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This morning, I had the opportunity to accompany Mackenzie’s class to the mall to see Santa.  Last year, they saw the jolly fat fellow at the local redneck store, which is appropriately named after a fish.  I did photo collages for them last year and was invited to photograph the class again this year.

I was amazed at how many stay-at-home-moms have nothing better to do than accompany their kids on preschool field trips.  The drive from the preschool to the mall was as long as a small funeral procession.  In an effort to stay on topic and not start ranting about how much I loathe stay-at-home-moms, that’s all I’ll say about them.

Mackenzie's class posing for the parent paparazzi

Mackenzie’s teacher had a special arrangement with Santa for me to take photos, but not in Santa’s usual chair.  Apparently, that would violate some mall contract or something.  The kids, however, didn’t seem to mind visiting Santa on a mall bench several feet away.

Mackenzie with the Mall Bench Santa

Mackenzie shares her Santa letter

Afterwards, the class walked down to the ice cream place formerly known as Baskin Robbins, which had promised to be open at 10:00 in the morning.  Unfortunately, the indian who runs the shop must have decided that nobody would care for ice cream that early in the morning when its 30 degrees outside, and decided not to open.  So down to the food court Wendy’s at the other end of the mall with 14 kids we went.  After all, a Frosty on a frosty morning makes perfect sense to a class of 4 year olds!

Mackenzie shows off her loot from Santa

A Frosty on a frosty morning

Tonight, we went up to the preschool for Mackenzie’s last holiday open house.  Of course, she had a similar program when she was 2 and again when she was 3.  Unfortunately, my video camera wouldn’t work, but I did get video of her practicing in front of the tree:

Enjoy a few photos as well:

Edit: This was originally typed on September 7.  For some reason, it went to Drafts.

Tristan is doing really well in first grade.  Last Wednesday, he brought home his first progress report, earning a 99 in Math and a 100 in Reading.  He consistently gets a perfect score on his Wednesday spelling test, which exempts him from having to retake it on Friday (and earn’s him a dollar for his good work).  His weekly behavior chart is good as well.  Let’s hope he becomes the Star Student sooner this year!

Each week in Mackenzie’s preschool class, a different child is designated the “dynamite kid”.  The parents make a poster about the kid the weekend before, and the poster is displayed on the classroom door all week.  The dynamite kid also is the line leader, napkin distributor, and flag holder.  Apparently, this is serious business for a 4-year old.  This week, Mackenzie was the dynamite kid.

Each week, they also learn a different color, shape, number, and letter.  On Wednesdays, they have to wear the respective color and on Fridays they bring to show-and-tell something that starts with that week’s letter.  This week was the letter O.  Although it is 90 degrees outside and although she has no idea how to get them on and/or off, Mackenzie wore new overalls.  She also took Oreos to share with the class.

Her love for that preschool is the ONLY reason that I haven’t been more aggressive in pursueing career opportunities outside of Central Georgia.  Seven more months . . .

Mackenzie started 4K this morning!  Of course, the morning has been well-documented with photos, some of which you see below.  It’s hard to believe how much she has grown since last year.

This is Mackenzie with her teacher, Mrs. Pam.  Not only is she the 4K teacher, but she is also the director for the entire preschool where Mackenzie has spent the past two years. Needless to say, Mackenzie already LOVES Mrs. Pam.

I’m just glad she’s still small enough to hug and kiss me goodbye. Next stop, prom night.

Tristan started first grade this morning!  We went to open house last night and were pleased to find out that he got the teacher that I wanted him to get.  She actually taught first grade at the school when I was in first grade and has taught first grade there longer than Kimberlie has been alive!

It’s hard to believe that I’m old enough to have a kid in first grade.  I can’t wait to get home and hear about his day!  I’m sure I’ll have to fill out tons of forms too.  Sending your child to school is more complicated than buying a house.  Mackenzie starts 4K on Monday and then our lives will be back to normal.

In case you haven’t noticed, I have blogged nearly every day this week.  And some days (including today), I have blogged multiple times.  I still have lots of things to post, including Mackenzie’s 3K graduation from last month.  I think I’ll go have a cookie now.

If it’s not obvious, I’m clearly avoiding school-work by blogging.  (I have two more projects to turn in before Tuesday.  One is 75% done and I haven’t started the other.) I’m also considering promoting this blog more to my friends, etc. via facebook and twitter, so I need to populate it with lots of content.

Next week, I’ll be blogging live from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden, New Jersey.  Stay tuned . . .

I’m alive. I promise.

For some reason, I ended up taking two summer courses.  I have two more weeks to get four more projects done.  Hence the silence here.

As always, I have a lot to say, so stay tuned . . .

Last night was Tristan’s kindergarten program/awards ceremony.  I can’t believe that Tristan has almost conquered kindergarten.  It seems like his first day was yesterday.

In case you can’t figure it out, Tristan was a cow in the Kindergarten Farm.  Now that you know that, you can crave Chick-fil-A too!

Here is a video of the short performance:

Tristan did get an award for Accelerated Reader.  But then again, about 90% of the kindergarten class got the award so perhaps they should rename it “Average Reader”.

Kimberlie and I went to Kindergarten Field Day this morning at Tristan’s school.  It brought back quite a few memories.  Enjoy the pictures and remember your field day as well: