Kate turned 4 last week! She was very excited, but transitioned to telling people she was four and a half approximately 12 hours into her new year. Poor Kate, her birthday always gets crowded by Halloween. She celebrated at Jo's the Tuesday before because of Halloween parties on her birthday. She was supposed to bring birthday treats to preschool on Monday before, but we were still on vacation, so we had to make those up the following week. The day of her birthday was also Sam's big football game at the Chiefs training facility, so we celebrated with our extended family and friends by noshing at Red Robin afterwards. No wonder she thinks her birthday is Halloween!
We invited several of Kate's friends to a party at the Flip Zone, where she takes gymnastics. We lucked into having the owner, Mr. Chad, working the party, so it was well-organized and the kids had a great time. They played games, played on the trampoline and inflatable slide, had cake and opened presents. Kate started a trend of jumping off of some padded stairs, into a triangular pad that was leaned up against the wall, and falling to the floor laughing. I'm not sure what kind of technique is required in this (possibly insanity), but the kids did it one after another for quite a while. Fortunately, all that padding means no one got hurt!
We had our family birthday party at the house afterwards, which was low-key and manageable with only 4 kids at the house instead of the typical 10-15. It was nice to be able to celebrate on the 30th, instead of combining with Halloween, though that did give us something to do during the party!
Kate asked for Barbies, and got several, all of which remain unopened. Her favorite gifts were a white board and play computer for her "office", a letter tracing Leap Pad toy, and clothes. One friend gave her bath tub toys, which I thought was clever, and she got a huge art kit that she's dying to break into. She really isn't a toy kid, which makes her really hard to buy for. I hate to think Christmas is right around the corner!
Happy birthday to my big girl, Kate!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Parent/Teacher Conferences
As has been my experience with first grade so far, kindergarten holds nothing on first grade. First grade conferences were a little (A LOT) more detailed, and in fact, 20 minutes wasn't enough time to review his grades and progress AND ask questions I had of the teacher. And you know I always have questions! Whew, it went fast.
Naturally, Sam is a brilliant and talented student. His reading is "above average" and his math skills are terrific. I did find one 1 on the report card (grades now come in 1-3, with 1 being the lowest)-- organizational skills. Can this be my child? So I asked. Messy desk. Apparently my genius son is too busy to keep his desk neat, so there are often papers spilling out on the floor or left on top of the desk. I think I remember that kid from grade school. As long as he doesn't eat glue too, I think he'll be okay. When I asked him about it, he slowly smiled and admitted that it was not his priority. Well, of all of the things I can think of to put in the "some work needed" category, I guess I'd choose organizational skills above sharing or attention deficit or illiteracy.
I am so proud of my smart boy!
Naturally, Sam is a brilliant and talented student. His reading is "above average" and his math skills are terrific. I did find one 1 on the report card (grades now come in 1-3, with 1 being the lowest)-- organizational skills. Can this be my child? So I asked. Messy desk. Apparently my genius son is too busy to keep his desk neat, so there are often papers spilling out on the floor or left on top of the desk. I think I remember that kid from grade school. As long as he doesn't eat glue too, I think he'll be okay. When I asked him about it, he slowly smiled and admitted that it was not his priority. Well, of all of the things I can think of to put in the "some work needed" category, I guess I'd choose organizational skills above sharing or attention deficit or illiteracy.
I am so proud of my smart boy!
Monday, October 25, 2010
San Diego Pictures
 |
| The Lego pirate greets us at Legoland. Arrgh! |
 |
| Sam battles Darth Vader made of legos |
 |
| Kate happy about being eaten |
 |
| Kate and Sam wait for the dolphin show at SeaWorld. It's finally sunny! |
 |
| It's Willy! (and a friend) at the Shamu show |
 |
| Shamu! Shamu! |
 |
| Sam trying out the pilot's seat on a plane on the USS Midway |
 |
| Kate's at the helm! (Don't worry, it's docked!) |
 |
| Selena Gomez and Captain Cody do Brick or Treat |
 |
| The family at Brick or Treat |
 |
| My kids choose the apples in their bags over candy. Such a proud mom! |
 |
| Sam's pumpkin for the pumpkin-building contest (no prizes given, so I'm not sure contest is accurate) |
 |
| Sam and Kate on the way into the San Diego Zoo. Aren't they cute?!! |
 |
| Sam and Kate at the polar bear exhibit |
 |
| See the orangutan combing his hair for the picture?! |
California Dreamin'
Actually, the whole time I was in California, that song was in my head, but it didn’t quite apply. I sang it for the “all the leaves are brown and the sky is grey,” but it WAS California, so I guess I was dreamin’ of someplace else. The whole time we were San Diego it was grey, overcast and cool.
