Well that is another week down this Summer, unfortunately we didn't have great weather all week, kind of cool some days so Jade and I didn't go to the pool all week, hopefully next week is better, I think all the rest of the schools come out next week and then the pools will be full so hopefully next week Jade and I can still enjoy the pools a little quieter.
So what did we do this past week ... it was a short week, mmmmm not too much on the exciting front, Jade had a sleepover at her buddies Louis, Tyler and Layla's house, she loves it there, thanks Tina for having her over.
Friday she had a playdate at the sports connection with one of her BFF's, we had a great time, they played in the inflatable area for way longer than I thought they would hold up, we then had lunch there and they they played in the computer games area for a while and then we headed out.
We also had date night last night and Jade is always excited to hang out at her school till 10 at night :-) and of course mommy and daddy take total advantage of that. We went to dinner at JoJo's Chinese Bestro, which was nice, we had never eaten there before, then we went to watch the new Indiana Jones movie which really was just ok ...
Right now it's Saturday morning and Dave is out cycling, when he gets back we are going house hunting a bit and then we will be off to our community pool, from 4 - 8 tonight we have a local band playing live so that will make it pretty festive down there. One of the members of the band stay in our neighborhood but this is the first time they have played at our pool, we are looking forward to it and I hope they are good and golly I hope the weather holds since we are right smack bang in thunderstorm season. Jade hasn't been down to our pool yet this season so I am sure she is excited too. I invited Tina and family to come over and join us but she has her parents in town so I am unsure if they will join us but the more the merrier.
No big plans for tomorrow, Sunday but it would be nice just to be home to relax if nothing else comes up.
Monday Jade has her Kingdergarten physical at her pediatricians office, she will have to have 4 shots to get her up to date for school in the Fall, she is being very brave knowing she is going to have them but mom is freaking out a bit, y'all know how scared of needles I am, so please say a prayer all goes well.
Then on Wednesday we will be finishing our registration at her new school, we could only do this once she had had all her shots, I have arranged for us to take a tour of the school too so that should be fun for us too. Then that afternoon she has a birthday party to go to at Monkey Joes and that will take up the rest of the day.
Other than that ... we will wing in and take each day as it comes :-) Let's hope for good weather.
Enjoy your weekend further.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Camping Out With Daddy
We are enjoying our long weekend, these really don't come around as often as we had in SA so when they do we try and make the best of them. Yesterday afternoon we went and did a bit of house hunting, just looking at this point, there's no rush but just getting an idea of what's out there, then after that we went to my BFF's house for her little girls Layla's 2nd birthday. There was a nice crowd so we had a good time, the kids always have a ball there, inside and out of course, Jade loves their trampoline but most of all she enjoyed fishing with the boys at the large pond in their back yard, she said Oupa would love it there. She didn't catch anything but there were fish caught so it was exciting for her.
After that we came home, Dave had promised Jade a camp out in the back yard and the weather was perfect for it, they had already put the tent up the afternoon so they bbq'd hotdogs and had bbq marshmallows, I think the two of them had fun :-) Moms not a camper, did way too much of that in my youth and anyway, I like the idea of the two of them bonding without me, she's with me all the time ... so I enjoyed having the house to myself last night, it was quiet to say the least :-) Having said all that, camping these days is very different to the camping I remember, now the Tv and Dvd player and the laptops etc. all go in the tent :-) so it's really not as basic as I remember :-)
Todays going to be a nice hot day so when Dave gets back from his cycle ride and after they have sorted out the tent, I think I am going to pack us a picnic lunch and I think we are going to go spend the day at the pool, not our neighborhood one but the Ballentyne YMCA pool since Dave hasn't been there before so I thought it would be a nice change, there's lots of time for our neighborhood pool this Summer so change is good :-)
After that we came home, Dave had promised Jade a camp out in the back yard and the weather was perfect for it, they had already put the tent up the afternoon so they bbq'd hotdogs and had bbq marshmallows, I think the two of them had fun :-) Moms not a camper, did way too much of that in my youth and anyway, I like the idea of the two of them bonding without me, she's with me all the time ... so I enjoyed having the house to myself last night, it was quiet to say the least :-) Having said all that, camping these days is very different to the camping I remember, now the Tv and Dvd player and the laptops etc. all go in the tent :-) so it's really not as basic as I remember :-)
Todays going to be a nice hot day so when Dave gets back from his cycle ride and after they have sorted out the tent, I think I am going to pack us a picnic lunch and I think we are going to go spend the day at the pool, not our neighborhood one but the Ballentyne YMCA pool since Dave hasn't been there before so I thought it would be a nice change, there's lots of time for our neighborhood pool this Summer so change is good :-)
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Speedstreet In Charlotte
Most of you that have been following our lives over here since we left SA will know that we love to go to the yearly Nascar Speedstreet which usually runs from the Thursday through to the Sunday the week before some big race ... I think it is the Coca Cola 600 ... can you tell I am a big fan (hehehe). Nah we don't follow Nascar here at all but the festivities that go with it, is often fun :-)
This yeah Dave decided to make our Memorial Weekend an extra long one for him and he took Friday off which was cool coz that meant we could go into the city for Speedstreet early in the day when we usually go after her gets off work. I think we will do this every year, it was just more fun making a day out of it. We actually parked our car in Pineville and caught the new light rail into the city which was a fun new trip for us too, the scenery isn't great on route but still it was a new adventure and that is all that mattered, also we didn't have to find parking near Speedstreet and walk a mile to get to where we wanted to be, the light rail dropped us really near all the goings on, so that was good too :-)
What was also nice is it wasn't so crowded as it is late afternoon and evening, ok the atmosphere isn't as great as it is normally that time of the day but still I think this was better. It wasn't as noisy either because in the evenings the bands have all started playing and when we were there they really were just setting up. I was glad we weren't going Saturday evening as Kelly Pickler was going to be there and that would just have been madness.
