when one of the moms at olive’s school asked us if we would like to volunteer to help those less fortunate…we jumped at the chance! when we lived in chicago and belonged to st. clement church, i volunteered constantly. it brings me peace and joy, i loved helping out others and the community around us.
we baked bread for sunday mass, we made lunches for the homeless, we volunteered at events, i led groups to support community projects…the list was endless and i felt it was the least i could do.
now that we are at a new church and school, i am finding my place again. we were in limbo when we moved from st. clement but we have finally found a place and home with our new church.
so, we were looking forward to giving back on this day. we arrived at the facility on a dreary day and when we walked inside, they had us sign in and put on hairnets. wtf?! i don’t think i have ever worn one. LOL it was a freakin’ i love lucy episode!
we sat down for an intro to feed my starving children…what it was about and what we were going to do. there were strict rules, like don’t touch your face or you will have to wash your hands, don’t touch your phone or you had to wash your hands, don’t chew gum, absolutely no jewelry, no cuts without a bandage, and if you don’t hit all those notes, you have to wear gloves.
we washed up and we were ready to go! our school group had a station and everyone took a role to aid the assembly line to package all the bags. olive and i took on the food portion and scooped the proper amounts into the funnel, into the bag. the kids then took turns, switching their roles but eventually, they all wanted to bag and count. that was probably the most exciting part! with each box we finished, our group cheered loudly and that created a lot of energy and excitement to move faster!
we had so much fun with the other parents and kids. it was great for them to learn and gain some understanding on what they were doing for others. plus, they had so much fun with one another!
after we packed for awhile, we were asked to clean up, and then we were called into the storage area to bless the packages that we had created. they then directed us to go sit back down in the gathering area and gave us the stats of our hard work. we completely exceeded the expected goal and we couldn’t have been more excited!
we left feeling good and hopeful that we helped make a tiny difference in someone else’s life!
[the group of kiddos helping out at feed my starving children!]
[luisa and olive]
[my and my beautiful girl]
[our hard work paying off!]
[we’re so blessed to be a part of this amazing community]
so the birthday parties begin…what makes me so excited about this is because i love our school. both the girls started a new school this past year and we couldn’t be happier with the school we chose. the staff is amazing, kind, caring and the parents i have met have been so beyond wonderful!
i was a little bit nervous about that because my experience with olive at her community school was not good. parent after parent i encountered were not friendly, social, or it was overall awkward. there were a handful of moms i met that were wonderful but maybe, it was because we all knew that most of us would go our separate ways and no one made an effort??
i don’t really know, but i do know that we are in this journey together at our new school and the parents have been nothing but great. i am excited for this whole experience for the next 9-10 years and beyond!
so, we went to one of olive’s classmate’s birthday party {her second one so far} and it was a princess theme! the invite stated that the girls could wear their favorite princess dress to the party! oh, how exciting and cute!
olive was so excited to be dress up as belle. she was very specific with her hair…she wanted a half bun updo with cascading curls. yes, girl! i was also excited because the mom, manar, had also told me to bring miss ellie…how fantastic was that?! i knew ellie would have the best time as well! and of course, ellie wanted to be elsa. LOL
we arrived at the house and there was the cutest purple and pink number 5 balloon set up in the front yard. adorbs. we ran into a dad, mike, of another classmate arriving and olive went running to meet up with his daughter. once inside, i spotted the cutest mini tables with colorful mini chairs, covered in sparking tablecloths, princess wands at each seat, and gold crown print pink organza sheers draped down the large window.
outside i spied the largest castle bouncy house, a trampoline, and a cute playset for kids. we all were a bit bummed because it was currently raining but that ended up clearing up midway through the party.
manar had her friends, outside of the school, there who were all so friendly and i was happy to have met a few other school parents as well! i connected with patrick, kiersten, andrew, valerie, elisa, annie, paula, and manar’s hubby elias. it was optional to drop off or stay…i really wanted to get to know manar, at least, so i decided to stay and i am glad i did, as i had the chance to get to know all the other parents there as well!
the girls had a blast. a blast!!! it was soooooo much fun for them! manar outdid herself. she left no stone unturned. from the sparkly table set up, to the castle bouncy house, she had a princess piñata, princess cake, princess utensil holder, fairytale book favors, and last but not least, live princesses! rupunzel and princess sofia were there to entertain the kids! oh em gee. this party was phenomenal…my girls were in awe.
these princesses sang, entertained the girls from beginning to end! there was face painting, balloon animals, candy treats being passed out…the works! olive and ellie were in heaven! they loved this party so much i could not get them to leave!
