Friday, November 22, 2013

Pre-School Graduation 2013!

Now that we are deep into Fall (and into my final year of pre-school!) I figured I'd take advantage of the bit of down time we have to finish catching everyone up on the rest of 2013 before we head into the busy holidays (and of course, 2014!)

So...since I mentioned school, it only makes sense that we talk about my graduation from my first year of preschool into my second year of preschool. For many of my friends, it was a graduation from preschool into kindergarten, but since I was born so late in the year, I missed the kindergarten cutoff, and had to stay at The Shoe for one more year.

The stage was set for a lovely event. Our talented teachers and parents decorated a conference room upstairs in the office building that our school is located in, and it looked REALLY good! Of course, we got to help!

We walked in to a song called "Pomp and Circumstance" and most of us wore green graduation caps, just like the big kids!
I was one of the kids that welcomed the parents and friends to the event! Me and some of my friends stood up and did our clapping song ("If you're ready give me three claps..." followed by us getting everyone to clap three times, all the way up to ten claps...and then we  bowed to the applause of our adoring guests...
We also performed a few songs that we had learned and performed over the school year at events like the Holiday Party, and the Halloween Party....in addition, we performed a new one that we rehearsed JUST for this graduation!
They called our names, and we all got to go up and get our little diplomas...
And at the end of the ceremony, again, just like the big kids, we threw our hats up in the air to celebrate! How cool is THAT!?
I did a really great job, and was so proud of not only the celebration we had today, but all the work I did to get here. I had a lot of fun, and learned a ton over the school year, and can't WAIT to see what this next year has to offer me!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

My new Woody Doll!

A month or two ago, Mom and Dad started a job chart for me!
It served two purposes....one, it helped me to have a sense of responsibility for doing things around the apartment, keeping a schedule, and for having a better attitude about things in general. Two, it helped me to learn the value of earning something that I wanted, in this case it was a Woody the Cowboy doll from Toy Story!

Mom and Dad created a job chart for me...I had enough jobs so as not to be overwhelming, but enough to keep me busy, and to keep it challenging...my jobs were kept simple, but important. Moving from the left, my jobs were to be in bed by 8:30pm, do a good job listening, not be grouchy for no good reason, put my shoes and socks away when I get home, and put my dishes in the sink when I was done with them. Woody sat at the bottom, helping to give me an incentive! Every day we went through the list and checked to see which ones I had done...if I did them, I got a star (which *I* got to put on my job chart)

Well, I finally finished the chore list! Some were harder than others (The last ones I finished were the 8:30 one, and the listening....) but even after my chart was done, I still do a pretty good job with the chores I was doing.

So, with some help of a couple remaining Christmas 2012 gift cards, we went to Toys R Us to get a Woody the Cowboy doll, just like my Buzz Lightyear!!
The adventures started as soon as I got home! Dad helped build a blanket fort, and using a flickering pretend candle, Woody and I had a blast! I introduced him to my other toys, and jumped right into playing!!

Obviously he and Buzz get along pretty well already....look at the two of them goofing around!! I LOVE my Woody doll! I'm so proud of the fact that I earned it through my chore list!

Monday, November 11, 2013

Boo at the Zoo 2013!

We're jumping around a bit, but the final piece in the Halloween celebration puzzle this year is Boo at the Zoo! You get to go to the Zoo at nighttime, dress in your costume, and walk around the zoo! You see the animals at night when no one really ever gets to see them, and there are lots of places to go trick or treating to get candy, chips, and other great snacks!

One of the best things about it was that I got to go with Mom Dad AND JustRichy, who was still in town! He was terrified of my skeeeelllleeetttoooon costume!

 
Mom also got in on the fear action while we were walking around!


Some of the stands had tasks to complete (One stand had you digging through birdseed or something to find little spiders, which you then traded in for candy) whereas other stands just needed a solid "Trick or Treat" to get something great!


I got to walk around the zoo, and lead our ragtag group from place to place...we got to see lots of animals, too!


Inside the bird house, there was a learning center devoted to the owl...you could pick up a nut cracker and use it to crack nuts, to get a feel for how strong an owl's beak was!


On the way to the bird house, we got to see one of the numerous displays at the zoo. This one featured skeletons as pirates! Two of my favorite things mashed together!


These skeletons were in a hair salon and one was giving the other a haircut which was HILARIOUS....I mean, even skeletons need haircuts, right?

Or maybe the display was just sponsored by Hair Cuttery. :-)


We met up with my friend Max and his family (Max is the blue power ranger, and his little brother is the red one!) and we got to run around trick or treating and seeing the zoo together.


We got to see the elephants in their gorgeous. brand new indoor home (I've posted pics of the outdoor section of their home before...click HERE if you want to see those....)


We got to play "Find the animals" in a lot of their cages, which was fun!


