Avery's First Day

Avery had her first day of preschool today and as you can see in the pic with her teachers, we didn't even need to be there, she was busy and ready to go. She is going to the preschool at the church where we visit the pumpkin patch every year. We liked Miles' old preschool, but this one was closer and started an hour later, which was really the deciding factor for me. Avery will be at school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10-2. I'm not sure who is more excited....her or me?!

At home, before school:

  

I had to carry Avery's backpack to school since it weighed more than she did, but we managed to get one picture before it pulled her over:

At Hope n' Play:

Oooo Playdoh, Mommy never lets me play with this:

(with her teacher's Ms. Amy and Ms. Theresa)

Before class:

 Such a big girl:

Happy Birthday Great Grandma

Love from, Miles, Avery, Chris and Christine

First Day of School

Yesterday was Miles first day of 1st grade. Avery doesn't start until tomorrow (Wednesday). Miles was very excited and had a great day. He actually said he really liked his teacher, which is a first for him in 4 years. We are hoping he continues to be this excited all year! He asked me to drive him tomorrow so he could say goodbye to Avery on her first day, since I have to drive her to preschool. Let's just hope tomorrow goes as smooth with our little "Tinkerbell".

Last year.....first day of Kindergarten. Miles looks about the same, but Avery.....I know I complain about how little hair she has, but I guess it helps to reflect to see how far you've come....

I can't believe this was just two years ago:

Princess Party

Avery had her first princess party this weekend. They went to a salon and had their fingers and toes painted and had cupcakes and met a "real" princess. She was the youngest by a couple of years, but she still enjoyed herself. Snow White showed up and read them stories and did a princess coronation with each of the girls. It wasn't really my thing, but Avery was in princess heaven:

Becoming a princess:

 Story time:

 Learning the princess wave, spin and curtsy:

All the princesses properly outfitted:

Manicure and pedicure time:

Chess Camp

Miles learned to play chess right before school ended. He joined the school chess club and actually did well in his school group. When summer rolled around and we went to register him for camps, we asked if he'd like to try a chess camp to teach him the stuff we couldn't. After a little research, I found the Tampa Bay Chess Club. They had a chess camp at a Tampa elementary school that was for a whole week.......all day, so of course we were on board. This was his first chess camp and the first time he would play a rated tournament and become a rated player with the USCF. 

He seemed to be doing okay as the week went along, but didn't tell us too much which is typical Miles. On the last day after the tournament, they had an awards ceremony. They gave an award for the "Chess Champion"," Most Improved" and "Student of the Week" in each group. As Miles division was announced, I was already consoling him, cause he thought he didn't win anything, when they called his name in first place. 

Apparently, he won his entire division and was the only one with a perfect score, winning all five of the tournament games he played. I was a little confused and assumed they made a mistake. I even looked around to see if there was another Miles. I talked to the director after and he told me that Miles did an exceptional job and his rating was so high, that he was ranked with middle-schoolers. He also suggested that he play non-rated tournaments for the rest of the year to be able to keep that rating and gain some experience. The other benefit is he will have a tutor for the rest of the year to help teach him about tournament play and continue his chess training. 

I am still in shock and thinking that maybe they got his name mixed up with some other kid, but for reference,  I played him in chess before camp and then after and I have to say I see a marked improvement. It was definitely worth it! Now if they can only come to my house everyday until he is 18 and get him to learn everything that fast:)

First day of camp:

Students coming on stage for their awards:

Trying to get all three boys on stage together:

Still trying:

Close enough:

 This was the third picture of him outside we had to take cause my "genius" son kept holding the plaque upside down.