bexcaliber: 7 years old!

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video viernes: pledge of allegiance

Henry has been having a blast at Pre-K! Since Pre-K is the year before kindergarten, I kind of thought he wouldn't learn a whole lot. Well I was wrong. He keeps coming home full of new and exciting things to share. (And, I was right about him opening up once he adjusted to his routine.) Here are some noteworthy things from his first few weeks at Pre-K:

• He can recite the whole pledge of allegiance. Bam! Talk about Memorization King. 
• He has all sorts of new verses to the classic Raffi hit, "Down by the bay." Like, have you ever seen "a teacher kissing a creature," "a mouse painting a house," "a cat wearing a hat," and "a snake baking a cake."
• He knows what the spine of a book is, also what an author and illustrator do. 
• Each day the kids in his class get to choose a job for the day. He likes to be the line leader and also the activity switcher--which is the helper who gets everyone to transition to the next activity (from what I have deduced.)
• We still walk home from school but I drive him in the morning. We had started by walking both ways but one morning it was pouring rain so I drove him. I thought he would be upset that I wouldn't be able to come in with him. Well, he hopped right out of the car, waved and yelled "Bye, Mommy." Without even looking back he went in by himself. His teacher later told me he walked right into class all proud and smiley. Since then he wants to go in on his own. I even walked him one morning and he made me stay in the parking lot. So independent!
• He has mentioned something about a bucket system his teacher uses. When you do something good, it fills your bucket. If you do something bad, your bucket gets empty. We don't know if its an actual bucket or just a figurative way to have the kids be nice to each other. 
• Henry has been to the school library and he loved it. He told me you could look at (or read) as many books as you wanted. The librarian gave him a star sticker for being good. 
• He hasn't told us a lot about recess but he recently said he races with a girl named D'Kaiu and she always wins. There is also an Anthony, a Samuel and a Morgan.  

Henry: human emoticon

We did this emotion photoshoot last year and I wanted to do it again this year. Henry cracks me up. He kept wanting to show me his mean/scary/angry faces. Hopefully he doesn't grow up with too many "dark side" issues. Its also interesting to see how he interprets each emotion. Oh and his scary face is him making "ooooohh" ghost sounds.

Want to see how much he has changed in a year? Here is the one from last year.

128 days into Motherhood: hair loss

If you've ever been pregnant, you know the joy of long, strong, lush, thick hair. I don't know the science behind it (excess protein?) but having lovely nails and hair is one of the perks of pregnancy. I like to think of it as a gift from Mother Nature--girls have to stick together, right? Well imagine my surprise last time when handfuls of my hair started falling out in the shower. Nothing good lasts, I guess. Sigh. So this time I was ready for it to happen and it never did. My hair stayed nicely in place and my ponytail had never been thicker.

Then Vivian turned four months and one day in the shower I was horrified to see a huge wad of hair in my hand as I was shampooing. Not just a few strands but a thick coil. A lock of hair. I quickly gathered it and stuck it to the wall. Then I got another handful. Seriously I wanted to take a picture of how much hair I lost in that one shower. Hairball city. And not only was it A LOT of hair, it was all over my hands and took forever to get off.

Since then I have been shedding like crazy. If I wear my hair down, which is pretty rare, then I have hair all over me. Its all over the house. Its all over Viv, we have found it tangled on her fingers and in her neck rolls. There was also a strand stuck to the sweaty milk jug on the way home from the grocery store.

Vivian has also been struggling with hair loss. She officially has a bald spot from laying down in her bouncer or being in her car seat. I kind of want to trim the dark fringe under it so it doesn't look so bad. She's still cute even though it is ridiculous.

bexcaliber: cloud wall hangings

 One thing I was super excited about when Henry went back to school was having a meaningful amount of time to work on my etsy shop. I have pages of ideas that I have been dreaming up for months and now I have the time to put them into production. It really makes the time fly too.