Obviously being a Nascar event there was tons of Nascars around to see, you could also stand in mile long lines to get your picture taken with drivers and to get their autographs. I think I had my fill of that in Disney ... never again !!!
This one was a little out of place but here's Dave checking out a drag car ... I think !!!
At these events there is always tons of Law Enforcement which I love since I have always had a thing for men in uniform (hehehe). Here are some of Charlottes finest :-)
This one's for Gavin :-)
Here is a picture of Jade with the tattoo she wanted and I can't believe daddy actually paid for. I love that she chose a unicorn, ok mom helped influence her but still she liked this one and she is excited it stays on for 3 or 4 days ... we will see !!!
There are also tons of characters walking around which I guess after Disney Jade was really not interested in but someone this one she had to high five and say hi to :-)
Ok and this one is for those of you that felt sorry for Dave when I said that I was oogling the guys in uniform ... there was tons of this around for Dave too :-)
Then there were the extreme opposites to see too ... the old bikes ...
And the new :-)
Now this last picture, they always give away freebies at these events, samples of everything and this year this was all we were given,if you wanted to stand in long lines for the better stuff then you would get tons more but hey ... don't you think we got enough, this is always fun for us to see how much we can collect :-)
So it's a long weekend, later today we are going to a Memorial Weekend BBQ at our friends Doug and Anna, they recently moved out of our neighborhood so we are off to their new house for the very first time. They didn't move far so that's good for us, it's Anna's birthday too so it should be fun, I think they are expecting about 25 - 30 people so there will be many kids for Jade to play with too.
Then tomorrow is my girlfriend Tina's youngest childs 2nd birthday, I can't believe Layla is 2 already, but we are going over there late tomorrow for coffee and cake, Jade loves going there, it's such a fun house for the kids.
And then Monday I think we are going to spend the day at the pool, I hope the weather is good :-)
This yeah Dave decided to make our Memorial Weekend an extra long one for him and he took Friday off which was cool coz that meant we could go into the city for Speedstreet early in the day when we usually go after her gets off work. I think we will do this every year, it was just more fun making a day out of it. We actually parked our car in Pineville and caught the new light rail into the city which was a fun new trip for us too, the scenery isn't great on route but still it was a new adventure and that is all that mattered, also we didn't have to find parking near Speedstreet and walk a mile to get to where we wanted to be, the light rail dropped us really near all the goings on, so that was good too :-)
What was also nice is it wasn't so crowded as it is late afternoon and evening, ok the atmosphere isn't as great as it is normally that time of the day but still I think this was better. It wasn't as noisy either because in the evenings the bands have all started playing and when we were there they really were just setting up. I was glad we weren't going Saturday evening as Kelly Pickler was going to be there and that would just have been madness.
Obviously being a Nascar event there was tons of Nascars around to see, you could also stand in mile long lines to get your picture taken with drivers and to get their autographs. I think I had my fill of that in Disney ... never again !!!
This one was a little out of place but here's Dave checking out a drag car ... I think !!!
At these events there is always tons of Law Enforcement which I love since I have always had a thing for men in uniform (hehehe). Here are some of Charlottes finest :-)
This one's for Gavin :-)
Here is a picture of Jade with the tattoo she wanted and I can't believe daddy actually paid for. I love that she chose a unicorn, ok mom helped influence her but still she liked this one and she is excited it stays on for 3 or 4 days ... we will see !!!
There are also tons of characters walking around which I guess after Disney Jade was really not interested in but someone this one she had to high five and say hi to :-)
Ok and this one is for those of you that felt sorry for Dave when I said that I was oogling the guys in uniform ... there was tons of this around for Dave too :-)
Then there were the extreme opposites to see too ... the old bikes ...
And the new :-)
Now this last picture, they always give away freebies at these events, samples of everything and this year this was all we were given,if you wanted to stand in long lines for the better stuff then you would get tons more but hey ... don't you think we got enough, this is always fun for us to see how much we can collect :-)
So it's a long weekend, later today we are going to a Memorial Weekend BBQ at our friends Doug and Anna, they recently moved out of our neighborhood so we are off to their new house for the very first time. They didn't move far so that's good for us, it's Anna's birthday too so it should be fun, I think they are expecting about 25 - 30 people so there will be many kids for Jade to play with too.
