Trophy Time

Tonight was Morgan's end of season party for her soccer team.  The kids had pizza, cake, and a lot of running around followed by the most important moment - the handing out of the trophies!!! Morgan could barely wait and was the first to receive her trophy (it works out to be the only girl in times like those - ha ha). She was so happy and proud of her trophy and now wants to play soccer for-ev-er so that she can get lots of trophies. :-)

And so it goes...

Today was Morgan's first official field trip at school. She was beyond excited and subsequently got dressed and ready with no issues. Her steel trap remains fully functional. When we got out of the car and were about to walk into school she stopped - "mama, you forgot to give me my pennies".  I had told her last week that I would give her pennies because they have a hands on room at the planetarium with a display that is a black hole simulation. You can put pennies in and they spin around, eventually being sucked down into the hole. 

She remembers EVERYTHING. We went to the grocery store on Saturday and while driving there I had told her my list. We get in the store and of course, I can only remember 4-5 of the 6-7 things so I asked her... She ran through the list like it was nothing - remember mama "muffin mix, milk, etc... etc.." I consider this a fine way of earning her keep - can I add "be mamas personal memory assistant" to a chore list?

Getting back to the original purpose of this post (the above diversion may be an example of why my remembering skills are kind of lacking - my brain... it wanders), she walked straight into the new classroom and greeted her friends, who were also very excited to be in their new class. She didn't have a cubby yet, so one of her friends offered to share her cubby. 

It was definitely a bittersweet departure, on one hand I was happy that she was so happy and excited. On the other it was hard to have THAT moment. The moment where she gives the quick hug, kiss, snuzzle versus the 3-step process hug repeated at least 3 times. The moment where you walk out knowing she is headed out into the big wide world by herself (well, with a group and supervision - but still)... And, THAT moment where you realize she's actually in the big kid class. It seems like just yesterday she was in the baby room.... 

She gave me a full report after school and seems to really have enjoyed her day. She said she fell asleep in the van on the way back to school and I could tell she was tired.  It appears this will also be a good transition from naps, she has taken one every day to this point (at least at school - never at home of course) and I think it will be good to have worked through over-tired afternoons prior to starting her kindergarten year.

Gallery Post - Outside and Outerspace

WHOA - Dream Big!

The Summer at Sea sweepstakes wrapped up on Sunday.. but to my delight, I found two more. I am so motivated around this -  The two new ones:

Tiaras and Teacups 

This one gives the winner three days at Disneyland and the opportunity to dress up like a princess, have breakfast with them, etc... 

and 

Lion King

Gives a trip to Vegas or NY to see the show and go backstage. 

I know the chances are slim, but someone has to win right? and, it takes like two seconds out of my days so why not... 

*ps - I have always seen links on other blogs and never explored the process myself, it's super easy and so, you will start to see those a bit more (Lion King and Tiara is linked above) - click if you like, or not.. :-) * 

Saving the Best for Last

Morgan had her last soccer game of the spring season today. It has been a crazy week weather wise with thunder storms and rain every day. Luckily her soccer field is in an area of town that seems to get the lighter weather so we only had to compete with a minor drizzle (and I think the kids kind of enjoyed it). 

I have discovered that I am highly under prepared for kids sports viewing. Every week I show up with a simple blanket that serves as our sitting place while the rest of the parent force totes chairs and such. Today that included chairs with attached umbrellas while I had my hat serve as a rain shield - luckily grandma and grandpa showed up with umbrellas, and I will admit to having now purchased one to keep in my car - again props to the dollar store! I have wondered for some time though - is it that terrible to sit on the ground???

This season has been an interesting one. She is the youngest on the team and also the only girl and she definitely missed having the camaraderie of another girl. At the first game you could tell she was overwhelmed by all of the kids coming at her and spent many games looking forward to and asking for frequent breaks. Her coach was very supportive of her and paid attention to what motivated Morgan and or when she was in the mode to play. Every week was a guessing game - will she or won't she, play that is? Something happened today, not sure if it was the weather, the realization of this game being the finale, the promise of the season trophy, whatever it was she decided today was the day she would play.

She told me before the game that she wanted to play the whole game and take no breaks. Sure enough when kick off started she was one of the four on the field and she kept focus on the ball and kept up with the group chasing after the ball. She did have to take a couple of breaks - other kids needed play time too - but she spent a good 3/4s in the game and even scored a goal. Now, the goal did benefit the other team - but she kicked the ball into the net and I have to celebrate that.

Overall I think it was what is to expected of a first season and of a 4 1/2 year-olds introduction into team sports. I am proud of the progress she made and look forward to next season.

Flower Power Friday...

Today Morgan's school kicked off summer with a Luau / Ice Cream party. In preparation we stopped by the dollar store after school on Tuesday and managed to find a lei, some flower hair clips, and a grass skirt - for $3.22 you can't beat it! I love the dollar store for occasions such as these.  We contributed chocolate sauce and cones for the ice cream party  - I went with organic on this one - I had never really read the labels of ice cream syrups - since I don't really like them I never buy them - but wow... I didn't have it in me to save the $2 and bring the non-organic ones. 

She definitely loves theme days - and doesn't care one bit if others do not get as dressed up as she does. (there is usually a 25% participation rate, with the exception of Halloween of course). I have to admit I too love  theme days, either because they bring a certain level of convenience (i.e. pajama day) or just because it is fun to think creatively. 

This day also marks her last day in her current classroom. She has been spending a few hours each day throughout the week in her new class and loves it so far. I am glad to see we made the right decision to let her move up (with all those BIG kids) a little early. 

oh and ps - I FOUND my battery charger for my camera this morning!!! SO HAPPY....   

Life as a Little Sister

Morgan is the quintessential little sister - always interested in what her brother is doing, always ready to invade personal space, obnoxious at times, but in the end completely in adoration of her big brother. This weekend we (myself and family) had both Brandon and Morgan. When I went to pick Morgan up from school on Friday I let her know that Brandon was at grandma and grandpas house and she was super excited. Once we arrived at the house she ran in the door past everyone else straight upstairs to Brandon.

Throughout the weekend she spent time with him and it was funny to watch her. He played video games, so she wanted to too - although she also wanted to negotiate playing a smaller kid game that she likes and he does not. I don't let her play games very often if at all - but in this case a little bit won't hurt (or at least I hope not).  At dinner she asked which food items he was having and that's what she wanted to have too. Even when we chose snacks for the movies (went to go see Up) she made sure to have the same as him - although she did deviate on flavor of her icee - but still he had an icee so she had one too. 

When she rode her bike she wanted him to try it too (he refused, I think it could have had something to do with the flowers and tinkerbell design), so she moved on to wanting to race him and then also try the skateboard because that is what he was riding. Not only did she want to do the same things, but she also wanted him to see what she was doing. They got to play games at the movie arcade and she was playing a snowmobile racing game - she kept calling to him, Bran-don look at what I'm playing.  The way she says his name makes me laugh. She says it in just that way with the slightest pause between the Bran and the don. But it has a very sweet sound to it. 

All in all they did well together. They have their moments, siblings always do, but overall they were pretty kind to one another, Brandon even shared half his gumball with her that he bought with his own quarter. I know it can be hard to be the older sibling (oh do I know - ha ha), especially with their age difference but I am proud of the brother he has become and smile to think of how happy she is to have her Bran-don.