7!

It was a very busy weekend. We spent most of Saturday with my sister, who helped us prepare cupcakes for Avery's party.  There was cleaning and putting out Halloween decorations on Friday afternoon and into Saturday.  Sunday was church, last minute prep, and post party cleanup.  I'm exhausted -- but the girl had a good weekend and a happy birthday, that's all that really matters.

She celebrated 7 with her neighbor friends, a few old school friends, and Nonna/Nonno.  The Halloween theme was a success.

Class Schedule

The girl jumped on that bus like a pro first day.  She was the second person picked up and I did see that she sat down with the other person on the bus.  After the fact I learned it was a Kindergarten girl -- doesn't that warm your heart ?  I'm so happy she sat down with someone who could have been pretty nervous right then.  I know if Avery came home LAST year and told me someone sat w/ her first day I would have been so grateful to that kid.  Today they adjusted the bus route a bit so there were a few other kids already on the bus.

I've been warning her that she'll start learning harder stuff each year... well here's her schedule:

• Arrival
• Morning Announcements
• Morning Meeting
• Phonics
• Reading
• Spelling
• Lunch at 11
• Handwriting
• Recess
• Bible
• Math
• Dismissal

On Mondays they also have a Library session, Tuesdays a Gym session, Wednesdays an Art session, Fridays both a Music Session and Chapel.

I am oddly excited for spelling.

Teachers and Bedtimes

We finally have a teacher's name.  We have meet the teacher on Tuesday.  I can't believe she goes back to school -- 1st grade -- on Thursday!  Avery is ready to go back, but she isn't ready to have an earlier bed time.  I've started her waking to her alarm every day and pulled it back by an hour for tomorrow; I think we'll back it up by another half an hour for the next three days.

Wish us luck!  The backpack is ready to go.

Buses and Birthdays

Two weeks for both.  New bus number this year and she will be getting on a little earlier in the morning and getting off a little earlier in the afternoon.

The girl decided she wants a Halloween themed birthday.  While I might get some odd looks from the bakery I guess I should go all in and get things in order for her to have a few friends here.  The next two weeks will be a bit of chaos, but I guess she's worth it.  1st grade... 7 years old... here we come!

Keeping July Jumpin

We had our 5th of July shin-dig with our neighbors and the girl had a blast with her hood crew.  So did I!

This week, while a few of those neighbors are leaving for vacations, the girl headed to VBS at her old pre-school's church.  This is a half-day program, but she loves it, so we were in.  To our pleasure several of her old friends were there, so she got to see some old friends again.  Next week she heads back to Camp Splash.

Today we took our first visit to the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden.  Seriously, why haven't I been there before?  What a treasure!  It was hot (as it has been for most of this summer so far) so we were there less than 2 hours, but I will totally be back.

Girl knows how to party

This past weekend was all late nights for the girl.  On Saturday we hung out with the neighbors and it turned into her first sleep over.  Honestly, I didn't think I would be okay with her doing sleepovers.  It's a different world we live in.  I would be hard pressed to get to know the family of school friends well.  My comfort with my neighbors surprises even me.

This of course means she was up late.  We woke early the next morning for church and she refused to nap later that day (unlike me) which is why she crashed on the drive home on Sunday night.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to catch up with two old college friends, as one was driving this way to pick his son up from the airport.  It's such a weird dynamic to be with your friends from when you were 20 in the presence of your 6 year old.

Summering

Here we are, a month into Avery's first official summer break.  She spent the first two weeks staying up late and sleeping in even later followed by tv time and playing outside with her neighborhood friends.  Yes, I made her do a bit of "school work" each day, it wasn't 100% work-free.

From there we headed out on our first cruise for 2024, a 9 nighter out of Baltimore  The weather wasn't pristine, but we still had a great time.  She loved the kids club and made a friend there.  She also killed it on the rock wall, conquering two of the six paths available.  I don't know how she had the energy but she was running every step of the way in Cococay looping around on the free water slides.

Now that we're back home she is spending this week at Camp Splash, a swim camp at our local public pool.  Here too she made a friend, and my advice to repeat the person's name seemed to help her remember another new friend's name!

Next week we have some activities planned for the 4th and subsequent weeks will take her back to Camp Splash and two Vacation Bible Schools.  She does have a "gap" the few weeks before school starts back up.  At this point I plan to revert to the chill strategy we had as the summer started.