1st day of Kindergarten

This was a big day for Allison. We had gone back to school shopping and she had all of her supplies including some special new clothes. She has been waiting all summer to return to school and she is so ready. All was going well, including me holding it together, until she got into her classroom and had to find her own nametag. Finding things is not a strong suit for Alli girl, so she walked past her nametag the first time. I bit my tongue and vowed to let her find it but when she got to the otherside of the room and didn't find it and started to get a little teary eyed, I jumped in and pointed her too it. She was completely fine after that but I was not. I could completely understand those anxious feelings and what mom wants to see their child go through that? She had a great day and loves kindergarten but I will never forget the way I felt that day. My little girl is growing up and for all that I do I cannot protect her from everything. I can only sit back and watch as she embarks on the first of many journeys. I know she is ready and I know she has the tools to succeed and I'll be there each step of the way for those forward steps and those that take her back a few steps too. I'm so proud of you Allison and Mommy loves you more than you'll ever know.

One more year of Little Kickers

Allison is just shy of being old enough to play full season soccer so she opted to play Little Kickers one more year. With kindergarten, by Friday she's pretty tired and not always eager to go, but she's sticking with it at least for now. She's not the most aggressive soccer player, but she's having fun and learning some skills.

RiverCats! Mommy and Me Day

Both girls love to watch baseball with Ryan. While we only watch the Giants on TV, our local triple A team, the RiverCats, farms to the Oakland Athletics. We try and go to a couple of games a year because it's so close and the stadium is beautiful, but it has been a couple of years since we've caught a game. I wasn't sure if I was brave enough to take the girls to Mommy and Me Day just because I hate to have them go off in separate directions, but I promised they wouldn't miss out so we did it. The girls had a great time for the most part. Kate was not a fan of Dinger and let everyone in the stadium know it. The piercing, panic scream could be heard for miles and for a long time she didn't want to go onto the field. Once I convinced her I would "save" her from him, she did go onto the field and participate in the activities, but she kept an eye on him the whole time.
It's August so the girls were dressed in capris and tshirts...normally we would've had to worry about the heat. Today we show up and it's COLD. The wind was blowing the girls were all uncomfortably cold so we bought sweatshirts on the way in. It really was THAT cold. We walked down the stairs and the sweatshirts came off..oops. Our free day didn't turn out free after all. I'm calling it a souvenier, but Ryan still isn't happy about it.

I couldn't capture the feet positioning because my family would disown me. Allison still throws with her right foot forward. Really, I'm trying!

Nothing like pushing a ball that's bigger than you are around the field

Kate loved the jump rope

The girls posing with their friends Madeline and Lillian

She's rounding third

Inside the jump house

Little Kickers comes to an end...

For just over six weeks now, Allison has been playing soccer with other kids her age through Little Kickers. She's not very interested in anything that doesn't involve a baby doll so any chance I can I try and get her interested sports. I realize she's a little young for anything too organized, but Little Kickers was a six week program created to introduce three, four, and young five year olds the concepts of soccer. They warmed up, then worked on some drills, and then played three on three games. The drills were totally age appropriate and really fun for the kids. By then last few weeks, Allison was really interested and came home reciting phrases such as, "I can kick with my inside, outside, or my laces, but toes are for bozos!" I'm sad to see it come to an end, but I think it was a great introduction for my little kicker. Congratulations on your medal Alli Girl!

Are you ready for some football?

We are well into football season. Ryan, Alli and I are participating in our annual football pool with friends from Laguan Creek HS. We choose a winner for each game and at the end of the week, the person with the most correct picks takes home some money. For the past two years we have done pretty well and I think we have yet to pay our yearly entry fee because we are able to win it back soon into the season.

Last year, Alli picked the teams just based on the name. I would read the opponents and she would choose the name she liked best and it was usually the last name. So Colts versus Chiefs, she would say, "Chiefs." It was easy to manipulate her answers that way. This year however, she had caught on a bit and her response is, "Who is supposed to win." So we have started the discussion on odds, but then weeks like this one happen where we followed the odds but didn't fare very well. It's not easy to explain it to a four year old. We'll see if she trusts the odds makers next week.

1st day of Pre-K

Allison started her second year at The Ranch and had a great time. She's going in the afternoon this year and it's already taking some getting used to. She loves the idea that she's going to school instead of taking a nap. She made little notes for all of her teachers and we spent the morining making chocolate chip cookies, so we shared those with her teachers as well. It was nice to see some familiar faces, but there are a couple of new additions to her class as well. We're all looking forward to a great year.

The funny things they say...

When Alli first started talking I wrote down all of the funny things she said. Since we moved that list is buried somewhere but I think I need to start a new list. Almost 4 seems to bring out a whole new attitude. Tonight while starting bathtime I was attempting to talk to my grandfather on the phone. Now telephone conversations are never without interruption but tonight was better than most. She wanted a beach ball in the bath, but she had deflated it so I told her (while on the phone) I would blow it up when I was off the phone. Her response at the top of her lungs, "I WANT YOU TO DO IT RIGHT NOW." For those that know me well, the beach ball didn't get blown up at all tonight. We'll try again another day.
Later, we were cleaning the house before bed. A common saying around her is, "You get what you get and you don't get upset." I asked her to put her chair away. She moved it, but didn't put it away so I told her again that she needed to put it away. Her response, "I put it where I put it and you don't throw a fit."
Kate is at the really great age where she's slowly putting words together so we're getting two and three word phrases but very deliberate. She's still talking about her day with Nana where they saw an airpane and coco (airplane and helicopter) to kye (took off into the sky). It was Monday, but she loved the experience of just her and Nana on a playdate. She's also talking about the Sesame Street episode that she watched where no one was sharing. She's gets this concerned look on her face and says something to the effect of Elmo, Big Bird, and Zoe weren't sharing, but Cookie Monster (ahmumum as she calls him) must have a special place in her heart because he did share...but he didn't either :-)

Little Kickers

Allison had her first soccer practice today. It's a new program in our area called "Little Kickers." She loved it and so did I. It was very organized and age appropriate. They arranged them all by age and then lead them through some stretching. Next, they did a few minutes of drill practice and then the kids played several three on three games. Lots of laughs and smiles all around. One more reason to love Rancho Murieta.



Getting organized
just the 4 year olds












Time for drills

1st game












2nd game

3 going on 13

Allison refused to nap today. She goes back and forth between resting and napping, but for about 2 weeks now she's been sleeping during nap time. Today was a different story, not only was she not napping but she wasn't resting. After rest time, I was doing some cleaning and found her room a complete disaster. Not the usual mess after playing, but this was one of those days where her intent was to make a mess. Bed was moved across the room against her dresser, closet emptied onto the floor, etc. I asked her to clean her room to prepare for company later and her response was, "I'm NEVER going to clean my room." So I replied, "if you want to play with your toys later, you need to clean your room." To which Allison replied (with attitude), "I want you to help me." I said, "I didn't help make the mess so you need to clean it up yourself." Her response, "I'm NEVER going to clean my room but I know that you will help me anyway." I didn't justify it with a response more because I was laughing, but her room was clean by the time I was done vacuuming. For the record, I did help her move her bed back to its spot, but she did the rest.