Pre Kindergarten and Drink Recipe

Greta is registered for Pre-K in the fall of 07. She is fully potty-trained and would scoff at you if you suggested she wear a diaper. This preschool business is giving me a glimpse of what parents go through when their kids leave home for college, sniff sniff.
We chose a school in Minnetonka, which is the district where we eventually want her to attend primary school. Minnetonka scores consistently high on their academic tests, and is generally a very nice place to be. We recently made an offer on our dream home in a really neat unique historic area closer to her school in that district. Unfortunately we were turned down. Some things are meant to be, and I was confident that this was one of them but alas I was wrong. House hunting is turning into a sad painful joke for me and although I am certain that we will find what we are looking for someday, I feel callous because I said the same thing about six years ago and here we remain. It is not that there is a lack of homes and lots on the market or that we couldn't call any number of them home, it's that we can't find one that feels right for the right price! Enough whining, this is about preschool. So, Greta will go to an awesome school that has a director who in her free time must go to Mary Poppins School. While not British or an umbrella-flyer, she embodies a love for the children and a stern sense of "lets get down to business, spit spot" that rivals the magic carpet-bag carrying Nanny. I almost wanted to hug her at the end of my orientation tour and ask her to sing a line of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious as we rode off on our magic flying-carousel horses.

In choosing a school, I researched three recommended schools. My criteria was fairly simple:
1)It had to be Christian
2) I required equal emphasis on academics and social skills (Something a family friend Jean Foster taught me is important)
3)Engaging teachers
4)Greta had to like it
5)I had to like it

The school we chose won out on all five counts.
1) It is Lutheran; a good pro-lutefisk denomination.
2) Although it is hard to observe the ratio of socializing and academic work in a thirty minute tour, I did observe plenty of both.
3) Greta wanted to stay when it was time to go
4) The live hamster in the terrarium at the entrance won her heart
5) The hamster was cute.

In conclusion, I must say that I am very relieved to have found the right school and could secure a place for her for the upcoming year. So begins yet another wonderful and frightening chapter.

A big thank you to Jean (Piaget) Foster the great educator's educator who helped me make my decision and provided me the support and knowledge I needed to choose the right school.

Out of the stress of losing a great house and selecting a good school came a new and delicious adult beverage recipe:

Jason’s Lemonade

• 2 oz Jack Daniel’s
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• Juice of 1 Lime
• 1 1/2 tbsp Powdered Sugar
• 1 tsp Black Currant Syrup
• Cream Soda
• Ice

Shake with ice and strain into an ice filled glass. Top with cream soda, several slices of lemon and blackberries.