Almost) Wordless Wednesday: First Homework Assignment

Yup, I'm following the trend. I always loved looking at other people's "Wordless Wednesday" (WW) posts, but I never thought _I_ would EVER post one...I enjoy talking FAR too much to have a blog post without words! HOWEVER...I have decided to take a vow of silence on Wednesdays, and post only a picture and no words. So, despite the words here, this is my first ever Wordless Wednesday. Enjoy.

A Journey Through The First Day of Kindergarten

And since SOMEONE can't wait to see pictures of Taiger on the first day (cough, Aunt Itsy-Bitsy, cough), here are pictures of his first day. So, come with me on a walk through his first day of school. :)

First, Taiger had a bath.

Then, he ate a HUGE breakfast...sausage, mini muffins, eggs, strawberries, bananas and milk.

Time to get dressed and put on his shoes.

Then, it was FINALLY time to put on that super cool Star Wars backpack!

And we're off!!

Here is the big kindergartner outside his school. Look at that game face!!

Here he is with Mommy...who is amazingly NOT crying like a baby. :)

On the way in to school, we got distracted with the swings. :)

Here is the door to his classroom!

After the pictures it was time to line up outside with his classmates.

Here he is in line with the rest of his class.

And let me tell you, that kid was not worried or nervous a bit his first day of school! I, on the other hand, was a wreck! (Okay, not a WRECK, but I DID feel like my little baby was growing up a little too quickly for my liking. :) ) So, this is me outside the school after he went in to class.

AND...here he is on the playground after school. Not crying and running in to my arms, but playing and laughing and happy as could be. His first day of school was great!

'Twas The Night Before Kindergarten...

I wrote this yesterday, so don't think I am a liar for saying he started kindergarten yesterday, okay?! SHEESH!


Today was Taiger's first day of KINDERGARTEN in America (he went to kindergarten in China, but was still too young to go in America until this year.)




Last night, I took him out on the swing and trimmed his hair. (I trim it outside because cutting hair inside makes SUCH a MESS! ...and we like the idea of the birds using his hair clippings to make their nests. :) )

BEFORE

AFTER

Then, he coloured a Star Wars BACKPACK NAME LABLE .
He HAD to try on the backpack with the new lable before bed!

Then, he hit the hay for some good sleep before his BIG DAY!

Want to hear how his FIRST DAY of SCHOOL went? Check back tomorrow! :)

A SMILE A DAY. This one will make YOU laugh, too :).

My "SMILE A DAY" should put a smile on YOUR face, too. :) (Taiger's first day of kindergarten today, too! More to come! Stay tuned! But watch THIS clip in the meantime!!)

Click HERE for a smile! :)

Smile A Day...for the week :)

So, did you notice? I hope not. What were you not noticing? The fact that I haven't posted my Smile A Day post in days!


Things have been a teeny-weeny bit busy (in other words, TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY insane and out of control busy!) I never knew what madness went in to "school starting". I mean, I registered Taiger for kindergarten in JUNE, so then I just show up with him the first day, pat his head and nudge him into class, right? WRONG! That's not it at ALL! No, you have popsicle meet-your-teacher parties (which I LOOOVED and thought was a fantastic idea). Then, you have the OTHER registration day (what did I do in June??!??!) where you have to fill out P-I-L-E-S of paperwork on the most INTENSE coloured paper...magenta, fascia, tangerine (what happened to the primary colours?...and is Taiger supposed to know THOSE before his first day of school? And can I raise my hand at registration and ask what colour "magenta" is? YIKES!). Then, you take your child around the school and give them a tour (in other words, get lost dragging your child around empty hallways looking for the south-by-southwest door on the starboard side of the school to find the playground closest to Area A, whatever THAT means!) (All the while trying to look like the perfect mother, and trying to keep the other REAL perfect mothers from hearing when your child asks, "What's the next letter in my name again?" GOSH! We have been practicing this for a YEAR, and you choose NOW in front of the boy in the white polo shirt and khakis and his apron-wearing mother to forget?! SHEESH!) When you find the playground closest to Area A, you take your child outside to show them their new playground where all of the running and fun and socializing will happen...and you get locked out because "These Doors To Remain Locked as a Measure of Safety to Our Students In Compliance with Amendment 23589302348y756328234837 of the Something Law", so you have to run around the entire school to get back to where you parked the car, and now you are five minuets LATE to work.

THAT is how life is right now.

Not to mention the school shopping. Oh, the school shopping. And I don't mean, "Find a new pair of pants" (that was the easy part!). I mean, "Your new kindergartner will need 3 and a half bottles of four point two ounce ELMER'S school glue". Good luck.


On top of that, I was teaching my FREE TAVACI CLINIC for the past three days. At nine in the morning. (Yes, that meant we had to be to OTHER REGISTRATION at 8:00am. Taiger and I never even KNEW that "8:00" came twice a day!! Amazing! We are learning so much from this school experience already.)


Okay, but in spite of all the craziness, we have had a great week AND I got batteries for my camera. :) So, here are a few things that made me smile this week. Enjoy!

Funny

A Smile A Day? Try a "Laugh Until You Are Crying" A Day!

That is what I found today. Two things that made me CRY because I was laughing so hard!!

First THIS.

Then, THIS.

A Smile A Day!!

Today, Taiger went to a Popsicle party at the school to meet his new classmates and his teacher. His teacher seemed very nice, and a boy he knows from church will be in his class!

So, that is what made me smile today :) ...among MANY other things :).

A Smile A Day

I am so behind on my "Smile A Day" posts! BLARGH! (So behind in LIFE, actually...sigh.) On top of that, the batteries in my camera died, so I can't post PICTURES of the things that make me smile...and yes, I have the kind of camera that requires BATTRIES (as apposed to a camera with a charger for a single, amazing, POWERFUL battery of WONDER...and amazement).

