The New Normal...School Five Days a Week!

As I mentioned last week on the blog, Claire and Chloe started Kindergarten this past week. Oh how excited they were! The excitement and thrill of it lasted the whole week and they both claim they LOVE their class. The days were shorter for the first week and so this week the full days will begin and another round of adjustment will need to take place. I was able to go with them on the first day so that Paula could show me the "ropes" since I will be taking them to school on Mondays. It was very exciting for me too, except that my heart was just a little heavy seeing them grow up so fast. We did see them at the end of school on Friday when Papa and I went to pick up Chris for an outing and an overnight with us. (More about that shortly). The girls were both a little bleary eyed and Paula reported that Claire had actually used the "T" word (tired) which I'm not sure I have ever heard either of the girls admit.

Chloe is ready and waiting....wouldn't even put her backpack down!

 

Claire is ready too.....





 

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Their uniforms were so cute and they were so proud of them!

 

 

Starting to get familiar with their classroom.....

 

 

 

 

Finding the proper place for their bed rolls for rest time....

 



 

Meeting the Principal..... Chloe was introducing her friend Mia to the Principal.... :)

 

 

Claire making sure her name tag is still there.....

 

 

Would love to be able to read Chloe's mind....

 

 

 

First group session on the carpet with lots of new rules and suggestions for a successful time in the large group...hands in lap, ears listening, etc. etc. The teacher was so soft spoken and gentle I really was immediately impressed!

 



 

 

Papa and I took Chris to the park for a short stay before we went with Paula to pick up the girls and go out for a celebratory lunch. Chris enjoyed the outings as well.

 

 

 

 

On Friday afternoon Papa and I picked up Chris to come to our house for our town's olive celebration parade and bed races and then to stay overnight. He really had fun watching all the goings on and spending time with our friends Mr. Wayne and Miss Connie. He waved to many of those passing by in the parade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a quickie dinner out after. I haven't been to a Burger King in years and I hope to never go again for years to come. Chris, however, enjoyed it very much.

 

 

We did a little Lego building before heading to meet Mike and the girls.

 

 

 

One of the reasons we had brought Chris home with us was because the girls had a special event planned for Saturday morning. They attended a Fairy Garden Workshop at a Magnolia Gift & Garden with their Daddy. Below they are playing in the school bus displayed at the garden. The nursery is so cleverly laid out and this is one of the unique displays. Claire and Chloe exclaimed it would be the perfect club house for them!

 

 

 

They were very proud of their fairy gardens and rightly so. They both did a beautiful job on their projects and I'm sure learned quite a bit while working on them.

 



 

 

 

 

All in all, it was a jam packed week hopefully making those ever so important memories that will stay with Chris, Claire, and Chloe for a long time. We are always so grateful to have just a small part in seeing the activities that our precious grandchildren are involved in.

 

Here is to another week....let's hope I can get Claire and Chloe to school on time tomorrow!!

 



Keeping Active in August!!

Upon my arrival a couple of Mondays ago, I entered to the scene below. Apparently the girls had a "sleepover" in the big family room that their family has named "Kids Park". It is a great room for play, has only a couch in it, and the rest of the room is dedicated to a play area. Claire always tells us that her favorite sleeping companion, Floppy, sleeps all day and parties all night. It appears that the girls did some partying with Floppy that night.

The kids were all up fairly early  and so we got ready and headed to a location they never tire of, one of their local parks. I actually got them to pose for about a minute and this was the best of the several shots I took.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chloe will climb at any opportunity!

 

 

 

We had such a great time and they were all so cooperative when it came time to leave, that we decided a celebration was in order. We went to one of the local yogurt shops, ordered a half of sandwich each, and when each of them consumed their real lunch, they got to order frozen yogurt. The shop has a cute little play area that they enjoyed for a few minutes while waiting for their turkey sandwiches.

 

 

 

 

 

This week an outing to see Uncle Superman (Jon) at his fire station was on the agenda. Fortunately, he was home for a few days between fire assignments and he was anxious to see his nieces and nephew as well. The location is beautiful and he was as happy to see the three C's as they were to see him. They all ran full speed when they saw him come out of a building.

 

 

 

 

He gave them a great tour of the truck, inside and out. He opened most of the compartments on the outside and explained what each thing was used for. Even Papa and I learned some new stuff!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Papa and I had a unexpected surprise mid-week when Paula asked if the three C's could spend the night on Thursday. Mike and Paula were scheduled for their first parent/teacher conference with Claire and Chloe's new Kindergarten teacher and then following that they would do a little belated anniversary celebrating.  Whoopee, we were happy and excited to have them visit! An additional surprise was planned by Mike and Paula when they picked the children up on Friday morning and told them they were headed to Six Flags for an exciting family outing.  Below you can see breakfast time with Papa. I fixed them a hearty breakfast and told them they had to eat well because they had a big day ahead. The girls tried their best to get the info out of us but we kept them guessing and they were totally surprised when Mike told them what was happening.

 

 

 

 

 

Later in the day Paula and Mike sent some pictures for us to see. It looked like they were having a great time! Chris sure looks like he is enjoying himself at the hotel with a bag of potato chips....

 

 

 

 

 

An action packed couple of weeks has flown by. School starts on Monday so the pace of things will slow down immensely. We cannot believe that our precious granddaughters are going to Kindergarten, the five and one-half years has passed so quickly. Chris and I will have lots of Monday time together now with Papa coming as often as he can. I look forward to that but will miss the chatter and fun the twins bring to the day.