The Linda Family

Ashleigh had her first day of Kindergarten.  She LOVED it.  Bekah was not impressed.

We took her to school at 8:45, and at 9:00 they had a ‘parent pep-talk’ with some repeats of the important info they shared at orientation and a few new tidbits.  This was our first time meeting Ashleigh’s teacher, Ms. Buckley.  They did parent conferences last week while we were away basking in the sun and sea air.

Ashleigh’s school requires uniforms, she decided on a skirt and her pink shirt.  She was adorable as she headed out to the car for school.

We all made it through the day with no tears.  Well, all of us, minus Bekah.  Bekah was lost without her big sister and walked around the house asking for Ashleigh and Daddy.  When I told her it was time to go to the food store, and then get Ashleigh, and then get Daddy, I thought she was going to jump for joy.  She was SO excited.

We arrived to get Ashleigh a little early, so we hung out on the sidewalk and chatted with a few other moms.  When Ashleigh’s class came out, she wasn’t with them.  I eventually made my way over and asked if the rest of them were coming out.  Ms. Buckley told me that the math teacher, Ms. Prada, was finishing up their math assessments and Ashleigh and one other child were inside with her, and I should go ahead inside to get her.  I walked inside as they were getting ready to walk out.  Ashleigh was thrilled to see us, and I got to meet Ms. Prada.

Ms. Prada and Ms. Buckley both had wonderful things to say about Ashleigh and her first day.  Of course, I know what a wonderful kid she is, but it was nice to hear it from someone else too.

I had every intention of being a good mom and baking cookies for Ashleigh today.  I went to the kitchen, defrosted the butter, and realized we had no chocolate chip cookies.  So, I decided on Rice Krispy Treats.  Only to find out we were out of Rice Krispies.  I seriously would have been a lousy mom in the 50′s!  So, I gave her a choice.  Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, or 7-11.  She decided that she must have a slurpee, so we had a family outing to 7-11.

I made her a special dinner too.  We had steamed shrimp, some yummy scallops, london broil and her favorite oven roasted potatoes.  I was going to make a salad, then realized that she wouldn’t eat the lettuce or the carrots, so I saved myself some effort and just tossed a few tomatoes on her plate.  She thoroughly enjoyed dinner, or so I gathered when she asked for her fourth helping of shrimp.

Ashleigh was SO excited to tell everyone who would listen about her day, so I’ll let her tell you all about it….

Ashleigh’s First Day of School from Wes Linda on Vimeo.

This is our wonderful Ashleigh telling everyone about her school day!

Dear Ashleigh,

I can hardly believe that tomorrow morning your Daddy and I will be taking you to KINDERGARTEN!  How in the world did you get to be a Kindergartener already?  I remember vividly the morning I learned you would be joining our family.  I remember the first time I felt you move.  I’ll never forget seeing your sweet little face, right after the doctor announced, ‘it’s a girl’.  Your first 5 years has been full and exciting.  We’ve been to beaches and weddings, aquariums and children’s museums.  You’re learning to read, and you have a new found love for math.

I’m so excited for the new things you will learn and the new experiences you will have.  I’m sad that we won’t have our lazy mornings and fun days whenever we feel like it, but I’m excited for you and the next chapter of our life.  I hope you make some wonderful friends and have a great time at school.  I can’t wait to see you grow and learn this year.

I’m SO proud of you kiddo.  You’re going to have an amazing year with your cute uniforms and new hair cut.  I can’t wait to see who you become by June!

Love you,

Mommy

Today Bekah woke up and asked for Ashleigh and Daddy as usual. Once we got through Ashleigh is sleeping and Daddy is at work, she said, ‘poo poo’. Ok, let’s go downstairs and go potty.

She sat on the potty, nothing happened, so she got up and started to play. A few minutes later she is crossing her legs and starting to freak out. So, I put her on the potty and she peed! Yay! As I was telling her what a great job she was doing she stopped and got up to look. She then started to walk away, until she realized she wasn’t done. She started crossing her legs and whining again, so I put her back on. MORE pee! Yay!

We took the inside from the potty to the bathroom, flushed it, washed it, and talked about what a great job she did. I then grabbed one of the packs of silly bands from the box in the dining room and gave her one. Oh she was SO proud. She went right back and sat down to try again.

I bought a huge package of silly bands on woot.com at the beginning of the month. They were SUPER cheap. $2.99 for six packages of 12. Shipping was $5, so I bought 3 sets. $14 later I had 216 silly bands. Ashleigh was SO excited when we got home from a long day and I handed her a package and thanked her for being so helpful and well behaved while we were out. Score 1 for mommy!

When I bought them, I figured giving Ashleigh little rewards for being helpful would encourage good behavior and it would be well worth my $14. I never imagined that Bekah would love them as well!

So, now we’re 3 hours into our day, she has refused to wear a diaper, she has tried to go potty 4 times and has actually gone twice. She has not had an accident! Holy cow!!

I’m not sure I’m ready for potty training with an 18 month old again, but I don’t think it’s my choice to make.

I’m going to hang on to my seat. I think the next 6 months are going to be long ones!

Yesterday was Ashleigh’s first school field trip. She was supposed to go to Port Discovery last month, but it was during the week she was out sick, so she missed the trip. Yesterday’s trip was to North Run Farm. It was a bit chilly, but thankfully not raining (like it is today, the day the 2 yr olds from her school go!).