 First up, cloud wall hangings. I came up with this back in July when making a banner for the 4th. I love the rainbow but love the aqua ombre even better. Since its almost impossible to find true ombre in the fabric store, I have been hand dyeing it. I am so pleased with the results.

 And how cute are they hung up with washi tape?

 Or as a welcome into your child's room? The demo one I made will be gracing the kid's door.

Or how charming in a playroom? I am also doing custom orders so if you want one but in a different colorway, just send me a convo through etsy.

Find all these here, in the shop!

Henry: First Day of Pre-K

 This past week we had quite the excitement with Henry's first week of Pre-K.

On Sunday night we continued with our tradition of doing a father's blessing. Steve blessed Henry to have a great year, to learn new things and to make new friends. That night we also got all his school things gathered and picked out his clothes for the first day.

I have to admit I teared up a bit as I was assembling his lunch but only for a minute and then was fine the rest of the week.

 Henry insisted on helping me color this sign. I had to set aside my perfectionist vision and let him participate.

Since Henry's school is only a couple blocks away, we walk each morning. It actually works out perfectly. We wake up between 6:45 and 7:00. I feed Vivian while Henry gets dressed. We pack up his bag with his lunch and then I leave Viv at home with Steve while we walk to school. Henry likes to be the leader and I have to follow him as he winds his way to school. He keeps asking me when he gets to walk to school alone?! Never.

I also walk to pick him up in the afternoon. This actually saves us time as the car riders line is very long. Viv comes too in the stroller and we're usually a big sweaty mess by the time we get home. But thats okay.

His school had a "meet your teacher" ice cream social the week before, so we already knew where his classroom was and he had met his teacher. He was really shy at first meeting his new teachers, Miss Cooper and Miss Pierce but he went right in on Monday. 

Henry's school requires a uniform which I actually don't mind. He has to wear a collared shirt in either white, royal blue or gold. Khaki, black or navy blue shorts or pants can be in twill but not denim. 

 The morning of his first day was actually really cloudy so I waited and took these after school. He had zero interest in taking these photos, as you can probably tell.

Despite this lovely face, he is really enjoying school. He went in without a fuss all days this week except one. Wednesday he cried and Miss Pierce had to hold him while I left. But he calmed down immediately and had a great time. He doesn't really tell us a whole lot about what they do. We get little glimpses of info but not a complete picture of his day. Hopefully he'll open up more as things become more routine.

Vivian and I have a great time while he is gone. The day actually goes by pretty quickly. I love that we are developing a routine and its really helping her get in good napping too. After I come home, I eat breakfast and get ready for the gym. Viv can now go to the daycare there so I drop her off and workout. Afterwards we either run errands or head home. She takes a small nap in the morning usually in her carseat as we're out and about and then a longer one just before lunch. At home I have been working lots on my etsy shop and getting ready for seminary which starts again in a couple of weeks.

I have to say I am loving how all these things came together. Henry is in school and I pretty much only have one kid again. Nicely done, beckie!

After we pick up Henry from school, we walk home, have a snack and he relaxes watching tv for a bit. He has been pretty whiny and difficult this week but we think its because he is exhausted and trying to handle all these changes. We have decided to have a firm routine for him after school to help him cope. This routine will include quiet time in his room which will help him get some rest. We're also getting him to bed at 7:00 instead of 7:30. He generally falls right to sleep so he must be wiped out.

Overall its going well. I hope he continues to enjoy it. Its crazy that we now have a child in school!

clarks reunite 2014: family pictures

To round out the vacation pictures, we have our big group shots. Man, is it stressful trying to gather everyone and since I am generally in charge, I feel kind of like a drill sargeant. But this year it was a success with 100% open eyes and people looking (except Viv but she doesn't count). I only had to photoshop swap one head in the grandkids picture, can you tell who it is?

I am so blessed to have married into such a wonderful and fun family!
Hooray for the Clarks!