St. Rose of Lima - Pre-K

Yesterday i had the orientation for St. Roses' Elementary School Orientation. WOW...it was a lot to take in, in the hour of the tour. Funny part was i pretty much knew where everything was etc....since i went there back in the 80's! There are actually TWO teachers STILL teaching there from my days at St. Rose...how crazy is that? They looked a lot older...but the same teachers. I took in so much information i probably won't remember half of what i learned. I should have taken a pen and piece of paper for notes...but i'll learn the ropes when school starts. Weird how i have a child that is getting prepared to start school. WOW! Some of the things i learned:
1. school starts at 7:45a-3:00
2. they have a car drop off where you just drive up and let them jump out of the car and keep going(which will be GREAT for me since i'll have the twins). I'll use this on the days the girls aren't in MDO...other days we'll walk her to class.
3. They start off the morning with prayers and the pledge
4. Church is on Thursdays(which is great because I can actually go meet her up there and go sit by her since the girls will be in MDO)
5. They switch classes through out the day..they have science, art, SPANISH(SOO excited about this) and music...i'm sure i missed something but i'll remember later.
6. They will wear uniforms...they are ok..khaki pants, navy pants, white short sleeve plain button down shirt, red plaid for church days.
7. They will still get a nap for about 45 minutes a day
8. They have lunch and then recess...not like at MDO where they go in the morning before lunch
9. They eat at staggered times but will eat with all the big kids.
10. The 4th & 5th graders pair of the with pre-k kids to go to church..so they have a buddy to help keep them quiet. :)
11. They will make their first communion in 1st grade...so Hannah will make it there...i thought i made it in 3rd grade...maybe i misunderstood the lady on this one.
12. We have to work 1 hour at the Halloween carnival each year.
13. I can take a class and then go in and help out some days at school...with art or other classes...just really to assist the teacher(this sounds fun to me).
14. I get to join the PTO
15. This one kinda bothers me...they can't afford a real RN..so they have the secretary/assistant in front as the nurse...she did say she was CPR certified and gets certified every year but still...kinda bothers me. But i think that's part of going to a school that doesn't get as much funding through the state as does a public school.

All in all i have mixed emotions about Hannah starting Pre-K this coming August! I'm excited for her because she will learn soo much...and i think she'll really enjoy it. I'm also sad because i will no longer have the 3 extra days i have with her now each week. She will go everyday like every other kido...I think it's just a bit harder since i'm very lucky to be a Stay At Home Mom versus a working mom who sadly has to leave their child everyday. I know the girls will also miss her a ton...they love playing with their big sister and she teaches them soo much...good and bad. LOL!

The shell shock will also be when we start making another "Car Note". We have been so good at paying things off...cars, credit cards..etc. Thankfully we don't have any car payments..because in all reality we are buying a small car with this newly acquired amount of money we'll be paying for school. That is just part of living in the inner city versus living out in the burbs where there are nice exemplary schools for children to attend. If we didn't have the money to pay for her private school we'd be moving now...rather than later. There is just no way i'd put Hannah in a school around our house. Don't get me wrong...we live in a nice small neighborhood that we LOVE. But the downfall is putting all our money into elementary school v/s saving this money for college.

On another note, something really funny happened this morning. The girls were both screaming...and screaming this morning. It was driving me crazy to the extent that i told Paul i felt like i was in rehab or not really rehab but you get what i mean(I was celebrating every 30 minutes i made it through the morning without packing my bags and heading to mexico, LOL). Anyway i finally figured out that they were just really hungry(they get this trait from paul b/c he's always STARVING in the morning unlike myself). Anyway so i gave them both a little bowl of cheerios and they both calmed down and went and sat down on their chairs in the living room to eat. It was the cutest thing ever. So while they were doing this i got every one's breakfast ready. I called them to come over and put them in their high chairs. They did NOT want to let their cheerio bowls go when i picked them up...so i gave them to them in their high chair. It was funny because i then gave them some pieces of a cinnamon roll and their personalities came out just a bit more. Sam took her cinnamon roll pieces and shoved them in the bowl with her cheerios...so i thought it was cute and i put Sarah's in her bowl...Sarah took all hers out immediately..she wanted everything separated out. Sam likes it all in the same bowl. Very cute and just another difference in their personalities. :)

BTW, Hannah was so excited about sleeping in her bed upstairs last night...so i said ok...she could sleep all by herself. So she went upstairs and i turned on the t.v. for her, just so she can get used to being upstairs by herself. So she was upstairs for about 10 minutes last night and all of a sudden i hear this screeching...i thought it was the girls at first. NOPE, it was Hannah. I ran up there as fast as possible...she was scared to be up there alone. I guess she won't be up there again by herself for a while longer. I really want her to get adjusted to sleep by herself up there...but i gotta tell you it is kinda scary up there. Well maybe not scary but so creaky and quiet. She used to being by us, etc. I hope not, but i'm really guessing she won't truly move up stairs by herself until the girls move up there too...which could be as soon as by the time they are 2 and know how to get up and DOWN the stairs safely. I guess we'll see.

That's all for now folks...check back LATER for pics...my camera is completely FULL and i can't take anymore pics till Paul loads them all on to flicker and clears out the memory card!