Team Up Thursday: Landscape

Okay, I know I need to branch out a little.  Too much time spent at school (or thinking about school) lately has left me with yet another school themed photo.  But, it's fall and I'll try to do better in October!  This week's theme was "landscape".  I thought about doing something obvious, like the landscaping at our house.  That would be a little too revealing though, like taking a picture of my underwear.   My intent was to go with the "blot on the landscape" in my classroom.  My eye is always drawn to that desk, with it's piles of papers to take care of, apples from a certain student, pencils and pens that didn't make it back into the holder, and pop cans that haven't yet made it to the recycling.  Each year I promise to do better and end up with the same landscape.

Ah, Theresa's photo reminds me of how I'd like to spend my weekend!  Orchards and harvest surround us all this time of year.  Which leads beautifully into next week's theme: fall.

How can it be?

Walking up to Evergreen Elementary

I'm sure every mother has her moments of complete and utter amazement at how old their children are becoming.  I know that M and B are only 3, but the milestones seem to be piling up quickly.  Today we hit another one.  You'll have to forgive the number of pictures; Sammy did a great job capturing their first day of preschool. What's even more amazing to me is that they were able to tell me all about it, right down to the silly faces on their animal crackers.

Of course, having never been left at daycare or school before, we were slightly worried about how the kids would react to Sammy walking away.  While Ben was evidently a little confused about why Mommy wasn't there ("Mommy's my teacher."), they jumped right in to the activities.  They're lucky though, they always have each other.  Plus, Mia was really fired up to play with the train set again after seeing it at the Open House last week!

Lots of new experiences today!  We had to figure out our lockers, unpack our bags, and learn the names of our new friends.  Only some of these were successful; evidently Ben played with a "blue boy" just like him.  I don't know if that's eye color or clothing! :)  Mia enjoyed playing with trains and boys (said with more sass than any mom wants to hear in her 3 year old's voice!).  

They also had to bring their favorite stuffed animal with them today.  Mia's bear was an obvious choice.  Ben's ostrich, not quite as obvious!  Evidently, he wanted to bring it because he thought it was funny that they stick their head in the dirt.


I can only hope that Mrs. Suits continues to hold their hearts and they love it every day as much as they did today!

Hot and Cold

I know I shouldn't expect them to be the same. I know that down to their DNA they're different. But, that whole born on the same day thing always gets me. The older they get, the more individual they become in every way. From their style in clothes (NO long pants for Ben) to their preference in vitamins (only purple for Mia, please), they're different little people these days. Yet, some unreasonable part of me expects them to react the same, to nurture and care the same, to play and enjoy the same.

We had a fuzzy little visitor to our backyard a little over a week ago which exemplified one of the recently appearing differences. We've noticed lately Mia's need to be in control of situations. Whether this is swimming at the beach or wrestling on the couch, when control is gone, Mia's done. While both are adventurous, only Ben could let go of the need to control what this little guy is going to do. Mia's fear of uncertainty pops up in so many places (think automatic toilets in public restrooms). Willing to give it a try, but unable to let the little guy crawl up her finger. Ben, on the other hand, would have allowed the caterpillar to crawl all over him for hours.

Two songs have been on repeat all summer. One (Werewolves of London) just cracks me up. The other makes me think a lot. Seeing Ben sing all the opposites in the rear view mirror makes me realize what little opposites they are. As much as I want to think of them as similar, they're hot and cold.

Team Up Thursday: Selective Focus

This time of year, it's hard to focus on anything in a real way. I'm torn between many different things: kids, books for pleasure, books for school, planning, and things online (to name only a few). I can't pick one and end up doing a little of everything. Maybe I'm just not selective enough. :) One of the things I love about this project is how differently Theresa and I think. It's probably why we work so well together! I was really puzzling over all the different ways you could take this week's theme, but I never even thought of anything as philosophical as Theresa's focus. What's your focus? Glass half empty? Glass half full?

Next week's theme should be a snap: work.