A quick progress report

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I was really pleased this morning when I dropped Lex off at school and his teacher gave me an unprompted progress report. As I was walking out the door she came over and told me that he has been doing really well in class. She said he participates in everything, including the singing (which he didn’t do in pre-k), and hasn’t had any bad behavior. She said yesterday they were doing a “jack be nimble” game and the kids were all jumping over blocks, but Lex (and another child) opted not to do the jumping part. She said he was very polite about it and waited patiently until the other kids were done. I have been hearing from him each day about how much he loves school and it was really nice to hear from the teacher as well. :)

I read a great blog post called Back to School: 6 Things Your Child’s Teacher Wants You to Know and it made me think that maybe his teacher is just shy. Not sure why I haven’t had this thought before. I figured she was just more concerned with the kids than with the parents, but perhaps she teaches kindergarten because she is more confident around 5yr olds. Perhaps. Either way, he likes her and likes the routines she has, and I am happy she reached out to me this morning.

Lex

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I love Lex. Have I mentioned this lately? He has been telling me that he needs a better railroad crossing sign and some additional signage for his trains. I suggested perhaps we use clay and popsicle sticks to make some and he was thrilled! I love that he doesn’t want everything to be store bought or branded or just perfect. We got out the clay and he went to work. I was thinking a clay base, stick post, and paper sign, but Lex thought clay signs would be better. He also decided to make the base for the RR sign. “It looks like it’s secured in a slab of concrete!”

railroad signs

Railroad signs. He laughed when I ran out of room to write yield. :)

painting

We did some painting today. Lex painted his signs (if you look closely you can see the silver bases in front of him), Eve painted acorns we gathered today, and I painted the ugly mirror we've had forever. I'm going to make it pretty and white and hang it in their room.

Yesterday we played Sorry. Eve quit early, I won the game, Alan came in second, and then Lex proceeded to draw cards until he got all of his players around the board. Alan and I came and went and Lex persisted. When he finished he jumped up and excitedly yelled, “I came in third!!!” He’s so funny!!

sorry

He's going the distance...

Lex also will smile for a camera now. That makes me sooooooo happy! So happy I don’t have to take pictures of the back of his head or be superman quick with the camera. Now he’ll sit still and smile and sometimes he even suggests we take a picture! I love it! :)

hugs

Hugs at the dinner table.

Photo heavy blog

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I’m realizing this blog is pretty photo heavy lately. I have a TON on my mind, but not much makes it to the blog anymore. I leave my computer off during the days for the most part, so when I turn it on every few nights and try to blog I usually find myself mindless. Uploading photos is an easy way out… and probably what most of you want anyway! :) Maybe when we eventually settle into a fall routine I’ll have more brain power, or maybe not. We’ll have to see. For now we are enjoying the cooling weather and the kids have started talking about jumping in the leaves again. I do believe fall weather has arrived.

Eve

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I took pictures off the camera today and found they were all of Eve! Guess that’s what happens when Lex spends all day in school.

all dolled up

Eve, all dolled up :)

tiny toes

She was sitting on her feet, playing with the trains, and I couldn't resist her adorable toes. The picture barely captures the total sweetness of her little pile of toes.

love for grandpa tom

Love for Grandpa Tom

more love

even more love

Eve likes to make movies with the camera. Every time I turn it on she asks if we can make a movie, however she seems to forget what that actually means, so movies of her lately start with her smiling and me reminding her that she has to do something if we make a movie :) Here she is, doing something.

First week of kindergarten

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Lex successfully completed his first week of kindergarten! Go Lex! He is exhausted and told me that he wants to sleep all day tomorrow. We’ll see about that! His teacher sent home an interesting packet of information today. Apparently they had a fire drill and lock down drill this week. He told me about the lock down drill, but then said he was too tired to tell me anything else :) The letter had lots of information that I was hoping to learn, such as what he does each day for activities (library, art, etc.) and what those teachers’ names are. He doesn’t always remember them. We talked to the bus driver this afternoon and learned his name. I also got an email from another parent today asking if I’d help with the walk/bike to school Thursdays. I think I will! :)

We are ready for a slow three day weekend and then hopefully we can start settling in to a school year routine. Eve starts preschool on the 14th and that will bring more changes, but I think she’ll love it. I’m ready for the routine to set in and the pace to slow down. But mostly I’m thrilled that Lex loves school!

Driving a Prius!

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Have you heard the expression, “when it rains, it pours?” Well we have some serious weather over here!! The latest downpour, and hopefully the last, is that our 10yr old Saturn needed to be replaced. Alan drove home Tuesday night with loud rattling noises and other not right stuff. Brought it to the mechanic and was given a fatal diagnosis. Something about metal flecks in the engine… or something. So we needed to buy a new car, asap. This is a tough job as it is, but add in additional bankruptcy paperwork and the impending Labor Day long weekend and we were sweating this process. Fortunately Alan was able to find a good car and work a good deal, then our credit union and bankruptcy people were quick moving, and we were able to buy the car at 4:30pm on a Friday afternoon! Whew! Mostly a relief that we don’t have to think about this for three days and then continue the process on Tuesday. Now we can breath and maybe even relax for a few minutes before we have to deal with something else.

new car

Our shiney new (to us) car.

reading the manual

Happy Alan reading the manual to Eve.

I also added a few new quotes from the kids.

Walk/bike to school day

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walking to school

Thursdays are walk/bike to school day in our district. With that in mind Alan and Lex set off to walk to school. Lex, Eve and I did the walk on Tuesday as well, but I underestimated the time (or underestimated how slow the kids walk!) and we were late for school, so Lex was a little nervous to try it again. They got out the door nice and early (and didn’t have Eve to slow them down) and made it to school right on time. We may try a family walk tomorrow. Leaving very early! :)

The trees are gone!

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missing trees

See the two stumps just right of center? One has a rather large rock on it. There used to be rather large pine trees there. Now we have sunshine.

wood pile

I don't think this wood pile is properly stacked. That will be a project for another day.

from the backyard

From the backyard, looking towards the street, with our new sunny patch of lawn in the front right.

maple tree

He also trimmed many limbs from this maple tree. Leaves on the limbs were gently resting on the roof. For some reason insurance considers that to be dangerous :)