Then tomorrow is my girlfriend Tina's youngest childs 2nd birthday, I can't believe Layla is 2 already, but we are going over there late tomorrow for coffee and cake, Jade loves going there, it's such a fun house for the kids.
And then Monday I think we are going to spend the day at the pool, I hope the weather is good :-)
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
End Of Year Class Party
Today was Jade end of year class party and the theme was Luau (can you tell) which was fun :-) Parents were invited although not many parents came, I guess they were making use of their last bit of time alone before Summer vacation starts on Thursday.
They had pizza and juice and cookies for dessert. Then sang a song or two, gave their teachers their gifts and then it was over, almost as quickly as it began ... well one more day. I can hardly believe it.
Here's a picture of her class, all seated for lunch. I have a video too which is busy loading but I will have to add it later because I don't have the time now, I need to run, it's Jades last gymnastics class today, which is a fun day so we don't want to miss any of it ... so check back later and hopefully the video will be loaded.
Then here's Jade and her BFF Maggie again :-)
Ok well ... things will quieten down here again now, there's been tons of excitement over the last week or so but now I think I will take a break. We are going to Speedstreet on the weekend, maybe Friday but I don't think I am going to take the camera along, we'll see.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Jade End Of School Year Program - And Preschool Graduation !!!
Oh well this afternoon was Jades Preschool End Of Year Program as well as her Preschool Graduation ... yep just 3 days of Preschool left !!!
The program was the longest we have ever seen but was completely enjoyable. Jade unfortunately was very distracted, I think the two kids behind her were misbehaving all the time and I think this caught her attention so much of the time, oh well what can you do ???
The had quite a lot to sing and I could tell Jade had sat through the practise a lot since she knew most the other class songs too :-) I took a few videos and loaded them onto YouTube but you know the quality is not great on there but anyway at least it is better than nothing right ?
Below is a picture of Jade with one of her teachers, Ms Cindy, that is her graduation certificate she has in her hands.
Here she is with both her teachers, Ms Cindy and Ms Leah, what great teachers, Jade was really blessed to have them as teachers.
Then this is Jades BFF Maggie, Maggie is actually almost a year younger than Jade but they are in the same class. Unfortunately they will not be going to the same school in the Fall, we live in different school zones but who knows, maybe when we move we might get lucky and be in the same zone ... who knows. Anyway Maggies mom and I are good friends so the kids will still see a lot of each other. Funny thing, Jade has two best friends at school, Maggie who is in her class and Evelyn who this year was in a different class, us three moms get on great and weirdly enough we are all Tracy's !!! Evelyn also won't be in Jades school, I actually don't know too many kids that are in her class now that will be going to Matthews Elementary but I am sure at the pool this Summer we will meet a good few and she will make friends with some before heading off to Kindergarten.
I just loved this pic and had to add it :-) they are so cute together.
Well that is it for now, Jade has her school end of year party on Tuesday which I think I already mentioned I will be attending, hopefully I will remember my camera and I can take a few pics there of her with her class :-) Until then, have a good week.
The program was the longest we have ever seen but was completely enjoyable. Jade unfortunately was very distracted, I think the two kids behind her were misbehaving all the time and I think this caught her attention so much of the time, oh well what can you do ???
The had quite a lot to sing and I could tell Jade had sat through the practise a lot since she knew most the other class songs too :-) I took a few videos and loaded them onto YouTube but you know the quality is not great on there but anyway at least it is better than nothing right ?
Below is a picture of Jade with one of her teachers, Ms Cindy, that is her graduation certificate she has in her hands.
Here she is with both her teachers, Ms Cindy and Ms Leah, what great teachers, Jade was really blessed to have them as teachers.
Then this is Jades BFF Maggie, Maggie is actually almost a year younger than Jade but they are in the same class. Unfortunately they will not be going to the same school in the Fall, we live in different school zones but who knows, maybe when we move we might get lucky and be in the same zone ... who knows. Anyway Maggies mom and I are good friends so the kids will still see a lot of each other. Funny thing, Jade has two best friends at school, Maggie who is in her class and Evelyn who this year was in a different class, us three moms get on great and weirdly enough we are all Tracy's !!! Evelyn also won't be in Jades school, I actually don't know too many kids that are in her class now that will be going to Matthews Elementary but I am sure at the pool this Summer we will meet a good few and she will make friends with some before heading off to Kindergarten.
I just loved this pic and had to add it :-) they are so cute together.
Well that is it for now, Jade has her school end of year party on Tuesday which I think I already mentioned I will be attending, hopefully I will remember my camera and I can take a few pics there of her with her class :-) Until then, have a good week.
