Discovered Picnik

I always assumed that Picnik wouldn't work on my Mac, since Picasa didn't. I was WRONG! Yay!

Yesterday when we picked Jenalyn up from school she asked if we could go to the hay maze at the farm (Corbin and I went with some friends last week and she was bummed that she missed out). So I shrugged and said why the heck not? So we went. The kids had fun. And I got some awesome pictures to play around Picnik with.

Now I'm sharing them with you!

Preschool = FOUND!

(This sweet face melts my heart.)

So here's the story: Last year Corbin went to the same preschool Jenalyn went to for two years. We loved the teachers and were very happy with the program. However, towards the end of the school year I was approached by one of the teachers and she told me she didn't think they could handle Corbin in their Pre-K class because it tends to be a bigger class, and Corbin requires a lot of supervision (he's a flight-risk when they're out on the playground).

**sigh**

I went home and cried. Is he really so much different than other boys his age?

So I called different preschools throughout the summer and found that they were all too expensive for our budget. I started getting really discouraged and almost decided to start up a co-op type preschool with other mommies in our ward...even though the thought of doing that with a newborn in my not-too-distant-future scared the whits out of me!

Then school started for Jenalyn and Corbin started asking more and more when HE gets to go to school. He was bored staying home with just mommy all day. Especially an achy, no-energy, 8-month pregnant mama!

So I talked to a friend from church and she reminded me of a preschool I hadn't looked into yet. The Teens and Tots program at a local Middle School.

Bonuses:

• They pair each kid up with a middle-schooler --> Corbin gets one-on-one time with a "teacher."
• They have a fenced-in playground --> no more flight-risk
• It costs significantly less than we were anticipating.
• It's 3-days a week for almost 2.5 hours each day --> that's going to be a nice break for me after the baby is born!
  

Class started today. And I called my mommy and cried after I dropped him off. Can you believe that? (1) He's not my first kid to go to school; and (2) This isn't even his first year of preschool - I don't think I cried last year when I dropped him off on his first day.

But he said something that tore at my heart. Not once, not twice, but three times while we were getting ready this morning he asked me, "Do you really think they'll like me, mommy?"

**sobs**

Corbin has a really good sense for knowing if an adult likes him, is annoyed with him, or barely tolerates him. I know he knew that one of the teachers at his last preschool had a particularly hard time with him. And I can always tell when he has a difficult time with teachers (mostly substitutes) in primary. So I believe he was truly, genuinely concerned with whether or not this new preschool would like him. (Oh no! The tears are starting again.)

He's such a sweet boy. I didn't want to leave him there. I wish I could have sat in the corner and just watched. He blew me the biggest, sweetest kisses as I walked out the door. I miss him already! I hope and pray that this will be a good experience for him.

First of First

(She looks so tired in these pictures! Also, she refused any type of barrette or headband in her hair for the first day. *sigh*)

Yesterday was Jenalyn's first day of first grade. When asked what she was most excited about she replied, "I get to eat lunch at the school - and I get to have three recesses!" Also somebody had told her that the first graders get to go to JAPAN. I don't know where that came from, but she was pretty disappointed when I told her that it's the FIFTH graders who go to Japan.

Well, we made it "back to school" but I still have so many anxieties! The English teacher in the school is known for being very stern. And I've also heard that the first graders get slammed with homework. I am not looking forward to that! I don't know how Jenalyn will handle it. I might have to sign her up for the after-school homework club. It's like pulling teeth to get that girl to do homework.

In other news, I still have not found another preschool for Corbin. I'm getting really discouraged, and he's going to start getting so bored, sitting around waiting for sissy to get home!

I'm still relatively new at this stay-at-home-mom gig - what do I do with my 4-year old all day?

A Pineapple

According to my weekly pregnancy email:

33 weeks: Baby weighs as much as a pineapple

Your baby is proportioned like a pineapple when it comes to weight -- a little over 4 pounds. (Length: more than 17 inches, head to heel.)

Four pounds? Really? That's all? You'd think I was sharing my body with a 20-pounder for how uncomfortable I've been. It's sad, really. I walk like a crippled old lady. You would think that carrying around a pineapple would be a piece of cake! No problem, right? So why do my hips and lower back hurt so bad? And we still have 7 weeks to grow...? Oy!

In other news, I made a cute little chore chart for the school year. I'm hoping it will make school mornings go smoother. I added items like making sure your backpack is ready and by the front door, shoes are under the bench where we can easily find them and outfits picked out the night before. I guess it's more of a daily check-list than a chore chart. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I got the idea here.

I added clipart because we're not all reading yet ;) (got the clipart here.) I got the frame at Wal-Mart for just $4 and I had all other supplies on hand. It was such a simple project. I bought some fun dry-erase markers so the kids can cross the items off their list as they complete the task. Then we can erase them the next day and start over again! Yeah!

When I told Jenalyn what I was making she said, "Are you going to turn us into your slaves?" Bwahahaha...yes, that's exactly what I'm doing!