First Grade

Owen is a first grader! He started exactly a week ago and its been a great start. A lot less new and momentous than last year - and that's a good thing!

Here he is on Tuesday - the first day of class. Had no trouble getting up bright and early! (The girls were a different story.)

 

(This year I even sent him in the correct uniform for the first day - unlike last year!)

Silly selfie

The girls giving him some lovin' outside Mrs. Boyd's door. We parked and walked him in - practicing his room number and watching for hallway landmarks. I also drove him on Wed (along with the rest of our carpool) but he knew after that he'd have to find it on his own!

The after school photoshoot.

Owen has several friends in his class - 1 boy and 1 girl from his kinder class - which is sooooo nice and several other boys that he knew from soccer. He was very excited about 1) having his own desk, 2) the prospect on buying his lunch in the cafeteria, 3) getting to have 2 recess breaks, 4) getting to do real PE (which he says is just like "fun camp". He was not excited about 1) no "centers" time. But that was about it.

Kyle was working but I went to open house a few days into our first week - got to meet his teacher and hear more about first grade. Here is Owen's name on his desk.

And inside it. (She gave us all a notecard to leave our kids a note which I thought was a great idea.)

Owen loved knowing that I had seen his desk. He asked me about every single item inside. Did you see my blue pencil box? It has my pencils inside. Did you see my green folder? Did you see my math workbook? 

So far it feels like we're off to a good start. We are definitely adjusting to the longer day (2:45 instead of noon) and having some homework (usually just 1 math worksheet and 30-40 minutes of reading - half me to him and half him to me). Several people advised us to knock the homework out as soon as we get home instead of taking a break fist and although he doesn't love doing that I can see why its for the best. 

Our carpool is up and running too - we're just doing mornings this year - which is fine w/ me since the bigger kids get out later, and I'm used to picking him up. I drive 2 mornings a week and 3 he gets picked up so its still a good deal. The only downside is that the other 2 families have up-and-coming student drivers so they're probably only in for this semester and I'll have to start over next semester - I'm hopeful I'll be able to find some (new) families that live hear us and maybe that carpool relationship could last a few years...

Anyways, super thankful for Owen's school. The girls get started at the end of next week and then we'll REALLY be rolling! :)

Ninja Princess Turns Five

The night before Rebecca's 5th birthday she spent the night with the Other Mezgers because we were hosting my bro's engagement party. At first I was very careful with her reminding her how much we love her and that we would see her in the morning after breakfast...and then I realized how little she cared that she wouldn't be waking up at home (or with us) on her birthday. She was over the moon excited about having a sleepover with her cousins and she knew they have special "birthday pancakes" so she was good-to-go. 

Birthday Breakfast at the Mukes - I want to wake up there on my birthday too!

I sent the sash and tiara and she wore them to church like any good birthday princess.

(Sidenote - she was obsessed with the cupcake candle w/ the 5 on it. She carried it around in a little bag for the week between her actual party and her birthday. And then she whipped it out at her party and put it on her cupcake so we could light it and sing. And it was a good thing because the party wasn't at home and I hadn't remembered a candle. Party Planner Rebecca to the rescue - always prepared!)

So, on the evening of her actual birthday we told her she could pick a restaurant for dinner. I asked her where she might want to go and she replied "someplace fancy." Then she said, after thinking for a moment, "how 'bout the cafeteria!" Kyle tried several different tactics to persuade her otherwise but this girl wanted fancy and that meant Luby's - I mean, where else can you get jello, fried okra and a balloon??? And its' all so fancy!

We actually passed on jello this time because the sprinkle cupcakes looked so, well, fancy!

Alright, on to the party the next weekend. I'm pretty sure I've already mentioned Rebecca's ninja obsession. Not sure where she got it - but she's got it. And she has moves. It only took a few minutes in the backyard to get her doing some of her moves to capture this image for her invite. I don't think you can teach a non-ninja this. It's innate. She IS a ninja princess.

Before she sprung "I want a ninja party" on me I was already really really wanting to do her party at the little gymnastics place she did class last spring w/ Nana - they do parties and make it soooooooooo easy on the parents. So, it took a little convincing to get Rebecca on board - that it would be a Ninja Princess Gymnastics Party (because gymnastics is clearly like basic training for ninjas), but she agreed - happy mommy!

Other than making some little ninja headbands at party favors all I had to do was make cupcakes - and she and Maggie helped. And by helped, I actually mean helped! Or at least I don't  mean caused more mess in the kitchen than if I had been baking with feral monkeys. Yet another way that ages 3 and 5 is better than 2 and 4!

And from here on out we just sat back! The 3 "coaches" totally went with the theme and made all of their games "ninja-y" even if it was just in how they described them. Rebecca was in full costume. And she was the self-proclaimed "leader of the ninja team."

Giving instructions (to the coaches) about how they were going to play Ninja Hide-And-Seek next - which, was totally not part of their normal plan, but they went with it. Big.Tip.

Dance Party.

Some parachute time - I didn't hear how they connected this to the ninja theme but I now they did!

Happy birthday was sung inside.

Ninja jumping?

Ninja running?

Ninja line-standing.

Snack and cupcake time. (Did I mention the coaches helped serve the food and did all the clean-up? I've drunk the koolaid people.)

Ninja singing.

Sure am glad she had that candle! (She's the one who gave it to the coach!)

Maggie and Owie

The whole crew (parents and all) doing "Ice Cream and Cake" - song/dance.

The kids had SO much fun and it was SO easy for me. Seriously I want to do ALL of our future parties like this. What other themes can we coordinate w/ gymnastics. My little pony gymnastics? Lego gymnastics? Dora gymnastics? Transformer gymnastics? Let me know if you have ideas...

Oh, 2 other things I want to remember:

1) One of Rebecca's "love languages" is gifts. No doubt. She has a hard time letting anyone leave our house without giving them something. When we had about a 6 week stretch of weekly repairmen for the dishwasher she liked to give away all our apples so they could have a snack on the road. So, for her birthday, she kept having me retell her who had given her what (after she opened gifts) and then she'd sigh and say something nice about it/them - you could tell she was really thinking about each of her friends/family in connection w/ the gift.

2) She knows how to milk a good birthday week. Having her actual birthday and her party almost a week apart meant we (but mostly Owen and Maggie) heard - I get to pick, it's my birthday! - sooooo may times.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY REBECCA!!! WE LOVE YOU!

D + A

My brother Alex is (finally - wink, wink) getting married to his long-time sweetie Deidre. The date is set, the place is booked, the details are coming together...so it was time to get friends and the McElroy and Skrudland families together to celebrate. D and A arranged yummy catering (fajitas from Polvo's - delish) and a margarita machine from The Margarita Man (super-delish) and everyone came over to our place (sans kids) - it was a great night.

Check out these adorable cookies she got? Edible save the dates - March 13th will be here before we know it!

Deidre's aesthetic for the wedding is vintage chic so we went with it for the party decor.

The lovely couple!

All the bridesmaids :)

A somewhat random photo of my mom and her sister Debbie who drove in from San Antonio for the event. They were really funny posing for this one.

I'm pretty sure there were cell-phone selfies galore throughout the evening but I didn't take any more than these - wish I had captured Stan the Man totally under-dressed. Or some other group shots of McElroy cousins. Or Alex's bestest buds that go back to middle school - all grown up now. 

Anyways, it was a fun evening and just the beginning of the wedding festivities! To Deidre & Alex! 

#irishiwasamcelroy