We have been celebrating love each day, two hearts at a time (one from me and one from Alan). The kids eagerly look for the new ones in the morning.
Love notes to little ones
Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you all have a lovely one. We will be flying high!
Eve has had a reading breakthrough recently! I am so excited! Her exact skill level has been up for debate (between Alan and I, anyway) but was un-testable because she was pretty uninterested in reading. She read sometimes, mostly for Alan, but not with any regularity. Lately however, she has been reading with gusto!!
They started reading groups in school two weeks ago and she is very excited about that. She comes home and tells me all about who is in her group and what they read. Today she told me that in her book at school was the words “very” and then another one “kind of slanted” (italics). I started to explain what that meant, but she stopped me and told me how she read it in class. I don’t really know how to write it here, but she read it as “very, very” very (regular), very (emphasized)! She said her teacher was surprised that she knew what that meant and stopped to explain to the other kids.
Each day she brings home a picture and a sentence that she wrote from reading group. This one says “Bears eat fish and berr.” I asked her what “berr” was and she said she forgot to write the rest of berries. :)
“Bella and Rosie brot sunglasses to the beach.”
Along with the reading has come a big step in writing. She is much more apt to write now, and sound out her words. Sometimes the spelling is correct, sometimes not, but she’s trying! Which is huge!
On our snowless-snow day last week I wrote a message on the Doodle Pro saying, “Snow, snow, where did you go?” On the very snowy next day, Eve wrote this: “Happy Sadrday. There is snno every where.” With a picture of a house and a sun and a rainbow and snow balls.
She reads to me at bedtime quite often now, and she reads very well! She reads books I didn’t know she could read. One night we were reading Truckery Rhymes (a silly poetry book) and she started off saying she would read every other poem, but then she got excited and insisted on reading every poem! She read an entire “Little Bear” book to Alan the other night. Tonight I was reading her a chapter book and several times I stopped and asked her where I was and she always pointed to the exact word I ended on. She’s reading right along!
These are Lex’s spelling words. He is supposed to write each one three times, but he never does. Each Monday we go through the list and he spells them all correctly so he doesn’t bother with the practice. With Eve’s new burst in reading she is getting in on the spelling game too. Now on Mondays after school she reads him his spelling words (with my help when she needs it) and he spells them. I LOVE IT!
I’m super excited by this. Reading is kind of a big deal in our house, in case you haven’t noticed. We do a lot of it! :)
We will be jettin’ out of here on Valentine’s Day, but that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate anyway. The kids finished their class Valentine’s Day cards today. We are going to bring them in on Wednesday and their teachers have promised to distribute them. My guys are eager to return to a bunch of Valentine’s Day cards waiting for them after vacation. :)
This afternoon we made cookies.
Someone’s had enough chocolate already!
They were giving each other silly kisses. I tried to get a picture, but instead got this weird shot. :)
Fun with sugar. Eve had the job of rolling the dough balls in sugar. It took much longer than necessary, but she enjoyed the sensory experience.
While Eve played in the sugar, Lex got the first shot at putting the hearts on the cookies. These are definitely fun to make! (that table in the background sums up my life! Messy, colorful, healthy, sweets, kids!)
Cookies!
Eve got a turn at the hearts too. I could NOT get a picture of her with a non-talking mouth! :)
I have been wanting to make these cookies for awhile now. Holding off until it’s actually close to the sweet holiday. They are peanut butter blossoms (with the unholiest of deliciousness – Jif peanut butter!) with Dove and Hershey hearts instead of the usual Kisses. So YUMMY! We will be delivering these to various friends over the next few days, while saving a few for ourselves, of course!
Technology is definitely creeping into our house and our parenting. I left the kids playing games on Hightlightskids.com this morning while I took a shower. Gone are the days of the 20 minute Between the Lions. When I came down I found Lex playing on the computer (where I left them) and Eve on the tablet! What did I do… grab my laptop for a blog post! Happy snow day! :)
They’ve got the computer and the tablet going at the same time.
This morning I had to explain to the kids what a disposable camera is (was?), which led to an explanation of film. Eve couldn’t understand why the character (in the scary Magic Kitten book we were reading) couldn’t just review the pictures on the camera.
Times, they are a changin’!
However, to illustrate their innocence still… The PE teacher at school has Dance Dance Revolution that the kids get to play sometimes. This week he had it set up all week and each class got to play. Lex loves it! All week the kids have been talking about it. During one conversation he told me that some of the kids are really good and I explained that it’s a video game you can buy and that many of the kids probably own it and practice at home. How would you expect a child to reply to that statement? Typically with “can we buy it?” or something similar. Lex, however, gets a thoughtful look on his face and says, “I wonder if I could make Dance Dance Revolution at home, with some paper.”
