Soccer Girl

Lorelei decided to try soccer this year. During September & October she practiced once per week and played one or two games on the weekend. It's a really nice set-up with only 7 girls on the team. Everyone plays and the focus is just learning and fun. The fall session was a bit tiring for her because we had football at the same time, but I'm hoping she'll find the spring session more enjoyable when it's just her having to get to practice once a week. Ashton liked cheering her on and came prepared with a homemade pennant. She has a lot of fun with her teammates and her favorite position is goalie. She also liked when she got to sit out for a quarter because "it's fun." And who can blame her when she's getting sideline cuddles from grandma?

Sporty

Ashton helped me and Lorelei figure out that if she had art for a special yesterday, she would have gym today. We planned her outfit accordingly and this morning she got dressed and asked for pigtails. Then she posed and asked, "Don't I look sporty?"

First Day of Kindergarten

While putting Lorelei to bed on the eve before the first day of school, I told her, "I just got off the phone. There is a big blizzard coming tonight so they cancelled school tomorrow for a snow day." She replied, "Mom, I know there's school tomorrow. You're just lying to me so you can spend more time with me." Darn, she caught me.

I woke her up the next morning, got ready, posed for pictures and walked into school like she's been going there for years. No looking back, no "I'll miss you mom." She got to a table and set to work.

Lorelei loved her classroom and her teacher. Ashton had this same teacher 2 years in a row so Lorelei was beyond excited when she found out that she got this teacher as well. Lorelei had art as her special that day and thought that it was super cool to have her friend Emersyn's mom as an art teacher. I drove the kids to school since we had 3 bags full of supplies (not including their backpacks) to take in. Lorelei had her first school bus ride on the way home. She said, "It was so much fun. It goes zooming fast without any buckles!"

She told anyone that asked about her first day of kindergarten, "It was the best day of my life." You can't beat that.

Princess Lorelei

Lorelei's 5th birthday started with a requested breakfast of waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.

Then we went to Starbuck's for a caramel steamer where she got to meet Miss. Michigan and wear her crown! In usual Lorelei fashion, she was shy and playing it cool, but on the inside was totally geeked that she was wearing that crown!

For dinner she chose Bob Evans. She had french toast and the manager threw in sundae's for both kids. Lorelei pointed out that she had whipped cream a total of four times that day. We gave her a few presents at the restaurant; a Wii game from her brother and her very own real big-girl purse filled with all sorts of goodies. She was really excited and had no problem modeling the purse right in the Bob Evan's parking lot.

That weekend, Lorelei had a Princess Party. Lorelei's favorite meal is a bagel, so we had a brunch.

Lorelei put a lot of thought into what kind of cake she wanted, and she most definitely wanted lemon.



Lemon cake with lemon curd & raspberry meringue buttercream



Chocolate chip cake with chocolate meringue buttercream



The hardest part to matching the outfits- sewing Skipper into that tiny t-shirt!



The party was so much fun and Lorelei loved being the princess. She likes things to be what says is, "glormious. That's fancy for beautiful."

Haunted House

 Ashton came over to me in a panic one day and exclaimed, "My name is written on the window sill and I swear I didn't do it!" I then ask Lorelei, "Did you write Ashton's name on the window sill?" She said, "Nope." I asked, "Then who did?" Lorelei replied, "A ghost did it."

 



Exhibit A: The writing with a failed attempt by the culprit to erase it.



Since we couldn't find the "ghost" for questioning, Lorelei learned the magic of a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

The First Day of Preschool

Preparing Lorelei for school was much different than preparing Ashton. Ashton didn't need any pushing, he was excited and ready for school long before school started. Lorelei, on the other hand, had insisted for a good year or so that she was under no circumstances going to school. The night for Open House came and Lorelei was still not so convinced that she wanted to go to school. What finally got her excited was that her preschool does home visits before school starts. By the time Miss. Darci left our house, Lorelei couldn't wait to get to school. She doesn't go until 12:30, so she spends the morning saying, "Can I go now? Can I go now?" She attends on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday. When I picked her up after her first Wednesday she was quite perturbed that she didn't get to go back for 4 whole days. But I am all good with this. Over excitement is much better than the screaming, crying & begging that goes with children who do not want to be left at school.



Before school






So cute in her tiny backpack



Meeting up in the classroom with her cousin Ella



Her very own cubby



Practicing writing her name before class starts

After school I ask her about her day:
M: How was your first day of school?
L: Good. They didn't even give us a snack today. No milk, juice, or even water!
M: Maybe they had to skip snack for the first day. Did everyone follow the rules?
L: A boy had to go to the principal's office. Nolan did. He hit me and he hit Ella and that's why he had to go to the principal's office.
M: You are very sweaty.
L: We played outside for an hour and a half!
M: Tell me about your class.
L: There's a sandbox in our classroom. There's no shovels so we dig with our hands and the very treasure was dirty so we had to use a paint brush to clean the very treasure off.
M: What else did you do?
L: We read books and watched TV. Then we left.
M: Do you like Miss. Darci?
L: I like Miss Darci a lot and I talked to Miss Darci a lot.
M: Did you meet any new friends?
L: I only know that there is Ella. And I did one more thing, what could it be? We were planting flowers and exercising.

Imagine that. All of that and school is only 2 1/2 hours long. Oh, and just for the record, there is no Nolan in the class.

The 4th Birthday Party

Lorelei decided on a tea party for her 4th birthday. Since her birthday falls in the middle of the hot summer, we had a Garden Iced Tea Party.

Here are some pics of craft time. The kids decorated their own visors.

Present time!

I don't have any pictures of her blowing out her candles! My mom made a lot of fun of me because I insisted that I had to make 5 different kinds of cupcakes: Strawberry cupcakes with Strawberry Meringue Buttercream, Lemon cupcakes filled with Lemon Curd, Peanut Butter cupcakes, Mocha cupcakes & Guinness cupcakes, both with a sugared glaze. How could I eliminate one? Lorelei got to choose which cupcake she wanted her candles in. I made the strawberry ones with her in mind, but she didn't choose that one. She chose beer cupcakes. She's her daddy's girl.

Happy 4th Birthday, Lorelei!