Meet the Teacher

A new school year is here!  

We are all so ready to get back into our fall routine.  It's a little bitter sweet for us though, because I'm so sad we aren't at Learning Academy Preschool in Wylie.  We LOVED our old preschool, and I wish we could have spent all of our preschool days there.  I'm sure our new preschool will be great, but it sure is hard leaving one you love.  

Pearson is in Room 9 at Oak Tree Academy.  He is super excited about his new class.  He saw lots of things while we were there that he was ready to play with when school starts.  He got to meet 2 of the 8 little friends in his class.  

 Pearson's teacher is Mrs. Denise.  While we were at Meet the Teacher, we learned that she is from Wylie!  She lived there for over 20 years and taught preschool at the Catholic school in town.  She has been in Tyler since 2008.  How crazy is that?? Such a small world.  

 Nash was in heaven in his new little classroom.  I couldn't even get him to look up to take a picture.  We didn't meet any of his little friends from his class but we did find out that a girl from my MOPS group's little girl is in his class as well as the little girl of the lady I had monogram the boys first day of school shirts.  It's crazy how BIG Tyler is actually starting to feel small with all the connections I keep having with people. 

Nash is in Room 4 with Mrs. Sheila.  He has 6 little friends in his class. He is going to love being at school!! 

 Before we left, we stopped by the music "room".  It's actually just a fenced in open area in the middle of the school.  They boys had so much fun playing with all of the instruments.  They are both going to love their music class with Mrs. Debbie.  

I'm looking forward to a great year at Oak Tree Academy.  I think both of the boys are going to make lots of new friends, and learn and grow a ton!! We can't wait until next Tuesday!!

Pearson Performs at School

Pearson's school has a performance in the Fall & Spring.  I love that they do this instead of doing a Christmas program and End of the Year Program.  Both of those times of the year get so busy, so it's nice they choose the "off-seasons" to do their performances.  Earlier in the school year Pearson was having a tough time behaving at school.  It was no surprise that the teacher came walking out holding his hand.  I told Matt, that as a former teacher, I knew exactly what that meant!  

**Thankfully since then he turned a big corner and is behaving much better at school!!

For some reason when Pearson is on stage he can't keep his hands off of his face.  I guess he doesn't know what to do with them.

At one point, he and his little friend Brynn were both digging for gold in their nose.  We were all laughing so hard!!

Pearson loves to sing so he did a great job singing all of his song that he had learned in music class.

**Videos will come at a later date!!

Grammy & Grandaddy drove in to hear Pearson sing.

Pops was out of town, but Lolly & Nonnie joined us as well.  

our little singer

A few weeks ago, we got this little note from Pearson's music teachers in his folder.  

Over the last few months, our little guy has really started to love to sing.  He is almost always singing a song, whether it's one we know or one he has just made up.  It's precious.  We were so excited to hear him sing again at his preschool program!!

Before the program started, we roamed the halls of his school to see all of his artwork that they had displayed all over the school.  

He was so proud to show us his penguin that he had made.  

Before we took Pearson back to his room to get ready for the program he hung out with his best buddy, Logan.  I was super excited to find out from his Mom that he will be doing the same 2 day program next year, so they should be in the same class again!!

We are so proud of our little performer.  He did a great job singing and doing all of the motions.  

Lolly & Pops also joined us in watching our sweet little boy perform!

**For some reason I couldn't get my iMovie to work so I couldn't combine all the video.  You'll have to watch three separate videos to see the whole program. 

i love you BERRY much + {a free printable}

With Baby Nash's arrival anyway now I knew I needed to be on top of things with Pearson's Valentine's just in case he comes before our scheduled c-section on February 17th.  I saw these cute Valentine's on one of my fellow Dallas Moms Blog writer's personal blog, and knew they would be a perfect Valentine for Pearson's preschool friends.   I loved them, but I didn't have some of the supplies to make them, so I changed things up a bit and made them my own with supplies I already had at home.    

Supplies needed:

AppleBerry GoGo Squeeze pouches

Red Paper

White Paper

I love you BERRY much printable

Glue Stick

Hole Punch

Red Curly Ribbon

I just love how these are a healthy alternative to the traditional candy valentine.  Pearson LOVES GoGo Squeeze pouches so I hope his little friend love them too!!

And since I love all my wonderful readers, I made this printable just for you!! All you have to do is sign your child's name!!

 {To download, click on the image above, right click, then save and print!}

And if you need another idea for a Valentine you can check out my Wild About You Valentine's I made last year!!

bouncin' boys

Saturday afternoon Pearson was invited to a birthday party for a little boy in his preschool class.  It was at a bounce place in town.  Pearson has been talking about Logan's birthday all week long but as soon as he got there he was really shy and didn't really know what to think of all of the inflatables.

Before he warmed up to the inflatables he played a little air hockey with Daddy. 

One of his little buddies, Poe, joined him for some air hockey too.  

After Pearson saw some of Logan's cousins running around and playing in the inflatables, he decided to check it out.  

It didn't take him long to realize it was pretty fun bouncing around!!

