Flashback Friday

Flashback Friday - Cabelas Bear Edition

2005

2006

2007

2010

No Preschool? No Problem.

Rachael came into my room this morning and the first thing she said was, "School is going to be canceled today, Mommy."

"How do you know?"

"Because it's snowing."

She was right, we had a couple of inches of snow, and school was indeed canceled for the day.  (Nevermind that the snow melted off the roads by 11 am.  This is Kentucky.  We shut down for any amount of snow.)  Rachael was a little sad about preschool being canceled, but cheered up considerably after breakfast when we found a workbook she could complete.  This led to an entire morning of "preschool" at home.  

At-home pretend preschool is brought to you today by Mommy, the letter Q and a special appearance by Winnie-the-Pooh.

Also I would like to note here that I encouraged her to get dressed first but she declared that if we were having preschool at home she could just as easily do it in her pajamas.  I didn't have a response prepared for that argument, so pajamas it was.

First class: Homeroom.  We practiced writing the letter Q.  (I printed a worksheet from the internet.)

Next class: Kitchen Class.  We made Q toast.

Next class: Kindergarten Skills.  Enter the workbook, which was all about numbers and had a cutting activity at the end.

Next: Gym Class.  We did some Quick sprints.  (Actually, we ended up running in place, because she didn't want to run around through the "preschool," aka the house.)

Then: Music class.  We learned the song, "Quickly I'll Obey."  Rachael was annoyed that I didn't know any preschool songs.  I thought an entire book of Primary songs was great, but I guess not.

Followed by: Art class.  We made scrap Quilts

 

Next: Bible class.  We read the story in the New Testament about Jesus calming - or Quieting - the sea.  (No picture, as I was busy reading bible stories.)

Usually at this point in the day the kids have lunch, but as we plowed through the rest of the classes in less than an hour, it was only about 10:00.  So we saved lunch for later.

Last class: Homeroom, where they play games.  The game of choice today was "Ms. Rhonda Says."  Not "Mommy Says" or "Simon Says," in case you thought we could substitute one of those versions.  At preschool it's always "Ms. Rhonda Says."

Rachael declared it was the best preschool at home ever.  I have new respect for the preschool teachers, and I'm hoping we don't have any snow days next week.

Now that she's 5...

The 5's of being Rachael

5 things she likes to eat:
cheese
chicken
chicken & cheese
pizza
macaroni & cheese (with pepperoni)

5 favorite playthings:

dolls

Ponies

games

dollhouse

mommy

5 friends:

Alex

Clark

Camilla

Aiden

Blake

5 places she has been:

Walt Disney World

Niagara Falls

Myrtle Beach

Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Florida Keys

5 books she likes:

Fancy Nancy

Tacky the Penguin

Trout Trout Trout

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Frog & Toad

5 things she can do:

write her name

put her head in the water (in the bathtub)

dress herself

make a salad

clean her room

 5 ways she can help:

clearing the dinner dishes

sweeping

holding the door

carrying her ballet bag

making her bed

5 things she is excited for this year:

starting kindergarten!

swimming lessons

visiting her cousins

visiting her Nana & Grandpa and Grandma & Grandpa

going to the beach

 5 things we love about Rachael:

her giggle

her smile

her cheerful, happy attitude

her eagerness to learn

her willingness to share

Happy Birthday Rachael!

It's not every day the princess turns 5.  What a day!

 

Strawberries for Breakfast

 

Then we opened presents! 

Rachael's preschool was canceled for snow and Daddy even got to take a snow day, so we went ahead and opened presents early.  It was fun to do; she then got to play with all of her new things all day.

 

Party time! I invited just a few of her friends over for cake & ice cream.  It was designed to be an after school party but since we have been snowed out of school for two days, it was a nice break for everyone to get together.  Rachael had a really great time.  It only took her about five tries to get all those candles out.

 

(Yes, most of her friends are boys).

We finished the day with dinner out a Q'doba - still her favorite place - and playing some games at home.

Happy Birthday baby.  I guess you are not a baby anymore.

