Annika's Bible

Our church has a tradition of presenting kindergarten students with a Bible, and Annika received hers this morning. I was so proud of her, going up in stage all by herself!  She can't read it on her own yet, but she was completely fascinated with it today - leafing through the pages, looking at the pictures, "studying" the maps.  My goal is to find a good family devotional book, so we can help her put her Bible to good use.

On the flip side, my own Bible has been gathering dust lately. To be honest, I probably haven't brought it to church since before Annika was born. With having so much kid-related stuff to carry around (and the convenience of often having the Scriptures displayed on the overhead screen), it was one thing that got left behind. These days I do a lot of my Bible reading on my phone or the iPad, on our Bible app. It's convenient, but not quite the same. And when I pull out my phone in church to look up a passage, I want to announce to everyone "I'm not checking Facebook - I'm really following along!!  I'm listening!!!"

Apple streusel muffins

This is one of my favorite muffin recipes - sooo good!  I just wish there was a way to keep that "just baked" texture.  They're just not quite the same the next day - the topping doesn't have the same crispiness to it once you put it in a container.

Apple Streusel Muffins
 - from "Company's Coming: Muffins and More" by Jean Pare

TOPPING
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp butter
1/8 tsp cinnamon

MUFFIN
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup shredded apple (peeled or not)



TOPPING: In small bowl, rub together brown sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon until crumbly.  Set aside.

MUFFIN: Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Make a well in center.  In another bowl beat egg, milk and oil to blend. Drain off excess moisture from apple (I usually don't bother with this step).  Stir into egg mixture.  Pour into well and stir until just moistened.  Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full.  Sprinkle with topping.  Bake at 400F for 15 to 20 minutes (I do 15 minutes for mini muffins and 20 minutes for regular).  Makes 12 regular size muffins.

Preschool "meet and greet"

Today was Annika's second morning of kindergarten and Emmett's "meet the teacher" morning at preschool. I thought he would be more excited to go (since he was always so gung-ho to see what was going on when Annika was there), but he seemed a little hesitant.  When we were getting out of the car he asked "you stay with me, mommy?"  Once we were inside, it was a bit better.  The teachers are the same ones that Annika had last year, so he already knows them a little and they know him a little.  He found the train table, and I literally I had to drag him away from it to look at the other stuff around the classroom.  I can see him spending most of his time playing there.

He seems so young to be starting preschool (because he is, with his late birthday - he's not even 3 yet, while Annika was almost 3 and a half when she started), but I think this will be good for him.  He seems to be quite lost without Annika around.  This morning he was asking "we go pick Annika up?" already at 10:00.  I asked him if he was missing her and he said yes.  So, with preschool on Wednesday and Friday mornings, and Y Neighbours on Tuesday mornings, that will cut down on his "lonely" time (or maybe once he gets used to not having Annika around, he'll start enjoying it a little more!). 

So far it's been a bit of a hard adjustment for them both, because after school is done Emmett wants so badly to be with Annika, and she's so tired from school that she just wants to be alone.  So that inevitably leads to them fighting and I've actually been putting Emmett down for his nap early the past 2 days, just to get them apart.  I'm glad, though, that kindergarten is in the morning, because it works nicely to have a little down time after lunch (Emmett naps and Annika has TV time and "quiet" time), and then everyone's in better moods by snack time and for the evening.

First day of kindergarten

Today was Annika's first day of kindergarten, and it was great!  She had no fears or hesitations about going, and there were no tears today (for either of us).  Most of you probably saw these pictures on Facebook already, but here they are again.

A note about her "back to school" outfit - the white t-shirt was given to all the kindergarten students at the June meeting and they were all asked to wear it on their first day (I don't have a picture of it, but it has the name of our school division on it, and a star, and says something like "let your star shine bright".  I'll admit, when we got it, I thought, "no way is she going to wear that dorky shirt for her first day of school".  The past few days we went back and forth about wearing it - if she didn't wear it, would she be the only one?  If she did wear it, would she be the only one??  She decided last night to wear it, but sadly, only 2 or 3 other kids in the class wore theirs.  It didn't really seem to phase her though (atta girl).

