First Day of Preschool 2011

M has officially begun her final year of preschool.  It was a very big decision for us, but we decided to send her three full days (8:30-3) instead of half days for various reasons.

M was eager and excited for the school year to begin.  The countdown to school helped her to remember how many days until the big day.  I will definitely do that again!

With this being her third year of preschool, she is an old pro at school.  (Her first year of preschool was in a speech and language classroom.  She began that the day after her third birthday to get the intensive speech therapy she needed to help overcome the apraxia!)  She has always loved to learn.  With so much one-on-one therapy (with therapists and me) and being a quick learner, she has soaked up so much information.  Despite her fifth birthday arriving in a few weeks, we are quite content with her remaining in preschool instead of kindergarten.

Pencil Cookie

M started at her new preschool last Wednesday.  It wasn't a fabulous start to a school year.  I was really hoping she would love school this year.  She loves to learn, but is so determined to do her own thing, that following directions isn't always easy for her.   

To encourage her a bit, I made her a pencil cookie to celebrate the beginning of her school year.  She LOVED it!  I made sugar cookies. (Click for a delicious recipe...and I am happy to report I had a bit more self control than the last time I made them.)  After chilling the dough, I rolled out a long rectangle on parchment paper and then cut a simple pencil shape.

I am not a big fan of cake, and actually never eat icing.  Yep, that's right, I scrape off my icing and share it or throw it away.  However, icing is the one way you can decorate  a cake, so I wanted to practice a bit.  Since we'll be having cake at least two times next month, I opted for practicing on a cookie, and the pencil was a great way to practice.  (In case you are wondering, I didn't eat any of the pencil.  WAY too much icing for me to eat.  I ate the plain cookies happily though.)

I had been wanting to practice using cake decorating tips before the kids' birthdays in October.  My mother-in-law makes beautiful cakes (and gets paid for all types of occasions, including weddings), but if she can't come for both birthdays, I want to be prepared.  I was fairly pleased with how the cookie turned out, since it was my first attempt at using tips.  Ever.

When my husband ate the icing (there is still tons left over in the fridge), he asked if I used his mom's recipe.  Hurray!   That means they tasted the same!  

Please excuse the lovely parchment paper.  I didn't think about how to store a pencil cookie...and forgot that I had a cake carrier until the cookie was almost gone!

Today I'm linking up with ABC and 123!  Visit to see more cool activities!

Don't forget...today is the last day for the Runners book giveaway!

School and Kisses

Today was M's first day at the new preschool.  She enjoyed herself, even if she refused to participate in an activity (which is definitely typical).

Tomorrow she will have therapy with the new therapist.     

In other news, M kissed this SNAKE on Sunday.  

Never a dull moment, huh?

The Other Side

It's weird.  For years I struggled with sleepless nights in August because of my mind being so full with back-to-school ideas as a teacher.

Tonight I sat through the parent night at M's new school-as a parent.  It's funny how different the parent side of the classroom is.  I know I would be such a better teacher now that I've been on the parent side.

If you have been reading for any length of time, you might find it strange that I bring this up now since M went to preschool last year.  The difference is that her former classroom was provided through the school district.  There wasn't much interaction or communication.  I actually put her on the bus in the morning and didn't need to drive her to school.  The only supplies they asked for were occasional snack donations.

This year I feel like we're part of a real school.  I'm excited for what is to come.  At the moment there are only nine children in her classroom.    I love that!  Of course that may change, even before Wednesday of next week.

End of School and Coordinating Cards

My daughter just had her last day of preschool in her speech and language classroom.  This is a huge praise because it means that her speech has come so far.  She no longer needs such intensive services.  (You can read our big speech update here.) On September 1st she will begin school at a local regular school.  (Can I tell you how I fear that she will learn lots of bad things to say?)

M had a teacher, two aides, and an SLP at school.  I wanted to say thank you to each of them.  Should I tell you my plan for gifts so you can laugh at me?  My intention was to make them each a card, a wonder wallet, and a small gift card to go in each wallet.  I also wanted to make them my chocolate chip cookie pie to share.  (I chose to go with one pie to share since some people are hesitant to eat something from a child's home.  Not all, but some.)

The reality is that my husband was out of town last week, and my daughter was pretty sick (with an ear infection, strep throat, and cold).  We had two different doctor's appointments and a chest x-ray.  She missed three mornings of school, but thankfully did make it to school on her last day!  (Somehow my son stayed healthy.)

Based on my very limited time, I only made the teachers thank you cards and gave them gift cards.  So much for sewing and baking.  Speaking from my teaching career, the personal note is the most important part, anyway, and I made sure I completed that!

Recently I have figured out that card making takes a lot of time, but it's much more effective if I try to do more than one at a time or at least cut lots of things out at once.  I made four coordinating thank you cards.  The photo may not be great, but the cardstock background is cream with green and lavender details.  

Someday I am going to make cards in advance, but for now I just try to cut out extra shapes and even words from the Cricut.  I just love handmade cards, and try to make them for a lot of our card needs.

Summer Vacation

This picture represents my life and parenting well. One child, M, is happy to pose for the camera. Somehow, E, is putting on a sour face. This mom just can't seem to have everyone happy at the same time. Naps, dinner, car rides...we can't all be happy at the same time...and that's okay!


Yesterday was M's last day of preschool for several weeks. Unlike most children, her summer vacation is short! She will attend summer session at her speech and language classroom. In mid-July she will return to school for about a month. Then she will have another summer vacation before starting at her new "normal" school in the fall!

