preschool activity - a very original title, I know.

Just for the record, Emma is out of preschool for the month of may - and maybe longer - due to the hand, foot and mouth thing going around our area.  One scare of HFM is enough for me!  So since Emma and Samantha both are at home every day now, we've started using the Five in a Row curriculum (can you call it a curriculum??) to give us some daily activities and structure.  It's been fun times so far.  

I've been surprised that even though she was only going to school three hours a day, three days a week, it's taking some getting used to having her back at home all the time. I think samantha enjoyed her "own time" and emma really enjoyed playing with other friends.  

In the past, emma would always ask me, "Mommy, can I stay home today?"  But last night after bedtime prayers, she asked me "When do I get to go back to school?"  (That was right after the "You and daddy are going to buy me a dog soon, right?" question...)

Anyway, here are some pictures of happier days.  A few Sundays ago, there was a little athletic event at school.  All the parents came, water bottles in tote for their little ones.  Then there was us, toting our kids who toted their own water bottles.  There had been some organization and preparation for the event ahead of time - one day from school, emma was sent home with a sheet of paper listing the events and activities that would take place.  Josh sat down right away and started translating it, so emma would be prepared for everything.  I nearly cried at his thoughtfulness.  

Then he discovered that Emma would need some help doing the "baton relay".  She had no idea what it was.  It's not like we run through our living room passing the baton or anything.  But - now we do! We had a little practice session so that emma would be ready.  She also kept humming this truly annoying little melody that stuck in my head for days, and then I realized it was part of a presentation for the event, so I decided I'd sacrifice my sanity and keep encouraging her to sing it.  

Ok, that's enough background.  On to the pictures, because they are really funny.  

Here's all the little kiddos, sitting in kiddie chairs next to a parent.  Kids were divided into 4 teams - red, green, blue, and yellow.  Emma was on the green team and proudly wore her shiny green emblem on her jacket until it got too hot and then took off her jacket.  Green team, see ya.  Samantha wanted to be near the action, so one of the teachers (identified by the smashing hot pink jackets pulled a chair over to the side for her.  

Socializing before everything gets started...
All lined up in their little rows...totally blending in.  You'd have thought we were born there...

Um, yeah. I'm not kidding.  I took a moment to pause my regularly-scheduled picture taking to get this little guys' hair.  I wish I could say he was an exception, but...

Let's have some team spirit!
When did she get all grown up?  Can someone please stop this???

Oooh, oooh, here come the baton relay pics.  I'm going to post a blow-by-blow in pictures since you weren't there to experience it live.  Emma grabs the baton from red-jacket-boy...
...and grabs it tight so she won't drop it...
...then, does she run?  No.  Does Emma ever run? No. She prances.  I'm not kidding you, she pranced the entire length of her leg.  You can see air under her feet.  She's prancing.  It's a wonder I got any pictures because I was laughing so hard.  And clapping.  And feeling so super proud of my happy daughter.  
...still prancing, about to turn the corner...
...she can feel the wind in her face, the rush of adreneline, the cheers of the crowd...or something like that...

When I uploaded my photos after the event, this picture broke my heart even though the actual moment lasted no longer than a second.  As she was nearing the end, she got to a spot where she wasn't sure what to do - lots of people were yelling, we weren't anywhere near her team, and even though she had been doing so great, she hesitated and cast this vulnerable look over to her daddy.  Am I going the right way?  Is this right?  A nod and clap from daddy proved to be all the encouragment she needed, but every time I see this picture - ten or twelve times later - my tummy still flips a little.  
...a few more jumps and she passed the baton to another.  Whew!  
Next was some bizarre activity that involved the parent cutting newspaper in such a way that it could be hung over the child.  Apparantly, josh's paper skills were unsatisfactory because Emma's BFF's mom felt the need to loan her paper to them.   Hmmm....
One big hit of the afternoon was the adult tug-of-war game.  I was nervous for josh to do it, because sometimes he has various ailments that don't need any extra help ailing.  His knees and joints and back are doing just fine hurting by themselves, thank you very much.  But he's a guy, and he's big and all the other moms and dads were clamoring to get him on their team. And then they were clamoring to get him in front, where all the action is.  
I'm sure you're surprised to hear that their team won...  

There was also an activity where the parents carry the kid on their back and the kid pulls off three "peaches" from this "tree" and then they run back.  I was amazed at the level of parental cheating.  But we didn't.  It was too fun to cheat - why cheat?  

Are there things we don't like about emma's school? Oh yeah.  When she came home and asked me why the older boys in the class down the hall say mean things to her, did I want to pull her out of that school as fast as I can eat a piece of chocolate cake?  You'd better believe it.  But, there are so many good things about it.  She really likes going, likes her friends, likes being social.  Here's her best bud and her:
bff, emma, and her other "boy" friend -what's with all this kissing anyway?  (Isn't it interesting seeing mantha in the background watching emma?)

Bang that gong, mantha!  This activity is over!!!