honestly, though…i was having such a great time with the parents that no one was leaving! hahaha! our day, that day was already packed. the girls had their first ballet lessons, then we cruised on over to the party, and i had also committed to going to a neighbor’s house party that evening too {gahhhh!}! the girls and i ended up staying at the kid’s party until 8-8:30pm?? it had started at 3:30pm too! time just flew by and when it was time to go, i literally had to fight and wrestle my children out of the house. they were clinging to the house for dear life…as if i was the meanest mom ending their hours of fairytale fun. haha!
it was such a great time and i am feeling so blessed to know so many great parents already but feeling very, very grateful that olive has segue into this new chapter in her life and has made so many good friends already! she absolutely loves all the girls in her class and is getting to know the ones in the other k class as well!
[i can’t with this girl olive…]
[how adorable is everyone?!]
[the birthday girl!]
[how sweet are they?]
[the adorable family!]
[oh, even though she’s pouting…i can’t even with that face. so darn cute!]
[iridescent pink tablecloths and princess wands for all the kids]
[olive with princess sofia and rapunzel]
[happy birthday girl!]
[make a wish!]
[yayyyyy!]
[the princesses putting a necklace on the birthday girl]
it was a double whammy! first day of school for both my girls!
it was in three parts…first – it was the meet the teachers and drop off supply day! there was also an ice cream social afterwards!
second was olive’s first day of kindergarten!
third was ellie’s first day of preschool 3!
and here we goooooooooo!
the whole week leading up to the first day of school was crazy. the girls were starting a new school, the communication from the school was so much more than olive’s previous school {who almost sent nothing in terms of that}. we literally were receiving multiple emails a day…so it was a lot to keep up with. they wanted you to enroll into their communication system…so that was an hour up set up and another hour of navigation to get acclimated. so, that was something i wasn’t used to! they needed school supplies, new clothes, new shoes, new backpacks, lunch box, thermos, food for lunches, complete school forms, sign up for hot lunch, sign up for milk, buy school uniforms {i have never returned and exchanged so much in my life to find the right fit for olive}, buy spirit wear, we needed to sign up for a class to volunteer at school, meet the teachers and drop off supplies, ice cream social, mass, coffee chat, and on and on and on. phew!
so, the first major event was meeting the teachers, checking out the classrooms, and dropping off supplies. i was hoping hc could come with me that day but he couldn’t. he had an important work event and could not make it. i spent the morning running around, getting errands done, and then we gathered up all our stuff to head out. i had to haul two huge bags of supplies with me, paperwork i needed to drop off, my camera {i never leave the house without it!} and of course, my two baby girls!
we arrived later than what i wanted but no matter. the girls helped me with bringing in the supplies. i could not fit two paper towel rolls into my bags and it was perfect because it was really all they could carry! so that worked out! we walked inside and met ellie’s teacher first. she was super sweet and we navigated around a little bit but i wanted to drop off olive’s supplies just to relieve my shoulders from the weight of it.
so, we moseyed on over to olive’s classroom {next door} and met her teacher. we explored the room, found her desk, put away her supplies, and chatted with her teacher for a bit. we then found her cubby and the girls played around the classroom before we headed back over to ellie’s classroom to spend some more time with her teacher and have her get familiar with her surroundings.
after 30 minutes or so, we decided to walk over to the school office to drop off more paperwork. i chatted with the school’s secretary and the marketing director for awhile before we skipped on over to the ice cream social over by the church. thank goodness it had stopped raining because they pulled the ice cream truck back up and mr. goodhumor was handing out ice cream bars again outside! so novel!
the girls were super excited and immediately honed in on the sponge bob ice cream bar! of course! they were so delighted and thoroughly enjoyed eating it. oh boy, it was easy for them but so hard for me! ellie kept screaming because since it was humid and warm out, her ice cream bar kept melting and dripping on her hand and she freeeeeeaked out each time! oh em gee. i had to wrap a paper towel around the stick but that still didn’t stop it. she was melting down as quickly as the ice cream bar was melting down. LOL
the ice cream social wasn’t so social for me and i tended to my needy kids and didn’t get to socialize with anyone! negate the purpose. ha! once they were done with their ice cream, i was like see ya! i wanted to gooooo! ellie had ice cream all over her shorts, shirt, and shoes. i had ice cream all over my hands and on my pants, and their lips and hands were stained. oh what fun! off to our abode we went to clean up!
scroll down for more of our eventful days to come!
