Friday, October 30, 2009

Cassidy Halloween

Seeing preschoolers in costumes is right on par with warm milk, a sweet little bedtime story, or watching dogs play with bubbles. My cheeks hurt from grinning all day.

Sadly, as I was taking a few photos, their faces were a bit off. I guess it was in part due to me being dressed as Raggedy Andy (soon realizing that not one of these kids knows who Raggedy Andy is... thus, I was just a strange clownish guy) with bright red yarn-hair. Their faces were more of puzzlement than entertained. Noted. Stay current.

Your director was even dressed up as Raggedy Anne, the teachers surprised Crystal with Steelers uniforms, and the puppies, against their will and dignity, were honey bees.





All the kids did what we at Cassidy like to call a Halloween "parade." If you don't know what a "parade" is, it's when you open the playground door and all the kids run to their parents. I'm thinking we might call it a Halloween Gathering next year.

Wednesday night is our Grand Opening to the public. Spread the word.

Happy Halloween.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Club Cassidy

I brought what I would hope to be our last piece of furniture in the building today. It used to be our TV stand in the bedroom, but has been cleverly converted into a toilet paper stocking/supply center located in the men's bathroom.

Check this out. We walked down to El Cholo to have dinner tonight and were greeted by a lady giving out tickets for teachers and educators. The tickets were for free dinners! Note: I never use exclamation points, so you can tell what excites me. Pretty great to be surrounded by the ones who mold the little minds of our community.

Our electric gate is almost done. He's running some outlets outside as well for our fountain and twinkle lights. That'll be nice for parties and for when we turn Cassidy into a night club... starting early December.

Crys and I came back and played the piano together. Pretty special moment for me... kinda full circle. Nothing but Chopsticks and the knuckle-roll black-keys song, but nevertheless special. Stacey was playing today and it filled the halls. I love live instruments... especially when played by people who know what they're doing.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Tuned

The piano is now successfully tuned. It's really neat having my old family piano in Cassidy. I sat down with it tonight and just played around. The tuner said it was 70 cents off standard tuning... whatever that means. I stood around and watched as he brought her back to life. I think neat is the wrong word. Proud maybe. I remember playing this thing when I was in 4th grade. I never took lessons, but was always interested in playing... maybe now I'll take some. It still trips me out that I have it. I guess I'm a grown up now.

Thanks again to all the parents who are planning our Grand Opening on the 4th. Sounds like things are coming together nicely.

I've been reading the classroom blogs a bit, too. Nice job everyone.

If you're a new parent looking to join Cassidy, we are now accepting applications for our afternoon classes beginning in November... plus, you've been reading this blog too much to not be enrolled... a little weird don't you think?

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Learning Life

Thanks to you parents who donated to the Pumpkin Patch. We just got another truck-load of them today. If you haven't gotten a chance to pick out a pumpkin, please do so. The donation bucket is on the table right outside the office.

I had a chance to be there this morning to see all the little ones show up for class. It's funny watching them discover and interact with each other. Just little people learning life.

I said hello to a boy today and used his name. He stopped everything he was doing and asked, "How did you know my name?" I told him my name and that I worked at Cassidy, but behind the scenes where not everyone sees me. He said, "Oh" and went on his way in the sandbox. Later, as he and his mom were walking out, he gave me a cool little swagger and pointed to me saying, "See ya later Jesse". Yep, I've got a new friend.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Tuned Like a Crazy Person

I did a little more painting, scraping, and throwing chairs against the barn doors today. I even took a mason jar top to it. The little spots of red paint add a much needed element of character and dimension to the piece.

We booked a piano tuner today because no one ran to me in slow motion offering their services... oh well. He's coming in on Friday. I've heard piano tuning is very annoying, so if anyone wants to hear a 2 hour service in flat flat, please stop by. I think the last time it was tuned is when I was 12. I also know my mom reads this blog and will likely contest my facts. Stacey played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star today and it sounded a lot like Benny and the Jets. Being from 1921, it's chances of ever being tuned standard are slim. It will be tuned with itself, as the tuner told me over the phone, just like a crazy person.

We got our pumpkins today from Trader Joe's. Pauline and Marcy painted a sign for the pumpkin patch outside. Here's what happened. I was thinking of a farmer-style, side-of-the-road, messy-brush-painted sign. They pretty much Bedazzled it... fancy fonts, glitter, jewels, light bulbs, crazy straws, pipe cleaner, and gold leaf trim. Just what I was thinking. The pumpkins are available to families for a donation of $7000 each... nah, just playing... $3000. The donation bucket is right outside the office. Limit 2 per family... for now anyway.

The Strawberries got to play with Cassius and Kipi on the playground today. They learned... well, kinda... a few commands. Stop. Sit. Run. The stop and sit part doesn't translate the same when they're all running around... I mean the kids.

Enjoyed another sunset dinner on the playground. I think I've killed taco salads from Whole Foods.

Peas out.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Messy Doormat

I'll have you know, I'm not nearly the sucker-emotional guy I might come off as... facetiousness as it were. With that said, tonight I heard, for the first time, one of our little guys say "Cassidy". Mommy said, "Where are we going tomorrow?" He said, "Going to Cassidy." My heart melted right there on her doormat. I hadn't heard any of the kids say our name yet and the past 2 years of working on this school flashed in front of my eyes. I mean, it's not like I barely teared up or anything... geez.

I did join a parent committee meeting tonight. Some parties were planned, some cookies were had. Lots of good ideas and lots of good input. I think we're on a great track for getting the parents involved in not only Cassidy, but our community as well. Speaking of, one of our moms got Trader Joe's to donate 100 pumpkins to the Cassidy Pumpkin Patch. Leslye, I know you're reading this, so I'll address you personally. Leslye, you rock... I don't care what Helen thinks about you.