I hadn’t planned on going on the field trip, Ash didn’t seem like she needed me there and I didn’t think a chaperone with a baby in tow was what the school really wanted. Tuesday morning she started panicing that she would be taking the bus to their trip and I would not be there. So, I emailed her cottage director. I was told that I was more than welcome to join them, but there was probably not room for me on the bus. I was to follow the bus in my car. PERFECT! I’ll be there to get her on and off the bus, I can enjoy the time with her, but when the trip is over, I get to go home! Plus, no bus full of noisy 4 yr olds!

The farm truly is a farm. They grow hay and feed corn as their main source of income. They also grow pumpkins and gourds. They are only open to the public for 8 weeks a year, and most of their customers are schools. We started with a tour of the “barn” where they sell the produce. We were shown several varieties of pumpkins and we talked about the difference between feed corn and the corn we eat.

Next stop was the animals. They only have 5 animal pens, the cows, the chickens, the goats, the pigs, and the sheep. The cow they have is a beef cow, not a dairy cow. The past 3 years she has had twins. The twin calves were only 3 weeks old, and we got to see them walking around and nursing. It was adorable. The goat also had twins, the kids were 3 months old. One of them was nursing when we first walked up, but they were startled away when 20+ kids came running at them!

The sheep, pigs, and chickens were also fun to watch. We learned that pigs like pumpkins. They were “yelling” at the farmer’s wife when we had our tour because she didn’t bring them a pumpkin. The kids really seemed to enjoy the animals.

Next stop was the hay ride. We went on a short hay ride down the field. We went past the pumpkin patch and the corn maze. It was a short little trip, but the kids enjoyed it. When we got back the kids got to find a small pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. They go through the patch in the afternoons and cut off the orange ones so the kids just have to find the pumpkin that is sitting next to the vine. Ashleigh picked a perfect little pumpkin! It’s bright orange and perfectly round. It’s sitting on the front steps getting us ready for fall.

Next up was the corn maze. The farmer’s wife led us through part of the maze (the whole thing was WAY too long for the kids). She showed them the roots of the corn and told them what animals eat feed corn. We learned that chickens, cows, and pigs all like the corn, but it is VERY bad for horses. More useless facts to add to a little corner of my brain.

We brought the kids lunches for them to enjoy at the farm, so after the corn maze we sat down at the picnic tables and let them eat. When they were done they got to play on the play area. They had a tire park, a mini corn maze (using bales of hay and big tubes), a hay area to climb on, a tipi made with corn stalks, and a corn box. A what? A corn box. There is no sand on the farm. Really, it’s an AWESOME idea. They took old tractor tires and buried the bottoms of them, and filled them with the kernels of feed corn. The kids climbed right in to play with shovels, buckets, rakes, and corn. They didn’t come home all dirty and sandy! It was great.

It was a chilly day, so Bekah and I came home and warmed up, but Ashleigh had a blast, Bekah was a good sport, and overall it was a good day!

I have some pictures, but the picture software isn’t working properly, for now you’ll have to check them out on Facebook

Ashleigh has always been a smart cookie. No one gets much past her. I’m pretty sure we were reminded of that again this week when we were thinking about a trip to Rita’s. This morning, while Ashleigh enjoyed her breakfast, she asked to watch a TV show. When the TV came on, it was already turned to Discovery Kids and The Magic School Bus was on. We LOVE the Magic School Bus. It’s a good educational show, and it reminds me of elementary school when we used to watch it in school! Aaahhh…Nostalgia. The one downside to Discovery Kids vs Noggin or Disney? Commercials. Now I love that we will never get a glimpse of Hannah Montana or The Wizards of Waverly Place when The Magic School Bus ends, but Ashleigh LOVES commercials which makes me a little nuts.

During one of this morning’s commercial breaks the commercial for The Sunsetter Awnings came on. Now I would assume this commercial was geared for the parents who are watching Saturday morning TV with their kids. In this household? In this household Dad is in the Dining Room working, Mom is focused on the baby, and the 4 year old is ready to sign on the dotted line. The conversation went something like this –

Ash: Look Mom, It’s only $700 for the Sunsetter Retractable Awning.
Me: That’s nice. I don’t want a Sunsetter Retractable Awning.
Ash: But I do. Sometimes I get hot outside.
Me: [laughing out loud] WHERE did we get you kid??

Talking about the marketing department’s ideal customer. This kid saw the commercial, heard them say you can get a SunSetter for under $700, and when I said I didn’t want one, she gave me a benefit of them. The commercial tells you that the awning will help cool your patio by up to 20 degrees by blocking out the sun. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time until she has the whole Feature, Advantage, Benefit selling technique down. I can just picture it now…. “Mommy, look at this amazing Sunsetter Awning. It is retractable, so that we only need to put it up when we want it. The best part? It only takes 60 seconds to open. With the Sunsetter open, our patio will be cooler, enabling me to play outside for longer periods of time. Don’t you want me to be able to play outside on hot days and stay out of your way?” The only thing missing would be if she ended it with, “Is there any reason you wouldn’t buy us a SunSetter awning today?”

The commercial just came on again. She saw it, and went running in to Wes to tell him that he can get a SunSetter for only $700. I, of course, am sitting here laughing. He just asked her if I sent her to tell him that. Nope. She then explained to him that it cools off the patio, and she gets hot playing outside. Man, we are SO in for it…