Tyler's last day at ICDC and Salsa Date Night!... (Week 262/124)

Tyler's last week at ICDC.  Bittersweet.  I haven't really experienced any crazy emotional meltdown that seems to be common for parents who's oldest are about to start kindergarten.  It's no big deal, right?  Must be partly because Tyler is SO ready to start his new school!  I've been telling him constantly that his time at ICDC is coming to an end, so he needs to make sure he plays with Katelyn as much as he can, as well as two of his good friends who will not be going to the same school as him AND don't live in Irvine.  Waaahhh!

Tyler is so excited about all his presents that he got for his birthday.  Of course I can't let him open them all at once though!  He got to unwrap them and see his haul, but I've only let him open two of them this week.  Based on good behavior, of course.

Katelyn really enjoyed one of his presents though - Iron Man!  I swear, she'd rather play with his boy-targeted toys than her girly stuff.  Good or bad thing?

My little KK.  She's gotten better at using the potty again, doesn't seem to fight it as much anymore.  But still no where near the always dry and wearing underwear Katelyn we had before we went on our Houston trip.  We'll get back there!  I'm reminded that she is still only 2, and what's the rush? I've got this huge Costco-sized diaper box that I need to finish for her to wear overnight anyway.  Reminder that she is still a cutie-pie: a video of Katelyn playing with a balloon that's still got some helium left in it.  She cracks me up!:


Tyler's Tuesday Kumon classes have now become a sort of playdate for some of us moms.  There are a group of us that know each other and we all hang out outside even after the kids are done.  Well, I'm there because I have to be.  Tyler, though not the oldest of the bunch, is doing the most challenging stuff, so I'm usually waiting a good hour+ for him while the other kids are done quick.  Example: Nora, the super adorable daughter of my friend Hannah, just started and they have her still counting circles!  I am in love with this girl, she is SO cute!  Hope Tyler takes notice... haha!

The kids have taken a keen liking to a plastic toy drum we have at home.  They are so cute with it, they take turns playing it, and then sing to their beat while the other one dances.  I caught the Tyler and Katelyn playing "drums" at school this week too - aha! - this must be where the interest is coming from!  (Sorry for the dark photo!).  It's hard to tell but Katelyn has a mini set just like Tyler's, including a food stand!  She is going to miss playing with Tyler at school.

Tyler's last day came SO quick.  I didn't even get a chance to get anything for the teachers - good thing we'll see them next weekend for a big get together with the families in our playgroup.  Tyler didn't seem bummed at all about it being his last day, he was excited to see his friends and say goodbye to everyone.  Here he is with the most awesome preschool teacher EVER.  It didn't really feel like goodbye since she was babysitting for us the next evening, plus Katelyn is still there and LOVES her and takes any chance she has to go to her classroom to play.  I don't mind.  The pre-4 teachers have her use the potty everytime before she comes in (even with her being back in a pullup) and she never protests.  In her own class though, it's always a battle!

I came early for pickup that day to join the kids for goodbye snack.  It was a feast of sugar!  The kids had cupcakes, oreos with milk, and a bean/hot dog plate.  I ate a whole small bowl of the beans/hot dog plate - so salty and delicious!  Tyler only ate the oreos, so of course I had to help him with his cupcake.  Bad Kathy!  It was his friend Kaden's last day as well (both start Kindergarten on Tuesday) and Katelyn and Kaden's little sister Kylee both joined in at snack time. 

Vanessa was off at 3pm but stayed later just to hang out with them.  She is so wonderful.  Back when Tyler was starting Pre-2 and having a hard time, she'd come in and whisk him away and make him feel better.  She was special to us way before he even started her class last Summer.  Can't wait until Katelyn gets her 2 years from now.

Here's a group shot with three of Tyler's teachers.  They are great, and really make a difference for these kids.  I love that they are stern but still kind.