We made our way to the carousel, and I got to ride with Max, his brother, his Dad, and My Dad....at first, I was really worried about riding on the animals that go up and down, since I've always been afraid of them...I would always rather sit in the little ornately decorated benches...I don't know what it was this time, whether I was trying to be brave since my friend was there, or the adrenaline of the evening, but I got on my first "up and down" animal on a carousel (It was an armadillo) and was THRILLED. I even surprised myself by yelling "Dad! I'm doing it! I'm riding a carousel for the first time!!!" It was amazing....Dad was so proud of me. And Mom was shocked when she saw us riding around (She skipped the ride, but was thrilled to see me doing it!)


Look at this display! THAT skeleton is in the tub and THAT one is on the potty...THAT is GREAT!


Max and I heartily debated whether or not that bat-shaped light was a Batman bat symbol or not...we agreed to disagree.


On the way out we saw these spooky ghost ladies dancing to the spooky music...it was a nice capper to a very fun, yet very exhausting evening...I hope we get to go again next year!!


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Fall Festival and Pumpkin Carving 2013 With JustRichy!

This Halloween, we got a visitor from up North: JustRichy came down to spend the weekend before Halloween with us! That meant he got to join us on some Fall activities!

We went out to Greenstreet Farms to do their Fall Festival...I was a little grumpy for part of the day, but managed to rally and have a good time!

First we got to go on a hay ride through a spooky trail!

Above you can see some of the bats flying overhead. Spooooky, right!?
There were lots of cool decorations alongside the trail....ghosts, skeletons, ghouls...it was spooky, but I made it through.
Next we entered a real life hardcore corn maze that one could easily spend several hours lost in....Dad was being kind of a big baby (His actual words: "I've never done this before, and I am terrified")
Richy got to hold the flag (for if we got lost and had to be rescued) and I led the way! I was fearless, running down different paths and telling everyone to follow me!
We finally escaped the corn maze (after thinking that we'd be late for Boo at the Zoo later in the day)
There were a few other things to see at the Festival....a giant inflatable bounce mat (which I skipped) and huge tractor to pretend to drive...
An enormous sandbox that was filled with corn kernels instead of sand (it really brought out the "digging dog" in us all...)
A giant tire farm where you could climb on tires and play around the playground...
And an enormous slide that took you underground. I was very brave, and went through it after patiently waiting in line (the slide was a ribbed pipe so when I went down I went unh-uhn-uhn-uhn-uhn...it was hilarious.
Finally we got to the important part, which was to pick out a few more pumpkins for the holiday to add to the one I got back in Connecticut.
When we got back home, Richy taught me some sweet sword moves....he would assign a number to the move, and then call them out, so when he called out the number, I would make the corresponding move....for example, in the image below, he called out the number where I would swipe down and knock the sword out of his hand...FLAWLESS VICTORY!
From sword fighting, we moved inevitably to pumpkin carving...Mom drew a face on the small one I got in Connecticut, and she based it on the scary angry face I made...it was really cool.
I explained how it would best look, and she did a great job of following my directions...
All of us worked on pumpkins (Richy carved his and took it home with him) while Mom did the small Connecticut Pumpkin, Dad did his pumpkin, and my pumpkin was the fancy painted one behind me.
I was the one who drew the face on Dad's, and after he cleaned it out, I just didn't feel like carving out the face would do it justice, so I asked him to leave it....this is how it looked!
We had a pretty good time carving pumpkins and going to the Fall Festival!!! Next year we hope to spend more time there....but this year we had to make it to our first....BOO AT THE ZOO!!!!!!!

Monday, November 4, 2013

Halloween 2013!

Happy belated Halloween everyone!

Sorry for not getting this up sooner,  but I was so wrapped up in a ton of great Halloween celebrations!

Obviously the day of Halloween itself was a big one! It was busy, and fun, and full of great times (and great candy!)

First we had the big Halloween parade at school! We all got dressed up and walked around the office building that our preschool is located in! I looked AWESOME in my skeleton costume! It was just like I described it to Mom and Dad when I told them I wanted it!


We also got to go upstairs and visit a conference room they had set up for some trick or treating! Everyone sat around in a circle and had bowls of candy. We said 'trick or treat', got some candy, and LOVED IT! At one point, a group was running late, and bumped into us as we were leaving, which meant we got EVEN MORE CANDY ON THE WAY OUT!! Score!!

At night, we headed out, and even Dad got dressed up this year as a GHOSTBUSTER! Luckily we had him, so we didn't have to be afraid of no ghost. Well, now THAT'S stuck in my head! I have to drink some water to get rid of the song!!

We met up with some friends, and walked around the neighborhood to visit lots of houses, get lots of candy, and have lots of fun!
We went up to the doors, ran around the yards, and got to have a blast together. Even when it started raining a little bit, it couldn't dampen (HA!) our spirits at all! We kept moving, and the rain finally stopped.
So many houses were REALLY decked out for Halloween, and even though some of it was scary, I still had SUCH a great time out there!!!)
I mean LOOK at this haul! That bucket was awfully heavy those last few houses (Thank you Mom and Dad for holding the pumpkin bucket for me, and for bringing it to me when I went to the house, rang the doorbell, then turned around to yell "MOM! DAD! BUCKET!" Totally appropriate.