Thanksgiving Party at CCS

Elyse had her Thanksgiving Party at school today. It was fun to see her with her friends. I arrived early and help set up.

When the kids came it from recess Elyse found me and gave me a hug and then went to her table and got dressed.

They sang songs and shook their tail feathers ;)

They then did some crafts

Controlled (?) chaos

This says I am thankful for "Mi Family"

Then the feasting began

As the kids ate, Mrs. Young read out loud a list compiled from each student of why they were thankful for each other. This is Elyse's list:

It was a good time and I am glad I was able to go.

Oh, and Anastasia was there too which made it more.... interesting ;)

The First Day of Kindergarten

On the first day of school we were all up early and ready to go. Toby decided to go into work late so he could see Elyse off for her first day of Kindergarten. I am so glad he was there to drive since I was nervous about getting to school on time and then navigating the parking lot.

I love this picture:

Here we go...

Elyse looks sad in this picture, but she's not. I'm not sure what's going on. Anyway...

We got to school early and brought Elyse to the gym where we waiting for her teacher to bring her to class.

 Elyse and Mrs. Young off to class.

We helped Elyse figure out where to put her lunch and her back pack and then she found her desk.

Elyse's class. There are only 14 kids in her class right now. This small class size is one reason I wanted to send her to Cypress Christian.

After the kids were settled we said all the pledges and prayed for our kids. The kids started the day and the parents were invited to a "boo-boo" blueberry muffin party to meet other kindergarten parents and cry if need be. ;)

After school I picked up Elyse and asked how school was. She said she had a good day and loves school. We celebrated the first day of school with ice cream sundaes. When I put chocolate sauce on her ice cream Elyse said something to the effect of "Oh, I think I've seen this before..." poor deprived child seeing chocolate sauce for the first time at home at the age of 5 ;)

Since the first day, Elyse continues to like school. She is very tired at night, but I think it's getting a little better.

Here are a few pictures I took yesterday after being in school for a week. (I think the plaid skirt is so cute.)

The Day Before...

The day before Elyse's first day of Kindergarten (at Cypress Christian School) was very eventful. It began by visiting the Willertons and meeting their brand new baby Isaac. We then headed to lunch at one of Elyse's favorite places- KFC and then went to meet her teacher. When we arrived to Elyse's classroom we were the first ones there which gave us an opportunity to talk to her teacher one-on-one and get a picture.

Elyse's teacher is Mrs. Young and has been teaching kindergarten for a few years at CCS.

Elyse was not one bit nervous and found her desk easily. On her desk were some Starburst which was a nice bonus. After taking in the scene, I had Elyse practice finding her classroom from the front of the school. She had no problem.

After visiting school we headed home. Anastasia fell asleep in the car so I took this opportunity to get a treat with Elyse while A slept. We went to Sonic and had some ice cream.

Once A woke up we were home and I told Elyse she could watch a movie. She chose Madagascar 2. Prior to the movie Elyse received some flowers from Aunt Pat and Uncle Don for her first day of Kindergarten.

This is Elyse's flower pose

And of course Anastasia had to do it too.

The movie was followed by a rousing game of Hide-and-seek.

It was quite a busy day. Tomorrow our lives change. I realized that I will only see Elyse about 4 or 5 hours each day counting travel to and from school. That may sound like a lot but if you factor in driving and dinner and baths and homework and everything else it's not much time at all :(

I am excited for Elyse and I know she will do great, I am going to just have to adjust and then celebrate the fact that Elyse is bringing us into the next phase of our lives.

Until tomorrow...

Homework

Elyse had her first homework assignment- Chinese numbers 1-10.

 She is at the stage where homework is fun. We'll see how long that lasts.

Her school uniform for gym Fridays.

 She is not a fan of shorts and so this morning it took a bit of coaxing (to put it mildly) to get her to put them on. I hope that after she saw everyone else at school wearing them she won't put up a fight next Friday.

 Anastasia wanted her picture taken too.

