CVSD: Day 63 (Last Day of Preschool)

I am feeling a lot of emotions today. Including grief that our littlest has come to the end of his preschool experience. There was no Mommy's Night Out (it would have been last Thursday night). There was no preschool graduation. No year-end party for his class.

Instead we drove through the parking lot this morning, and Isaac's teachers handed us a paper sack of his stuff through the window. We chatted briefly, took some pictures through the window, and then we were off. 

I held back tears. Isaac didn't say much. To be honest, he has been enjoying all of his time at home with his big brother, but I think if he understood that there was no more preschool, he would be sad.

I'm sad that our time at Signal Crest is over, but also smiling because our time there happened at all. Six years of dropping our little boys off at this wonderful place. We love our community and I am grieving that this chapter of our life is over. Without any fanfare. 

I think we will have banana splits tonight to celebrate this milestone as a family, but it isn't the same. Nothing is the same right now.

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Preschool is officially over. We did a drive by to pick up Issac’s stuff left in the classroom and say goodbye to his wonderful teachers. We have been at Signal Crest for the last six years, and our boys have had the very best teachers and made great friends. We are so sad it is over and that it ended so abruptly. But life goes on. Isaac has officially closed the preschool chapter of this little life and will start kindergarten in the fall, joining Jack at home as part of our Mohaus Schoolhouse team. Looking forward to the day we can say a proper goodbye with hugs. 🎶Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened 🎶#pandemiclife #signalcrest #preschooldays #kindergartenherewecome #mohaus2020

A post shared by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on May 13, 2020 at 7:31am PDT

Looking back: First day of preschool at Signal Crest.

2019 Valentine's Cookie Party

We hosted our second annual Valentine's Day Cookie Party this year and had twenty kids attend, along with eight moms!

I should have taken a picture because my driveway and street were filled with the most mini vans I have ever seen. The pizza delivery guy had no problem finding the house for the party!

This is the fourth cookie decorating party I have hosted, and we have grown in numbers from the original three families with six kids in attendance!

I have learned a few things along the way...

1) Expect some degree of crazy and be okay with it. This is especially true if there are going to be twenty kids under the age of 8 running loose in your home.

2) Keep the food simple. I ordered pizza, made coffee for the moms, juice boxes for kids and fresh fruit. Dessert was cookies that the kids would decorate and I had each family pay $3 per kid (moms ate free!).

3) Make the cookies ahead of time. The first couple of times I did this, I had the kids help roll out the dough and cut out the cookies, but we seemed to lose momentum when we had to pause to wait for the cookies to bake.

4) Limit the number of cookies. I used to make a somewhat unlimited number of cookies. This year I made enough for each kid to decorate two and had some leftovers. The leftover cookies are still on my counter.

5) Don't make a big effort with the activities. I had everyone bring Valentines to exchange and bring a box (or plastic grocery bag) to collect their items. The kids passed out their Valentines and then commenced playing in the basement until it was time to eat.

6) Be okay with the mess (see #1), it's probably going to be crazy and messy.

7) Accept help. My friends are so sweet and helped pick up the mess and even swept the floors before they left. My roomba took care of the rest.

8) It's okay to let your preschooler skip to school to stay home and enjoy the fun!

Our party was a success and I am so glad that we can get together like this a couple of times a year.

This year I changed up my cookie recipe and made chocolate sugar cookies and tried icing them with marshmallow cream (straight from the jar!) and also strawberry flavored icing. The chocolate cookies were a success! Here is a link to the recipe I used. I made three batches because my cookie cutters were big.

From America to Zanzibar at the Creative Discovery Museum

Sometimes you just need to change things up. It's been cold, but not snowy and the kids have been asking to go to the Creative Discovery Museum. So, that's what we did.

We saw the new exhibit “From America to Zanzibar” that shows how Muslims live in various parts of the world.

Jack did a building project in the Make It Lab, and Isaac wanted to paint.

The boys enjoyed digging for dinosaurs and figuring out ways to configure chutes and locks in the river play area.

And we couldn’t leave without beating on the drums and stopping to make life-size bubbles on the way out.

The CDM continues to be one of our favorite places in Chattanooga and it's the perfect place to visit if the weather outside is cold or rainy.

Valentine's Day Cookie Party

This time last week, we were wrapping up our Valentine's Day Cookie Decorating Party.

Since beginning our homeschool journey, it has been really important to me that we meet up with friends as often as possible (for both fun and learning), and also make sure we take the opportunity to celebrate and have parties so the kids don't feel like they are missing out on these elements of school.

I guess it's my way of making sure we have the best of both worlds.

Back in December, we hosted a similar Christmas party with a group of our friends, and we had such a good time that Jack wanted to know when we would be having friends over to make cookies again.

Luckily for him, he made the suggestion right before Valentine's!

So I sent out an informal invitation to bring some of our friends together on Valentine's Day.

I followed pretty much the same plan as before, but this time around, the boys and I made all of the cookies before everyone arrived. This freed up more time for play for the kids. And let's be honest, most of them just wanted to decorate the cookies, make a mess, and eat icing!

Since it was Valentine's Day, we also wanted to exchange cards. Everyone came with boxes decorated and cards made, and had a lot of fun distributing their cards.

When they weren't eating or decorating cookies, the kids could be found running amuck, trying on various costumes and acting out all kinds of imaginative play. Kids would come running through with capes and swords, then police and fire fighters or various super heroes.

The kids all had a blast and the mamas had a chance to visit. We had 16 kids ranging in age from infants to first grade, along with 7 mamas.

I look forward to sharing more celebrations together. Jack is already dreaming up the next party we can host... maybe we will celebrate the end of the Olympics with a little field day.

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On the note of Valentine's, Daniel was out of town for work the entire week of Valentine's, so he took the boys to buy me flowers on the Saturday before, and they hid a vase in the storage room in the garage. After the Valentine's party was over, Jack told me he had a surprise for me in the garage. I was definitely surprised.

Later Jack couldn't find the card he had picked out for me. Daniel talked to him on the phone and let him know where he could find it. The next thing I knew Jack brought me a sweet card that he had written in. I couldn't help but laugh when I opened it, because the card was actually the one I had bought to give to Daniel that I had not had a chance to write in yet! We still have not solved the case of the missing Valentine card...

Isaac also celebrated Valentine's Day at his preschool on Thursday. He had fun with his classmates. Coming home he told me that they had juice and cupcakes and loved looking at all the cards and candy that he received from his school friends.

If you've been following along, here are our previous Friend Friday adventures this school year:
August: Coolidge Park
September: Creative Discovery Museum ⎮ Greenway Farms Picnic ⎮ Chattanooga Zoo ⎮ Big Soddy Gulf
October: Reflection Riding Center (Monday Friend Day) ⎮ Charlotte's Web
November: Creative Discovery Museum ⎮ Pioneer Days at Audobon Acres
December: Christmas Cookie Party ⎮ Christmas Cookie and Bird Ornament Party
January: Creative Discovery Museum ⎮ High Point Climbing Day ⎮ Challenger Center
February: Hidden Hills Farm Maple Syrup Day