We spent 4 full days in San Diego, discounting travel time, which was somewhat significant. We saw Legoland, SeaWorld, SeaLife, the U.S.S. Midway, and the San Diego Zoo. We dined at the Corvette Diner and the kids tried seafood (calamari, swordfish and clam chowder) at a local restaurant. The kids swam outside in a heated pool, but the air was only about 61 at best (CRAZY). We Brick or Treat-ed at Legoland, to which Sam responded that he thinks we ought to do that every year.
A couple of fun things:
- Sam and Kate got along great most of the time. They held hands on the way into several places, and in the airport I overheard Sam say, “I’ll take care of you Kate. Just stay with me.” It was really special to be able to take them to new places and have them enjoy together.
- Kate walked the whole time—no stroller for us. That meant that each night, despite the fact that we were usually done by 5 or so, she was TIRED. Of the 4 nights there, she fell asleep before we got her into bed 3 times. The funniest was when she fell asleep on my lap at a Mexican restaurant and she was so asleep that she didn’t wake at all, even when we tried to put her in her booster seat in the car and she fell to the floorboard. Oops. Oh, Dad says that wasn’t funny, but it kind of was.
- Over the summer, our friend Beth gave the kids the movie Free Willy. So, when we went to SeaWorld, we had two interested whale-lovers. So at the big Shamu extravaganza, when a whale with the same fin as Willy came out to do his tricks, mine were the only kids in the stadium who said “WILLY!!!” We even tried to get up close to watch Willy swim, but he was kind of a solitary guy.
- Brick or Treat was fun, but semi-crazy. Big crowd, all these little kids dressed up for Halloween and a trick-or-treat line a mile long. Maybe not quite a mile, but at least a half a mile. Kate’s favorite part was the “Boogiemonster” party, where they had two young ladies dressed in fancy (friendly) witch costumes who were dancing with these preschoolers. Music, lights, fog machine, all in effect. Then a little “boogiemonster” singing group (3 women) came out and sang popular songs with Halloween themes. If it sounds cheesy, that’s because it was, but Kate LOVED it. She cried when it was time to go, and she was most proud of her “Boogiemonster” prize ribbon. I hope the video turns out.
Pictures will be posted soon!
We spent 4 full days in San Diego, discounting travel time, which was somewhat significant. We saw Legoland, SeaWorld, SeaLife, the U.S.S. Midway, and the San Diego Zoo. We dined at the Corvette Diner and the kids tried seafood (calamari, swordfish and clam chowder) at a local restaurant. The kids swam outside in a heated pool, but the air was only about 61 at best (CRAZY). We Brick or Treat-ed at Legoland, to which Sam responded that he thinks we ought to do that every year.
A couple of fun things:
- Sam and Kate got along great most of the time. They held hands on the way into several places, and in the airport I overheard Sam say, “I’ll take care of you Kate. Just stay with me.” It was really special to be able to take them to new places and have them enjoy together.
- Kate walked the whole time—no stroller for us. That meant that each night, despite the fact that we were usually done by 5 or so, she was TIRED. Of the 4 nights there, she fell asleep before we got her into bed 3 times. The funniest was when she fell asleep on my lap at a Mexican restaurant and she was so asleep that she didn’t wake at all, even when we tried to put her in her booster seat in the car and she fell to the floorboard. Oops. Oh, Dad says that wasn’t funny, but it kind of was.
- Over the summer, our friend Beth gave the kids the movie Free Willy. So, when we went to SeaWorld, we had two interested whale-lovers. So at the big Shamu extravaganza, when a whale with the same fin as Willy came out to do his tricks, mine were the only kids in the stadium who said “WILLY!!!” We even tried to get up close to watch Willy swim, but he was kind of a solitary guy.
- Brick or Treat was fun, but semi-crazy. Big crowd, all these little kids dressed up for Halloween and a trick-or-treat line a mile long. Maybe not quite a mile, but at least a half a mile. Kate’s favorite part was the “Boogiemonster” party, where they had two young ladies dressed in fancy (friendly) witch costumes who were dancing with these preschoolers. Music, lights, fog machine, all in effect. Then a little “boogiemonster” singing group (3 women) came out and sang popular songs with Halloween themes. If it sounds cheesy, that’s because it was, but Kate LOVED it. She cried when it was time to go, and she was most proud of her “Boogiemonster” prize ribbon. I hope the video turns out.
Pictures will be posted soon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)