Keeping the focus

“Focus up.”

I say this to the girls at least once a day when I need them to channel their energy into eating, getting dressed, or some other task that they can’t seem to be bothered with at that exact moment.

But this week, I find that I’m the one who needs to do a little focusing up. I can’t figure out what my problem is. Normally, I am a pretty organized person. I have my task lists, I organize my errands to minimize my “running around,” and my house looks – for the most part – inviting and clean.

But for the past few days I have been incredibly scatterbrained. I can’t even put together a task list that makes sense. I move stuff from one room to another and then back again. I’ve found two different birthday cards that should have been sent out last week. And I started to write out a check to pay our taxes, went to answer the phone and by the time I came back I had already forgotten what I was doing.

Grrr. It is frustrating. And Em came home today and was so excited about collecting her jog-a-thon winnings and I remembered that I never even posted to let you all know how she did!

MOM! You didn’t even blog about how amazing your little runner did?

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Uh…nope. Let’s discuss now, shall we? Here she was before the race…

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Flash! During the race…

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And after…

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I roped all of our visitors into “volunteering” for the PTA as well. I was marking the runners as they did their laps. Meesh was taking photos (Thanks, M!), Lexer was on the water station…

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And the three little ones were on cheerleading duty…

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So how did she do, you ask?

Well, when we were fundraising we were told that the track was 1/8th of a mile. So she and I thought that she might try to run 10 laps – so that would be over a mile! And they had 20 minutes to run. I figured that was pretty do-able.

And the girl is good. She got pledges from both Nana AND Papa, Nena AND Bill and then she hit me up, and also got a separate pledge from Daddy. And also sweet talked both Daddy and Uncle Jeff each into $5 a lap.

You see where this is going, right?

Yeah. She ran 20 laps! She made some c-a-s-h for her school. But it is all for a good cause. The fearsome foursome…

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Good work, girls. And I’m so glad one of us is able to focus up and overachieve around here lately.

One Smart Cookie

Dear Emma Grace,

It isn’t the Christmas lights causing that glow you can see surrounding our house this week, it is the beaming that can only come from the very proudest of parents.

You received your very first report card on Friday. When we had talked with your teacher last month at conferences, she had explained that we shouldn’t expect to see all “4s” and “5s” on the first report card. We are supposed to take the entire year into account, and we would see progress throughout the year as you worked against the benchmarks.  Your teacher actually said, “if they had 4s and 5s on the first report card then you’d have to wonder what they were doing in kindergarten, and why they were not already in first grade.”

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Um….guess what?

Yeah, you got almost all 5′s on your report card (you did get all 5s on Reading and Listening and Speaking), a 5 = Excels in grade level standards. Plus there were a couple of 5s and a few 4s in Math, a 4=Meets grade level standards. I’m afraid you may have inherited Mommy’s horrific math skills, (sorry ’bout that) but still…girl you are smart! Not that we didn’t already know that, but it is nice to have some validation.

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Your teacher also wrote in the comments:

Emma is a happy and cooperative student. She is always eager to participate and perform her leadership responsibilities. Emma demonstrates good listening and organizational skills which allows her to complete her work neatly and accurately. She is a good friend to her classmates and is well liked in return.

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Awww….that’s my girl!

We are so very proud of you, Peanut! I hope your thirst for knowledge continues throughout your life and you never lose that excitement for learning.

Love,
Mommy

No tears this time around…

…for either Em or Mommy.

J., Addie and I just dropped Em off for her first official day of preschool.

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She and I went to meet her teachers on Tuesday evening and to see her room. Em got very anxious and worried because there is another Emma in her classroom. I told her that there would probably always be another Emma in her class from now until she graduates, it, alas, is a very popular name. I think she was a little tired, and a little overwhelmed, and a little shy (I know?!), but when one of her teachers asked Em if she was excited she just looked very, very distressed. So I suggested maybe the class could call our Em, “Emma Grace” and the other little girl just “Emma.”

Em’s teacher thought that would work and it seemed to pacify Em, too.

Then today when we got to class, her teacher said, “Now are we going to call you Emma or Emma Grace?” (I was very impressed that she even remembered our exchange amidst all of the chaos and other parents and students from the other night.) Em said, “I think Emma Grace.”

And that was it. She went tearing around the room, exploring and was completely happy to say goodbye and start her school career.

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I have such a good feeling about both of her teachers. I think she is in for a fantastic year and I’m so excited for her.

When I asked her at lunch if she was excited to go to school, she said, “Yes! Mama, remember when we met my teacher Miss Marie Rose? And she asked if I could give her a hug? I liked that hug. I liked the way she felt.”

And I liked the way I felt when I walked out of the school, a Mommy of an official “preschooler.”