Riley and Avery

Those pictures are in reverse order. I keep reminding myself to upload them differently because for some reason blogger reverses them, but well, you can't teach a a old dog...I'll stop there.

Riley had her birthday ceremony at school today. We dropped her off at school and then went to waste some time at Borders (which is extremely close to her school) where Avery convinced me to buy a bunch of Christmas stuff that was 50-70% off, including a gift bag with a snap closure, and get this, it sings "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" when it's opened. VERY LOUD. And as if that wasn't enough she discovered an identical bag to give to Riley. Yay.

About 1 1/2 hours later we went back to Riley's school for her ceremony. It was fun. I made oatmeal sunflower seed cookies, including a batch without sunflower seeds for the peanut-allergic children (sunflower seeds that are safe from cross-contamination are impossible to find, trust me). The kids seemed to like them and the teachers raved over them. They turned out a bit sweet, so next time I'll cut some of the sugar. I don't know, the ceremony was cute. When I dropped Riley off at school, the kids saw me with the tray of cookies and immediately knew there would be a ceremony and several of the girls ran up to Riley and hugged her and wished her a happy birthday. Avery participated in the ceremony and is really starting to like school, which I don't like. I mean, I don't want her to hate school, but I wasn't really planning on sending her to preschool. So I would prefer indifference.

Avery really really really really wanted to stay today, and Riley wanted to come home after the ceremony. I had gone over the plans with her prior to going to school, that I would drop her off, go out for coffee, come back for the ceremony, and then go home and come back to pick her up. However, when she has field trips on full-days, we usually get done with the trip too late for it to make sense for me to go home and then pick her up. So she wanted to follow the usual plan and go home with me. So I have Avery crying to stay and Riley crying to go home. Urgh...We worked it out, though. Miss Elizabeth is really awesome with kids having separation issues (Riley often) and it usually takes Riley 5 seconds before she forgets all about me and I leave feeling dejected. I think she just needs to go directly from my care to someone else's care. She can't just be loosed upon the world without an anchor. My Riley.

So, at Riley's school, 3 and 4-year-olds are supposed to take a nap, or at least have quiet time, while the 5 and 6 year-olds get to do other things. Before her birthday, I would always ask Riley if she took a nap. She'd always say "I HAVE to take a nap, I'm FOUR!" Then I'd ask her if she just laid there or if she slept and she'd say "Of course I slept, I'm FOUR!!" Her strict adherence to the rules at school is funny because she is the complete opposite at home. So the very day she turned five, she announced on the way home from school that she didn't take a nap that day because she is five and she doesn't have to.

I tell you, today was crazy warm! It was 63 degrees here in the Springs. Avery refused to wear even a light jacket this morning and we went for a bike ride around the hood while Riley was at school. I wish that I had planned a less time-consuming dinner so that I could have stopped at the playground on the way home from Riley's school, but alas, I didn't. And I had no leftovers left (I shoved them down the family's throat two days ago) and nothing quick on-hand to make. Perhaps that's why people watch the weather, to plan these things. Meh. It'll probably be sub-zero tomorrow.

Plus, I paid $1.29 for gas yesterday! Score!!

Wow, I'm blabbing...