Gioia turns 5!

This weekend Gioia turned 5! Wow! I can hardly believe it. On the one hand it seems like she has been with us forever, then again it seems like yesterday I was pregnant with her. Anyway, she had a crazy birthday weekend.

Friday we had a party with friends. We had slip and slides and Strawberry Shortcake. Fun was had by all.


Friday night my Mom came and she took us all out to Chuck E Cheese. The kids of course had a blast. We almost had to force them to sit down and eat pizza because they just wanted to play. :) Saturday was her actually birthday day. We again went out for lunch at the Chinese place here in town. The manager is this really nice Asian man. He made her a special dessert, which was fruit, jello and whipped cream with a candle. Gioia thought it was cool. She also opened presents. She got several new movies, kid makeup, a little dog that barks and Roller skates. She wears the roller skates all the time. We are going to try to get to the Skating Rink this week.

It is crazy to me how age 5 has become the new 16. 5 is now the magic age of involvement. As soon as you are 5 you need to get enrolled in all sorts of time sucking things. Kindergarten starts for public school. That is basically 7:30 to 3:30 (with the bus/travel). Then there is the extracurricular activities: boy scouts, girl scouts, dance class, baseball etc. Every kid I know has at least one thing like that. At church Sunday I found out she starts her Religious Ed classes at age 5. That is sort of what is know as Sunday School at other churches. It is Sundays at 9am for one hour before the 10:30 mass, or after your 8am Mass which ever you choose.

When do public school parents actually SEE their kids? It is one of the many reasons I am SOO glad that we choose to Home school. I am also very glad that we are fortunate enough that I can stay home and make that choice.