Day 2

Breakfast this morning consisted of eggs and toast.

Marcella: Well, if I am going to have a real breakfast, I better get out the pepper.

I think she may have Grandpa Hanson's pepper gene. That girl will not only put pepper on anything, but she will put a lot of pepper on anything.

Claire made it home and was happy. Which is a great sign right?! I wanted to share part of an email I received from her teacher. It made Jon and I chuckle a little. Sometimes I don't think people really understand that when I tell them she is a runner, she really is a runner. :)

From Claire's kindergarten teacher:

I know that it seemed confusing this morning…It always does on the first morning of kindergarten!  Claire calmed down as the morning progressed and was actually very content and happy later in the day.  It helps to have Mrs. Peoples with her.  She did run off down the hall several times and Mrs. Peoples went after her; but later in the day, when Mrs. Peoples was eating her lunch, Claire did beautifully in the classroom without her assistance. 


Today I met Mrs. People's at the front of the school and there was a little protesting, but no tears or screaming... definite progress.

Cella Bella

I know 3 posts in one day, but I had to when I found this picture. This is Marcella on the first day of 2nd grade. I would say she has grown up just a little this year. It is crazy to think she still had all her baby teeth. 

First Day of School

Marcella Anne is going into the 3rd grade. Her favorite colors are blue and green, although they change all the time. She has started to hate cheese, relearned to like eggs, and loves Spaghetti. She is an avid reader and is so excited to have homework. She enjoys playing the piano and is working hard trying to make the cut for the pre-team gymnastics class. She is a gamer. Currently you will find her playing, researching or emailing her dad and uncles all the new things she has found out about their game Terraria. She is thoughtful, kind and a wonderful big sister. I am going to miss her terribly while she is at school.

If you ask Claire what her name is she will tell you it is Claire Bear Wallin. This little ray of sunshine loves the color yellow. She will eat just about anything except candy. With the exception of a cookies and cream Hershey candy bar. She loves to draw, pretend, color, play at the park, pretend, play with babies, pretend, sing, do somersaults, pretend, read, did I mention pretend? She is always in her own little world playing with someone. She can entertain herself for hours. She loves to play with Marcella and do everything she does.  She is very empathetic, yet hates hugs and kisses. She only hands those out when you are sad or hurt. I will miss her sweet voice and laughter. Good luck in Kindergarten little one.

Kindergarten

When I thought about how Claire’s first day of kindergarten would go, I didn’t expect the things that happened. Reflecting on it on the way home I was able to realize how much of a trial and error process this really is.  I should have known these things would have happened. Yet when I thought about how it would go, everything we had planned just made logical sense. That should have been my first clue. Logic and Claire have never gone hand in hand.

Little Claire was soooo excited to go to school today. She couldn’t wait to go. Finally it was time. We walked up to the school, waited for the bell and then let Marcella walk her to her classroom, as it was on the way to her own classroom.  Jon and I waited outside, trying to decide if we should go in and meet her para (a gal that will be working with her every day. Helping her to stay focused and where she needs to be).   My first mistake was thinking that since we discussed her need of a para back in May, that they would have already had one hired and we would be able to actually meet her if not before back to school night, at least at back to school night. In reality, getting teachers hired apparently takes longer than I anticipated and not only was her para not available to meet at back to school night, at least she was going to be there for the first day of school.  At back to school night I also found out the special Ed teacher was just hired last Thursday and she wasn’t even sure who the other teacher was that is going to be in the classroom with her, as she was still in the process of getting hired.  

Back to waiting outside the school.

We decided to go in and meet Claire’s para. As we were walking towards Claire’s classroom, I see my 2^nd mistake. Oh, boy I thought why didn’t  I see this coming. I watch Marcella walk out of Claire’s classroom and start down the hall for her room.  3 seconds later Claire comes running out of the classroom catching up to Marcella with her teacher right behind. We approach as they have been trying to coax her to stand up and come back to the classroom. We wave Marcella goodbye and help Claire into her room.  3^rd mistake: We should have waited outside the school for her para to meet her.  Instead we wait in the classroom for her to arrive. We meet and introduce her to Claire. Then it is time for us to leave. Claire has a major freak out. Flaling her arms around like a mad girl so you can’t get a hold of her as she tries to run away. Meanwhile huge tears and screams are starting to be heard. We hand her over to her para say goodbye and walk away hearing her cries and screams get softer because we are leaving the building.

