Kiddie Garden

Today was our little Jackie's first day of preschool! He is going to Kiddie Garden preschool in Redwood City for 4 hours on Mondays and Thursdays. I am really excited about this little Christian preschool and the sweet staff. We did a trial day a few weeks ago and he seemed ready to dive right in. I really wanted one of those cute first day of school pictures on the front porch, but it was hard to get Jack to look up and hard to keep Cosette from stealing the lime-light. These are the best attempts.

 Our Jackson is so ready for preschool. He is curious, detailed, thoughtful, careful, tidy, thorough, gentle, methodical, engaging, emotionally driven, persistent, adaptable, and playful, not to mention we think he's the cutest thing.

 

 Cosette is mad that she can't hold his lunch box.

  Crazy little smile. It was hard to get us up and out for an 8am drop off, even though we are all up by 6:30. We have the habit of moving slowly through the morning, so it took a lot of planning to get out without having to rush them along through dressing and breakfast. We made it and drop off was as smooth as can be.

The sun was in his eyes, but here he is coming out after his first day.

The only person struggling with the whole thing was Cosette! That surprised me. She wanted to stay with Jackson at school and play with all of the toys. She has been getting feistier and stronger by the day. She's really hitting those "terrible twos" early and hard. This face says it all: "Let me DOOOO ITTT."

 Cosette is physical, nimble, reckless, fearless, joyful, strongly opinionated, fiercely independent, messy, tough, impatient, coordinated, quick, zany, talkative, and beautiful. Here she is showing her 8 crazy teeth.

Whatever you do, don't try to help her with anything that she could do on her own, or else...

Use Your Feet

Our church with the long name (Vineyard Christian Fellowship of the Peninsula) sponsored a 5k run to raise money for human trafficking victims in our area and we really enjoyed participating. I wasn't planning to post about this event, but I just got a hold of a ton of pictures of us taking part. There are so few pictures of all of us doing something together since I'm always behind the camera, so here we go.

Kids are strapped into the double BOB and ready to rock

Had to bring dinos along for the ride

Time for a little warm up

Lunges and stretching

Ready at the starting line. Did I mention that neither of us trained for this at all and have not run in months. At this point we were thinking that we'd jog and then walk when we got tired.

We are off. Dan is head and shoulders above the crowd.

Started at the back of the pack

Since we started so far back, we got to pass a lot of people. That was kind of fun.

In the middle of the pack. Really running now. We decided about 1/2 way through just to try to run the whole thing. I was pretty tired and wanted to stop, but just kept going.

Really sucking air and trying to keep a fast pace.

It felt worse than it looks. Running is one of those things that's just miserable unless you do it all of the time, then it's kind of ok.

Coming around the final bend.

Making the brilliant decision to sprint.

Going for it. Coco is trying to claw her way out.

Almost there

So happy to stop

Mommy gets really red.

Silly girl

Jack's scoping the post-race snacks.

Next the adorable kiddie race. Jack and Coco both ran in the 2's and 3's age bracket.

Girl loves to run

The guys are competing for first place

Everyone's a winner

Very nice event

While we're on the topic of our church, our small group for the past 3 years is winding down and new groups are starting. Can't believe how far we've come. We started out all brand new parents with Emeline, Josh, Noah, Jackson, Grace, and Jonah on the way.

  Jessie and Elaine with Jackson and Emeline

 Jackson and Noah at 2 weeks old

And now here we are 3 years later. Jackson, Emeline, Noah, Josh, Jonah, and Grace.

 Trying to get smiles

 Adding Cosette, Kate, Max, Faith, Anna, and Annie to the mix!

Tea Party Monday Morning

Gymnastics Camp Performance

Jackson has been attending a morning gymnastics camp up the street this week and it has been great to have him busy having fun every morning. He loved it. He is one of the smallest kids there and in the "Mickey Mouse Group" with Councilor Micheal. Dan and I attended the end of the week performance this afternoon and it was just as I had thought it would be: chaotic and hilarious.

In the opening routine, the campers are doing a group number where they do moves along with the song. Jackson is in the back when the video starts wearing a blue tiger tee-shirt and gray shorts. Also featured is his little friend Bradin with white-blonde hair and a bright pink tee-shirt.

He's not the most focused performer. I'd don't think he fully realizes what he's suppose to be doing. When the running starts all wildness breaks loose as he runs the short track and pushes other boys.

Next each age group performs, starting with the Little Mickey Mouses. Some of the others did some moves on the bars but Jackson is happy to skip that step. He's trying to look at Dan while on the balance beam, so that makes it more challenging.

After the official performance ended, the parents were invited to try free exploration with the kids, hence these two masterpieces.

And lastly Jackson insisted on showing us his skill on the bars, however his little sister shows him up, giving an impressive show for a first-timer.

Maybe Coco needs some gymnastics training.