Friday, May 16, 2008
PJ Day ... Last Day Of This Week ... Finally
Well we finally are at Friday and it is PJ Day today ... Jade is all into sleep dresses now so this is the one she wanted to wear today, and yep Nana, those are the slippers you gave her forever ago which still fit her and which she loves :-)
They also got to take a soft toy they sleep with to school today and even though Jade has few on her bed the one she seems to treasure the most is Bella this little Webkin. I bought it for her for Christmas because I knew she had taken a liking to unicorns which to me is so strange since I collected them when I was little, now I wish I had kept my collection !!!
Anyway Sunday is her schools end of year program so we will be going to that and will most probably update you on here as soon as I get a chance. Until then, have a good weekend.
They also got to take a soft toy they sleep with to school today and even though Jade has few on her bed the one she seems to treasure the most is Bella this little Webkin. I bought it for her for Christmas because I knew she had taken a liking to unicorns which to me is so strange since I collected them when I was little, now I wish I had kept my collection !!!
Anyway Sunday is her schools end of year program so we will be going to that and will most probably update you on here as soon as I get a chance. Until then, have a good weekend.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Crazy Hair Day ...
Well today, Thursday was Crazy Hair Day ... and well all I can say is I tried ... it was meant to turn out a little better but I ran out of time so we had to make do with what we had, thankfully it wasn't pretty hair day so we were good. Thank Heavens tomorrow is PJ Day which is an easy one and the last 'crazy' day, this week was a challenge that was for sure. Next week it is only Monday which is a normal day, Tuesday is their end of year school party to which parents are invited but mostly moms only go and then Wednesday is their last day with their teachers which will also be a fun and I guess emotional day for all those leaving ECA.
This afternoon Jade and I went to the YMCA pool in Ballentyne for the first time this season well ... we were the only ones there, we had the entire pool to ourselves and once I felt the water, I knew why ... it was really cold !!! But we hung out there for a good hour and then headed home for a warm bath :-) Tomorrow it will start getting warmer so we will be going to the pool more often, today was warm but not really sunny which I guess is what frightened most people away.
More tomorrow.
This afternoon Jade and I went to the YMCA pool in Ballentyne for the first time this season well ... we were the only ones there, we had the entire pool to ourselves and once I felt the water, I knew why ... it was really cold !!! But we hung out there for a good hour and then headed home for a warm bath :-) Tomorrow it will start getting warmer so we will be going to the pool more often, today was warm but not really sunny which I guess is what frightened most people away.
More tomorrow.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Wednesday - Inside Out Day !!!
Today, Wednesday was Inside Out Day and although you can't really see that everything she is wearing is inside out, it really is, including the hat !!!
Jade is really having fun with all this but the funny thing is that when I picked her up from school a few minutes her teacher said to me that she knew I couldn't wait for this week to be over with (hehehe), they know I like to have stuff just so ... and that all this change this week has been a huge challenge for me :-) As long as Jade enjoys it, it is worth the challenge.
Jade is really having fun with all this but the funny thing is that when I picked her up from school a few minutes her teacher said to me that she knew I couldn't wait for this week to be over with (hehehe), they know I like to have stuff just so ... and that all this change this week has been a huge challenge for me :-) As long as Jade enjoys it, it is worth the challenge.
Gymnastics Medal Test
Well today was Jades final gymnastics medal test for this year. Dave and I should be proud to go to these but really Jade does so much better during the year in her class, when it comes to their parent observation days, she really doesn't concentrate and is more worried about whether we are watching and of course taking photo's and videoing that she really doesn't do as well.
That all being said, today she did a bit better, I told her she had to try and be first in line to demonstrate anything, that way I knew she would listen a little more and she did, thank heavens :-)
Anyway here are a few pics that were taken at home before leaving for the International Sports Centre where she does her gymnastics.
My camera really doesn't take great indoor shots so I really didn't get many pictures, thankfully Dave took a video that came out better. They started with floor work, which really isn't her strong point, but the main thing is she tries :-)
Then they went onto a kind of obstacle course with different stations, this one below she did very well at, Jade has always had really strong upper body strength so this she enjoyed, I actually was amazed how many kids couldn't do this ... I guess it proves how different all kids are right ?
Then the beam and bars, she loves doing the monkey things up high but she is still a little nervous of the beam which I don't blame her, it's so high, it makes me nervous.
And a table top, she loves doing this especially when she does a hand stand and goes over into a table top.
And finally it was medal time and she was so proud of her little trophy.
This is her entire class, there was one teacher missing, there is usually two per class.
So they have one more week left which is usually a fun week which they all enjoy then there is a break till the Fall. I think I mentioned though that in the Fall I am going to put her into the trampoline and tumbling class as I know she will enjoy that more, this class she was starting to no enjoy so we will see how that goes. She actually wants to play soccer which I am not for since, in SA girls really don't' play soccer but here it's a big girls sport ... but we will see :-)
That all being said, today she did a bit better, I told her she had to try and be first in line to demonstrate anything, that way I knew she would listen a little more and she did, thank heavens :-)
Anyway here are a few pics that were taken at home before leaving for the International Sports Centre where she does her gymnastics.
