Unbridled joy...crushing dissapointment!

I L.O.V.E.D. riding in the tea cups at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom!  I laughed my butt off!  But when the ride ended, well, lets just say I was a wee bit disappointed!  It was over all too soon...and Momma was too dizzy to try that ride again!

Disney Slideshow

Here's a slideshow of the pictures that we took while in Disney. You can also view a slideshow that the pros took until mid Dec., by clicking here.  There are a ton, enjoy.

Apple Orchard Field Trip

Today was my first field trip of the year.  We went to an apple orchard.  I had so much fun!  We played mini golf, ate donuts, drank cider, played on a cattle and a ship, had a haunted hay ride and ate more donuts.  They even gave us an apple and a pumpkin to take home!  The weather was perfect and I had so much fun!  We also found our way through a labyrinth and walked through this weird tunnel that rolled and had weird lights...it made momma sick!  I fed goats and llamas and there were even bunnies for us to look at.  I wore myself out and fell asleep on the way home after all that fun.  Here are some of the million pictures Momma took of me with the specific purpose of annoying me...

 

This is a pony swing made out of a tire!  It was pretty cool!!

This is the closest Momma will get to tying me down!!

This is me and my class!  I'm on the far right end and my teacher is on the far left!  The girl in the pink in the middle is one of my closeset friends at the moment.  There are two kids missing from this photo, they couldn't come today.  My teacher told us to make funny faces!!

The cider and donuts were really good!!

 I like feeding the goats, they are gentle...

The llama on the other hand...  He freaked me out pretty good, and he knocked the food right out of my hand!!  RUDE!

Yup, bring me somewhere new and I still just want to go to the park.

I was pretty good at this.  I got the ball in the hole pretty quick most of the time.

Quality time

My Gramma came up for Gramma Ma's funeral this past weekend.  I was able to relax and spend some quality time with her before she went home today.  We did lots of things!  I covered get mouth with stickers, we put on make up, played games, watched movies, had a fire put and even played outside!  I got to show her how good I am at pumping when I swing, how well I can ride my bike now and also my class room at school.  I had a great time, even though I've managed to get a cold, and it helped me to keep my mind of off how much I miss my great grandma.

Gramma is a good sport!  She left those stickers on long enough to annoy Momma...which I loved, of course!!

Gramma brought a bat and ball this time, and I had a lot of fun playing baseball with her in the back yard!  I loved it when she ran around and chased me through the yard!!

After all that hard playing we had to chillax for a bit.

Doing homework

Today I got to do homework for the first time! 

Coloring, cutting out circles, glue and math!

I love nature!

After school today momma and I went on a nature hike.  Momma bought me this handy dandy magnifying glass to check stuff out with.  We found some cool pods, walnuts, dragonflies and even a muskrat!  We also saw an osprey with a fish in its talons flying over our heads!

More Crazy Hats!

Momma and I made this crazy cowgirl hat for day 3 of crazy hat day!  I love it!

Crazy Hat #1

 

Today was day one of crazy hat week!  I wore this hat that momma crocheted me earlier this year, my teachers laughed!!  This week we are starting to learn site words, this will help me to read later this year.  This week's word is "the".  Momma and I are playing a game, every time I find the word "the" and show her, I get a jelly bean!  I've found two today!  Today was also the first time I got homework.  Two pages!!!  But they're easy enough and I don't mind doing them.

Dinner by fire!

I asked momma if we could have a firepit tonight...she got lazy and had me and daddy make our own dinner too!!!

My first day of school 2012!

So today is the day!!  It's my first day of young 5's (pre-K).

I've got my back pack and I'm ready to go...

Sort of...  I'm a bit nervous to be honest.

But, only a little bit.  I'm a whole lot of excited!  Here we are waiting in the car for my teacher to come and get me out.  That's how they do it.  Its sort of like a drive through.  Momma pulls up in the car, they open the door and get me out.  I guess its safer for me that way.

 

Momma thought a little pre-first day interview was in order!

 

And then of course it was my turn!!  That's my teacher!  I jumped out of the car with out even looking back.  So long mom!  I'm outta here!! 

