How to cope with your littlest one going to kindergarten.

I still remember being pregnant with my littlest one. Actually, nevermind, no - that's a lie. When I was pregnant with my second, I was so preoccupied with trying to keep the older toddler from flushing things down the toilet and reorganizing my Tupperware drawers that I actually don't actually remember much of those nine months.

Things didn't really slow down after the baby was born either. Actually just the opposite. The first year was a complete blur. Trying to keep a newborn and toddler alive was so incredibly difficult. Both were such needy tiny human beings. Nursing Baby in a bathroom stall while trying to keep Toddler quietly entertained. Trying to get Baby to nap in the carrier while trying to push the Toddler on a swing at the park. Trying to potty train the Toddler while holding a sleeping baby in my arms. Attempting to take a two minute shower leaving Toddler in charge and find that Baby has eaten most of the dirt in the garden.

How did we get to here? Did 5 years seriously go by since my littlest one was born? How did we get to today?

Cue the waterworks. No wait - it doesn't have to be a cry fest. This is what you do...

Step 1. Acknowledge years before your littlest one starts kindergarten that you would be an emotional wreck if you didn't develop a plan.

Step 2. Realize that The Plan would have to involve either working at your child's school, home-schooling or inventing some sort of time-freeze gun. Veto home-schooling and attempts to make time-freeze gun prototypes fail.

Step 3. Send  resume to the principal of Vancouver Christian School while Big Sis is four years old and Little Brother is two years old. No job openings at the moment but the school's current Special Education Coordinator could be retiring in a few years.

Step 4. Be patient and wait until a year or two later, God opens a door. Interview for job. Try to not blabber nervously during interview. Pray.

Step 5. Accept full time position working at your child's school!

Step 6. Go to school together everyday holding hands and skipping along.

Step 7. On the first day of school, show your kids where your office is (conveniently 8 steps away from the kindergarten class).

Step 8. Smile with glee whenever they pass by your office smiling and waving.

Step 9. Go home together everyday holding hands and skipping along.

Step 10.  Praise God that you get to do work that you love, in a school that is amazing and be steps away from your not-so-little ones every day.

Fairies vs. Ninjas.

Big Sis loves fairies. Little Bro loves ninjas. For the last two years I have forced them compromise on something they both like so I could do one birthday party in August instead of one in July and one in September. Two years ago it was Paw Patrol and last year it was Nemo and Dory but this year, they were adamant about fairies and ninjas. I tried to sell the idea of Lloyd the Ninja Fairy but that did not go over well so we did two parties a few weeks apart.

Theme:

Big Sis is obsessed with those Rainbow fairy books with the glittery covers. If you are not familiar with Rainbow Fairy book series each book is exactly that same, I seriously question why there are 100 of these books with the exact same plot. There is fairy with a cutesy name (e.g., Bella the Bunny Fairy) and their dark nemesis is Jack Frost that steals their magical object in every book and they always the missing item back in the end. Fairies live happily ever after. Cue the rainbows and pixie dust. The End. 

Little Bro eats, sleeps, dreams and lives for Lego. His bedroom walls are covered with Lego Ninjago posters, we have the Lego Movie, the Lego Batman movie, the Lego Ninjago movie and he has watched every episode of Lego Ninjago: Master of Spinjitzu on Netflix. When I asked him what his birthday wish was he replied, "to be a real ninja". Hence, he was stoked on a Lego Ninjago party.

Decor.

Big Sis wanted a real fairy at her birthday party but I couldn't catch one and no real fairies responded to my ad on Craiglist so we had to settle on making fairy gardens. Everything for her party was rainbow coloured or pink and sparkly.

Little Bro's favourite ninja is Kai (yes, I know all their names) so everything at his party was red and black. The decor included his Ninjago Lego creations on display and a balloon bouquet that was held together with Lego creation that Daddy (the original Lego Master Builder made).

Venue & Activity.

The activities they picked could not have been more difficult. Big Sis had her party at Garden Works. There was a staff there that read the kids a story about fairies and then taught them step-by-step how to make and decorate their own fairy gardens. The kids were so quiet working on their projects that if a fairy did come and visit, I would have been able to hear her fairy wings flutter. It was really fun watching all the girls (and Little Bro) creating their own fairy gardens and making it their own.

Little Bro had his party at the Kerrisdale Play Palace. It a huge space filled with inflatable bouncy castles and a million screaming children. It is loud and chaotic and the complete opposite of his sister's party venue. Other than a friend getting a bloody nose, I am surprised no one else got hurt with all the climbing, running and bouncing.

The Cake.

 Every year I take on a task that I live to regret. Two year ago it was the Paw Patrol sugar cookies. The year before it was the stupid home made pinata. This year, it was the rainbow layered birthday cake. I figured since it was a Kraft Canada recipe, it couldn't be that hard. I mean if the ingredients are mostly cake mix and jello powder, what could go wrong? Uggg. I had to re-bake the cake three times before I figured how to get it out of the cake pan without falling apart and then carving the cake flat so the layers stack perfectly is not as easy as the three word instruction "Stack the layers" in the recipe. Also because we had no fridge to keep the cake cool at the venue, I had to change the icing from a whipped cream icing to part buttercream part cream cheese icing. Alas, in the end, the rainbow fairy cake turned out alright and it was a lot of fun to hear all the kids squeal in delight as we cut the cake and they saw the surprise rainbow layers.

Little Bro wanted the same multi-layered cake as Big Sis but with black and red ninja colours. I said no way. We comprised on a Dairy Queen ice cream cake with a Ninjago picture printed on edible paper. So much easier.

