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Archive for the category “Kids”

17 May 2011
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Then And Now

Today was Jacob’s last day of preschool at Odyssey Elementary.  So I will do a comparison of his beginning of the year and end of the year photos.  Here he is in October, kicking it preschool (that’s what his shirt says)…

And here he is today, ready for field day and his end of the year party (more on that later)…

And, yes, we had to do one funny face, of course…

Not a lot has changed with Jacob.  He’s a little more mature looking.  He is certainly more focused when doing tasks.  He looks forward to doing certain tasks.  He definitely acts like what I thought a four-year old boy would act like, which is not unlike his sisters at this age.  He loves to learn and gets excited when he knows new things.

Overall, this year has been great for him.  He is looking forward to next year at a new preschool for more days!

Posted in Kids and tagged ,
13 May 2011
3 Comments

Landsharks

Jamie finished the Spring season on Monday with her last meet.  She ran her little heart out and did so well.

And when she finished, she received a medal.  She was so proud.

On Tuesday, instead of having practice, the team had a party.  The kids lined up according to grade level and the parents joined their kids (if they wanted to play) to run relay.  The object was to be the team who had the most water in the other bucket but only filling it by a sponge full of water at a time.I played a round with Jamie and then I stepped out to get some pictures.  The second time around they skipped instead of ran.  It was fun to do and watch!

Then it was onto the party part.  Jamie insisted that I made a cake, chocolate, of course.  Oh, and it had to have the shark on it.  OK!

I didn’t think I did too bad!  The kids were then presented with certificates and a key chain with running shoe charms.  Jamie thought this was the greatest thing ever!

She has her key chain attached to her backpack zipper, proudly!  Jamie has already said that she wants to run in the Fall series.

Posted in Kids
03 May 2011
2 Comments

Ten On Tuesday

1.  Jamie had her second meet last night.  It was sprint night.  She had to run a 50 meter and a 200 meter.  First, she got a pep talk from the coach… Then she ran as fast as she could for the 50 m (her official time was not given). Then she lined up with the other first grade girls for the 200 m…(her official time 1 minute 3 seconds).

We’ve come to the conclusion that sprinting isn’t really Jamie’s thing.  She can just concentrate on long runs with mom!  But she was happy that she competed and got her ribbon.  I was just excited to see her do it.

2.  My cake decorating class was cancelled for Mondays since I only had one student sign up.  The good thing is that I was able to watch Jamie run her little bum off.  The bad thing is that I really like teaching.  Maybe next month!

3.  Jamie had the best fan club cheering her on.  It was so cold but they were bundled and cheering loudly!

4.  We had a parent/teacher conference with Jamie’s first grade teacher about her transitioning into second grade.  The teacher is planning on moving the group of 5 “smarty” kids all together since they work so well together and push each other in a good way.  They are also going to go with Jamie’s old Kindergarten teacher since she has moved to the second grade!  Jamie is relieved and happy with all this.

5.  Last night after the conference, I realized that Mazie only has next year left of elementary school.  My heart sank a little when I heard myself say that she would be in middle school. 

6.  We just found out today that the preschool program has not been cancelled.  We were a little worried that the school board was going to get rid of it since they had no money.  I have to wait until Friday to find out if Jacob gets the same days he already has.  I will be a little happy to not worry about these things for the next year when he starts kindergarten.  Again, my heart sank just re-reading that.

7.  Jumpy, our resident squirrel, is eating a peanut in my tree as I type.  The kids think he’s pretty cool.

8.  Jacob brought home a Mother’s Day gift for me today.  The kids painted a crock, the teachers wrote what the kids answered to “I love you because…” and the kids planted marigold seeds which already sprouted!  I’m not gonna lie…I cried a little to read what Jacob told the teacher to write.  He said, “I love you because…you hug and kiss me! When I am 5 years old you and I are going out for a date!  Happy Mother’s Day.  (and then he signed his name)”.

9.  Jamie got a “Make Your Own Mask” kit for her birthday.  Mazie had gotten the same kit for Christmas.  So Jamie and Mazie made one this weekend.  It was pretty cool to see them working together on similar things.