Mistake 4: thinking that since she has been going to school for 3 years, this will be a piece of cake. She knows how to go into a classroom and for the most part follow directions. The plan we had of Marcella taking her down and dropping her off and then picking her up again for the bus ride home seemed like the perfect idea. She would get to be with her sister, whom she adores.  However I never took into consideration the obvious things that now I am hitting my head over.  1. for 3 years I have never once taken her to school. The bus came, she got on and went to school.  2. It is a new school. It is way more hectic and crazy in the morning with hundreds of kids. 3. She spent the last year of preschool not seeing any kids but the kids in her preschool class.  They had to be moved to a house because of the tornado that destroyed their school last year so she not only is not used to being with so many kids, she isn’t used to navigating herself around them to find her classroom.  4. Didn’t even think about how now you are in kindergarten you get to spend most of your time sitting at your desk. Not playing and then sitting and then playing again etc. You are expected to come in and sit at your desk and wait for school to start.  5. I somehow ALWAYS seem to forget that this little girl hates chaos. She hates it being too loud and if things are a little too hectic she shuts down.  This morning was anything but calm.

On my way to school I felt that we had prepared pretty well for this day. On my walk home I felt like I had failed in every aspect.  She has been at school for 50 minutes and I am wondering if I should call and see if she is still crying.  Such a drastic intro in to kindergarten. My hope is that the remaining 5 hours are a bit better.  The sad thing is knowing that she can’t communicate well enough to tell me all about her day, so I may never know.  Good luck my sweet Claire. I love you.  

Summer

Summer is slowing fading away and soon we will be starting on new adventures. Marcella in third grade, which was my all time favorite year in elementary school and Claire in Kindergarten. Yep Kindergarten. She will be their ALL day long. It tugs at my heart. I know I was sad when Marcella went, but this seems so different.

Since school hasn't started yet, I am doing my best to enjoy all of the time we get to spend together. I have been trying to say yes today. Have you ever tried that?  I came across a quote by Sister Hinckley many years ago and one of my favorite lines is "I tried hard never to say "no" if I could possibly say "yes"."  I have found I am a happier mom when I say yes more and today I am reaping the rewards of that small little word.  Blueberry muffins for breakfast, (side note: they looked picture perfect, they tasted....well let's say we were all disappointed and had a really good laugh) Painted fingernails, and chocolate chip cookies (Marcella's secret recipe). I can't wait to see what the rest of the day holds. 

Ciao,
Kanien

“My mother taught me some basic philosophies of rearing children. One is that you have to trust them. I tried hard never to say "no" if I could possibly say "yes". I think that worked well because it gave my children the feeling that I trusted them and they were responsible to do the best they could.” 

                                                                                                                       ~ Marjorie Pay Hinckley 

Raleigh North Carolina

We knew we wanted to head down and visit our friends Jeff and Sheri in North Carolina and we heard that Outer Banks was amazing so we put the two together and one the best vacations ever! The only hold up was the girls had to miss the last week of school so we could get an awesome deal on this beach house. So on May 17th we started our long car ride. Both of the girls have always been amazing car riders and this trip was no exception...except the minor hiccup that we kept noticing Claire was acting differently than normal. She was being a little more needy and a little annoying, so after a bit we realized she had a fever of 102. at this point we were more than half way there and we decided to just keep going. We stopped and grabbed a few things I knew would help her feel better, then we were off again. She was such a trooper. She slept most of the way and really you could only tell she was sick when the medicine started wearing off. By the time we got there she was doing much better. The next day her fever was gone and we were relieved. Jeff and Sheri took us to the best spots in town and we had a lot of fun playing and eating amazing food. (I will apologize once again, I didn't take very many pictures. Sorry, I will try harder next trip. )

side note: little Claire's eyes have been wandering and turning out a little. so she has had to wear a patch every day for an hour.