Food & Fun.

 Big Sis unwrapped all her presents at her birthday and was delighted with all their presents. Sparkly things, crafty projects, Beanie Boos and a real microphone that actually works with loud synthesized back up music.

 After surveying how much stuff she got from her party, we decided for Little Bro's birthday we would try a "$5 & $5" party instead. A couple of my friend's have started doing this and I love it. Each guest brings two $5 bills, one goes to the birthday boy and another goes to a charitable project.  Little Bro picked the Run for H20 of course. We took him to the Lego store after his party and he had enough money to buy a huge Ninjago set that he wanted. Next week, we will go see his auntie who work for Hope International and he can give half of the money so it can go to water projects in Guatemala. Hopefully, we can keep doing this so our kids learn to care for people outside of themselves everyday and even on their birthday.

The After Party.

After the fairy gardens, Big Sis invited a few friends over for a sleepover. There was pizza, candy and loud singing and not a lot of sleeping. In the morning, we made the girls personalized name pancakes.
Little Bro did not ask a sleepover and I am glad he didn't. I don't know if I can handle a room of sugar-crazed four year olds all night. Maybe in a couple of years...

The Verdict:

So that's a wrap. Two parties done.  Phew. I am exhausted. Can't believe these kiddos are another year older. Feeling blessed to see these two grow up and that its about another 365 days before we do this again.

10 must do's in Oregon.

1. Break up the drive but don't stay in a sketchy motels. It was a good idea to break up the 7+ hour drive, it was a bad idea to pick one of the cheapest motels we could find in Tacoma.  You know you why its a 2 star motel when a) it reminds you of the scene in Prison Break where John Abruzzi gets shot by the mafia b) the first thing you see when you get out of your is an inebriated gentleman with his pants around his ankles drinking from a bottle in a paper bag c) the receptionist is a 6 foot drag queen d) the show on the TV in the lobby is a gruesome homicide e) there is a prostitute loitering in the parking lot and f) the motel is directly under a flight path so you can hear the planes literally above your head allll night and  g) a stray black cat (definitely cursed) walks past your room. Nevertheless, the kids did not notice and were just enthralled to jump on the beds. We just locked the doors and prayed we would not get shot at night.

2. Take the scenic route. We were eager to leave the sketchy motel and back in the safety of our car as soon as it was morning. We took the scenic route along the coast and it was so beautiful we quickly forgot the questionable decision we made last night to stay at that motel.

3. Rent a beach house with friends. When vacationing with kids, its best to do it with friends, even if the number of small people out number the adults it's still infinitely better to do meals together and attempt to put your overly excited children to bed in the same room together. Plus renting a house together means you can afford a much nicer place than you can on your own (need I remind you of the sketchy motel?)

4. Don't forget to pack a hoodie! Our first beach stop was Cannon Beach,  after 15 minutes in our tank tops and shorts, we had to go back to the car to find reinforcements because we were all freezing. So much for getting a tan, I was wearing my hoodie most days at the beach.

5. Attempt to fly a kite or a rainbow ribbon. I had bought the kid each a kite from the dollar store and for the $1.25 I paid, I would say that it flew for about 1 minute and 25 seconds. But when we finally got one working, it was a glorious minute. Little Bro was so stoked racing back and forth across the beach nearly decapitating innocent bystanders with the string. Big Sis brought her rhythmic gymnastics ribbon and moderate success flying the ribbon by the ocean.

6. Do get free samples at the Tillamook Creamery.  This is the 'it' place to be. It just got renovated and inside there is a interactive display and a walking tour where you see the factory workers made the cheese. The kids were so memorized by all the robotics of the place. And of course there are free cheese samples. The ice cream there is divine. We bought two cartons and in 2 nights we went back and bought another one. I swear the kids ate most of it. We also bought some of this amazing smoked pepper cheese, we finished the last bit a few days ago and I am seriously going through some withdrawal symptoms.

7. Spend a day at Pacific City. Hike a sand dune. Skim a sand dune. This was one of my favourite days. You can watch all the trucks and SUVs race around in the sand dunes, there were deer walking around, there's horse back riding tours and there's the Cape Kiwanda sand dune which you can hike up barefoot and you get the most amazing view at the top. We even saw a whale at the top of Cape Kiwanda. It was so magical that I fully expected to see a mermaid after we saw the whale.

8. Go explore caves. Find new beaches. You can't really go wrong with any beach on the Oregon coast, we would just pick a different place to explore every day. One beach we found had a huge cave and of course we had to go in. Luckily, we weren't in the dark for too long and we followed the light at the end of the tunnel and discovered yet another beautiful beach.

9. Ride a one-of-a-kind bicycle along a railroad track. Check out Oregon Railriders. You get in these 4-seater bicycles and you can't get lost because you pedal the bike along the railroad tracks.  There is no minimum age requirement to get on the bikes, they even let babies in infant car seats on the bike, though our friend's baby did not do much peddling. Side note - it is also beside the Fish Peddler restaurant which is a great place for seafood and there are the biggest mountains of oyster shells I have ever seen in my life.

10. Pretend to be a pirate yar. Have some laughs yar. At one of the beaches, the guys hid some American coins (aka 'treasure') and led the kids on a quest to find the pirate treasure. Then we tried to keep talking like pirates except we didn't really know what to say other than saying 'yar' instead of 'eh'. That just became our catch phrase of the trip and we just added 'yar' to everything we said.

"that's good cheese yar"
"let's go in the hot tub yar"
All in all, a great trip with some great friends (yar).