New Hair Style

Lexi and I have seen a few hairstyles on the internet that she wants to try. This one is a fishbone braid made into a bun. I can't see it doing well through a whole day of school, so I thought church would be a better place to try it out. It looked pretty cute, but you can't see that it is a fishbone in these pictures.

Silly Day

Fridays at Lexi's school are called Spirit Days. It is the day when the students wear their official school shirts, bows, etc. They have LOTS of different shirts, flip flops, pencils, bows, and just about anything you can think of for their school. I ordered one of the "bling" t-shirts for Lexi but it hasn't come in yet. She decided it would be fun to wear something silly. She picked this funny shirt that Grandma Margie bought her and the skirt. She isn't allowed to wear a skirt without something underneath, so I suggested the stripped leggins. She got a kick out of laughing with everyone about her outfit.

Surprise Package

This afternoon, there was an unexpected package in the mail for Lexi and Jordan. It was from Steve's Aunt Angie. We opened the box to find two wrapped presents, one for each kid. They were thrilled. They both got banks. Lexi's was a yellow star.

Cali Fam Photo Drawing

Lexi drew the above picture and explained to me that Papa Malcolm is taking a picture of all of us and a dog just happen to stick his head in. The people in the photo include:

Grandma Margie - red hair
Paige - brown curly hair
Me - orange hair
Jordan - little blonde boy
Lexi - yellow pony tail

Scooter Weather

The temperatures have finally cooled off a little. Now the highs are in the 90s instead of the 100s. It was a perfect evening for a little scooter time.

Still Loving School

Lexi finished her second week of kindergarten and is loving it. She asked if she could buy lunch this week, so she did. She enjoyed telling me what she ate every day. I am hearing about more and more friends as well as kindergarten social dynamics (funny). They are learning how to tell time on a regular clock (with hands), practicing hand-writing, learning the alphabet in sign language, and lots of things.

They are also working on the 50 site words that she needs to know by the end of the year. She can read all of the words, but they need to be able to look at each one and say it without sounding it out and within three seconds. She has just a few that she doesn't recognize immediately. She'll have them down soon though. Then, she gets to move onto the 1st grade 100 site words. When she passes those off, she moves onto the computer accelerated reading program. Now, I KNOW that they will be able to keep her entertained without too much "baby stuff."

Drill Team Performance

Lexi got to dance at half time at a football game with my old high school's drill team last night. The bad part was that it was THE HOTTEST day that Texas has seen in decades & that is saying something horrible. We were dripping in sweat after mere seconds of being there. We sat in the stands for the first quarter. During the second quarter, she went to practice with the girls. The show was worth it though. She displayed great charisma and poise. When it was over, we headed out quickly. She told me that she can’t wait to do it again next year.

High School Dance Workshop

A few weeks ago, one of my friends sent me an e-mail with about a drill team workshop at my old high school. Her daughter is on the drill team there. Apparently, every year they have a one day workshop for school age girls and then they perform during half time at the football game that night. This sounded like something Lexi would love, so I talked to Steve about it (it is technically his weekend) and signed her up. This morning, he picked her up and took her to the workshop. They didn't let parents stay, so he came back and ran errands with Jordan and me. We went back at noon so they could show us the dance that they will be performing. She loved it and did a great job.

First Week of Kindergarten

Lexi survived her first week of school, which she doesn't like us to say. She said, "Of course I could survive!" Overall, it was a pretty good week. Here are some things that come to mind:

1. She has very LONG and tiring days. School starts at 8:10 a.m. and ends at 3:30 p.m.
2. She says her teacher teaches "baby stuff." That makes me laugh because our school district is known for being extremely hard. I know he is just trying to get a feel for what the kids know before he digs in.
3. They haven't been able to do recess. It is so hot here that kids were getting burns from the playground and it is shaded with a cover.
4. She has become fast friends with a girl named Reagan.
5. She has a problem with talking too much (no surprise). She told me that her teacher is RUDE because he doesn't let her talk when he is talking.

I am quite excited for her to be going to this school. I've heard good things about her teacher from two different people that have worked with him (one is a close friend). I have also heard she has an excellent principal. The only complaints that I've heard have to do with how competitive everything is here (that is why they are nationally ranked schools) and that the PTA is way too involved and collects way too much money. Most of the classrooms have SMART boards. The PTA for an elementary school near ours collected over a quarter of a million dollars last year. I don't know what ours collected, but we're in a better neighborhood. While these things don't equal a great education, it definitely shows that many people are invested in our kids.

Tuesday


Wednesday



Friday

First Day of Kindergarten

Lexi's first day of kindergarten was yesterday. She was quite excited about it and had a great day. I had no doubts that it would be good. Both she and I were more than ready for this day. Parents are only allowed to walk their kids to class this first week. Jordan and I walked her to the door, but her teacher put her right to work. I ended up waving and blowing her a kiss. She smiled and away we went. That evening, she told me all about her day, new friends, class rules, lunch time, etc.

Kinder Orientation

This afternoon, Steve came to pick us up so we could all go to Lexi's school for Kindergarten Orientation at 3 pm followed by meet the teacher at 4 pm. I took pictures before we headed out. We found out that there are 9 kindergarten classes in the elementary school. Two of the kinder teachers are males, one of which will be Lexi's teacher this year. He is actually the team leader and seems very sharp. I think this is going to be a great year for her.

Cali Fam

Lexi drew a picture of us in California. From left to right: Jordan, Me, Lexi, Aunt Paige, Grandma Margie, Hercules (cat), Papa Malcolm, and Travis (dog). She drew a "B" on Malcolm's shirt because he likes the Beatles.

Reading Ice Cream Party

Lexi's Ice Cream Party was tonight. I wanted to keep it really low key. We invited our closest friends over and just had ice cream. Sadly, I didn't do a very good job at taking pictures, but I managed to snap a few. Somehow, it looks like I didn't get any of the adults, besides Steve. They were there though.

Finished the Reading Lessons

Yesterday, we finally finished Lexi's 100th reading lesson. Remember back in November when I posted her 55th reading lesson? Well, we got up to 74 and stalled. I had too much work and it was quite grueling to keep her focused and interested. The lessons went out the window. When we got back to Texas, Lexi’s friend, Savannah was close to finishing the 100 lessons. That gave Lexi the motivation she needed to nag me to do them.

I decided the best way to do it would be to start over again. We finished the first 20 lessons in one afternoon. Getting up to the first 50 lessons went quickly. Lexi remembered all of the sounds and sped through them. After that, we rarely did more than one lesson a day, but we kept up with it. We both really wanted to finish before school starts. Also, she has been excited for the ice cream party that I promised her from the beginning.

We are both thrilled to announce that lesson 99 & 100 happened yesterday. This morning, I decided to have her re-read the first part of the lesson so I could post it.