I did catch a video of our elusive director on her way to a classroom meeting. Personally, I think she should lighten up and maybe enjoy the job a bit more... but that's just me... and of course I'm biased.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Art

Another fairly large day yesterday. THE PIANO IS HERE! The barn doors are in!

The piano: As many of you have read early on in this blog, I had been wanting a piano for Cassidy since the beginning. After putting some feelers out, my mom read the blog and offered our family piano. My great-grandfather bought it new in 1921. It's changed family-hands a few times down the line, been refinished a few times, tuned once or twice, restored when I was a kid, and has finally made it's way to Cassidy... for what I would imagine will be it's final resting place... assuming my grandchildren don't hate the idea of owning a preschool. It's so out of tune... (fill in your quirky one liner). If any of you tune pianos, now's the time to run to me in slow motion while Chariots of Fire plays in the background.

The barn doors: After weeks of planning and building, they were finally installed yesterday. Crystal and I stayed late doing some touch-up painting... and scraping. I love that "art" is whatever you want. I would paint a bit, then take a butter knife and scrape a bit, then stain a bit, and at one point, took a stool and banged it against the door... art.

Crystal and I are doing Muddy Buddy this year. If anyone wants to join us as a Co-Ed team, sign up. Come on, do it for the kids.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Sunset Dinner

First off. Good Lord.



Today was our day to "interview" the dogs at a new daycare. Yes, interview. They did good. The Strawberries got to meet Cassius and Kipi later today, too... very cute.

We finalized everything graphics-wise for our Grand Opening on November 4th. The emails started flowing. Pretty neat seeing how many people are interested in coming to see our school. Even better to find out how many people already knew about us. Like wildfire.

You'll be happy to know that we met with our fence guy today about putting up a privacy screen around the playground. That should be going up soon.

For dinner, Crys and I got Whole Foods. Walking back, I suggested we sit outside on the playground. We sat at the little tables and had a nice sunset dinner while the dogs played in the yard. They can both go down the slide now. Right now, as you can see from the photo, they're worn out from a long day at work.

We do sleep at home... I promise.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Spider-Bots

If you type "Cassidy" into Google, the first option comes up as Cassidy Preschool... pretty neat. Maybe it's just an anomaly with my computer being infested with Cassidy stuff, but none the less, it was worth waking up the wife to tell her.

The in-laws have been in town for a few days, fresh off a cruise from Mexico. They leave tomorrow. Luckily, they love working on Cassidy, so some finances were done, some cabinets were drilled, some latches were installed, some toilets were fiddled with, some new furniture was assembled, some shelves were clicked in, a few cinnamon buns were had, etc.

We finally broke down and bought drawer pulls for the kitchen cabinets. It wasn't like we were thinking about doing without, but much more of a "Hey wifey, we still don't have drawer pulls and I'm sure as hell not picking them out." To which the boss replied, "Too bad. Pick some." Thus, brand new knobs. I think I did alright.

We got the lower parking lot fence installed today as well. Soon enough we'll be able to open up the playground and have all the dads cooking pancakes in their pajamas.

The parent committees are coming along well I hear. Thank you parents. There's a pretty huge surprise for our benefit... details to come, but I promise you'll be like "whaaaaaaat?"

I did overhear Crystal talking about not being afraid to be shameless to any parent about any and all connections to the Steelers. I think she just found out one of you has a sister who knows blah blah blah with the Steelers. So, I'm being shameless for her. I think I owe her cotton for our 2nd anniversary, right? Any Steeler cotton out there with Hines Ward's tears on it?

Thursday, October 8, 2009

The Metaphor

First off, Tuesday night was a blast. We had our Back To School Night at Cassidy and parents came to learn more about their teachers, the classrooms, and got a chance to see what's in store for the year. The best part about the entire night (well, besides my friend bringing me Chik-Fil-A from Irvine) was seeing how seriously everyone was taking the classroom projects. It's fun to watch completely grown up people with Elmer's Glue, cotton balls, pipe cleaners, and construction paper. The kids loved their little surprises the next day.

Today was our final final final inspection from Santa Monica and it went well. We had to wait because they threw an ADA sink at us in the 11th hour... boy is it a beauty. Not so much because the actual sink is all that beautiful (it's simply stainless steel with a chrome faucet... much like in your grandfathers basement next to the gin), but the metaphor of the sink... ah yes, there it is. Finality. Inspectionous Overous. No more Tum Ta Tum Tum Tuuuuums.

Yesterday I hung some cool little carpet rugs from the ceiling to scare off the sounds that bounce down our hallway. Parents, if you're reading this... shhhhhhhhh... preschool in session. We'll see what silence they bring.

There is a 4th plane in my car just waiting to be assembled and hung in the Raspberry room. I guess if you're not going to Cassidy, you have no idea what that means... hmmm, all the more reason to be going to Cassidy. You're reading this blog. You know you wanna.

We finally got our cameras for each classroom (no, not the ones where you guys can watch your children online). You may be saying to yourself, "Self, I wonder why it took so long for Cassidy to get their cameras." Well, just know it was ALL my fault. I like deals so I waited and waited and none were to be had. I broke down.

Thanks for all of your good words with Cassidy. It's so great to know what we've worked so hard to get open is now providing happiness for not only the kids, but the families, too.

On a very personal note, Crys and I cooked for the first time in what would seem to be months. Chill night with Curb and House, topped off with a little NFL and Top Gear. Does it get any better?