Anna's First Day of Preschool

Last week Anna started Preschool at a nearby church! I can hardly believe my little girl is in school now. 

We weren't planning on starting her until the fall but during our preschool search things changed. We were leaning towards a Montessori school but after the tour we took in December we weren't impressed...especially considering the cost. Then I was left trying to find programs that we liked that worked with other activities. 

We'd toured this particular preschool a couple years ago when we were considering a 'preschool lite' program but ultimately went another direction. The only problem was getting her into the morning class instead of the afternoon class. All the activities Jane would do would be in the morning and it sort of complicated life. Then we began toying the idea of starting Jane next year since she can take a while to get used to new situations. Plus, with her having a summer birthday (she'll be one of the younger students) we thought maybe it would be good for her. This only worked if Anna got into the morning class which seemed unlikely since we weren't currently enrolled. 

One of the amazing ladies working in the office then came up with this wonderful option. They had an opening in one of the 3/4 classes and she could start in January allowing us to enroll with current families. We had to push back her start date a little bit to get all the forms filled out and give notice on her other activities but last week was the big day and she was so excited. 

On the way there she kept talking about how she was excited about learning her letters, her numbers, about recess. She then declared..."I'm so excited for preschool. I can't wait to learn everything!".

We arrived a little bit early so the teachers could show Anna the morning routine and she did so great. She's coming out of her shell and talks so much more than she used to. One of the teachers was talking to her about how they were going to put her name on a label and she chimed in..."It's with two A's and 2 N's". 

Anna and Jane said goodbye and I took Jane to Activity School. When I picked Anna up the teachers told me she did great and played with a couple of other little girls. She loved it and kept talking about how she can't wait to go back. She's been sick this week so she had to miss yesterday but I think she will be able to go tomorrow. 

I also went to enrollment for next year and I'm happy to report that Anna did get the morning slot so it is going to work out for both her and Jane to go next year! Anna will go 3 days a week and Jane will go 2! 

Since Anna is now potty trained (it went pretty fast after she turned 4...she kept saying she would go after she turned 4) she got to start dance. It is a ballet/tap combo class and she seems to really like it so far. Her class has a spring recital in May and while I'm not looking forward to purchasing costumes for it I think it will be pretty cute. I'm not able to really watch her class at all (there is only a tiny window and I have Jane over in the nearby gym during the class) but when the girls are dancing at home I see her doing a few moves that I know are from lessons. 

Cutie!

Ringing in the New Year

We spent New Year's Eve with Kevin's side of the family. We stared out with ornament decorating with Grandma!

Uncle Joe couldn't help himself and had to make some too. 

Jane's favorite are of course the pink and purple ones. 

 Patti had a lot of dress up stuff for everyone for a photo both set up and that was a big hit. 

This outfit on Anna cracks me up!

 Jane found the pink star sunglasses and wore those pretty much the rest of the evening. 

Strike a pose!

This little outfit is pretty cute too!

After Adell arrived she go dressed up and a dance party quickly started. They sure love getting fancy!

Taking a break from dancing to play a few games. 

Cousin love. 

We spent the rest of the evening playing games and being silly. 

A fun way to ring in the New Year!

Yay! I finished 2016....let's go 2017!

Other December Activities

I want to wrap up December so I can get to the current year so I'm throwing a bunch of stuff into this post.

I wanted to take Anna to see the Nutcracker this year but the KC ballet was crazy expensive. I didn't want to go that bad so I looked into the performance in Topeka. It was much more affordable so we asked Grandma and Hailie if they wanted to go too. Anna was stoked about the ballet and kept saying how much she loved the ballet. I reminded her that she'd never been to the ballet before but her reply was "I know I will love it".

Anna did in fact love the ballet. She was a little restless during the second Act but for a 4 year old I thought she did amazing. 

Stretching our legs during Intermission

 After the show we went to Orange Leaf for Ice Cream.

I think Grandma enjoyed the show too. She had never seen the Nutcracker either!

Anna got all dressed up for the show. I liked getting to put her in her Christmas dress and have her wear her fancy red coat. 

