Emma's Starts Pre-K 3

Emma started in Teacher Sara's class today. The 3 year old class. She is already counting down to next year when she will be in VPK and then the year after she'll be in kindergarten. Except that she won't. Her birthday falls 15 days too late. Emma is going to be like a fifth year preschool senior. Even as the youngest one in her class, she already dominates with her larger than life personality, volume and attitude. I am hoping for some wisdom between now and the next two years in how to guide Miss Emma for success. ( I should say that I foresee this as an ongoing ever renewing hope on my part.) I think we're going to have to send her to a different preschool for her second year of VPK or maybe we could rent her out as a teacher's aide.

Emma was so excited about all of her school supplies, that she had every last crayon, colored pencil and marker out of its box spread across the floor five minutes after I set the bag next to the door to be ready for the this morning. Just too much temptation.

First Day of Kindergarten

Andres and I both went with Lorelei this morning to start her first day of school. She had a school lunch - toast and chocolate milk - and then we walked to her class. She met her teacher, Ms. Rengel and found her seat. And then it was time for us to go. She wasn't at all fazed. When I picked her up in the afternoon she wasn't nearly happy enough to see me. Apparently she will slide gracefully right into through this transition.

In anticipation of Lorelei's first day at a big school, I reminded her how timid she was when she first started in her preschool classes. She barely spoke to the teachers for several days. Tonight she assured me that she was not too shy with the teacher and told her when she needed to use the bathroom. Apparently all the time spent playing school with Emma has emboldened her let her personality show through at school.
(Beware Ms. Rengel! Lorelei will keep you on your toes!)

She came home with a math workbook just for home practice. It is essentially a standardized test prep practice book for us to do in our family time together. Lorelei was very excited about it (come to think of it I do believe that I had a rather unnatural love of workbooks at an early age) so I let her go to town. I did however instigate that she must do the pages in order. That is certainly for my sanity and not hers. In any event, she is on page 29. It is all really basic, basic stuff that is downright easy. Good for self-esteem building (See how I am reaching for the positives? Beware Ms. Rengel! Mrs. Pfefferkorn will keep you on your toes, too.)

More House Photos

Andres reminded me last night that our contractor told him on July 17th that the project would be COMPLETE in 10 days. Now exactly one month later - the contractor told me today that it could be finished on Friday. We're not buying that story either, but there has been some obvious visual changes. The girls room is all pink right now but eventually will have some green accents. Our room is a crisp light blue and a deep aqua. The full bath is a beautiful blue - Tropical Lagoon it is called. The tiling has been so much more complicated and a much longer process than I imagined - and it isn't finished yet, but when it is it will be BEAUTIFUL!! The hallway is a yummy creamy french vanilla kind of color. The half bath (also known as the black and white bathroom) is currently lavender, but it was supposed to be and someday soon will be a light gray. The black vanity pieces and linen closet were just installed today. You can see in the photo how much dust is flying around in the air from the tile cutting. The black and white tile floor is absolutely gorgeous. I'm so happy that Andres agreed to let me have this floor even though he wasn't crazy about it.

Painting Begins

Seventeen days to go until the end of August and the end of our apartment life. That also means that many days for our house to be in a livable condition. Possibly the most exciting part so far for me was that I got to start painting yesterday!!!!!!! We have lived in apartments for the past 5 years and the white on white decor is so boring! So yesterday, with Jenna's help we painting the bathrooms: Tropical Lagoon and Moonlight Gray. The blue is fabulous and the gray went on so late last night that I couldn't really see well by the light of the single 60 watt bulb.

Today tile is being laid in both bathrooms and within days I expect a toilet!!! That will take me a long way toward being able to live in the house. Here are a few more recent photos of the process.

Count Down to Kindergarten

Lorelei has exactly 2 weeks left in her current preschool. On August 23rd she will be moving on and up to the big time - kindergarten! I hope that we are ready for it. I'm not sure I am. She is so big and yet so little compared to third, fourth and fifth graders. Her new school is soooooo much bigger. I am just very anxious about the transition for her (and me) to a large school that I don't really know enough about. I hope that she has an amazing teacher that will nurture her creative and sensitive soul. I am probably most disappointed that she will have to wear a uniform. It is very limited. Navy pants, shorts or skorts and light blue or yellow polo shirts. Yuck! Not that she isn't cute. She is! But it is so limiting and takes away one of my greatest daily joys - wondering what outfit Lorelei will put together. Lately she is very into accessories, so I hope that at least she can express herself through necklaces, bracelets and most of all rings.

Reader Rabbit

If ever there was a moment to declare Lorelei a true reader, it is now. At Chipotle yesterday she started reading the menu to us. I don't understand how her 5 year old brain understands so effortlessly to make sense out of the English language. Vowels truly defy logic

Pulled Into Cooking By the Desire for a Pulled Pork Sandwich

Not withstanding the two professionally trained chefs among my three siblings, I have never been too terribly interested in cooking. I prepare food - and usually something that can be completed in 15 minutes or less because when I am hungry, I want to eat! I sometimes go through phases of looking through cookbooks and feeling inspired until I read the list of ingredients. It is sure to include items that I don't have in my kitchen, nor have ever had in the kitchen, an item or two that I don't even know what it is, and then the items that I just can't tolerate due to IBS. Once I eliminate all recipes with either onions or pepper (forget the other more easily skipped items like broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts or cabbage) there isn't much left.

I have tried - so far unsuccessfully - to convince either of my talented chef siblings to write an IBS cookbook. This year was the VERY FIRST TIME that I have ever cooked fish. It went well and now we have fish about once every two weeks. I started pulling recipes off the web and really it is getting kind of fast and easy. (I have got to tell you that the first recipe was a Rachael Ray's 30 minute meal and it took me FOREVER longer than 30 minutes. I must have spent at least 30 minutes just reading and re-reading the recipe a hundred times trying to wrap my mind around it.)

In it would be wonderful recipes mindful of common IBS trigger foods as well as a helpful substitution chart. If you can't have green peppers, what would be a good substitute to maintain the integrity of the recipe? Since I know oh so little about cooking, I have NO idea how to substitute. On several occasions, both high and low profile, I have been accommodated. (If only I had written down what they did or was even present while it was being prepared, I believe I could have the beginning of a book!) My brother's family was recently here visiting and he made pulled pork sandwiches with faux slaw all Amber friendly and so yummy!

So I'm not just inspired to learn to cook, I am intrigued to understand how cooking works. Get it? I want to understand the science behind the cooking. A recipe just doesn't give me enough information. I don't know what the different ingredients do for a recipe, so I don't know how to adapt a recipe. Now I am going to learn - starting with pulled pork sandwiches. And the journey is going to continue until I don't need measuring spoons or recipes anymore! I am going to write the damn IBS book myself! (But I'd really rather co-author with the two experts. You two be the brains and I'll be the tester? What do you say?)

So you can look forward to posts and photos of my cooking journey. Below are photos of last night's dinner, Parmesaen encrusted Mahi-Mahi, and Ratatouille (inspired by watching the movie several times lately) and fresh Cherry Crisp (my fingernails are still stained and my shoulders still tight from the pitting) from Supper Club earlier in the week. And tonight we will dine on pork sandwiches!