Momma has to come into the building to get me from my class.  My teacher gave me hugs and even posed for this nice picture of leaving my first day of class!!  Do you see how excited and happy I am?  It was a great first day!

We learned about the letter "M" (Mmm, Mmm, Mmm) today.  The shape cirlce (I already know my shapes mom!) and the color green!  I guess they are easing us into school with all of this easy learning stuff!  I cut out that M&M all by myself and even colored it rainbow color!

 

And then no first day of school would be complete with out a "post-first-day-of-school" interview!!

 

Yeah, I'm pretty psyched to go back again tomorrow!!

Meet & Greet

Today was my meet & greet for school.  I will be going to school every day of the week now.  My teacher from last year thought I was pretty smart, so they are putting me in the young 5's Pre-K class instead of 4 yr old preschool.  I'll be learning math and science and even how to read a little bit...and all before I'm in Kindergarten!  The greatest part is that I got to get a back pack this year, and a folder to keep all of my homework in!

 

So to celebrate, momma took me out to a nice lunch at Panera's!  I just love getting their Mac n' Cheese and yogurt pop!

The nice part was that momma and daddy got to come with me because I'm a bit nervous about starting in a new class where I won't know any of the other kids!

This is where I'll be hanging my back pack every day!

It didn't take me long to jump in and get acquainted.  I always introduce myself, and then I sit down and play.  These two girls were pretty friendly and I enjoyed getting to play a little while momma and daddy listened to my teacher talk.

In the end I was really excited for this new class.  We have a bunny named Harvey (they we can even bring home on the weekends to care for!), a hermit crab and a hamster.  Rumor has it there is also a fish, but we didn't get to see him yet.  My teacher seems very nice and out going, and the assistant does too.  I'm looking forward to being able to learn about science and to learn how to read.  There are ten other students in my class, including a boy that was in my class last year (guess I'm not all alone after all)! Next week I get  to wear a crazy hat all week!  That's exciting!

Momma's life just got easier!

This morning I learned how to vacuum! Momma had me vacuum up all of my chalk dust, and I loved it so much I vacuumed the entire room!  It was great fun, I don't know why she complains so much. ;)

More swimming videos

I love swim class!  I live for swim class!  Today it even rained the entire time, and I had a ball!  Momma shamelessly took more video to force on all of you!

So here I am floating like a pro!  In no time flat I'll be doing this with out the help of my teacher!

And in this video I am learning how to do the back stroke.  They tell me "Chicken!" and I put my arms into chicken wings and I pull my legs up (or at least I am supposed to).  Then they tell "Airplane!" and I spread out my arms and my legs.  Then they tell me "Soldier!" and I put my arms and legs straight like an arrow.  Whew!  Its a lot to remember, but I do ok.

Alas!  I got an opportunity to do a cannon ball!  I have been so excited to get to do a cannon ball, and today was my day!  I was nervous.  But I did my best and I jumped in with full gusto.  Before you know it, I'll be emptying the water from the pool!

Pads [check], Helmet [check], Peddles [check]

I got my pads on, I got my helmet on and Daddy put the peddles on my bike.  I am ready to give this bike riding thing a try, no training wheels needed!

Ok, Momma, I'm ready!

Yeah, you know it!  I was up and peddling lickety split!  I'm practically a pro!  Today was my first attempt, and I managed to peddle for several yards (before I panic and hit the breaks, or go in the grass and hit the breaks, or just generally feeling like I should hit the breaks...a lot!) and Daddy would get me started with a little shove and off I would go!

So you know Momma just HAD to get it on video!!

I'm awesome!  It can not be denied.  I'll be riding circles around Momma in no time flat, as soon as I can figure out how to get moving from a dead stop on my own...and as soon as I can convince myself that it is not necessary to hit the breaks every few feet.

Its raining, its pouring, but my life ain't boring!

I'm really starting to dig this rain running...

Digging for seeds

At first I was grossed out by the gook, but eventually I got into this whole pumpkin carving business. I picked out the funny face I wanted to have on my pumpkin, and then after momma cut the top off, I scooped out the seeds (that momma later cooked up). I even helped momma and daddy carve my pumpkin's face!