10.  Jamie has a project for school due next week.  She has to make a Math game.  It’s supposed to have adding, subtracting, counting, etc. all in a game.  We have a poster board for her game board and colorful paper for her pieces.  She even has a rough draft sketch of what she wants it to look like.  She’s excited to put it all together.

Posted in Kids, Random
27 Apr 2011
3 Comments

Science Fair

Today after school, the parents of all the fourth and fifth graders were able to go into the school to view all the science fair projects.  It was so cool to see all the projects displayed throughout the gym.

And then we came upon Mazie’s project.  She was so proud to show it off among the others.  I know I’m a little partial but I thought hers looked so professional compared to some of the others.

She worked so hard on this project but had fun too.  Mazie said she presented it to her class today and it went well.  Tomorrow is the official judging.  Wish her luck!

Posted in Kids and tagged , ,
21 Apr 2011
1 Comment

Spring Fever!

Today was Jamie’s first grade music program. It was fabulous. The theme of the program was Spring. The kids were hoppin’ and bobbin’ to some cool tunes.

There were kazoos, too.  The kids were having a blast.   There was also a slide show of pictures of the kids and their moms.  It was a real tear jerker. 

I was so excited that I was able to go to the program for the rest of the school.  I had a class to teach tonight so I was going to miss the whole show.   Jeremiah was able to go to tonight’s program with Jacob and Mazie and see the kids all dressed up.   It was a great performance by the first graders!

Posted in Kids and tagged ,
20 Apr 2011
3 Comments

Big Day

So many of you know that my son has a small fetish about buttons. Since we was about 2 years old, he has said that buttons hurt him. He wears pants with buttons all the time but shirts were off-limits. There was no budging on the issue. In fact, the only time we’ve ever been able to get him into a shirt with buttons was when Pop Pop talked him into it in Hawaii. Yes, I know that means that Pop Pop should just move here and there wouldn’t be any issue with buttons but since that’s not happening soon I had to figure something out. I mean, really I didn’t want to have the only son who wore a t-shirt under his tux at his high school prom, or worse, his own wedding! I decided to try a green stripy polo shirt I found at target. It had two green buttons…it had to work! When I brought it home, we convinced him to just try it on over the t-shirt he was already wearing. He agreed. Dad made a comment that he looked like he was at least 6 years old and that he should try to leave the shirt on for 6 minutes. Jacob agreed. Over 2 1/2 hours later, he was still wearing the shirt (buttons, tags, and all) without any hurting of any kind. He realized he was ready for shirts with buttons! VICTORY!!

So Monday was class picture day at school. It isn’t a day that Jacob normally goes to school but he needed to be there by 11am for the class photo. He decided to wear a shirt full of buttons. He went straight for the one in his closet that had 8 buttons on it (and one of them was on his back!). He was so excited to look like a big boy. He even posed for me before we headed to the school…

He wore it well, don’t you think?  Thanks to the Laughrey’s for sending the shirt for his birthday!  Maybe I can work on a tie next…

Posted in Kids and tagged ,
19 Apr 2011
2 Comments

Ten On Tuesday

1.  Mazie had her performance last week.  The Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale came to the school and worked with the kids who volunteered the songs for the program.

Mazie had so much fun and learn a lot of things about music.  The kids practiced so hard.  I was so impressed with the fact that they learned all their moves and songs in only 6 1/2 hours of practicing!

2.  Jamie is loving Landsharks.  She was told to be prepared to run, run some more, and then run a lot more at practice tonight.  She was pretty excited about practice when she left for school!

3.  Jacob has been learning about insects at school.  So that means he comes home from school and goes outside to find bugs.  He mostly finds those little rolly polly bugs.  You know, the ones that roll into a ball when you touch them.  Poor bugs, they kind of get squished by my son’s fingers.  He’s not the most gentle kid.

4.  Jacob had his first experience with the “big” ladder this weekend.  Jeremiah wanted to check the gutters.  And, of course, he needed a sidekick.  Jacob was so fascinated by the roof.  I’m pretty sure he didn’t even notice what condition the gutter was in.