Cella wanted to climb to the top, but then got a little nervous. I told her I would show her it was ok and that she shouldn't be scared...I don't think I made it any higher than her in this picture. :) It was a little more nerve racking than I thought.

Claire had a lot of fun with the idea of being in the boat, but then last sec changed her mind. hence why Cella has a different riding mate.

Cella kept trying though and succeeded in making it to the top!

Claire was great all day. Then Sunday morning before church she would wake up and then fall back asleep. She just couldn't stay awake. Then she threw up. Wasn't a ton, but her and I stayed home from church while the rest of the gang went. Poor thing she pretty much slept until it was time to get in the car and head to the beach. (I just kept hoping she would get better, but she ended up getting croupe again and although we had some pretty rough nights, poor thing, she was well enough to enjoy most of the things we did during the day with lots of random naps in between.)

Outer Banks,NC

Everyday I was in North Carolina, I found myself loving it more and more. It was so beautiful and green. I also am finding that I really LOVE the beach. It is my ideal spot to be with the kids and Jon. We have so much fun. Sunday afternoon we left Raleigh and headed to Outer Banks. This is the house that we stayed it. It was Beautiful and our host Anne, was so nice. I will let the pictures take over.

This was looking west.

Beach Day 1

 After breakfast we headed to the beach. We took off west to check out that side. They have a dock and you can sit and watch alot of kite boarders. It looked pretty fun. Then we loaded up our stuff and headed east to the other side and enjoyed the beach. It was such a beautiful place. The water was a little cold. It definately took your breath away, but that didn't stop us too much. Claire on the other hand would not even get close to the water, but enjoyed the sand. She had a lot of fun playing and digging. around lunch we went back and enjoyed playing in the pool. 

Beach Day 2

We are LOVING it here. Besides the fact that Claire has croupe again. (Seriously shouldn't she stop getting this by now? It is awful!) She has been doing pretty well during the day, but at night, oh boy. Today Claire and I played at the beach for a while, but went back sooner than everyone else so she could get some rest. I was loving the same type of plan we had yesterday, Wake up have breakfast head out to the beach. Come back for a late lunch and then play in the pool. Only today Jon and Marcella had caught a crab. They were call him Krabby Mcpatty and Having lots of fun feeding it different things to see what it would eat. Don't worry we ended up letting him go at the end of the day. Jon and Cella went back down to the beach later that evening to see if they could catch more crabs. The weather has just been gorgeous and when you are with good friends and yummy food, I just don't think it could get better than this.

Beach Day 3

 We decided to drive down to the end of the island. You have to take a ferry over to an island called Ocracoke. It was pretty fun, but a lot of driving and then an hour ferry ride. However the water was a little bit warmer and we had a grand ol' time. I think Claire was still getting over being sick, so she fell asleep under the umbrella. After she ran around collecting shells and not getting hit by the water, So she had a great time, poor thing.  Marcella and Jon started playing a game out in the ocean and they got me to head out and play. It was super fun. Marcella wrote about it, I will try to post it when I can. We ended up eating at a restaurant  that had super yummy onion rings. and then we headed back to the main Island.

The Ogdens!

On Thursday it rained! I was so sad. Of course this was the day I was going to take family pictures on the beach and we were just going to stay until we couldn't take it any more then get in the car and drive away, but it rained. It wasn't just a little sprinkle either, or else we may have stayed. We packed up our cars and took some pictures with the house sign. As Jon and I were driving off the island. We both couldn't stop talking about how that was such a fun vacation. We LOVED it and hope to do it again.

We drove to David and Michelle's house to stay with them for a couple days. We had such a great time. We loved staying up late talking and getting to know each other a little better. We can't wait to come and visit again!