Thanksgiving Trees

Before I start posting more recipes, I wanted to share a project I did with Ava's Kindergarten class.  In addition to baking and cooking with the kids on a weekly basis, Ava's teacher has invited parents to come into the classroom to share their talents.  One of the moms is a very talented designer and she came in and worked on a project with the kids combining artwork and a story created by them, another mom came in to teach yoga.

Thanksgiving was approaching and I remembered a project that the students did in the preschool Ava attended.  With the help of their teachers, the kids made "Thanksgiving Trees."  The tree was a Birch Branch on which paper leaves and little tags hung.  "I am thankful for...." was written on one side of the tag and the child's response on the other.  I started around town in hopes of finding supplies for 16 trees, enough for each student in Ava's class.  I started combing the park for good branches but had little success.  The "trees" I found were just plain old sticks.  On one of our walks home from school one day, I noticed a beautiful Birch with perfect branches.  That wasn't going to work out though, as I knew I was going to have a tough time explaining to my neighbor exactly what the heck I was doing up on a ladder with my trusty sheers, cutting down the branches from his tree.  I decided to try our local florists.  The first florist would happily sell me 16 twigs for twenty bucks.  Yeah thanks, but no thanks. The second, said they couldn't get me the branches at all.  I started to wonder if I this art project was really going to happen when I decided to try a third place.                                                    

The third time was a charm and a very awesome, non-greedy and helpful florist named Frank told me not only could he get me the branches, but that he would give them to me for free!  Isn't that great?  Thanks to Frank, I am delighted to share with you the pictures of the Thanksgiving Trees created by Ava's Kindergarten class. 

The kids really enjoyed working on this project.  They happily decorated their branches with multicolored leaves and excitedly told me all that they were thankful for.  Responses ranged from their moms and dads to hot chocolate!

LOTS of Fun Feeding Others

Our local homeless shelter provides lunch to approximately 50 people everyday.  Lunch on Tuesdays (LOTS) is a special service program at Ava's school, in which the students are asked to bring in an extra brown-bagged lunch from home to help feed the neighbors at the shelter.

Ava is really happy to participate.  She was very excited to show me the picture she made on the paper bag she was given by her teacher to decorate, and delighted in telling me how she and one of her friends asked the teacher to write the exact same thing on their lunch bags... "I hope you like your lunch." 

In order to support her enthusiasm, I suggested we make a special trip to to the grocery store so she could personally choose the items that would fill the lunch bag she so happily made. She was absolutely delighted with my suggestion, and after much consideration, chose a nectarine from produce, a small bag of mini-pretzels from the chip aisle and two big bulky round rolls to hold the roast beef and Swiss that she selected at the deli counter. 

It was also very important to her that she help prepare the sandwiches this morning, as well as pack them, along with all of the other items in the bag herself.  She even decided to share one of her mini Hershey's chocolate bars.

I could tell that she really enjoyed the whole process, from choosing the lunch she'd give to preparing and packing the lunch herself, and I enjoyed it as well.  My little Kindergartner's enthusiasm was contagious and it filled my heart with joy. 

Time to Make the Doughnuts

"Make sure you look pretty today Mommy," were Ava's words to me yesterday morning while getting ready to take her to school.  What she meant was that in addition to a "pretty outfit," she wanted me to put my make-up on.  I look pretty without make-up you see, but WAY, WAY prettier with it on.  It was important to Ava that we all look our best, even Luke, because yesterday was a big day.

Yesterday was a big day, because her teacher invited me and Luke to come into the classroom to bake doughnuts with the kids.  Each week Ava's Kindergarten class studies a letter of the alphabet and as part of their study, cook something that corresponds with the letter of the week.  Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious Doughnuts were on the menu for yesterday and they truly were delicious. 

I originally didn't have doughnut pans but after a trial run Tuesday morning, I realized that without them, our mini-doughnuts, were truly mini-muffins. I figured the kids were too smart for me to be able to pass mini-muffins off as Munchkins, so doughnut pans were a must.  There was no way I was going to be the mommy who came in to make the doughnuts, but really made muffins.  