My camera really doesn't take great indoor shots so I really didn't get many pictures, thankfully Dave took a video that came out better. They started with floor work, which really isn't her strong point, but the main thing is she tries :-)
Then they went onto a kind of obstacle course with different stations, this one below she did very well at, Jade has always had really strong upper body strength so this she enjoyed, I actually was amazed how many kids couldn't do this ... I guess it proves how different all kids are right ?
Then the beam and bars, she loves doing the monkey things up high but she is still a little nervous of the beam which I don't blame her, it's so high, it makes me nervous.
And a table top, she loves doing this especially when she does a hand stand and goes over into a table top.
And finally it was medal time and she was so proud of her little trophy.
This is her entire class, there was one teacher missing, there is usually two per class.
So they have one more week left which is usually a fun week which they all enjoy then there is a break till the Fall. I think I mentioned though that in the Fall I am going to put her into the trampoline and tumbling class as I know she will enjoy that more, this class she was starting to no enjoy so we will see how that goes. She actually wants to play soccer which I am not for since, in SA girls really don't' play soccer but here it's a big girls sport ... but we will see :-)
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Read Before You Comment ... Her Mother Dresses Her Funny !!!
Ok before you say ... shame this poor kid, her mother dresses her funny ... it is Tacky Day today at school so you need to mismatch as much as possible and I have to say this was my biggest challenge as I love Jade to match, anyway, thankfully she thought she looked cool, that is all that matters.
Later today is parents observation day at gymnastics, hope all goes well but I am sure if I get some pics, the lighting in there is always so bad :-( but if I get pics I will try and post them later.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Monday ... Hat Day !!!
Ok after yesterdays update I will keep this short ... as you know I am a huge hat person so Jade had a bunch of hats to choose from for hat day today but this is the one she wanted to wear and I wasn't going to fight that fight, so as big as it was on her, off she went.
Also after all the pics yesterday she was not in the mood for pics this morning and the more I asked her to smile the more she wouldn't or you would get such a silly smile, it wasn't worth the pic ... so sorry this is not a great one but I want to try and get one from each day to paste in here :-)
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Mothers Day Weekend ...
Yep, it's Mothers Day weekend ... I plan on taking as much advantage as possible :-)
Friday night was 'date night' so Dave and I went out to one of my favorite restaurants, The City Tavern for yummy pasta after which we went to see a movie, it was my choice of course and I picked well, but poor Dave was forced to go watch a chick flick, but he enjoyed it even though he won't of course admit it. We went to see Maid Of Honor with McDreamy in it, he is too cute, although I am sure one of his first movies in which he played this nerdy pizza guy keeps on sticking in my mind so he is definitely not my number one actor ... but thinking about it, I actually don't know how is !!!
Then yesterday I pretty much did my usual weekend clean up and shopping so that I had Sunday free, it was a beautiful day here so Jade was outside playing with the kids all day. Oh Dave got his new bicycle this weekend so he went for a quick ride, I didn't hear any complaints so I guess he is happy with it.
And finally today was Mothers Day, there was great excitement as Jade had made me many cards and a really cute stepping stone for the garden, I cannot believe daddy was so creative this year, I am impressed, I totally love it :-) Also I got to sleep late while the two of them made me breakfast in bed, this took forever which was funny coz I thought I was going to get bacon and eggs and wondered what my kitchen would look like when I came downstairs but I got toast with jam and cheese and a big glass of orange juice, all of which apparently Jade did herself, so cute, she was so proud of herself.
I got two beautiful bunches of flowers, one mixed bunch and the other was just a variety or carnations, I love carnations, I also got a few other things so felt utterly spoilt. We took it slow the morning, changed our spare room around which I have been wanting to do for a while so that was cool, then we got showered and done and went out for some bowling, Jade had never bowled in the adult lanes before so this was a treat, we of course had the bumpers up but even so she did so well I could hardly believe it, mommy had to play especially hard so she wasn't beaten by Jade and well daddy didn't get the memo that it was Mothers Day and wiped the socks of us both, I think now coz he plays league at work that he feels he has to always show us up :-( But we had great fun.
Afterwards we went and had a bite to eat and then it was home sweet home. What a nice day ... thoroughly enjoyed by all. Oh by the way, apparently Dave had a nice day planned for today but the weather today wasn't great and even though it didn't rain today as much as what it was suppose to, he didn't want to take the chance and spoil the day ... which is why we spent the day indoors. He won't tell me what the plans were coz he wants to keep it for another occasion so I guess I will just have to be patient and wait and see, either way I am impressed with the effort put in this year :-)
Ok you never really see pics of me so enjoy them while you can ... I know ... I need a serious tan but hopefully that will come soon since the pools here are slowly but surely starting to open, although it hasn't been too hot here to date.