When Tyler started Pre-2 in Summer 2010, he had just turned three.  Deena was one of his teachers (the other was a quiet guy and an older lady who was going through some issues in her personal life).  I wasn't too thrilled that Tyler was in Pre-2 instead of Pre-3 (age cut off) since I hadn't heard glowing reviews about this classroom.  I was wrong!  Deena was always there for him, and only she could comfort him in that classroom.  She was so good to him and I always felt better knowing she was there for him.  She's actually only a few years younger than I am, and due in November for her first baby!  She came specifically from her class to Tyler's so that she could see him and get a hug goodbye.  As Vanessa put it exactly: She was his first favorite.  Waah!

Chrystal is one of Tyler's other Pre-4 teachers.  Her and Vanessa are both wonderful and are the two teachers I always see Tyler running to and giving hugs to.  She is leaving the Pre-4 classroom for Pre-2, which means Katelyn will get to have her next year!  Yay!

Friday was HOT.  I was not feeling well, and wonderful Will took the kids off my hands so I could rest and nap at home.  Of course I ended up doing a lot of cleaning first but then I napped!  He took Tyler and Katelyn to Tyler's soccer practice.  We have this great easy-up sun-shade/tent thing that he brought along and Katelyn was the belle of the party!  Here she is with the other little girls crowded around her and my iPad.  Yes, she's the one with the underwear showing!

Saturday morning was Katelyn's swim class.  We missed last week and this was week 3 out of 4.  Katelyn LOVED it of course, she absolutely loves the water.  They practiced kicking this week, holding onto these floating barbell-type things.  She did great!

Video of KK at swim class with daddy doing great!  Boy, was it hot.  Even at 930am in the morning!



After swim, we headed home and took it easy for the rest of the afternoon. Tyler was pretty behind on his Kumon for whatever reason and he pounded through it with minimal fussing.  Why?  Because I threatened to not have Vanessa come babysit that night!  Will and I were heading out for a date night with another couple and last minute asked Vanessa to come earlier in the afternoon so we could catch a showing of The Dark Knight Rises.  Vanessa came at 3pm!  The movie was great, and then we headed over to Tapas in Newport Beach for dinner reservations at 7:30pm with our friends Tiff and Brian.  Tiff was my BFF growing up and I was a bridesmaid in her wedding end of April - which was the last time we had seen each other.  We had a hilariously fun time catching up, so many laughs!  And two pitches of mojitos as well.  Hmm, we finished one before our food even arrived.  Not such a good idea.  Dinner was fun though, chatting, drinking, and watching flamenco dancers performing.  After dinner was a free 1-hour salsa lesson (we're all very beginners) and then the rest of the night was dancing to live music!  Salsa is a lot of twirling, and I now know that it does not mix with a lot of mojitos.  Yikes!  Even though we were extremely uncoordinated, we had so much fun! - which is really all that matters, right?  The kids had a great time with Vanessa (as usual)!

Sunday.  Ahhh, still enjoying our relaxing weekend with nothing crazy planned.  Will and I were pretty exhausted.  We are so old and totally can't hang anymore.  We were home before 1am the night before but we were SO drained.  We decided to grab some breakfast and visit the Discovery Science Center since we have season passes and it is so close.  Breakfast was at Bruegger's Bagels, where Will usually picks up breakfast on the weekends.  Like my new iPhone photo app?  It's called pudding or something.

Discovery Science Center!  Got there right when it opened and it was super deserted.  GREAT for us!  The kids got to run around the plcace and try out the different experiments.  We stayed from 10am to about 11:30am.  Enough time to try everything out!  We had originally planned to visit the Santa Ana Zoo (also free since we have season passes) but it was so hot out that we deicded to just go home.

Video of Tyler and Katelyn playing at the DSC:


Sunday.  Nice and lazy.  We even made it outside for the kids to ride their bike/scooter. 

More video of Tyler practicing on the bike.  He's getting much better, the hardest part is just getting going when he's not on a slope:
 

My big boy - all ready for Kindergarten!