Sweet Life with Mary

Dear all,
Sorry for not posting this last week. I am in the process of moving this blog to my own domain name.
sweetlifewithmary.com
Note the disappearance of "blogspot" in the name.
I hope to have this new blogsite up and running by October 1st, 2007. See you then!

One of the joys of Kindergarten is helping your child with their homework. This is not the sit-down-at-the-kitchen-table variety of later years but more of get-Mommy-to-run-around-looking-for-stuff variety.

Mary's kindergarten teacher sends in with Mary's "Friday folder" a 2-page note about their week and also what can be expected for the following week. One of the things it let me know is the Letter for the following week. Mary is supposed to bring an object that starts with that letter on her Share Day which happens to be Monday.

For last week, it was the letter "F".

I asked Mary what words start with the letter F. And would you believe the first word that came to her mind is THAT "F" word. She said it, with no hesitation, "Fuck". I asked her if she even know what it means. Her reply? "It is what you say when you lose something???"

I do not say that word, it is very rarely said in our household. Mary somehow picked it up from cable TV. Truly.

I told her that she cannot say this word in school. It is not a polite word and she said, "I know. I will be sent to the office if I say "Fuck." "Stop saying it!!!!"
Anyway, we got around to combing the house for "F" objects. Mary wanted a selection and then, she would choose the one object to take with her.

Flip-flops
Tinkerbell Fairy
number Four
number Five
Fan
shark Fish
Flowers

Which one did she choose? First- the Flip-flops. Then, I told her she can bring a back-up. Then, the Fan. Why? Because they were easy to explain? Good "F" words? Nah. Because they were PINK...

Or, in Mary's case, pick dandelion flowers, blow on them while making a wish.
On our 2nd day of walking (scootering and jogging) to school, Mary had to stop and make wishes.

Here, she wished for more friends.


Another time, she wished for her birthday to be here soon. (Her birthday is in July, she just had one not too long ago..)


Eventually, we made it to school.

I was told that the public school bus do not pick up from our neighborhood because it is walking distance from the school. Not that it mattered much to us because we still have to have Mary at daycare as both Jack and I work full-time. Daycare takes care of taking her to and from kindergarten in THEIR school bus.

I love walking and if I were to picture my ideal day, it would include walking Mary to school, weather permitting, of course. Fall is upon us and these autumn days are my favorites, especially here in Colorado, sunny, dry and cool. Just perfect.

These last couple of days I had been forced to stay home. (Ok, I had been let go from my job and now, I'm looking for a better one. More on that later....) Since I have nowhere I need to be at a certain time, why not go for it? Walk Mary to school?

So, off we went. Actually, it was more scootering for Mary and jogging along side for me.

Here she is heading off from the house.


Crossing the street, neighborhood is totally safe, wide sidewalks and not much traffic.


Halfway, the sweater comes off. We are getting quite a workout.


We can see the school now....


Made it...


We took our time, took us about half an hour getting there but we stopped a lot. It was pretty much uphill all the way, Mary was a little tired but she enjoyed it. I did, too, especially the scooter ride back- it was all downhill for me...

Here are some snippets from Mary's Saturday gymnastics class.

On the balance beam...




Handstand - she did the best one in her class of 5 and got an extra stamp for it.




Cartwheels - I know I can't do one...

I find it easier to relax on the weekends when I arrange for Mary to have a friend over for a playdate. This weekend, it's her best friend who goes to Kindergarten with her. (They have known each other for about two years now since they went to the same daycare. Lucky enough, they got into the same Kindergarten class.)

I took them to a park about 5 minutes dives from our house. Summer is just about over. When it is sunny and beautiful out there, we had better be out in it. The dreary, cold winter days will soon be upon us.



I brought along a picnic lunch - chicken nuggets, fruit, chips and water for the girls and some leftover jambalaya rice for me. A bee kept trying to join us, I had to trap it inside this container as the girls could not settle down to eat.



I let the bee go very carefully when we were done eating. It was alive and well and flew well away...

Our little town in Colorado hosts a big Labor Day parade.

Mary is there somewhere waiting for the parade to start....


First up are the men in the big, red trucks...


Here's the mayor throwing candies at the crowd...


Here's Mary enjoying one of those candies...


My favorites- Dancing Horses...

I am a morning person. Or more precisely, I am an EARLY morning person. I like getting up very early (like 4 am) and have some quiet time for me, surfing the 'net, do my blogging, plan my week, do some stretching exercises--- LEAD the day, instead of the day leading me.
Sometimes, Mary wakes up early as well and on these occasions, I take her out for an early morning walk.

Living in America does have its perks.

Mary had a friend over for a playdate and I thought to take them on a picnic at our neighborhood playground.

Lush, green grass to lie on while enjoying a good book...


Peaceful, quiet, nobody else around....


And two little girls having fun together...