Wow, I can't believe Jade has one more full week of school and then she is done on the 21st of May until she starts Kindergarten in the Fall, sometime in August. Anyway this is a fun week for the kids and Jade is very excited, Monday it is Hat Day and although we looked for someone with one of those funny South African hats we didn't get lucky so we are just wearing a pretty one that she picked out.
Tuesday is Tacky Day, no not Sneaker Day like I am sure most South Africans reading this would have thought ... it is a day where you need to dress as ugly as possible, now this is going to be a hard one for me to pull off, but we will see what we will do ... I need to give this much thought.
Wednesday is Inside Out Day which speaks for itself, everything worn must be inside out. Jade thinks this is the funniest one.
Thursday is Crazy Hair Day and although she wants me to put pink streaks in her hair I think since her hair is so long that I might try and do the Pippy Long Stocking (spelling ?) hair style but we will see.
And finally Friday is PJ Day which they have had before but in Winter so since it is warmer now, Jade wants to wear PJ's that look like a dress so we will see what we can do :-) It should be a fun day for all though.
Sunday is their end of school program, I will try and take a video again to post on here for y'all to see.
Other than all this excitement for the week, we have her gymnastics observation day on Tuesday too, where they get graded and the folks can come see what all they do during the lessons and of course how much they have learnt since our last viewing, they will also get trophy's. I am not sure if I mentioned this before but I am taking Jade out of her usual gymnastics class and in the Fall I am putting her into a trampoline and tumbling class that she wants to do, so we will see how that goes.
Also this week I need to seriously work on Camps for the Summer since I haven't booked her in anywhere yet, hold thumbs I can still get her in somewhere.
Anyway all that is left to say is, Happy Mothers Day to all the Moms out there, hope you had as nice a day as I have had. Thanks Dave and Jade for making my day so special, I love you guys :-)
Friday night was 'date night' so Dave and I went out to one of my favorite restaurants, The City Tavern for yummy pasta after which we went to see a movie, it was my choice of course and I picked well, but poor Dave was forced to go watch a chick flick, but he enjoyed it even though he won't of course admit it. We went to see Maid Of Honor with McDreamy in it, he is too cute, although I am sure one of his first movies in which he played this nerdy pizza guy keeps on sticking in my mind so he is definitely not my number one actor ... but thinking about it, I actually don't know how is !!!
Then yesterday I pretty much did my usual weekend clean up and shopping so that I had Sunday free, it was a beautiful day here so Jade was outside playing with the kids all day. Oh Dave got his new bicycle this weekend so he went for a quick ride, I didn't hear any complaints so I guess he is happy with it.
And finally today was Mothers Day, there was great excitement as Jade had made me many cards and a really cute stepping stone for the garden, I cannot believe daddy was so creative this year, I am impressed, I totally love it :-) Also I got to sleep late while the two of them made me breakfast in bed, this took forever which was funny coz I thought I was going to get bacon and eggs and wondered what my kitchen would look like when I came downstairs but I got toast with jam and cheese and a big glass of orange juice, all of which apparently Jade did herself, so cute, she was so proud of herself.
I got two beautiful bunches of flowers, one mixed bunch and the other was just a variety or carnations, I love carnations, I also got a few other things so felt utterly spoilt. We took it slow the morning, changed our spare room around which I have been wanting to do for a while so that was cool, then we got showered and done and went out for some bowling, Jade had never bowled in the adult lanes before so this was a treat, we of course had the bumpers up but even so she did so well I could hardly believe it, mommy had to play especially hard so she wasn't beaten by Jade and well daddy didn't get the memo that it was Mothers Day and wiped the socks of us both, I think now coz he plays league at work that he feels he has to always show us up :-( But we had great fun.
Afterwards we went and had a bite to eat and then it was home sweet home. What a nice day ... thoroughly enjoyed by all. Oh by the way, apparently Dave had a nice day planned for today but the weather today wasn't great and even though it didn't rain today as much as what it was suppose to, he didn't want to take the chance and spoil the day ... which is why we spent the day indoors. He won't tell me what the plans were coz he wants to keep it for another occasion so I guess I will just have to be patient and wait and see, either way I am impressed with the effort put in this year :-)
Ok you never really see pics of me so enjoy them while you can ... I know ... I need a serious tan but hopefully that will come soon since the pools here are slowly but surely starting to open, although it hasn't been too hot here to date.
Wow, I can't believe Jade has one more full week of school and then she is done on the 21st of May until she starts Kindergarten in the Fall, sometime in August. Anyway this is a fun week for the kids and Jade is very excited, Monday it is Hat Day and although we looked for someone with one of those funny South African hats we didn't get lucky so we are just wearing a pretty one that she picked out.
Tuesday is Tacky Day, no not Sneaker Day like I am sure most South Africans reading this would have thought ... it is a day where you need to dress as ugly as possible, now this is going to be a hard one for me to pull off, but we will see what we will do ... I need to give this much thought.
Wednesday is Inside Out Day which speaks for itself, everything worn must be inside out. Jade thinks this is the funniest one.