Good Bye Song

This is the song they sing at the end of each day at Elyse's school. She started before I turned on the camera, but you get the idea. Also check out her back up dancer :)

K1

First Day of K1 at JCCK

I took Elyse to school today. She was up early and ready to go.

We took the "big bus" (#240) to her school and waited in line to get checked in. Behind us in line was a boy from her class last year which happens to be in her class this year too.

Elyse knew exactly what to do and where to go. We were met at her classroom (Patience) by her teacher Mrs. Tham. She went right in and hardly looked back.

After school she rode the bus home where I had a celebratory McDonalds lunch waiting for her. She was so happy and energized and can't wait to go back tomorrow :)

National Day Celebration

Tomorrow is Singapore's 46th Birthday. To celebrate National Day Elyse's school had a party that parents could attend. I thought this would be great and decided to go.

I left Anastasia at home with Mary and took Elyse to school on the bus. Unfortunately the day did not start well. Once Elyse realized that she had to be with her class first instead of me, the tears flowed. I guess she calmed down in her class, but once she saw me again, she cried. I was able to stand by her for a little while, but then she had to go one way and I the other so she started crying again.

Her class was playing games, but she was still crying. I was beginning to think this was a bad idea and contemplated leaving. The teachers would come up to me and assure me that she is fine at school normally.

Would I ever be able to watch Elyse do anything?!!!?

After a little while Elyse calmed down and decided it was ok that I wasn't by her the entire time. See her read puffy eyes:


After games, the kids went back to their classrooms for a snack and then it was time to sing. Here is Elyse's class being led back into the main hall:

Teacher Sarah singing:
In the hall it was a bit chaotic, but a controlled chaos. There were so many kids since the AM and PM sessions were there together. It was easy to spot Elyse in the crowd though.

She sang and danced through all the the songs celebrating Singapore.

During the pledge the kids stood perfectly still with their hands at their sides:

More songs and then flags were passed out. I really though someone was going to get an eye poked out with all of the crazy preschoolers waving flags, but everyone seemed ok.



After school I decided to take Elyse out for lunch. We rode on a double-decker bus to the mall. She was super excited about it.

Overall it was a good day (I wasn't so sure it was going to be at the beginning...) and it gives me hope that I can watch Elyse participate in activities- although at dinner Elyse told me she likes playing games when we aren't watching. Oh Well... HAPPY BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE!

School Bus

Elyse is such a big girl! At age 3 (almost 4) she rode her first school bus all by herself. It picks her up and drops her off right in front of the condo. Today she went right on without any hesitation. So fast I couldn't get a picture.



Here she is on the bus. It's hard to see her with all of the glare.



I planned to get pictures when she was dropped off, but she got off the bus with all this stuff (work she did, birthday favors, etc) that I didn't have the time again. Oh well.

First Day at JCCK

I have about a billion things to blog about from the past month (not to mention by brother's trip her back in May), but before I do that I wanted to add this post. Today was Elyse's first day at her new school: Jurong Christian Church Kindergarten.

School starts at 8:30, so we didn't have much time to get ready in the morning before catching the bus. Here Elyse is running by me while I tried to get some first day of school pictures.

I got Auntie Mary to watch Anastsaia while I took Elyse to the bus. She will be taking a school bus that will come right to our condo when she gets used to the procedures at school.

We arrived a bit early at school so we hung out until they opened the gates. Elyse was ok at first, but then I think nerves got to her. She began to cry :( We said a prayer and then I passed her on to her teacher (Teacher Sarah) and then I left.

When I picked her up she was all smiles (yippee!) Elyse said she sang songs and had macaroni and hot dogs for snack. She then asked to go to Subway for lunch and I said yes since it was her first day. Toby happened to be going there for lunch to so we got to hang out as a whole family for a bit- what a treat.

Doesn't she look "old" with her uniform, backpack and bus pass?

The first day is over and I hope the rest of the days goes smoothly.