Fire and Knifes

yes I had lots of young kids over at my house for a cook out.

 and of course we needed some kindling

 so obviously I gave all 5 of them knives so they could chop the wood

because we needed more fuel for desert.  

Love weekends

The Ragnar Affair

Well my daughter's heart has been stolen.  So sorry Wendim but Lucy has a new man and his name is Ragnar. Lucy was immediately drawn to this man and I believe she also captured his heart.  He patiently made a helmet for her, and signed a magnet for her and then let her take her time signing a magnet for him and making a helmet for mom.  He was totally sweet to her and for a bit these two seemed like they were in their own world.  I was sweet on him too as we waited for him to get his photo taken with a group of special needs young adults, he was so amazing with them, chatting and engaging.  I was hooked! 

morning singing

same photos different story

promise a permanent post on kindertroubles after a few weeks have gone by.  Just let it be known that Lucy is working her little butt off trying to navigate kindergarten and all it's rules, regulations, expectations and boundaries. 

lets talk about hair.  lucy has spent a lot of time these past few weeks thinking about her hair. 

on about the first day of kindergarten Lucy noticed a little curly haired girl with very short hair.  As soon as we were in the car Lucy asked if she could get her hair cut like that. 

she then asked to have her hair down and loose for a few days, i agreed, providing  that she understood we'd be doing some conditioning and finger combing every day as long as it was loose.

so it was a good time to start teaching her a little self hair care.  She conditioned and worked through the front sections and I did the back.

she did pretty good. and in the middle of the process decided that she wanted a hair cute still, but not too short because she likes her long hair!

"even if it hurts a little mom, I still like my hair to be long" ... 

I am dragging my feet a little on getting her hair back into a style.  I am sure it's going to be a mini-trauma when we set down and really comb it out.  Meanwhile, we marvel at how dang cute she is with that big ole head of long curly hair!!!

Little Lady on the Prairie

We went to Walnut Grove to see some Little House on the Prairie in real life.  Seriously cute photos follow.  I have tons TONS I need to write about Lucy's first couple weeks of kindergarten but am biding my time and thinking about what to put out there in the blogosphere and what I should just cry in my beer over. 

It was quite a beautiful day for us pioneer girls.

the wind blowing the prairie grasses

Lucy all relaxed and easy on this Saturday.

Exploring prairie trails, breathing fresh air and feeling the warm sunshine.

deciding that we enjoy our mudfree, bug free, flushing bathroom house

moving the prairie grasses off the path so our friends can pass more easily

taking mama's breath away with her beauty and her spirit

cooking up some grub on the banks of plum creek

and a glimpse of what happns in kindergarten!

what a beautiful day

i want more

Labor Day Week-end

We had a terrific Labor Day weekend.  I picked Lucy up from kindergarten and we headed directly to Frontenac State Park for a weekend of camping with our friends Sara, Mel and Morgan.  Lots of photos to follow:

Lucy was in charge of the first aid kit

eating the smores away from the smokey camp fire.

My little burrito. It was a 45 degree, very windy night. 

brrrrrrrrrrr

acting goofy on a morning hike to the bathroom

"scrambling" eggs with Sara

lots of friendship on the trail to Teopia Rock

she's happy in the woods

i love this photo for some reason

found an awesome park in Red Wing

the calm before Lucy's 2nd night firestorm.

transitions are so hard

Lucy is one of those kids where it's really hard to tell whether it's helpful or hurtful to talk about/process upcoming transitions a lot.  Of course we've been talking about kindergarten all summer long. She's been psyched. Ready. Diving in headfirst.  Seems totally secure. 

Lucy has a lot of false bravado. She holds her head up high and jumps out the airplane even though she's scared to death of heights and falling.  Poor baby. 

Wednesday was really hard for her. She was acting up all morning. I dropped her off at school and she walked in all raring to go, barely said goodbye to me.  I had the day off, and I was stressed but feeling pretty relaxed.   It took all of 2 hours for her to get sent to the principal's office.  2 hours.  She wasn't following the rules and she hit another child.   Apparently she also did a bit of spitting.  She learned a hard lesson right away, as she missed the first ever recess of her life. 

Lucy was SO CRABBY when I picked her up from school. She did a lot of snapping at me.  I was uber forgiving.  Lucy didn't want to tell her grandpa and grandma what she had done.  We went for a walk with the dog to clear our heads, took a nice warm bath. 

Thursday was better. Another day of new transitions. Thursday she went to her new before school child care center and rode the bus from there to her new school for the first time.  She was really excited about the bus.  I had no bad reports about Lucy today.  I didn't talk to the teacher at all but I had spoken to the director Wednesday and asked her to please let me know of any problems so we can all be on board. I heard nothing today.  Lucy seemed a lot more relaxed when I picked her up from school.  She said she did good and was a good friend.  She was so tired, she barely slept at all the night before, having dreams, waking all night and awake by 6:15 this morning. It was a long day but she held her self together pretty well until the very end of the night.

Oh Lucy. I hope that things continue to get easier for you and that soon everyone at your school sees you for the shining star you are!

KINDERGARTEN

Can you believe it???  It goes so fast (it really does).  I mean, one day you are thinking, will this teething EVER end???  or maybe you just can't believe how freakn' slow that hour before lunch time goes some mornings  then suddenly suddenly you look at that little baby and she's 5 years old and she's blowing you a kiss and looking up at her new kindergarten teacher with those big brown eyes and you think crap, I gotta get on that college savings fund.

all ready to get in the car

Lucy and Buzz Lightyear

walking to the school

she found her locker all by herself

good bye Lucy, be good, I love you!

I stood out in the hall for a few minutes.

And our girl is off to the independance that is kindergarten.