preschool??

so on a related note,  i’m not entirely sure how we went from this:

last day; 2yo (why yes. that IS a diaper under there)

to this:

last day of preschool.  EVER.

here’s looking at you, kindergarten!

wow.

kindergarten??

there is a lot of excitement around these parts.  it has been hard to contain over the last several months.  but it seems like there’s a lot more talking of kindergarten than i am ready for!

jovie is so very proud and excited to be a big kid.  and come august, it will be official!

these days we are finishing up her preschool, but i constantly hear about when it will be august.  she has her end of the year program tomorrow where i will get the last of my little memory books they give us from all the fun of the year.  and water day next week for her last day.  it’s definitely a fun time!

this past monday, we got to go to her NEW SCHOOL for a Kdg assessment they all do.  she was literally skipping in the parking lot to go to it saying “i’m so excited to talk to the teacher!!!”   (who knows what actually occurred once she was left alone; but i was told all went well).

and last night we got to go back to school for an Open House.  she had cautious fun, as is typical of her.

i was a teacher for 7 years. (i love first grade!!!)  and i can tell you that already in this very limited amount of contact i’ve had with our NEW SCHOOL… it is completely more open and inviting and exciting than i would have ever imagined!  (and i loved my lil’ ol’ school.)  i don’t know— there’s such an energy and it’s infectious.  and they are doing a great job of letting outsiders feel welcomed.

jovie’s equally as excited for summer to be here for all of the fun we’ll have- including “mommy school“and she’s constantly wanting summer to be here so she can be five.  (don’t rush it, kid)  i’m surprised it’s all coming here before i know it.  i mean….  wasn’t i just planning her ladybug party??

but really- let’s not rush it.

 

spring!

it certainly looks like spring around here these days!

i actually went away for a week, and when i returned, i was amazed to see our (one, lonely) tree went from completely bare when i left to full of leaves!  it’s been nice.

when the weather is cooperative, and The Mr. is home, we try to take advantage and have some fun.

first, there was this first:

to quote eddie murphy: “ICECREAMMAN IS COMMMMINNNNGGGG”

where The Mr. splurged on this:

much to Jovie’s obvious excitement.

(The Mr. knew she’d end up sharing much of that with him!)

then we all had a lovely day at Stone Mountain again.

and this time, she did more on her own, and i was able to speed ahead of them and get some good shots of her.  i was surprised at how much of the last steep part she did by herself!

but, she did it!

and we spent a little bit of time on top; where it was so so very windy!  she enjoyed watching everything, though.  and felt that the hike wasn’t challenging enough.  so, she wanted to move some of the boulders.

(no worries-  Stone Mountain is unchanged.  she was unsuccessful).

and last night we did get to enjoy our first fire of the season:

it was so windy, though, we had to scooch way back b/c of the ashes and such.

unfortunately, unlike last spring, The Mr. has been traveling a lot, so we haven’t gotten a chance to do a ton of stuff as of yet.  though, jovie and i have a girls trip with Becky & Ansley coming up,  then The Mr. will take a day off and we’ll go camping for the first time (not in our backyard) and then venture on to Florida (Aunt Barbara would say FINALLY!)

ohhhhh, summer will be here before we know it!

easter in pictures

The Mr. got back from Poland Saturday night right before bedtime.  We were all so glad he could be home for easter.

it was a nice holiday.  we (always) enjoyed gramma & grampa.  and we’re still eating through the candy jovie got from school, the bunny, & the g’s.

hope you all had a nice one (yes, i know it was a week ago!  sorry)

easter bunny brought a dance bag

we still love flopsy!

and a happy easter to you!

wheels

because i haven’t posted in awhile, i thought i would share some pictures that showed jovie on her wheels.

we went to a semi-local skating rink a few weeks ago for their “toddler time” where the littlies bring their ride on toys & use the rink for fun.  and when that fun runs out, there’s a giant indoor climbing playground for everyone.  hooray!  all this for $4.

sounds like a fantastic deal!  if you do the math, though, jovie’s entrance fee was definitely earned by the rink.  whereas most kids probably used up all the fun they could have for $4 and make each minute there be worth 3cents, i believe for jovie it cost $2 per minute of fun for her.

exhibit A:

this was probably 30 seconds of her life, documented right here.  the one and only time she used her scooter.

so then we brought out the roller skates.  which actually had a bit more success.  which, according to the timestamp on my camera, lasted a minute and a half.

exhibit B:

and C:

she looks like a pro, yeah?  totally looks like she turned around and all.  but no.

then i have video that i couldn’t convert/upload to show you just how much fun she had.

she looked like the expert.  for 7 seconds.  then she fell.  then she was DONE.  THE. END.

immediately got out of her skates and spent the rest of the time not at the indoor playground, but at the token machine right by my table.

that skating rink totally got their money’s worth out of us!