Thursday is Crazy Hair Day and although she wants me to put pink streaks in her hair I think since her hair is so long that I might try and do the Pippy Long Stocking (spelling ?) hair style but we will see.
And finally Friday is PJ Day which they have had before but in Winter so since it is warmer now, Jade wants to wear PJ's that look like a dress so we will see what we can do :-) It should be a fun day for all though.
Sunday is their end of school program, I will try and take a video again to post on here for y'all to see.
Other than all this excitement for the week, we have her gymnastics observation day on Tuesday too, where they get graded and the folks can come see what all they do during the lessons and of course how much they have learnt since our last viewing, they will also get trophy's. I am not sure if I mentioned this before but I am taking Jade out of her usual gymnastics class and in the Fall I am putting her into a trampoline and tumbling class that she wants to do, so we will see how that goes.
Also this week I need to seriously work on Camps for the Summer since I haven't booked her in anywhere yet, hold thumbs I can still get her in somewhere.
Anyway all that is left to say is, Happy Mothers Day to all the Moms out there, hope you had as nice a day as I have had. Thanks Dave and Jade for making my day so special, I love you guys :-)
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Update From Parent Teacher Conference ...
I am happy and of course proud to report that Jade got a good review at school today and that they think she is more than ready to be going to Kindergarten.
The report written by her teachers Ms Cindy and Ms Leah read "Jade is not only a joy to Ms Leah and myself but to our entire school. She is smart, thoughtful and always has a song to sing. We will miss her, thank you for letting us here at ECA be a part of her life !"
She has mastered all the Social and Emotional Development steps set out by them as well as all the Skill Development steps and Physical Development steps.
The only thing under Fine and Gross Motor Skills that she did not master was to pump when swinging which I guess is our fault coz she doesn't have to do that, we have always just pushed her :-(
In her Cognitive and Language Development there were four things we need to master before she goes to Kindergarten, one was that she didn't recognize her last name when shown, neither could she write it. She knows it when asked but we have never really pushed her to write it and never thought about the recognition part so we will work on that. Also even though she knows she lives in Big Pine Drive, she doesn't know the number which I guess is really important so we need to push that, she knows that she lives in Matthews and in North Carolina but she doesn't know obviously the difference between the two so we need to teach her our address. She also knows our telephone number but because from the beginning we taught her the number without the code in front of it, she forgets that and needs to know that too so those are things we will definitely work on between now and the start of 'big' school.
She is definitely Left Handed, there is absolutely no doubt on that one !!! That being said, some sports that she attempts she does with both, it depends on how she sees others do it or how the teacher does it, so I have heard it's an advantage to be able to play sport with both hands, we will see :-)
With her colors, shapes, letters both uppercase and lowercase there were no problems, I guess they only need them to count up to 30 but she can go up to 100 and is working out how to go further from there ... She knows the days of the week and the months of the year but has a problem recognizing the word at this point so that's another thing we will work at during the Summer.
Even though I know Jade is excited to come home every week with the new word for that week, apparently she has done really well in class with these words, recognizing them and remembering them, so hopefully that will mean that reading will come easy for her, they have been doing basic reading at school and they have said there are no problems with Jade when it comes to that.
They need to know 3 Pledges at school, obviously the American Flag would be the one they would continue on with in Kindergarten but at ECA the Christian Flag and the Pledge to the Bible were just as important and although she knows the Christian Pledge she had a problem remembering the Bible Pledge :-(
They said Jade mixes well with everyone both class mates and teachers so they didn't' see any problems going forward and well they didn't need to tell us that Jade likes to sing, I always joke that she loves to sing but she is no future American Idol but they thought she sang pretty well, I still think she may land up being the song writer but not the singer (hehehe) but that's just me.
Now before I bore you all totally to death, I was very informative here because in SA the schooling is a little different and I wanted to pretty much give them the picture of what all the kids do here even before they go to school, I hope this helped.
Let me say it one last time ... I am a very proud mom today :-)
The report written by her teachers Ms Cindy and Ms Leah read "Jade is not only a joy to Ms Leah and myself but to our entire school. She is smart, thoughtful and always has a song to sing. We will miss her, thank you for letting us here at ECA be a part of her life !"
She has mastered all the Social and Emotional Development steps set out by them as well as all the Skill Development steps and Physical Development steps.
The only thing under Fine and Gross Motor Skills that she did not master was to pump when swinging which I guess is our fault coz she doesn't have to do that, we have always just pushed her :-(
In her Cognitive and Language Development there were four things we need to master before she goes to Kindergarten, one was that she didn't recognize her last name when shown, neither could she write it. She knows it when asked but we have never really pushed her to write it and never thought about the recognition part so we will work on that. Also even though she knows she lives in Big Pine Drive, she doesn't know the number which I guess is really important so we need to push that, she knows that she lives in Matthews and in North Carolina but she doesn't know obviously the difference between the two so we need to teach her our address. She also knows our telephone number but because from the beginning we taught her the number without the code in front of it, she forgets that and needs to know that too so those are things we will definitely work on between now and the start of 'big' school.
