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And We Have A Pre-K Graduate!!!

  • May 27, 2020

This definitely was not how I imagined Ella's last days of Pre-K would look like, but here we are. Celebrating my little graduate in quarantine. And I am definitely feelin' ALL the feels.


The rollercoaster of emotions we experience as we navigate through motherhood is insane. Especially when it comes to the constant tug-o-war of wanting our kids to hurry and grow up (so they're not so needy of us) but wanting time to slow the eff down so they can be little just a bit longer. So as you can probably imagine, I am a complete wreck. I knew I'd be a hot mess anyway because that's just Mom Life, right? But this whole distance learning thing and graduating in quarantine has made me EXTRA emotional.


How I Feel About This Whole Thing

This entire experience is bittersweet. And if I'm being 100% honest, I can't help but feel SO robbed. I know this is only pre-k, but it's still a big deal for both Ella and myself. It's a big accomplishment for a 4 year old who has never been in a daycare-like environment up until the day she started Pre-K. And she LOVED it right from the start. She looked forward to going to school every single day, she was always super excited for "share day" when she got to share a toy with her class, and she LOVES her teacher. Heck, even I love her teacher. I wish she could be Ella's teacher for the rest of her Elementary school years, but I know that's not how this works.



When COVID happened and school was closed down, it broke my heart to see the confusion in her eyes when I told her she wouldn't be going back to school. She understood that she wasn't going to be able to see her friends or her teacher in person for awhile but she couldn't really comprehend why. Distance learning and virtual class meets 3x a week helped a bit, but she really misses being in an actual classroom with all of her friends. Her class meetings only lasted 30-45 minutes and, for the first couple of weeks, she would get very sad. Which broke my heart, too. This has been so hard on us all. Homeschooling hasn't been easy for me (as previously stated, I don't have a lot of patience to teach), but this entire experience has taught me so much - in fact, it reminded me a lot of the newborn days when we had no clue what we were doin' and we were just figuring things out as the days came and went. Ella and I eventually figured out our groove with this whole distance learning thing. The resources her teacher and school provided us helped A LOT. We also had a parent-teacher conference a couple of weeks ago and her teacher reassured us that Ella is on-track and has been ready for Kindergarten for some time now. She encouraged us to continue working on learning sight words in both English and Spanish since Ella will be going into a dual-language immersion program next school year... So yeah, there is much to celebrate for sure!


I had envisioned a cute little Pre-K graduation ceremony in her classroom and being able to attend their end-of-year class party. Getting to watch her be so excited with her friends and capturing all the cheesy memories... all of those hopes and dreams are gone now. Yes I know I'm being dramatic but I was really looking forward to ALL of it.




But all was not lost. Ella's last official day of class was on May 20th (the day she had her STEM presentation) but her teacher hosted a Virtual Awards Ceremony today (Wednesday, May 27th) to celebrate this big accomplishment. I bought Ella a cap & gown, we got her some balloons and noise makers, and then we took her out for some ice cream from Dairy Queen to celebrate as a family. I know she may not remember the details of this strange time when she's older but I do hope she remembers all the good times. Because she truly enjoyed being a preschooler and we did our best to make her graduation day a special one. And that's all that matters.



Just a little message to my lil graduate...


Congratulations, my sweet Ella Juliet. Thank you for being the sweet and spunky lil girl that you are. You have taught me so much about myself from DAY 1 - about how to be your mom and now, your teacher. You have made so many friends and have gained so much confidence and skills and you continue to make me proud every. single. day. You are the best Big Sister to Everly. You are very smart, exceptionally kind, and just amazing all around. I have no doubt that you will accomplish great things in life. Don't ever lose sight of who you are or where you come from and don't be afraid to stand up for what's right. Love you always and forever, Your Mommy.


 

Fun Facts Friday Quarantine Edition - 5.22.20

  • May 22, 2020

It's been a hot minute since I did a Fun Facts Friday! Remember when I said I wanted to try to do this weekly and then I went on vacation and then COVID hit and then I kinda just stopped blogging regularly? 😂 Anyway, here I am trying to make it happen!


