Kindergarten Baby

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are ever so excited around here! Amelia had her first experience with school Monday morning. She was so excited that drifting off to sleep was sort of hard, especially with a baby brother who squealed every few moments. I took Everett downstairs with me until he got tired. He was cracking me up because I put on Timmy Time (a claymation baby show). He was dancing, laughing, and giggling for 20 minutes. Justin helped me skin 30 lbs of tomatoes once I blanched them.

Amelia enjoyed 3 hours of school Monday. She was jumping up and down when I took her to school. Justin peeked into her classroom. She was grinning a huge smile! Her good friend Lily was in the classroom too! So thankful for preschool and church friends. I attended a short parent meeting. They told us about the screening process, funding, and parental responsibilities. I felt so very excited. No tears from this Mama! Does that make me a strange mom? I look forward to her learning and growing. Maybe a teacher will help reinforce the principles I teach her. The boys and I went home for 2.5 hours. I started making salsa and spaghetti sauce for canning. The kitchen was filled with spicy smells! Phillip helped me stir and fetch jars, lids, and bands. I wore gloves to process the jalapenos and garlic. My eyes and throat stung! We set up the camp stove (it has a high capacity burner) with the pressure canner filled with water. I used the wrong propane tank so the water never really boiled. Still it was hot enough to process some of the salsa jars. I canned 12 pints, 1 quart of salsa and 10 quarts of spaghetti sauce. Yum! The price per quart came to $3.53, not really a savings at all. Seems like all that work is not worth the effort! The cost will go down next time because I did have to invest in more jars (24) so next time if the produce, propane, costs are the same the cost will be $2.70 per quart. That is a better price! The kitchen was dripping with tomato, onion, garlic, peppers, and spices. We went out to lunch. After lunch I changed propane tanks and processed the spaghetti jars. The second tank worked amazingly well.

Amelia said her first day was AMAZING. She said the most disappointing part was when the teacher made her count 1 to 10 instead of by 10s to 100. She said counting 1 to 10 is for babies. She learned how to use to potty (no standing on the seat). She said the lunchroom is awesome.  

After I cleaned up we had piano lessons. Then I started making Phillip's birthday ensemble. I am over the top excited! The little turkey will turn 3 on Saturday. He loves superheros. Amelia's friend Zane helped instill a love of spiderman, batman, and superman. I was making a superhero mask for Phillip, while the kids cut out paper masks. Phillip called his mask his "super eyes." Love it! Finally got my 50 mm lens back from the camera doctor. The inside casing was cracked. I am pretty sure then lens cracked before I purchased it used and it got worse after handling. Its focus was never tack sharp. The boys had a blast cleaning rocks in my pressure cooker while we cleaned up the canning stuff out in the garage. For FHE we filled out ID kits for the kids. The most challenging part was getting Phillip's fingerprints. He is wiggly. The kits will go in our 72 hour kits once I get photos and some other vital info into the ID kits. Awesome Possum.

This morning Justin and I went with Amelia to meet her new teacher and her new classmates. We had an hour long meeting filling out paperwork, listening to an orientation, having a storytime (The Kissing Hand), sorting school supplies, and getting general information. Amelia's new teacher is Mrs Hamling. We already knew Mrs Hamling from ballet classes last year. Her daughter Grace was in Mia's class. Mrs Hamling gave each child a heart ink stamped on their palms. Amelia pressed her ink stamp to our palms! We all share a kissing hand to remember how much we love each other when we are apart. I love that book. After the meeting we left for the day! The kids and I drove out to Peetz, CO to visit teach the Betony family. I am finally making inroads with Nora Betony. She is a pure Navajo Indian living in the area. Her grandpa (a wind talker in WWII) passed away earlier this year. A month ago her oldest son died in a car accident out on the reservation. She and her husband are devastated. Now they have two grandkids living with them and caring for the other 10 members of their family. Makes a huge strain with Nora as the only provider. Bro Betony has a heart condition and is receiving SSA. They come to church once in a while. Their grandkids joined the church last year (ages 11 and 9). Makes me happy to see them progress and try!!   

PS: I HAD to try the sunflowers again. It was overcast yesterday, sort of like a HUGE softbox. The light was amazing.