We had dinner and stayed the night at Kevin's parents house that night. The girls had fun doing a Christmas tree craft with Grandma!

Our friend Jason (we know him from Stanford) was in town briefly and we were lucky he was able to stop by for a little bit with this girlfriend, Rana. 

Jason is a research fellow at Stony Brook University and lives in Brooklyn. He's from St Louis though! Even though it was brief we were so happy he stopped by so we could catch up a little bit. 

The week after Christmas we went to see Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer: The Musical at the Coterie Theatre in Kansas City. We'd never been there before and it was a really good show. We're going to a play there in April and it ought to be fun. 

After the show we had dinner and then walked over to Union Station to hang out and play.

All of the Christmas decorations were still up and it was absolutely beautiful. Plus there were no crowds!

There were some projections of snowflakes on the ground and there was music playing. The girls had a blast running around and dancing on the snowflakes. It was pretty cute!

We dound someone to take a family picture on Santa's sleigh. 

The girls were pretending to be asleep.

There was a really cool play area outside that we stopped at on our way back to the car. 

It was a little cold but that didn't stop the girls and they had so much fun running and climbing on everything. 

It was such a fun evening! 

Later that week we went to an event at Pinstripes. They had bowling and cookies with Elsa! Several of our friends were able to go too and we were all on the same lane and had a blast bowling! It was both Anna and Jane's first time!

Ready, Set, Go!

 Every time Anna bowled she would stand there with her arms outstretched until the ball reached the pins. Adorable. 

After our time was up it was our turn to go and decorate cookies and take pictures with Princess Elsa. I wasn't sure how Jane would do but she actually went up to Elsa and talked to her a little bit. Anna wore all blue that day (plus Elsa underwear) to be ready. Her blue shoes were too small so she picked gold shoes. 

Jane wanted to take a picture with me...how could I say no?

Somehow we managed to get a group picture with all the kids except Eric (he was not having it!)

Margot, Ethan, Anna, Elsa, and Jane.

It was a good time with good friends! 

Christmas Day

On Christmas Eve we drove back to Olathe so that we could spend Christmas morning at our house. We've never been at our own home for Christmas and it was really important to me that we start. With the progress on our basement we were able to decorate and use the fireplace for the first time which made our home feel very festive. 

Jane fell asleep on the drive but Anna managed to stay awake. She was thrilled to be able to get a plate of cookies and milk ready for Santa.

Christmas morning was so fun. Seeing the girls' faces light up when they saw Santa had come was amazing.

Santa was here!

Neither of the girls had any crazy requests for Santa but Jane did ask for a pink present and she was so happy when she saw that she got one!

It was so sweet watching them open presents. They were really great about taking turns and they were appreciative of even the small things like new bubble bath and socks. 

Checking out the stockings. 

There's Daddy recording!

A little later we went out to Auburn to celebrate with the Copp Family. Somehow I didn't take any pictures but we had a lovely time hanging out with everyone. After lunch out at the farm we went back over to my parents house to open presents and stay the night. 

Being silly with Grandpa

We had to play with some of the new toys before going to bed of course!

We don't often stay over at my Mom and Dad's house and it was nice having a little extra time to hang out and enjoy each other. 

Pizza and snuggles!

Hailie had really wanted to decorate Christmas cookies and hadn't done it yet. Since we had baked cookies the previous week and didn't decorate them we brought them with us and got busy!

The girls loved this we had so much fun. Grandpa even got in on the action. 

Jane with her buddy...Grandpa

Messy hands!

Nice cookie Grandma!

I kind of liked doing the decorating after Christmas. There is so much going on leading up to the holiday and it was nice and relaxing to do it after some of the craziness was over with. 

We wore Jane out though and she fell asleep watching a movie. 

Anna kept creeping closer and closer to Seth and I thought it was cute. He is always trying to get away. Haha. 

We had such a great Christmas Eve/Christmas this year. After lots of travel on Kevin's part in November and December it was so nice having him home for a couple weeks. He still had work to do from home but it was much more low key and we had lots of quality family time.