So we are still quarantine-ing hard, y'all! California is currently in Phase 2 of reopening, but we're kinda still playing it safe and just staying home. Still only going out for essentials. Still wearing face masks when we do go out and practicing social distancing even though our County has rescinded those public health orders a couple of weeks ago.


Here are just some things that's been going on here in my part of the world...


1. We rented a jumper water slide for the weekend for the girls. Daniel's lil sister celebrated her 13th birthday on Monday so since we couldn't throw her a party and have people over, we thought a jumper was the next best thing. We got it Saturday morning all through Monday afternoon. Everly was a bit wary at first (she's my little scaredy cat) but by the time the guys came to pick it up, she was begging for us to keep it.




2. Ella had a family STEM project due for school. We were given several options on what to do and Ella chose to build a castle. We had to use materials that we had around the house and it turned out pretty good considering we were running low on crafty materials.




3. Nothing makes me feel more like a grown up than buying household stuff like brand spanking new pots and pans. Anybody else agree? 🙋🏽‍♀️ We needed some new ones pretty bad so I finally gave in and invested in some. I got the 10-piece Classic set from Calphalon and I have to say, I love 'em! Let's hope they last us a good while! I'm also in search for a good Dutch Oven... any recommendations?



4. I am on Week 2 of doing Tone It Up's 6-week Summer Challenge. I am limited on workout equipment here at home and I can't buy new stuff because everybody seems to be SOLD OUT of all the things I want to buy! Like a power rack, some kettlebells, and even dumbbells! I have a set of dumbbells and 1 kettlebell, a barbell and a couple of 45lb. bumper weights and some smaller ones, too. But that's about it. So Tone It Up has been my go-to because they don't require a lot of equipment and their workouts are killer!



5. To close out this Fun Facts Friday post, I thought I'd share some Amazon Finds that I bought recently and am very happy that I did.


The 1st is this Tronco 20oz glass tumbler with a bamboo lid. I'm always lookin' for ways to be more eco-friendly and I'm a sucker for tumblers or drink bottles. This is gonna be perfect for the hotter days ahead - I foresee A LOT of ice cold smoothies in my future!!!



And since I just bought some new pots and pans, I wanted some new cooking utensils to go with. So I got these Juvale Silicone Bamboo utensil set because, well, they're perfect for non-stick cookware. And it's just a cute set! What can I say, I'm such a girl 😂.



That's pretty much all the exciting thangs happenin' over here. Tell me some new things y'all been doin' in your part of the world in the comments below!


Items in this post can be shopped in the links below:



Disclosure: That Plain Jane Life is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon properties including Amazon.com.


This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I use and love.

 

Easter 2020

  • Apr 14, 2020

Easter looked a little different for us this year, as I'm sure it was for many. Our celebration was a lot smaller and quieter than we are used to. But that's okay. In fact, it turned out to be perfect.


Just because we are still in lockdown, doesn't mean everything else in life had to stop. Easter included. Trying to live our lives as normal as possible isn't easy in this crazy time, but we definitely have to make the effort. Especially for the little ones.



We woke up Sunday morning and it was raining. But that didn't bother my girls one bit. They were thrilled to find that the Easter Bunny had stopped by to leave them their baskets filled with goodies (courtesy of Target and Amazon).



Then, just as we were about to start hiding eggs in the house, the rain let up for a couple of hours. So we took the Egg Hunt outside. And my girls had the time of their lives looking for all the eggs. Ella was extra proud of herself for finding the Golden Egg.





After all egg hunting fun, we went back inside to watch Trolls World Tour. Which I highly recommend watching! We've been watching it on repeat non-stop for the 48 hours we had it 😂.


Easter 2020 was a good day.


Sure, we missed getting to visit with family and friends. And oh my gosh, the one thing I REALLY missed was all the yummy grub that everyone brought for the occasion. But, this is temporary. And I can't wait to celebrate with everyone again.


How was your Easter?

 

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