Valentine's party

The Noodle had her first ever school party this morning--a Valentine's party. Since they are only in school on Mondays and Tuesdays, and Valentine's day falls on a Sunday this year, they celebrated early. The room was a sea of red and pink and all variations of hearts. Fun and festive! Early on, before school had even officially started, the teachers had asked if I wouldn't mind being the room mother. This was my first task--to organize the food, treat bags and party. Thank goodness for e-mail as a way to coordinate everything! After being on the teacher end of parties, I knew I wanted things to run smoothly and be as organized as possible. I use to always have mixed emotions about party days because they could just be soooo exhausting! All in all, I think things went well. I really can't take any credit for it though, because the Noodle's teachers had obviously dealt with a roomful of excited 3 year olds and the parents that accompany them...they had all the nitty gritty details worked out thus ensuring a great party.

Good friends--like the "tough guy" face?!
Waiting to go to circle time.
Listening to a story about everyone's favorite big, red dog.

What's inside?

Getting ready to say grace before eating the goodies.

Yummy!!

Smells like......

One of the things that the Noodle loves to do at preschool is art work on the easel. Most days she comes home with "something special to show me". I suspect part of the reason she likes it is because of the scented Mr. Sk*tch markers. When I picked her up this morning, she looked like this:

FCC CNY

The mid-January through mid-February time frame ensures that there will be lots of Lunar New Year celebrations. We went to our first one of the season yesterday, hosted by our local FCC (Families with Children from China) group. There was a tasty lunch buffet down at a restaurant in Chinatown. After the children did some crafts, there was a raffle (once again, we came home empty-handed!), the dragon parade and a group picture. Whether it was because of the timing of everything (smack in the middle of nap-time), the fact that the Noodle decided she only wanted to eat a fortune cookie and some rice and so was hungry, or just that she was overwhelmed by all of the unknown people, someone was very clingy. She wanted NO PART of wearing the dragon mask, unlike last year--not so fond of the beard on it she informed me, was adamant about me joining the parade with her, and down-right refused to stand with the other kiddos during the group picture. The one hit was the larger-than-life Buddah--loved the bare toes (?!) and his big belly! Sooooooo, while we had a good time, she was certainly more stand-offish. Oh well, she'll have another opportunity in the not too distant future, I'm sure.

Our eyes are always bigger than our tummies!
Working on an art project.

So many tasty treats.
All the precious children (minus a stubborn one).

Let the parade begin!!

Holding onto her lantern from the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival with one hand and me with the other.
Come on...you know you want to rub it!!

Even this couldn't win her over.
Happy New Year!

Hungry?

I'm so proud!

This morning, the Noodle got dressed entirely by herself and she was QUITE proud of herself. She's been doing the turtleneck, leggings, pull-on dress, etc. by herself for quite a while now. It was the buttons on this dress (small) as well as the socks that really made her beam. I just love to see her accomplish these little milestones! We'll see what happens tomorrow...it could be another flood of tears over the socks (darn those pesky things!)...or maybe not. Hope your day is filled with tiny moments that bring a smile to your face.

Fingerpainting fun

I wrote about my, hmmm, aversion, to fingerpaint here. Today we went over to the good friend's house who I spoke of and braved the messiness to, you guessed it, fingerpaint. The Noodle enjoyed using the paint, but after about 3 pictures, she was ready to move onto some watercolor paints. She didn't get into it nearly as much as her little friend, granted said friend turned 2 in October, so there is a slight age difference. Long live self-expression!

The first tentative touches.


Really getting into it.


Ta-da!!


It is more fun on my hands than on the paper.


Watercolors are fun too.

A few words Wednesday

What started as this....

soon turned into a "jam" session.

Piano--


Violin--


Cello--