Getting ready this morning went really smoothly, as both kids were up early, so I didn't have to wake them.  They actually even had time to play a little after breakfast before we had to go (the school is a 5-10 minute walk from our place, depending on whether Emmett is walking or in the wagon!).  School starts at 8:47 - isn't that an odd time?

 

She had a great day, and the first thing she said when she saw me was "mom, I made a new friend!"  In "Annika-land", that can mean just sitting next to someone (she applies the term "friend" quite broadly), but she she actually knew the girl's name and said they had done a puzzle together.  She was quite tired after school though.  She barely made it through lunch and she wasn't really hungry at all, since she had had a snack at school (I don't usually give the kids a morning snack).  Tonight by the time bedtime came, she was more than ready to sleep.

So, we survived the first day...  now for the next one, and the next one, and so on.  It will take some adjusting to get used to this new routine, but I think we'll manage.  Tomorrow Emmett and I get to go to his preschool (formerly Annika's preschool) for a meet and greet with the teachers (who we already know, but now it's Emmett's turn - no longer will he be stuck out in the hallway!).

Build-a-bear

Today was the last day of summer vacation (for Annika at least, Emmett still has another week until he starts preschool) and I wanted to do something special with the kids, so I took them to Build-A-Bear in the mall.  We had never been there before, and the kids loved it.

Annika "stuffing" her kitty.  Emmett was a little wary of the stuffing machine, and I had to help him with his bear.

Giving their animals a "bath" and getting them ready to get dressed.

Picking out their outfits was no easy task, with so many options! (You can't see it in this picture, but Annika's kitty has a dress on).  Emmett picked an orange shirt (go figure) for his bear.

All done!

Building bears is hard work, which requires a donut afterwards. ;)

Annika and her kitty, Isabella

Emmett and his bear, Trike (he picked the name himself - I don't judge).

The kids had a blast at the store, but I have to admit, I ended up spending more than what I was planning to (isn't that always the case?).  I wasn't very good at saying "no" to them, although the sales guy didn't help.  I thought he would tell us about the different options (you can have a sound put in the bear, a beating heart, a smell - all for an extra cost) and ask me which we wanted.  Instead, he just starting showing everything to the kids, and saying, "next we do this..." - which made it a lot harder to say no to things!  I said no to the sound (I don't like toys that make noise) and the beating heart, but I let them each get a smell (Annika picked cotton candy and Emmett picked strawberry).  In hindsight, I also should've made them pick one of the cheaper bears (the bears themselves range in price from $12 to about $30 I think), so we could've spent more on the accessories, which are really the fun part.  I also kind of wished I had encouraged Annika to pick a bear instead of the cat, since the clothing options for the cat were more limited (the dress she picked out was actually for a bear, but it happened to fit the kitty as well), but she really, really wanted the kitty (and as we've already established, mommy wasn't saying no to much). ;)  We had fun though, so mission accomplished.  It's not something that we'll do every day, so I think it's okay to splurge every now and then.

Next up... kindergarten starts tomorrow!  Don't even ask me if I'm ready for this.

Hoarding

If the squirrels are hungry this winter I think I know who's to blame...

Church camp

This past weekend was our annual "church camp" weekend.  The camp we go to is over 3 hours away, so getting there and back is a bit of an.... adventure, but it's fun to be there.  The weather was mostly good, the food was great (love it when I don't have to cook all weekend - I'll gladly do other camp chores to get out of meal prep!), and the company was great too.  I didn't take a lot of pictures, but here are a few.

I attempted the rock climbing wall!  This was my second time doing rock climbing (I tried it last year for the first time).  I didn't get very high, but I tried.

Annika also did some climbing.

Bedtime snuggles

Ice cream stop on the way home.

I didn't get a picture of this at camp, but this "mosaic-by-number" kit I bought was a big hit (even with some of the older kids).  Annika loves it (and Emmett too, but it's a little beyond him.  He likes to peel off the little stickers and pass them to me to stick on the sheet).

Over the course of the past week I've been doing little braids in Annika's hair.  Today we finally finished her whole head (she can only sit still for a few braids at a time).  Unfortunately we had to take them all out this evening, since tomorrow is haircut day.