[a little back to school fun]
[my sweet girls testing out their backpacks]
[i love them]
* I C E C R E A M S O C I A L ~ S C H O O L S U P P L Y D R O P O F F *
[checking out her new classroom]
[such a ham]
[my silly girls. olive’s cubby]
[her desk]
[ellie checking out her new classroom]
[her cubby]
[she loooooooves phones]
[she’s so sweet and sassy]
[the girls were so excited over their sponge bob ice cream!]
[i was like pose…and they do this…]
[excited for her ice cream bar]
[oh, eating this was a struggle!]
* O L I V E’ S F I R S T D A Y O F K I N D E R G A R T E N *
oh the anticipation of olive’s first day!
i was so excited! we woke up super early and got the girls ready to go. hc dropped ellie off at my dads as ellie’s first day wasn’t until the next day. olive had breakfast and then i got her ready in her oh so cute uniform! i know it’s novel right now but olive really loves wearing a uniform! thank goodness!
after hc dropped ellie off, he drove from my dad’s to the school as he had to go to work right afterwards. i was scrambling. i was still grabbing everything for olive’s first day and i still needed to snap a few pictures of her! oh i was running out of time! we finally jumped in the car and we hit so much traffic! i have taken that route so many times before at the exact same time and i have never had such a traffic jam! i called hc and he was struggling with it as well {he took a different route than me but it was bumper to bumper on some roads for him too and it’s all local!}.
i finally got there with plenty of time to spare. olive and i walked to the classroom as hc thought he wasn’t going to make it at all {before the bell}, which bummed me out! you could tell how full of excitement this day was. if was full of energy, pride, love, smiles, and tenuous emotions. olive does school like a boss. from preschool to kindergarten, she’s never had any trepidation. there was so excitement in the air when we arrived, it was almost tangible. there were kids sporting their new backpacks, proud parents escorting their children, and lots of knowing glances and smiles were exchanged as we passed by one another. we walked in {it was bustling!} and i navigated her to her cubby to put away her backpack, lunch box, and thermos.
afterwards, we made our way to her desk and met her new friend madison. while i was chatting with madison’s mom, hc came swooping in! he made it!!! we were so excited to see him! soon they rang the bell and the parents scrambled to wish their kids a great first day at school and gave last minute hugs. i hugged olive soooo hard and then it hit me. i wasn’t expecting to be emotional because olive and i have never cried over school the past two years but it hit me hard. i burst into tears. a new school, new friends, a full day of learning…it was all so overwhelming for ME! i did my best to buck up and walk out there like champ, albeit crying. i couldn’t believe my baby is in kindergarten and growing up! so many big girl things happening, my heart couldn’t take it!
[back to school breakfast]
[school lunches]
[picking up olive from her first day of school]
[they’re like maaaaaa, stop with the pictures]
[walking hand in hand with her sister, like a boss and so happy]
* E L L I E’ S F I R S T D A Y O F P R E S C H O O L *
it was really nice olive had her first day of school and then the next day, ellie had her first day of preschool. for me, since it was a new school, it was great we could have both girls experience their first days separately. i felt that they were huge milestones and it was nice to do it that way.
we got the babes up and ready and i made sure i gave myself enough time to snap some pics of miss ellie, as i scrambled with olive. we hit the road and excitedly walked our way to school. we dropped olive off first {she was like, ‘bye, see ya’ and ran off} and we then walked ellie over to her preschool class. we waited outside with all the happy parents and anxious kiddos, then the door then opened up and we all filed inside. we found ellie’s cubby, put her backpack away and then found her laminated name on the table and put it inside the basket to account for her attendance.
the teacher asked us to play table games with the kids and then after 10 minutes of that, we were asked to leave. here we go! i turned around and hc is already out the door, leaving me with ellie. i told her i was leaving and she started saying, “no, no. no kiki. hug meeee! hug meeee!”, so i picked her up. i walked her over to the rug area where her teacher had started playing music and was dancing to distract the kids. i coaxed ellie into dancing but that wasn’t working. she started to cry and there were 4 or 5 other kids crying as well. just then, the principle came in to visit the class. miss debbie, the teacher, yelled out to the principle to lock or watch the door. as i put ellie down and started running towards the door, a kid was literally running next to me trying to escape. the principle caught him and then grabbed another kid headed for the exit while i snuck out the door, leaving the teacher to dance and rally the kids, many kids screaming and crying and the principle trying to catch kids from running out the door. it was hilarious! a total circus.
it took ellie 3 days of school to finally not cry when i left her. now she is a champ and looooooves it!
well that sums up their first days of school. i would say success! i can’t believe my girls are getting so big and experiencing these big milestones. gah! i am so proud and excited for their growth and learning this year!
[first day of pre-school]
[she’s a doll]
[she’s like f you ma. making me take all these pics]