I'm taking the kids away for a week to visit our families.  (Derek will work..and paint...and  play softball and ?)  I will be posting a bit while I'm on vacation!  I know this because I have a really cool giveaway for you, so come back next week to Live, Learn, Love!  Want a preview?  Check this out!

 This will be E's first real hands-on experience at the farm (instead of just looking).  We'll be staying with Derek's grandparents and are thrilled that we can spend daily time with them while visiting the other three sets of grandparents when we are able.   I'm sure we will love every bit of it.

She Painted!

After posting the earlier post today about not being impressed with the crafts at school, I just had to share that M painted a turkey at school today. It was the first time in five weeks that she used paint! Yippee for a new medium!

School Projects

M attends a speech and language classroom. Their main objective is speech, not art. Last spring I began doing crafts with M on a regular basis, so I have not been too impressed with the crafts that she has brought home from school, though I remind myself that what we did was one on one. Most are crafts are pictures colored with crayons, cut by an adult (which is fine), and glued. However, this past week M brought home two cute projects, and I thought I'd share. I think this scarecrow is adorable! It's covered in short bits of yarn. The yarn adds lots of color and texture. I thought it was pretty clever.

This little project is a new twist (for me). It could be used for any song that is a "Five Little...(turkeys, monkeys, apples, frogs) song. Instead of making finger puppets for real fingers, the little turkeys were placed on a paper hand that has a "bracelet" to help a child keep it on his or her hand. During the song, M easily bent each paper finger down and was able to hold it down until the end of the song. M's teacher does send home songs and poems to read with the children at home that are often related to the craft.

Speech and School Update

M started school five weeks ago. She goes four days a week and loves it! She doesn't talk a lot about it, but she will answer questions. She can always tell me what she had for snack! Her favorite activity seems to be the jungle gym. She seems to like her teachers and speech therapist (and calls them by name). Though it is a speech and language classroom, I can't say that I have seen huge improvements in her speech. By this I mean that her articulation has not noticeably improved and she doesn't seem to be stringing longer sentences together. However, her vocabulary has been expanding. She also seems to talk throughout the day more. M has improved her alphabet, and she counts better, too. She counts past ten now (correctly, for the most part). Other than when we were counting steps, I never counted past ten with her. Oops. She also likes to try to remember the letters in her name, too. M rides the bus daily. This past Thursday I picked her up from school since I was in the area, as I am every Thursday. She wanted to ride the bus! She cried for about ten minutes, but at least she didn't throw a tantrum. Her bus ride is long, about 45-50 minutes. The classroom is about 25 minutes from our home, so it's not a surprise. Personally, I look forward to spending some time in the classroom. I want to see how it operates and how speech is incorporated into everything. When we visited before, we were quite the interruption, and I was not impressed with the speech incorporation. However, as a former teacher, I fully understand that what happens on a regular basis may not happen when a visitor comes. We will be changing the goals on her IEP to better meet M's needs. Basically, she can already meet the goals, so she isn't being pushed to do more. The SLP has to work on the goals, not go past them. The SLP and I have already spoken about changing goals. I am hoping to get paperwork this week. In case you are new to the blog, M has a speech disorder called apraxia. It is not outgrown, but is overcome. M is doing a fabulous job of overcoming it! She is still hard to understand, but she is doing wonderfully. If you are interested, you can read about M's situation.

The First Day

For those of you keeping up with us, today was M's first day of school in her speech and language classroom. When she woke up, she was concerned that the sun was not up yet. It was a bit early (especially with a little boy who was up most of the night).

M had a great day from the teacher and bus driver's reports! M also told me that it was fun. I am so glad she liked it and had fun. She did fall asleep on the way home, but it was almost nap time.

Thanks for your prayers! I just hope every day goes so well!

I will also warn you that my posts might not come too frequently now that my main subject is in a school of her own. (Pun intended. hehe.)

The Final Countdown

My Oops: On Thursdays after M begins preschool, I will pick her up after Bible study (instead of the bus/van that will usually transport her). I wanted to see how long it would take for me to get from my Bible study to the school, so on Thursday, on the way home from Bible study I drove to the school. M has been asking to go to school, so I did not intend to disappoint her by showing her the school again without getting to go to it. I was shocked when M announced, "School!" Oops, I guess the building is a bit distinct. Thankfully she accepted that we were only saying "hi" and "bye" to the school and not playing. (If you want to read more about our classroom experience, go here.) The IEP: Thursday we also had our Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meeting. It was pretty straightforward. It included the results from M's evaluation report (which we had already received), goals/objectives, how the goals would be measured, and recommendations for services. They had recommended the speech and language classroom four mornings per week (as we expected). In addition, she will get speech therapy there. They had recommended one 30 minute group session and one individual session per week. We requested a third session (group), and Friday we learned that will happen. That makes me happy! M and her teacher will also have on occupational therapy consultation monthly, but no real therapy for M. The Question: We still don't know how M will get to school. The local school district provides transportation, and we are accepting it. However, I would like to prepare M. She thinks she is riding a bus, and will be horribly disappointed if it's just a van. I also think it will be easy for her to hop on a bus and say goodbye, knowing that she is going to school. A van (though she has never ridden in one) would not feel "special" to her. I was told that we should know by Wednesday. Ugh. That will be a long wait. Days Until M's Birthday: 8 Days Until Preschool: 9 Days Until E's Birthday: 15 So right before M's first day of preschool we'll have overnight company and a family birthday part. Then before her second week of preschool we'll have different overnight company and another family birthday party! WOW! I know some would think my life is rather dull, but we always seem to have something happening! We'd appreciate your prayers during this time. Nine (not including today)