Momma had to switch off with daddy because she was getting a cramp in her hand.

Daddy still has to carve his pumpkin, but momma and I finished ours.  We put them out on the front porch and they look really cool!

Learning to share is so hard!

Learning to share has been very hard for me. I just don't like it when kids play with my toys!! I try, I do, but inevitably I freak out and cry and throw myself on the floor! Its very frustrating to Momma, and frankly my friends don't really like it either. So, Momma and I have been working really hard on trying to get me to share with out tears. On Tuesday when my friends came over Momma bribed me with ice cream. No crying, no fits and I have to offer my toys to my friends. And you know what? I did it! I DID!! I offered my buggy to ARayRay (don' tworry, I quickly pointed it out to Momma so she'd know I was trying extra hard today!). The ice cream bribe worked like a charm. There were two occasions where I almost lost my cool, but Momma would remind me about the ice cream and I'd reel in my freak out and listened while Momma or Miss D helped me to resolve the conflict. I did such a great job and Momma was so happy. I think my friends where happy too. And at the end of the day everyone had a good time, and Momma didn't feel like having friends over was a bad idea. And so yes, I got my reward of ice cream from the local DQ. Sprinkles, with eyes in a cone...just the way I like it best!

Fun with my Neighbor E

I have a really hard time sharing. I'm trying so hard to learn how though. The other day my neighbor friend came over to play with me. Momma got down the bubbles (that's the weird little BBQ looking thing there) and we had a good time blowing lots of bubbles. I did real good and shared my toys with my friend E. She's very patient with me, and that helps. She's about a year older than me, so she understands how hard it is for me to share, and she shows me how she does it so well. I really like E. After we got bored with the bubbles E thought it would be fun to color for a little while. So, Momma brought out the big coloring book and a few crayons for us to use. E didn't seem to mind too much when I wanted to color what she was coloring, and she graciously moved to a different place. We colored in peace and Momma smiled thinking that maybe there was still hope for me afterall! ;)

We even got to enjoy a popscicle outside because it was such a gorgeous day! It really was my first real "outside" play kinda day of the year and I was coming out of my skin I was so happy! How lucky am I to have a friend so close to my age living right next door?? I had so much fun playing with her and can't wait for the next nice day so that we can do it all over again!

A Visit from Uncle D and Aunt C

My Uncle D and Aunt C came to stay the weekend with us. I'm really fond of the two of them and had such a great time. After all, they clearly came to visit me, Momma and Daddy just happened to be there too. They arrived on Friday. That night we went to a fish fry and then bowling! I even got to wear these great little bowling shoes!! See! Here's a close up of my cute tiny bowling shoes. I was cuddling with Daddy here after being worn out from a long day and lots of bowling fun! And of course I cuddle and kiss on my Uncle D too! He loves it. I love bowling, as you can see! I did such a great job picking up my special toddler ball and throwing it down the alley all by my big self! Daddy wanted to help me so bad, but I said no, I can do it all by myself! I knocked down lots of pins too! I just adore my Aunt C. She's a kindergarten teacher, so she is really good at playing with me. I have a hard time letting her go anywhere with out me. We're stuck like glue. Even in the car, like here, below, where I just insisted on holding onto her long pretty hair! I held onto her hair like this and didn't say a peep all the way home from Lunch on Saturday. It was a twenty minute drive. I was tired, and maybe I was afraid if I fell asleep she'd get away. So I made sure to hold on real tight. Good thing Aunt C is a good sport!

My First Haircut

Today I decided to try my hand at being a stylist. I'm a natural, clearly, since in one fell swoop I managed to detach this beautiful curl from the left side of my head, all by my self!! I was so proud!! Momma must have been impressed too since she looked like she was going to faint, and then started jumping up and down, screaming. Apparently I'm not supposed to sneak Momma's scissors, especially since she didn't know I knew the secret hiding spot and nothing is out of bounds for me these days. I'm THAT good. But alas, my plans have been foiled and once again my mother is stifling my creativity. I mean, what's the big deal?? You can't even see it and I left the curls in the back (which I tried pointing out repeatedly!).