So, here are some things that made me smile, to catch up to today...without pictures.

*On Sunday, my Mom told me about this conversation:
NaiNai to WW: WW, don't eat your booger!
Taiger: Oh, don't worry NaiNai. He wasn't. He was just wiping it on his tooth.

*On Monday, I left for work...still wearing my slippers. (Luckily, I noticed I was wearing slippers before I got too far.)

*Tuesday, we had to get out of the house! So, I took T school shopping. Although it kinda made me want to cry because I had to look "my-baby's-growing-up" in the face, it made me smile when I bought him the same kind of elmer's glue sticks ("goes on purple, dries clear") that I had as a kid. I was suddenly 8 years old again, in my classroom in Washington. I miss that happy time. :)

And that brings us to today. Several things have already made me smile today! My favourite moments, though, are those spent doing yoga with Taiger. We LOVE doing yoga together. (I have even put it in to our daily schedule for fall!) OH! And we sat on NaiNai's bed talking this morning, and that made me smile, too... a lot. :)

What about you? What has made you smile over the past few days?

Smile A Day for Sunday

Okay, my Smile A Day for Saturday was Taiger's party. I know you are all DYING to know about this. It was off the wall! SO incredible and so fun! The party of the century, to be sure. I have so much I want to tell about it! So, those posts are coming soon to a blog near you. In the meantime, enjoy some shots of the most fun, friend-filled day of the summer!

The Very Merry Un-Birthday Boy!!


Taiger watches, totally entertained (as any little boy would be!), as his buddy stuffs his mouth full of rice crispy treat and tries to chew!

Taiger is ready to take on some bad guys, while t-ball teammate "C" hides his watermelon behind his back for the picture....Sorry, C, we aren't fooled! The watermelon juice dripping down your mouth...and chin...and chest...is a giveaway!!

Friday's "Smile A Day"

So, I was throwing this HUGE Birthday BASH for Taiger (more on that later) and was planning to stay up late Friday and bake all the goodies. I KNEW it was going to be really fun, baking with my Mom and sister, and so I thought, "Yeah! THAT will be my 'Smile A Day' for today! I will take a picture of us baking and use that!" Well, night time came and I went to bake, and my mom and sister were watching a really great movie and asked me to join them. They said we could bake after the movie. Well, of course, I was too tired by the end of the movie, so we all decided to bake the next morning.

So, why am I telling you this?

I learned a great lesson!

You cannot plan in advance when you are going to be happy!!!!!!

You cannot do as I did, and think, "I will be happy when...." or "I will smile when....happens". LIFE is happy! And if you plan out when you will allow yourself to feel happy, you might just miss other happy times.

I have a dear friend from Latvia who I met in China. She was so wise and insightful, and PEACEFUL! She was always, ALWAYS at peace. Even when things were sad, bad, maddening,frustrating, she still always exuded a feeling of peace! One day she told me, "You cannot wait to be happy until your situation changes. You cannot expect your environment to bring you peace. You must have peace INSIDE."

I thought of that on Friday as I went to bed without posting a Smile A Day. My "happy moment" hadn't come. The thing I was counting on to make me smile didn't happen! So, what? I didn't feel happy all day? I didn't smile once all day? I don't remember, to be honest. I imagine I MUST have smiled! I MUST have felt happy! But did I focus on that? Did I appreciate the fact I was feeling happy? Did I NOTICE the feeling of SMILING? I guess not!

So, for my "Smile A Day" for Friday, I am posting the poster from the movie we watched. Not because the movie particularly made me happy, but because through that experience I learned something new about joy and peace and happiness, and THAT made me smile. :)

Smile A Day # 3 & #4

I missed TWO DAYS of the "Smile A Day"! So sorry! I was out of town visiting my sister and her husband AND their new puppy. :) So, here are my pictures from Wednesday and Thursday. Enjoy!




On Wednesday, I saw T's "shield" outside, obviously on it's way to the garbage. I HAD to snap a picture! We made these shields earlier this year (yes, I made one, too) (and we made swords, too...) and the picture T drew on his was so cute, I LOVED it! So, here his his shield. The picture is of a man fighting a dragon. SO creative! It made me smile to see it again and remember the fun we had making them and fighting with them.

The next picture is one my sister snapped of me while playing with her puppy. Now, ANYONE who knows me even AT ALL knows my hatred for dogs. I HATE THEM. HATE. I know, everyone says, "Hate is a strong word"....well, then it is perfect, because I have some very strong feelings about dogs!

But this one?

I wouldn't say he "stole my heart", but I will say I tolerated him, and thought he was cute and fun (for someone else!). And Taiger absolutely LOOOOOVED the little fluff ball. So that melted my heart. :) I did like the little critter. He was so playful and also so snugly! Aw, cute. ;)

A Smile A Day #2

What made me smile today? Looking out in to the back yard and seeing this:

My life these days...

"What can I call you?"
"You can call me Aunt B. if you want! That is what my nieces and nephews call me."
She wasn't satisfied. I wondered what was coming.

"Can I call you mommy?"
My heart breaks and bleeds with His goodness, His love, His mercy.
"If that feels most comfortable to you, then you can call me mommy."

A Smile A Day #1

SOooooo, my sister started something on her blog. A Smile A Day! You can read about it HERE and see her cute smile pictures. :)



So, what made me smile today?

THIS!

Not the park.
Nope, not the trees.
Look closer.
Okay, fine...you can't see it in this picture, but it is raining!


I was so thrilled when I woke up to the sound of pouring rain. I knew then and there it would be a fantastic day. :)

What makes you smile? Or what made you smile today?