Birthday Party 1

Why just have your birthday on one day when you can spread it out over an entire weekend? That seems to be the philosophy around our house every year.

Rachael wanted to have homemade pizza for her birthday, but then we decided to have a small party with her friends in the afternoon on her birthday. I quickly determined I could not possibly host a party and prep homemade pizza at the same time, so we moved our pizza night to the Friday before her birthday. (Our usual pizza and movie night anyway, but she didn't mind.)

To placate any sense of injustice, I also let her open one birthday present early. (Coincidentally, it was a movie. Isn't it great when things work out?)

 Ready for the show!  I love that smile.

 

And the pizza.  A heartburn-inducing great time!

Flashback Friday

Flashback Friday - Birthday Cake edition

Rachael's 1st Birthday, 2006
Red velvet cake with chocolate frosting
(In retrospect, the red velvet cake was a bad idea...
by the time she was finished decimating the cake,
it looked like someone had punched her in the nose.
Lesson learned.)

Rachael's 2nd Birthday, 2007
Cupcakes!
(and a 2. which was seriously her favorite part.)

Rachael's 3rd Birthday, 2008
The Cinderella Cake
(Our neighbor, Jason, made this for Rachael. It was truly
amazing and I'm sure I will never top this one.)

Rachael's 3rd Birthday - Birthday party cake
(This is the sandcastle cake mold. It worked out okay.)

Rachael's 4th Birthday, 2009
The Barbie cake
(Have you noticed these cakes keep getting more ambitious?
Just wait.)

Rachael's 4th Birthday at home
The (pink) Darth Vader cake
(She got two birthdays again in 2009; one at Nana's house,
and one at home. Ryan was suppose to be in China for her
birthday but at the last minute his trip was canceled. Since
ours was already planned, we went anyway. So we celebrated twice.
And I'm hoping no one ever wants another Darth Vader cake.)

This year's ambition: a pink and purple castle cake.
Yeah, OK.
(And she's not getting two cakes this year. This one is it.)

I just want to point out the blatant lie on the front of the package, that says "32 Piece Set! Everything you need to create a dream castle cake!" Aside from the cake mix, frosting, and sprinkles, which you obviously need; I also had to buy cake pans (OK, I already had the 6 inch, but still), doweling (for cake support), and candy melts. The box should say, "Everything you need to convert and already existing beautiful stacked cake into a castle - with just 20 hours of extra work!"

We start Monday.

Valentine Party

Rachael attends two preschools, which is really a lot of fun for her.  However, it means two of everything, like two Valentine's parties.  Tuesday's party has been moved to next week because of the snow, but today she had one at Little Hands.  

She worked really hard on all the valentines for both of her classes (fifteen kids altogether, and four teachers!) and she did a great job.

I should have taken a picture of all the junk (I mean, stuff) she got.... but she has already played with or eaten a lot of it! Can't wait until next week when she has a Valentine party on her birthday.

Edible Art

For playgroup today I made some edible finger paint - vanilla pudding, with four different food colors. For about 20 minutes I just let the kids finger paint, then I showed them the secret to make-it-yourself finger paints...

1. Get some "paint" on your finger.

2. Paint your picture.
(I think Alex was making the sky here.)

3. Lick your finger!

Repeat endlessly. It was a huge hit and certainly something we will do again.

Movie Night

We watched a movie tonight after dinner. Rachael had the best seat in the house!

(She spent the afternoon playing the laundry basket... so it was a natural fit for a movie seat that night.)

Flashback Friday

February 2007
"Making" her bed

Snowmen!

Our light and fluffy snow from Saturday started melting in the warmer (well, 40 degrees) weather today. I can't believe the snow has even lasted this long - it usually melts by the afternoon of the same day around here.

We made three snowmen together; then she wanted to make her own all by herself. She is really getting the hang of it!


She rolled all three of the parts for this snowman! The only thing I helped with was stacking the middle one on top of the bottom one - it was too heavy for her to lift. She proudly stacked the head on herself.


Don't our snowmen look great?
(Good thing we have a picture. They will probably melt tomorrow.)