Here’s an unrelated picture. They’re still sweet, even with the technology creep.
A treat from Panera Bread. Eve insisted on a photo before eating the cookie. (that’s black bean soup on her face, not dirt, btw!)
My kids used to be pretty good at cleaning up. We used to have a “one toy at a time rule” that they mostly followed. These days though, not so much! Now the games are more complex and involve many more toys. Now they create experiences and haunted houses which dominate entire rooms. The creativity is great, but the mess isn’t. I’ve been trying to figure out how to handle cleanup for awhile now. Once they create a big “thing” they don’t want to take it down immediately, but over the course of a few days it gets forgotten and ends up just a mess.
However, it wasn’t until they recently started dropping toys on the floor and walking away that I took action. I couldn’t believe the day I saw Lex just drop a toy in the middle of the floor and walk away to do something else. No effort made to even put it on a table or something. After seeing that a few times, I built the Toy Jail. (thanks to Pinterest or the blogosphere or somewhere for the idea!)
Toy Jail, tucked under the donation box!
The first morning it was there they whined and complained about it. The next few mornings, when there were toys in it, they got worried and paid the fine immediately. The past few days it has taken them a few days before paying up. The toys you see here were put in last night. This morning Eve said, “Oh no!” Lex said, “Why are those toys in there?” Eve said, “We didn’t clean them up last night.” Then they went on a played with something else. They get 30 days to pay the fine, toys not “bailed out” get moved to the donation box and there’s not escape from there!
Today the kids celebrated 100 days of school. Each class counts the days as they go by, as part of their lessons on dates, counting, math, etc. It has been interesting to see when I’m in the classrooms. Today was day 100! Everyone was celebrating. Lex’s class celebrated with a pyjama party. They wore pjs all day, including the teachers. They brought blankets, pillows, and lovies. In the afternoon they got to cuddle on the floor and read books. They made necklaces with 100 Fruit Loops and ate Oreo cookies and milk. Sounds like a great day!
Eve was sad that she didn’t get to have a pj day too. She came home with a special 100 day crown (or headband, as she insisted it was called) and a cereal necklace as well. She complained that they didn’t get any special snacks at all, but later in the evening she said they had hot chocolate and marshmallows. I think she probably had a perfectly fun day too.
After school Lex had his final swim lesson with his classmates. The instructors let them go down the big yellow slide, and HE DID! Four times!!! He loved it! I was shocked that he was tall enough. And brave enough. When did he grow up?!
Eve decided that instead of swimming she wanted to play at the KidZone at the aquatic center, so I dropped her there and I ran two miles on the treadmill! I haven’t been able to do that in awhile!
When I picked him up they were eating their normal after swim snack, with the special treat of mint Oreos! That’s twice in one day that Lex had Oreos! We picked Eve up from the KidZone and on the way out Lex says, quietly, “Did you remember that I like milk now?” I can’t remember the exact quote, but it was along those lines and it cracked me up! He hasn’t drank milk in probably a year. He just quit one day for no apparent reason. Apparently today was the day to drink milk again. He said he had milk with his cookies at school. Maybe I should have fed him Oreos sooner! Crazy boy!
In bed tonight he told me that today was “the best day of this year!”
Lex has started a weekly comic strip, to be published on Mondays. Its about two students who arrive at school, but upon entering the building find themselves standing on a platform in outer space. He needs a little work on his illustration technique, but otherwise I think he’s onto a good thing here! :)
Lex’s Valentine to Alan. :) They have been doing science experiments with electricity lately.
I “taught” 5th grade today! I put “taught” in quotes because there was very little actual teaching involved. Mostly just guiding. They did lots of reading, and math worksheets, and a test, and a video. I was like the cruise director, making sure everyone was where they needed to be at the appropriate times. However, the point of the post is that it was fun! I was dreading the day (a bit) because my last time in 5th grade (a different class) went very differently and was pretty much no fun at all. :/ Today was much better! Maybe because of the class, or my confidence, or the fact that I was there all day instead of coming in mid-way though the day. I’m not sure exactly what it was, but I had a good day. Thought I’d share. :)
One kid even said I was the best substitute of all. I’m pretty sure he was sucking up so I’d give him good marks on his behavior sheet, but I don’t care. He behaved well all day and I’ll take the compliment!
This is a game Lex has been thinking about for awhile but hasn’t had the chance to get to. He’s talked about it all week. I was thinking of taking them out after school this afternoon, but he had a bit of a meltdown this morning because he REALLY wanted to set up a home bowling game, so I decided to head home after school and let him bowl!
He has “pins,” ball, a start line, bumpers, and even a ball return (orange race track along the hearth). We played to 100 points. He kicked my butt! :) After a few tries on his knees he decided to stand. He did much better standing.
Good times on a Friday afternoon!