My neurosis intense drive so as not to embarrass myself or my daughter, resulted in a credit card purchase of $18.64 for two mini-doughnut pans from Amazon.com and an additional $19.97 to ship them overnight.  Yep, that's exactly how my anxiety-ridden mind rolls.  I can't help it, I just like things to be right.

My cute little doughnut pans arrived on schedule and with the help of two other moms, and an adorable bunch of kids, I am happy to report that the baked doughnut making process was a complete success!

I will post the recipe and pictures once Ava and I make a batch at home for ourselves.

School Days

Delving back into school, activities and lots of park time has been an adjustment for all of us after a very lazy Summer, but Kindergarten is great and Ava's loving it.  She adores her new teacher and is enjoying her new friends. 

There's a parent mixer next Saturday at one of our local restaurants which I'm very much looking forward to.  The school is providing free babysitting service (woo hoo!) so it can be an adults only event.  I had my first PTSO (Parent Teacher Student Organization) meeting Thursday night and it was great because the school also provided free babysitting service for that.  Stephen's been working like crazy so I wouldn't have been able to go otherwise. 

I was also excited to learn that I'm going to be able to help out in the classroom and volunteer at some of the annual school/parent-run events, because it's okay to bring Luke along with me.  Before learning this, I was actually feeling sort of sad.  There are so many opportunities to help out at the school, but I didn't think I was going to be able to do anything since I don't have any day-time help for Luke.

Ava's teachers words were like music to my ears.  When I expressed to her that I wanted to be involved but didn't have someone to look after Luke, without hesitation she said to bring him along.  Luke is welcomed too, so now I can participate and I think it's fantastic, because I really want to be involved in Ava's school/education.  Now I can with ease because I don't need to find and hire a babysitter to be a part of the community.

Like I said though, getting back into the swing of things, after our long-lazy Summer has definitely been an adjustment.  For example, at dance class the other day, I saw that Ava was wearing the lone pink leotard in a sea of black.... 

Looks like mommy ordered the wrong dance uniform, as I quickly realized that I couldn't have been the only parent to get it right.

Countdown to Kindergarten Continues

There's only a little over a week left of Summer vacation.  The days of sleeping in, and spending lazy days doing whatever we please, soon will be gone. We've been having an excellent Summer spending time at the park with pre-school friends, as well as spending weeks at a time at my parents home. We took Ava to see Mary Poppins, which was a fantastic experience.  She absolutely LOVED it and wants to go again.  Maybe Santa will bring her another set of tickets.  I've also loved spending time with old friends while visitng my home town.  I wish there were more time so I could get together with everyone. It's been such a peaceful, relaxing and fun-filled Summer.

Ava's very excited to go to school and that really pleases me. She was very nervous on the day of her Kindergarten orientation back in June.  By the time it was over though, she was happy and excited to attend her new school.  It was a huge relief.  Now she's ready for the Summer to be over and to start school. We also found out that she was assigned to the teacher she wanted which just makes this transition easier on her, and then naturally, us. I hope her positive attitude continues throughout her schooling.

We've done all of her back-to-school shopping.  She's got her new backpack and lunch bags, as well as snazzy new sneakers and purple boots.  She also has an all new Fall wardrobe.  Shopping was something I was really looking forward to, and it turned out to be a lot of fun.  I was a little concerned after leaving the first store we tried because after trying on piles of clothes, we only ended up purchasing 4 items.  Ava didn't like anything.  I don't know if it was the look of the items or the fit but I was getting a little concerned.  We ended up heading to the mall.  Thankfully, The Children's Place and Gymboree were hits with Ava and we chose a lot of cute stuff for her.
We've also spent some time making lists of all of the different kinds of food she might like to bring for lunches.  That was a really cute and fun activity.  Some of the lunches she thinks she'd enjoy are strawberries with cheese and crackers, peanut butter sandwiches, baked ziti and Mac and Cheese.  I'll share Ava's lists in another blog post, as I need to run now because I promised Luke I'd take him to see the boats down at the sea wall today.

Have a great day everyone!