I loved seeing him play with his best little buddy, Logan.  He talks about him non-stop at home and all evening if he couldn't see him, he would say "Where Logan go?"  Such sweet little buds. 

He was so cute playing with two of his other friends (twins) from school, Poe and Sai.  They were singing Ring Around the Rosie and then all falling down on the inflatable.  So cute!!

His favorite thing was definitely the slide.  He went up and down it more times than I could count. 

They bounced for about an hour and a half.  He was worn out!!

After all the bouncing the boys enjoyed some snacks and fruit…..

…….and of course birthday cake.

Happy Birthday Logan!!

Sadly, Pearson woke up with a fever the next morning and then on Monday we found out he had strep.   While we were there I was actually thinking how germy the place probably was and I was right.  We took some of those nasty germs home.  I'm just thankful it was just strep and not the flu.  Pearson is on the mend though and will hopefully be all back to normal tomorrow.  

happy birthday jesus

Last week I was in charge of Pearson's Happy Birthday Jesus Party at preschool.  Planning a party for 2.5 yr olds is not all that easy.  You want to do really cute fun stuff but they just don't really care about much!!  I tried to make sure everything we did was stuff that Pearson would like to do or eat and it was a complete success.  I think all the kids had a great time!!

We started the party off with a little craft.  I ordered these nativity scenes from Oriental Trading.  They were definitely a hit.  Two year olds love stickers.  

Here is Pearson's creation of the Nativity scene.

After our craft we had our snack which is always the kids favorite.  It was a silent room while the kids were eating. 

I had another Mom bring cupcakes and juice boxes, then I provided sprinkles for the kids to decorate the cupcakes.  I also made these cute little "Baby Jesus in a Manger" snacks.  It's just a brown muffin tin for the manger, shoestring potatoes for the hay and a pig in a blanket.  I'm not sure the kids really got it but all the Moms and teachers thought they were really cute!!  And most importantly almost all the kids ate it.  Is it weird that we ate Baby Jesus at our Happy Birthday Jesus Party?

Cupcakes sure do make kids happy!!

Our last little activity of the afternoon was opening up a present.  I had intended on playing music and letting the kids pass the presents around until the music stopped, but we were running out of time and some kids were still eating.  I ended up just letting each kid open up a present and they all thought it was the best! I got Dollar Tree Christmas coloring books for each of them.  

I just love Pearson's little class.  He talks about his friends all the time.  His best little buddy, Logan,  or Yo-gan as he says, is the little boy on the right. 

 I tried to get a group shot of his little class, but trying to get a picture with eight active 2.5 year old is not that easy! This was the best I got!! They were singing a Christmas song they had learned for all the parents. 

let's face it....teachers want gift cards

There are an abundance of adorable homemade teacher gift on Pinterest, lots of token things you can give your teachers for Christmas, but as a former teacher, I know what teachers really want........gift cards.  It's sounds a little selfish, but it's true!!  You can only have so much decor for your classroom, chocolates, mugs or candles.  I gave Pearson's teacher's what I know I would have loved as a teacher.  I tried to be a little creative and give them their giftcards in a cute way though.  Here's what I found on Pinterest.  

For his spanish teachers, music teachers and the director of the school, we gave them a $5 Starbucks giftcard.  I have seen this printable on Pinterest a million times but the original one from eighteen25, was green and teal and not very Christmas-y. I decided to put it into photoshop and chang all the teal to red to make it a little more festive for Christmas.  

Here is the updated version if you are still in need of a Christmas Gift for a teacher or co-worker. 

For his two classroom teachers,  I got them some foot scrub from Bath & Body Works and a gift certificate to get a pedicure.  I found this cute little printable here.  

I think all of his teachers loved their gifts and I loved how easy it was getting them all together!!

pearson's 2K music program

Last night Pearson had his Thanksgiving Music Program at his Preschool.  

 I had no idea what to expect.  You never know if your kid is going to be the one that screams, the one that sings loud, the one that just stands there or the one that goofs around.  Pearson did such a good job at his first performance and we are so proud of him. 

This was when he first spotted us on the front row! 

 When the 2K & 3K classes were singing he looked at the little girl in the red dress just about the entire time.  She knew every single word and motion to each song and sang it loud and proud. Pearson couldn't take his eyes off of her. 

 After the littles ones sang their songs, the Pre-K kiddos joined them for two more songs.  He had lots of big kids to look up to during those songs.  He was absolutely precious to watch.  It was fun to finally hear and understand the songs that we hear him coming home singing but can't understand.  He loves music class and his music teachers!!

 My Mom last minute asked me what we were doing tonight and I told her we were going to his Music Program at school.  I hadn't even thought about inviting grandparents, so she invited herself.  What was I thinking not inviting grandparents????  Mom fail, for sure. 

**Grammy & Grandaddy, I'm SO sorry I didn't invite you.  It wasn't just you guys I forgot, I forgot my own parents, too.  Matt caught it all on video for you though, so I hope you enjoy watching it.  I will let you know WAY in advance when his Spring music program is so you can see him in person.