Mother's Day Tea

Yesterday was a special day for me. It was my first-ever Mother's Day Tea at Ella's preschool! Maggie, a friend's mom, graciously agreed to watch Lucie so that I could attend this special event at school with Ella. So, while Lucie happily played with her friend Fiona at Maggie's house, I got to spend some time with Ella.

When the tea began, the children performed two songs -- "Skinamarinkadink" and a "Aloha Oe" -- for our Aloha-themed tea. Well, most of the children performed the songs. Ella did not. Despite the fact that she LOVES to sing "her" songs (like "Once Upon A Dream" from Sleeping Beauty), she does not like performing songs that other people teach her. I think she is a bit of a perfectionist, and if she is at all unsure of the song, she just won't sing it. For the first song, she sat on the floor with a grumpy face. For the second song, she did stand up (with some encouragement from her teacher) and then proceeded to try and distract her friend Vera. 

After the performance, each child got to stand in front of the group as the teacher shared what the child had written about his/her mom. Mrs. van der Linden had Ella go first.  This is what Ella said about me:

My mom's name is Janel. I don't know how old she is. My mom's favorite color is pink. My mom likes to watch my videos with me on TV. Cow* are my mom's favorite foods. My mom never like to eat - nothing, she likes everything. One day she made a creation with cheese on it - it was so yummy. My mom's best friend is Joanne. When I am at school my mom goes home and does work typing on the computer. I like to go for a walk with my mom.

* Cow = tri-tip

 

After all of the children shared their papers, they served us a snack of pineapple upside-down cake, strawberries and tea. Ella was also very excited to share a handmade gift with me -- a very cute tissue-papered vase with "handprint" flowers. It was a very special day!

A big thank you to Joanne who took most of these pictures. I totally spaced and forgot my camera at home!