Countdown to Kindergarten

Our Summer break has been wonderful but it's going by way too fast.  The countdown is on, and there's only one month remaining until my little girl will be heading off to Kindergarten.

We went shopping for school supplies last week with Grandma and Ava modeled every single backpack they had in the store until she finally decided on the perfect one.  She told us she wanted to try them all on to make sure they fit!

She chose two different lunch bags and and assortment of hot/cold food accessories for the days she'd like to bring her lunch.  Both bags were so cute, and she was so excited, that we just couldn't resist.  Grandma and Ava also decided that a new change purse was in order, to carry her money on the days she'd like to buy hot lunch or purchase a milk at school.

The memory we made shopping for Kindergarten school supplies is very special to me.  It was so much fun and Ava and I are both bursting with excitement for Kindergarten!

Don't get me wrong, I'm going to miss my little buddy during the day, as Kindergarten is full-time here. When I was little, Kindergarten was only half a day.  Full-day Kindergarten makes her seem more grown up to me. 

It's interesting though, because although she's growing up so fast and that sometimes makes my heart ache, I'd rather be in the moment with her at this age, than go back to the time when she was just a little baby.  Although wouldn't it be great to be able to go back in time for a day to relive those precious moments?!

I love that she's old enough now for us to see Broadway shows together.  I love that I can take her out to all kinds of restaurants, even the fancy ones!  I love the time we spend getting mani/pedi's together for special occasions.  One will definitely be in order to celebrate her first day in Kindergarten!  Mostly, I love the conversations we have.  She's smart as a whip and she cracks me up.

I love the school she got into for Kindergarten and that's really made this process so much easier on me as a mom.  It is the absolute best fit for her and us.  By getting into the charter school, she will be reaping the benefits of both private and public school and it really doesn't get any better than this.

We have a lot to look forward to.

Talking About Kindergarten

I finally went back to kickboxing this morning after a 2 week hiatus. I never miss class.  I've been going 2-3 times a week for a year and a half now.
My backs been killing me though so my Dr. told me to cool it with the kickboxing for a while.  Since my back is now aching more than it had before class, I realize I should have waited a little longer. I worked so hard to lose weight and get in shape though that the thought of spending any more time away bothered me.  I feel like I need the class to feel good and to look good and it's great therapy.  It's better to punch/kick bags than people!
 
They have childcare so Ava and Luke were excited to come along.  They really love the ladies who take care of them while I work out.  It's nice that Ava gets to come along too now that school is out.  I'm going to miss taking her there with us once school starts in September.
 
We've been going to the park on Monday and Wednesdays after class with one of my mommy friends and her son.  She takes kickboxing class with me and Ava and her son were in the same pre-k 4 class together this past year.  It's nice to be able to spend so much time together outside of school, especially since the kids won't be going to Kindergarten together.  Both kids schools are in close proximity to the same park though so I'm sure that we'll be running into all of her old classmates come September.

Kindergarten has become a huge topic for me.  I definitely will be blogging about it a lot because it's such an exciting time.  I love her new school and am so excited that she got in.  There are so many things that I'm looking forward to.  I'm excited that she'll be learning to read and write in Kindergarten, that they teach to the student, and I really love how much they want the parents to be involved.  It feels like a real community. 
 
The Director was telling a group of us at the school tour for accepted students, that she thought about going into the Peace Corps but instead, asked to be placed in the worst and roughest public school in NYC.  She worked there for many years making a difference and changing the lives of the urban poor.   I was impressed.
 
I was also impressed when she told us that there were no locks for the kids lockers at Ava's new school, however, none of the students have ever gone into someone else's locker and taken something that's not theirs.  This was refreshing to me because by the end of Ava's stint in preschool I couldn't let her bring or wear anything to school that I feared someone would admire, feel entitled to and therefore take from her.  Can I wear this necklace mommy?  No!  What about this ring?  No!  Silly Bandz?  Fine but you better not take them off!  There were two too many incidences where Ava was left crying.

The Director of Ava's new school said, the kids may not all love each other, but they respect each other.  I like it.  Actually, I love it!