Rainy Morning
Rainy Morning

Dr. Seuss's Birthday

If you don't have a primary school-aged child, you might not be aware that Dr. Seuss's birthday is a Big Deal.  It is also National Read Across America Day.  I had forgotten all the hoopla that we had with preschool last year.

Jack's teacher shared photos through ClassDojo (that I stole with screenshots).  They got to wear crazy socks to school, do special crafts and activities.  Below you can see their hats and the kids testing whether they like their bread buttered on the top or bottom.  I helped celebrate by making Seuss-like cookies for my boys. 

UntitledUntitledUntitled
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Untitled//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Swim lessons: minnows

I worried that taking a break in February would make it hard for Jack to start the next level of swim classes.  But he was a happy, floppy fish today!

I could never get him to walk kick for me.

My view :-)

High -five-giving after getting a toy off the bottom of the pool by himself.


Oscar night

We hosted the annual Oscar Pool viewing party again.  It was a good turn out and a lot of fun to see friends again. I even came in third second!

Missing Brian hard though.  Love you, Loophole.  We did our best to keep the pool true to your terms (even when we disagreed with your system!)

Snow Ice

It took almost a year, but Taiwanese Snow Ice has come to Denver!!!



Near Colorado and Evans you can find Snowlabco and get your snow ice on.  It's squeezed in between a marijuana dispensary, a rental car shop, and under a Brazilian capoeria studio.  They were running out flavors that night so we couldn't get the basic sweet we wanted, but it was still very tasty.

 



Hard to compare because I had chocolate, but I think I prefer the one in New York that was made from cream based ice.  This one is vegan with soy milk.  It lacked richness.  But still totally worth the drive across town to check it out. 


The kids were at the Apex Center for tonight's date night.  Prior to snow ice we found another gem in a sketchy strip mall, Ambli.  I saw their menu on the Denver Restaurant Week site and it looked good.  If I had known it was near a McDonald's, a Dollar Store, and a power station I might not have gone (I was searching in the "Cherry Creek" neighborhood).  But the restaurant actually had great ambiance and a delicious variety of foods.  One of the better places we have tried lately.  We spent most of the meal discuss the Cosmere, as I had finished the latest Brandon Sanderson book* last night.  Ben has me hooked.  I'm thinking of going back to the beginning of Mistborn now that I know the whole trajectory of that world. 

Date nights are the best :-)




*Whoops, not the latest.  Daaaaang.  That dude is prolific. 

Full Day Kindergarten

Jack is now a full day student!  I didn't want to pay tuition all year (especially during the holiday and sickness season).  I wanted to start him in January, but musical rehearsals complicated things.  Well, rehearsals are over for me.  So for the last three months of Kindergarten I enrolled Jack in full day.  His class was blended half and full day.  All that changed is he no longer leaves at 10:50 in the morning.  Instead he goes to lunch in the cafeteria (scary!) then a second recess (woo!) followed by alternating classes in art, PE, computer lab, science, and social studies.  Basically all the FUN stuff in school.  At the end they have free time, what you might typically think of as Kindergarten play time, but has been relegated to preschool and day care in today's education world.

Wednesday was his first official day, but it happened to be an early release day.  His teacher shares pictures on the ClassDojo app and included one of lunch - I like to think she did it for me :-)

Untitled

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Oh, I should mention that on that first afternoon, Sam was excitedly running around the asphalt play area and biffed it hard.  He fell onto this front and flipped feet over head.  He got an impressive bump!  Poor kid.  He seemed to forget about it by the next day though.  Kids are tough.

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js Untitled


Thursday was a real full day, going all the way until 2:55.  He came out happy and proud!
Untitled//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
His main complaint is that lunch is too short (20 minutes) and he doesn't get to watch TV.  Ben and I laughed at him.  We've known that it would be a tough day when he had to stop his Roman siesta style lunches with 1+ hours of TV and second (and third) helpings of food.  I make it up to him with an after school snack and no more quiet time.

Sam and I had a spectacular day together.  I felt less rushed without squeezing errands into school time.  We had more play time together and he helped me make S'mores tarts.  I put him down right after lunch for a nap and, as I suspected, he took to the early time very well.  When I had to wake him to pick up Jack he was in a better mood than usual.  I'll find out soon if the lack of post-nap grouchiness is because of the new time or was a fluke.  The weather was nice so we bundled up to walk to the school.  I think he liked the extra time to snooze.

Untitled//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Untitled//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js



Untitled//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js