What did you do on Labor Day?

Labor Day holiday has always been a work day for me. When I was a kid, I thought Labor Day was a "day of labor." Go figure!

Bryan has been planning the storage for the garage for a long time and Monday he put it all together. It took all day long and he was awesome to get it all done. We put things back but we still need to organize the tools and get a cabinet, but it's going well! We have so much room now and I love it!!

Homework?!?!

Homework?!? What is that? Yes, Ethan is in 3rd grade and has never had homework before. He has always had teachers who believed that if the kids worked hard during the day, that they shouldn't have to go home and work hard at night. I, personally, haven't minded because it meant that he was doing well and he was working hard at school. His reading level is high and so we haven't been worried about the lack of homework...until now...

He now has homework and has no idea what to do with it. His teacher will send home a packet on Monday with assignments to do each day in math and spelling. He has to do the assignment each night and turn the completed packet in on Friday. Last week was hard. He seems to consider homework to be punishment and something really hard to do. We also found out at SEPs last night that he has a very high reading score but an average math score. Which means that he doesn't like doing math because he struggles with it a bit and it isn't as easy as reading and he hasn't had to struggle with anything before.

I didn't like the fights and the drama around homework so I decided to try something. I made him a homework center. I went to the dollar store and bought a board which I cut into a shape to fit around his desk. I glued some clips on it and put it on his desk. It has clips for his spelling words, to do assignments, done assignments, calendar and note cards. I even bought him some new pencils and erasers. We put the office chair (which was sitting empty downstairs) at his desk and I put a desk light there. He was impressed. Hopefully this will help. We'll see.

Breakdown

I knew it would happen sooner or later. I went into Courtney's class to help during stations and when she saw me her eyes filled with HUGE tears. She toughed it through her first station but when her group rotated to my station she just lost it. Poor girl was so upset and didn't want me to leave. (I can completely relate because that's how I was with my mom.) I got her through my station and she toughed it through the last station, but she was having a rough time holding in the tears.

After stations it's treats/snacks and recess. She asked me if I would stay for part of recess and I told her I would. She was fine as long as I was out there, but when she ran over to me so I could give her a hug goodbye she lost it again. Luckily, our neighbor was there (she works at the school as an aide) helping in the class too. Courtney asked if Lori could hold her when I left. It only took about 30 seconds of Lori holding her before Courtney got down and started playing without a problem.

She said she was just a bit sad and that next week will be fine. I was waiting for the breakdown but, I have to say, she handled it so much better than I did when I was her age! She'll tough it through. I love the little girl!

Cake

I made this cake for my friend's 40th birthday. Her husband ordered it and said not to go too overboard but that I could do what I wanted. It turned out good. I don't like the writing (I tried to freehand it, which I normally don't do) but I think the cake was cute. They all commented on how well it tasted.



(I really need to clear the mess before taking pictures, but oh well.)

Cakes

I realized today that I haven't posted cakes lately and I have done a few of them, so I thought I would post them. I haven't done a wedding cake for a while (I had a major bridezilla that kind of scared me, but I need to get over it) and I have been busy so I haven't minded at all.

Ethan's cake for his baptism (I may have posted this before, but I can't remember):

Ethan's locker cake for the first day of school:

Courtney's birthday cake (obviously):

My mom's birthday cake (it was a chocolate cake/chocolate pudding experiment that worked well):

Is it worth it?!

After spending 2 1/2 hours peeling peaches and only getting 7 quarts of pie filling I wondered "is it worth it?" I have to say that "YES IT IS!!" because I can look at those bottles and say that I did something today. And it is something that I consider a dying art because not as many women take the time to bottle anymore, even know how to bottle, or even care if they know how to bottle. Maybe it's pride, but I appreciate the fact that my mom made me stand for HOURS in a hot kitchen putting fruit into bottles each summer so we could have fresh fruit and vegetables in the winter.

Just the fact that Courtney has memories of me complaining as I peeled a ton of peaches and heated up the kitchen is worth it for me. I have those same memories of my mom.) Plus, peaches taste so much better in December!

She's a Kindergartener!

Today was the first day of kindergarten and Courtney could not have been more excited!! She was up bright and early this morning ready to go. They use the first two weeks to learn their colors, so she had to dress in red today. She had it all picked out last night and ready to go. So this morning was easy to get dressed...no fights!! Then we did her hair and she had some breakfast and was ready to go to the bus stop at 7:00. Too bad the bus doesn't come until 8:21.



Bryan came home from work to see her go off on the bus and they played tag while we waited for the bus. Courtney had her place at the first of the line, but she doesn't like having people lined up behind her (usually) so she let everyone go ahead except for a few kids. The bus pulled up, she climbed aboard (pretty fast because Bryan didn't get a photo of her) and they took off. We ran to the backyard to wave goodbye again but I don't know if she saw us. She was off!!




I got in the van and drove to the school. I wanted to be there to show her where to put her bag and to wait with her until her teacher came the first time so she wouldn't be nervous. She wasn't nervous at all. She put her bag down where Ethan always did and ran to the playground like a pro. After a while, Luke (a boy from our neighborhood who is in her class and who we carpool with) showed up with his mom. He put his stuff by Courtney and then Courtney took charge. Now the poor kid has a school mom on top of his real mom! But his mom felt better knowing that Courtney would be taking care of him. They played for a while and then stopped to wait for Lia (another friend from our neighborhood in their class and who we will carpool with). Then the bell rang and they grabbed their bags to wait for their teacher to come out.

Getting off the bus:

With Luke:

Luke, Lia and Courtney:


When she did come out, she taught them to line up on the white line so they could all walk in together. Courtney got at the front of the line and was very happy to be with her "favorite teacher in the whole wide world, Mrs. Clayton!" (If she was older I would think that she is kissing up to her teacher, but she's young so it's just sincere admiration!) Mrs. Clayton had them all wave goodbye to their moms, which I was grateful for because I didn't even get a goodbye, and then they all walked into the school as happy as could be.

Getting in line:

The wave I got (can you tell she didn't miss me at all?!):


I felt a bit guilty because all the other moms were crying and so sad that their kids were in school. I was a bit sad, but Courtney was so excited to go that I was just so happy for her. I was more thrilled for myself because we didn't have a crying-hanging on the leg-screaming episode. She is a confident girl in the class of her favorite teacher ready to do what her brother does all day and she is happy. So I am happy for her!

At 11:10 I ran back up to the school to take some cupcakes to celebrate her birthday. I have my cake business license so it's okay for me to take homemade treats to classes so I take advantage of it. I made cupcakes in ice cream cones and Courtney helped me decorate them. I got there while they were in music class so I put them on the desks and debated whether or not I should wait and say hello. I waited but Courtney just gave me a little hug and told me "you can go now, Mom." So I left. But here are some photos from her room.





She rode with the carpool home and was ready to tell me all about it. She said she had a great time. They sang happy birthday to her and recess was her favorite thing of the day. They sang tongue twisters in music class and got to do centers where they colored a rainbow. We had a little tea party to celebrate (milk and sandwiches on nice china plates) then she went to play "swimming/water party" with Hayley. Ahh, to be 5!