he started playing, he decided it needed a drawbridge.  He made one and then later that night we added some dental floss so it could actually go up and down.  He enjoyed playing with it today after school too!

 

Bryce brings home new sight word flash cards each week to add to a ring of cards.  We have been practicing sight words at home for the past year so we already have all the words on our own cards.  I decided instead of reading through all the cards, it would be more fun to play games with them.  Since we now have two sets of the words, we played memory with them.  He really enjoyed this!

 

It's a match!

 

Since Monday went so well, we kept the after school momentum going today with a coloring picture he had saved out for today and then we made a BINGO game with his sight words.  Tomorrow we have box tops to cut and glue and a new puzzle from Nanny to start.  It's hard to accept when you're the problem, but I can admit that I was just tired by the time Bryce was getting home and too lazy to be creative.  I was hoping he would wind down each day with a cartoon and then play, but the lack of structure was causing the majority of the issues!  I'm sad it took me four weeks to get to this point, but now that we're here, I'm feeling a lot better about kindergarten and school in general.

Happy 90th Birthday Nanny!

My Nanny turns 90 today!!

 

 

We had family and friends over on Saturday to celebrate Nanny's special day and this milestone birthday.  Apparently the new tradition when celebrating with my parents is to be extra goofy and wear special accessories.  The kids loved it!

 

Nanny was able to celebrate with both of her kids (my mom and her brother, Rives).

 

It was a very special celebration for a very special lady!  We love you so much, Nanny!

I was excited to host.  My mom did most of the cooking and brought the majority of the food, but I was excited to provide a few things as well as a decorated dining room!  We don't use this space often, but it sure is fun when we do!

it's sunday again

Apparently Sunday is my blogging day!  Another week has passed and I'm finally sitting down to catch up on emails and pictures and such!

 

 

Emmy and I finally headed back to story time this week.  The theme was the letter "C" and we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and made caterpillar headbands. 

 

Thursday was Bryce's first early release school day so we planned a play date with the Shipleys.  Bryce rode the bus home with Thomas and Emmy and I were there waiting with Barbara when they got off the bus.

 

We spent the afternoon at the Science Museum.

 

My little scientists.

 

A train photo op is always a must.

 

We headed to our local produce stand when Bryce got home from school on Friday and I let the kids pick out baby pumpkins for their spider pumpkin holders. 

 

Happy Sunday!

little road runner

Unlike either of his parents, Bryce enjoys running!  We got a flier in Bryce's school folder about Sunday races at our local park and thought Bryce would really love it.  Jason's cousin's daughter (pink dress) is in Bryce's class and her parents are runners so we figured she and her sister would participate so Bryce was game.  He was even able to talk Chase and Taylor into it too!

 

 

After quite a long wait, they finally called the kids over to tell them how things would work. 

 

Then there was stretching.

 

Then they were ready to go.  His age group ran the quarter mile.

 

The course started off downhill.  This was Bryce coming off the uphill. 

 

Here he is on the home stretch.  I have no idea how he placed or how long it took him, but he did a great job.

 

We have 4 more Sundays of races and all the kids will get medals at the end!

kitchen reveal

You may remember a while back I mentioned we were doing some kitchen renovations.  Well, we are just about finished and we are loving our new kitchen!  I am by no means a decorator or designer and I need lots of help before making decisions.  I turned to pinterest for ideas and consulted a friend before making a few decisions and I really feel like my final product turned out how I envisioned. 

 

Before



After

 We painted our living room and kitchen with "Revere Pewter" by Benjamin Moore and our granite is an arabesco pattern. 

Before

We got a fun new chandelier for the eat in area and pendant lights from Shades of Light.  Our frames are from IKEA (the pictures for the frames are in transit), we got a new table off Craigs List and I found the fun living room chair at Home Goods.  

 

After

Before

 We didn't take before pictures from the best angle, but you can still see how open the space is now.

 

After

Pinterest Inspiration

 I had originally planned to do white subway tile, but when I stumbled on this bead board backsplash, I fell in love.  We used vinyl bead board in our downstairs bathroom and I knew it would be perfect for the kitchen, especially for cleaning purposes.  I love how it turned out!

 

Our end result

 I wish we had taken a panorama view before, but at least we have an after shot.

 

Panorama view of the finished product

 This was my inspiration for the gallery wall in the kitchen.



 

We still have a few things to do here and there, but for the most part, we are done!  Now if only we could get rid of the awful ceramic tile floor and put in hardwoods!  I'm not sure I have the money or the patience for that project any time soon!

it's great to be a kindergartener

Bryce was all smiles when he got home on Wednesday.  His class gets stickers for their buckets when they do things worthy of praise and he had filled his up by Wednesday and got to choose something out of the class treasure chest.  He chose this lion!

 

 

Also, a student is awarded the "outstanding musician award"  each week in music class.  Bryce won this week.  I am SO excited about his music teacher.  It just so happens that the music teacher at the school where I used to teach has to travel to Bryce's school for a few classes and out of all the kindergarten classes, he got to teach Bryce's.  He is one lucky little boy because he is an awesome teacher!

 

Later that day I sprung for a soft pretzel for the kids while we ran a quick errand at Walmart.  They have asked me for one ever since the pretzel place opened and I've never obliged.  I guess it was just their lucky day!

 

Bryce was not a big fan of the school bus after the first day.  By the end of the first week, he found a friend on the bus who lives in our neighborhood and is in his class.  They have become fast friends and couldn't wait for a play date.  Yesterday was the big day and they had lots of fun. 

 

Nanny took us to dinner and ice cream last night.  The kids enjoyed eating in the trunk since the outside benches were wet from the rain.

 

It's been a great week for these two!

what's up wednesday

Oh hey there!  It's Wednesday, and it's been a week since I've popped in.  Sorry about that!  School started and we all hit the ground running and haven't slowed down.  I checked both cameras today and there we no pictures to be found, so I scanned my phone for a few pics to share so you don't forget who we are! 

 

 

Bryce loves learning and loved letting me teach him.  This one is going to give me a run for my money, but she did enjoy sitting in Bryce's bean bag chair last week to read a book while listening to a completely different book on tape!

 

And when she doesn't feel like learning, we play dress up!

 

What's a girl to do with so many accessories?!? 

 

Share them with her brother of course!  He's a good sport!

 

Bryce is already learning so much at school.  Last week he came home and went to his room and came down with this sentence strip and proceeded to teach me the name of the lines.  I had to write them out so I could learn them too!  Sure enough, I learned this exact same thing last night at back to school night!

 

Bryce had his first school project last week.  He had to make a boy like him.  He really enjoyed this.  He has on red shoes because his school shoes are red.  He has camo paints because he loves hunting with his daddy.  He chose an Orioles jersey because he loves playing baseball and we added the letters MCC to his hat because that is our church.  I wanted some way to squeeze in his faith without a cross necklace because I wasn't sure how he'd feel about a necklace!

 

My two camo loving boys.  This was one morning before church believe it or not!

 

Hopefully I'll get around to posting our before and after pictures of our newly renovated kitchen.  I absolutely LOVE how it turned out.  We even hosted our neighbors for the first time since we've lived here in four years.  Next week I'm hosting a MOPS social here.  It's so fun to entertain when you love your space!

 

 

The neighbors hung out for quite a while after dinner and Bryce and Emmy loved playing with the other kids.  They are older and our kids try so hard to hang with them, but with Bryce's exhaustion from school, he just couldn't keep up any longer and fell asleep in the playroom while everyone played around him!

wordless wednesday