 

 

movies

jovie doesn’t watch much TV by most kids’ standards. &  because of this (we think) and just the fact that she’s sensitive to life, she gets anxious at the most mundane things.

for instance, her first movie ever was Curious George- a very Monkey Christmas that we watched when she was 3 1/2.  there’s a scene in there that nobody would even bat their eye at- but jovie had a lot of distress because of it.  we almost (but not quite) had to turn it off.     [she has since seen that same movie 2 other times just fine]

the next movie we watched was Cinderella.  we watched it the night before thanksgiving this past year.  i was looking forward to sharing it with her because i remember seeing it in the movie theater with some of my sisters.  as i wracked/racked my brain to think of anything that would need caution…. i still couldn’t come up with anything.  she really enjoyed cinderella; even as she watched more than half of it facing the back of the couch instead of the TV.  still- we didn’t have to turn it off.          she was mostly afraid of the 2 cat n mouse scenes.  but even the prince’s father & duke stress her out a bit for their silliness.  and she didn’t like that those girls were so mean!       [we watched it on new year's day, with better results]

yesterday it flurried.  it was freezing cold.  so it was a sunday where we wouldn’t go to the park or even run around outside.  we had hot warm chocolate, a piece of turtle candy (for meemaw) and watched her longest movie yet-  Tinkerbell!  i had it on the other night when The Mr. was traveling and noticed a coupla scary scenes.  we warned her about them & she wasn’t too happy about them.  but as The Mr. & i discussed with each other… i mean….  is she going to be 8 watching Tink for the first time??

she handled it well & enjoyed the movie. but i could tell she didn’t really understand what all was going on.  the british accents, the flurry of activity, and just the concept of fairies with certain powers and stuff…. it was well beyond her TV immaturity.  luckily, though, she and i snuggled under the big blanket & watched together.  and she covered her eyes a few times.  and when the hawk came, she screamed “mommy!i’m scared!”  but i will say that it was nice being able to share a movie with her again.

lately we’ve been listening to the Sound of Music CD i just bought & i’m wondering when she’ll watch that.  when i was little, i remember just watching the first half (of the looooonnnnnnngggggg movie that it is!) so i bet we’ll do that soon.  just as soon as we re-connect our VCR to the TV.  [i'm pretty sure when i watched in college is when i found out they got married.  seems like my parents just watched the good songs!]

on Saturday, we celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday by having green eggs & ham again for breakfast.  and we read only Seuss books that day (and yesterday too).  and of course i forgot to get Green Eggs & Ham in my Netflix Q to come in time… so i searched for streaming Seuss.  The Lorax is rated PG (no thanks) and nothing else was streaming…. until i found this gem:

The Cat in the Hat Live!  it was so awesome- i highly recommend it to anyone with or without children.  they did a marvelous job.  jovie didn’t really understand the whole “play” of it.  she expected it to be more like The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot about That (from PBS).  but she really enjoyed it once she got used to the Cat without the white face.

all these words deserve a picture. but i was too busy being cuddled up on the chair under the big blanket.  her face didn’t look quite as awesome as when she watches the PBS Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.  but it was fun, nonetheless.maybe it’s worth 1/100oth of a picture?               surely.

a nice coincidence

i am so glad it worked out that jovie FINALLY got to see some snow.

it was a kind of joke around here that i bought her a great “snow coat” LAST year….  and it hasn’t snowed since.  sure. she’s seen snow when she was dressed not quite as appropriately:

evidence 1- a wool coat; nice warmth, but don’t get it wet.  suede boots; ditto.

Valentine’s Day 2011

evidence 2-  old fall coat (and lots of bundles).  those kinds of sneakers that let your feet “breathe” (read: open)look at her; she just LOOKS cold.

day after christmas 2010

evidence 3- same fall coat.  (but this was the day she learned to walk, so WOOHOO)

february 12, 2010

evidence 4- a bare leg exposed and slippers on her feet. (which you would see if you clicked it larger)

march 1, 2009

so- yes. i was glad i could bundle up my little bundle of joy as we drove into greenville for a few days to spend with gramma & grampa.  i had seen on weather.com there was a chance for snow, so i packed up the good stuff.

and she had a blast!

february 16, 2013

and we followed our small jaunt in the snow with the classic bit of this:

it was awesome!  it didn’t stick around long, but we were very glad we got to see it!  it was the perfect way to begin a trip staying with the g’s while they allowed me to visit my BFF in Charleston for some amazing gal-pal time, while my husband was gallivanting in Seoul, and i could go see Les Miserables on stage for the 10th time (1st with becky!).

all was fabulous, marvelous, stupendous!!

***************************

and here… since we’re on the subject of snow, and trees that are no longer around- i couldn’t resist this:

2/13/10