She is definitely Left Handed, there is absolutely no doubt on that one !!! That being said, some sports that she attempts she does with both, it depends on how she sees others do it or how the teacher does it, so I have heard it's an advantage to be able to play sport with both hands, we will see :-)
With her colors, shapes, letters both uppercase and lowercase there were no problems, I guess they only need them to count up to 30 but she can go up to 100 and is working out how to go further from there ... She knows the days of the week and the months of the year but has a problem recognizing the word at this point so that's another thing we will work at during the Summer.
Even though I know Jade is excited to come home every week with the new word for that week, apparently she has done really well in class with these words, recognizing them and remembering them, so hopefully that will mean that reading will come easy for her, they have been doing basic reading at school and they have said there are no problems with Jade when it comes to that.
They need to know 3 Pledges at school, obviously the American Flag would be the one they would continue on with in Kindergarten but at ECA the Christian Flag and the Pledge to the Bible were just as important and although she knows the Christian Pledge she had a problem remembering the Bible Pledge :-(
They said Jade mixes well with everyone both class mates and teachers so they didn't' see any problems going forward and well they didn't need to tell us that Jade likes to sing, I always joke that she loves to sing but she is no future American Idol but they thought she sang pretty well, I still think she may land up being the song writer but not the singer (hehehe) but that's just me.
Now before I bore you all totally to death, I was very informative here because in SA the schooling is a little different and I wanted to pretty much give them the picture of what all the kids do here even before they go to school, I hope this helped.
Let me say it one last time ... I am a very proud mom today :-)
Pretty In Pink
There is no school today because it is the parent teacher conferences at school, I guess we will find out today whether little Jade is ready for Kingdergarten, here's hoping she is.
Anyway so we got a little dressed up this morning since my little girl has turned into quite a young lady or diva actually, it's all about the pink today, she has the same outfit in blue which I am sure would make her eyes pop but she wouldn't hear about putting on blue ... as I said, it's all about the pink today.
Her hair is getting so long, we are trying to keep it in good shape with regular trims since we are growing it for Locks of Love which to me would be such a beautiful way for Jade to part with her long hair come Summer. Now having said that who knows come Summer if mom is going to be able to cut it, I may just not have the heart to do so but we need 10 inches so we are growing it as long as possible so that when we do cut it, the cut isn't too short, although short in Summer would be good.
For those of you that don't know what Locks of Love is, go take a look at this site http://www.locksoflove.org/ it is an organization that takes 10 inches of hear and makes wigs for kids that have Cancer or whatever illness makes them lose the hair and gives them a new lease on life. One of the kids in Jades class did this already and it has encouraged other kids to do the same, I think it would be a beautiful gift for someone as young as Jade to give, something she will never forget and definitely be proud of. You also will get a photo back I believe of the wig on the child it was given to, how special is that. Well as I said, we will see, the desire to do good is there but when the time comes, hopefully we can all carry through on it.
Are these shoes just not too cute, she had dress up shoes that she would play around in at home all the time, all she wanted was heels, so when I saw these I knew she would totally love them but I had no clue she would love them quite as much as she does. She wants to show everyone when we are out and about how pretty her shoes are when really mom is just hoping she doesn't twist and ankle on them :-)
That's it for me for today, I am sure I will update you on what was said at the conference today. Until then, have a good day and week.
Anyway so we got a little dressed up this morning since my little girl has turned into quite a young lady or diva actually, it's all about the pink today, she has the same outfit in blue which I am sure would make her eyes pop but she wouldn't hear about putting on blue ... as I said, it's all about the pink today.
Her hair is getting so long, we are trying to keep it in good shape with regular trims since we are growing it for Locks of Love which to me would be such a beautiful way for Jade to part with her long hair come Summer. Now having said that who knows come Summer if mom is going to be able to cut it, I may just not have the heart to do so but we need 10 inches so we are growing it as long as possible so that when we do cut it, the cut isn't too short, although short in Summer would be good.
For those of you that don't know what Locks of Love is, go take a look at this site http://www.locksoflove.org/ it is an organization that takes 10 inches of hear and makes wigs for kids that have Cancer or whatever illness makes them lose the hair and gives them a new lease on life. One of the kids in Jades class did this already and it has encouraged other kids to do the same, I think it would be a beautiful gift for someone as young as Jade to give, something she will never forget and definitely be proud of. You also will get a photo back I believe of the wig on the child it was given to, how special is that. Well as I said, we will see, the desire to do good is there but when the time comes, hopefully we can all carry through on it.
Are these shoes just not too cute, she had dress up shoes that she would play around in at home all the time, all she wanted was heels, so when I saw these I knew she would totally love them but I had no clue she would love them quite as much as she does. She wants to show everyone when we are out and about how pretty her shoes are when really mom is just hoping she doesn't twist and ankle on them :-)
That's it for me for today, I am sure I will update you on what was said at the conference today. Until then, have a good day and week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)