5.  What were the girls doing while Jacob and Dad were working?  I’m so glad you asked. 

They were climbing the tree in the front yard.  They got a little high for this mama to keep breathing but I managed to keep enough oxygen in to snap a picture.

6.  The kids have a Literacy Day on Friday.  This only means they have a day off of school.  They are supposed to be home reading which will happen at some point during the day.

7.  Jacob was baking with me last week when I was making a brownie cake.  Actually this is what he was doing…

8.  Want to know what happens when my son gets my iPhone?  This…

Yep, he has figured out how to use the camera.  He thinks it’s a game.  I had 8o pictures of his cute little face and 5 of the living room.  Stinker!

9.  Jacob and I are going to make home-made peanut butter eggs today.  They are going to fill our Easter basket cake that I am going to make on Saturday for Sunday’s dessert.  I can’t believe Easter is this weekend already!

10. Since Easter is this weekend, what plans do you have?  We are having our Easter Ham dinner with all the fixin’s and the above mentioned cake.  Just the 5 of us this year.  And the Easter Bunny is sure to leave some baskets for the kids.  We are also going to be coloring eggs with friends Saturday afternoon.  It should fun!

Happy Tuesday

Posted in Kids, Random
18 Apr 2011
2 Comments

Let’s Go Fly A Kite

One windy day, we took the kids to one of the local parks to fly our kites.  It was nice and windy and a little too blustery.  The wind would pick up just a little too much by the time we got the kite into the air.  But the kids (more like Jeremiah mostly) had fun anyway.

So up, up, and away it went…

Until it went into the tree…

But, no worries, it was retrieved with only a few of the tails still stuck in the tree! 😉

The kids enjoyed chasing the kite for a little while.  The kite just didn’t want to actually stay in the sky.  So they went right to the park and the rocks and forgot all about the wind and the kite…for a little while.

So, go fly a kite, if you have a nice breezy day!

Posted in Family, Kids and tagged ,
11 Apr 2011
1 Comment

Spring Break

We spent the rest of our Spring break getting outside as much as we could.  I just wanted to relax and have some fun with the kids.  So one of the afternoons, I took pictures of the kids playing outside.  Mazie was pushing Jacob on the glider swing and acting like he was knocking her over…

The laughter that followed was really great.  I love hearing that sound!  But you have to go back and watch what Jamie is doing in the series of pictures.  She was climbing onto the side of play set.  Then she would hang on the swing and let her body momentum swing her side-to-side.  While it is funny to see, she has been told several times to not do that because of swinging into whoever may be on the other swing or the glider.  She didn’t get into trouble but she was told to not do that again. again!

When they were tired of being outside or it was just too darn windy (more on that another day), they decided to make my room a playground for their stuffed animals.  All of them.  So while Jacob instructed the girls on where each animal should be placed…

and then supervised in the placing of said animals…yes, I’m aware he is holding a bear in a pink dress…the girls were working diligently to please their bossy brother…

Then he decided to entertain me (or the camera, really I’m not sure which!) with a puppet show…

The facial expressions kept me laughing for quite some time!

Posted in Kids and tagged ,
03 Mar 2011
3 Comments

Introducing the Marumar

Mazie had a music project a few weeks ago where she was instructed to create a new instrument from things we had here at home.  The more original, the more tones, the more creative the instrument, the higher the grade.

Well, for Mazie, it was about creating something like nothing she has ever seen which meant we never did either!

It is a guitar with rubber bands that make different tones.   It is a drum for a beat.  It has maracas, one filled with ditalini and the other filled with black-eyed peas (two different sounds belive it or not).  So the name came from all of those put together, naturally.  Mar (maracas) Um (drum) Ar (guitar).

She also had to do a presentation to the class about her instrument and play something if she could.  Her song choice?  Mary Had A Little Lamb.

She got a A for her creativity!  Aside from helping her actually attach everything together, it was her complete design.  If she didn’t need to be the boss all.the.time, maybe she could have a future in engineering.

Posted in Kids and tagged ,

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