Thursday Thirteen: School's Almost Out

Anyone who has ever read my posts knows how far my son Noah has come in his schooling. In kindergarten, he was pretty much a nightmare behaviorally. After quite a few adjustments, he has had a great year in first grade. He has grown so much and I am blown away by the change in him. As I write this, I am sad to be saying good bye to the teacher he had this year, who has made all the difference in the world. I wish she could just follow along with us through the years.


Here are thirteen things I will remember about Noah's year in first grade.


1. First day of school. This shirt doesn't even fit him anymore and has been passed on to his brother











2. Friday Recess Duty
My favorite times were taking the class sledding, playing hangman while they finished lunch, and watching Aaron interact with the "big kids"











3. Taking Pumpkin The Cat to school for Show And Tell














4. Going to the library every week to fill the bag full of books for FRED (free reading every day) time.

5. Watching Noah play "Nutcracker' on the bells for his Christmas program














6. Watching Aaron make friends with three seventh grade girls who waited for him at the fish tank every morning, and who declared him their "BFF"



















7. Friday Morning All school Assemblies (called Flag Raising) when students got "character" awards and sometimes the first graders presented little programs to the entire student body.














8. Getting to know the other parents of kids in his class better. Last year I avoided everyone like the plague.


9. Field trip to a play where a fire drill went off just as the kids were getting seated and Noah discovering something sticky in his hair, which he proceeded to have the entire class touch.










10. Watching the progress from reading simple sight words to reading books




















11. School carnival in which Steve ended up running the game we were supposed to man the entire time.











12. Being able to reward him when he would have a perfect week behaviorally.

He got these speed stacks for THREE PERFECT WEEKS in a row.













13. Watching him continue in his preference for friendships with girls over boys















Six days of school left. Woo Hoo!

Next year I will have two boys in school and the memories will continue to grow. For now, we will just work to get through the last week of school and start our summer adventure.

Thursday Thirteen: UUGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

I take the risk of sounding EXTREMELY negative as I write this post, but I am feeling very frustrated with a certain first grader at the moment, so without further ado, 13 things I will NOT miss when school gets out




13. Forcing a PB&J sandwich down Noah's throat every morning
12. Ditto for apples on the way to school
11. Explaining why it is not possible to wear PJ's to school every day and then battling over getting dressed every morning
10. Worrying about whether the lion, tiger, or bear got taken out as discipline each day
9. Checking the backpack for which foods didn't get eaten for lunch, and which ones have now gone bad and can't be put back into the lunch box for the next day
8. Homework
7. Making Noah redo all the work that comes home marked "too sloppy" and sending it back to school the next day
6. Fighting with Aaron each morning to leave the school after we drop Noah off (he wants to sit at the fish tank and talk with his 7th grade "friends")
5. Keeping track of show and tell days and other "special events" that have been written incorrectly on the calendar this year
4. Friday lunch duty that used to be fun and now feels like a chore
3. Wondering each day if I should put Aaron down for a nap or let him sleep in the car on the way to pick Noah up
2. Spending a HUGE amount of money in gas to drive Noah 12 minutes each way twice (sometimes three) times a day
1. Feeling like a complete NAG all of the time!!!!

Disclaimer: Noah has had an awesome year. For some reason in the last two weeks, he has let himself shut down and has given up following directions both at school AND at home. It seems as if everything is a battle. This happened last year in May too. I seriously thought about pulling him last year for the last month. I have no intention of doing that this year. I am just so frustrated after such a great year that he is all of a sudden getting in trouble every day. Is anyone else seeing this kind a pattern happening at the end of the year too?

Again, I am sorry for the T13 vent. Next week, I will plan to spin it in a positive light about things I look forward to do with the kids this summer.

Have a great Thursday!

Weekend Top Five

Sitting here emotionally exhausted (see #1) and sunburned to a crisp on my cheeks(#5), I write my weekend top five. I feel my stress level rising each day again and I am hoping to use this week to get it back under control. Here's my Weekend Top Five:




5. Impromptu Garage Sale
Deb and I were planning to hold our annual garage sale next weekend, but with funds being extremely low for groceries and a forecast for rain for next week, I was driving Noah to school Friday morning and decided to try it this weekend instead. It turned out to be a good idea. I made enough to make a purchase for Noah (see below) and some groceries as well.

Unfortunately, I got a VERY sunburned face along the way.



4. "New" Bikes
Going into this spring, Aaron was still riding a little 12 inch bike and Noah had learned to ride his 16 inch last summer without training wheels. Aaron REALLY needed to move up, which also meant we needed to move Noah up as well.

The bike debacle lasted several days. We had taken the trainers off of Noah's 16 inch when he learned to ride it lat summer. Along the way, a piece was lost and Steve spent several days and visited EIGHT different stores before finding a replica that would work to put the trainers back on for Aaron. He was so excited, and took off way better than he ever did ion the little 12 inch.






Taking Noah for a new bike was a little more challenging. 20 inch bikes are quite large and none of the floor models would fit him. After leaving one store and heading to Toys R Us, it was worth the $10 assembly fee since an employee took the one we found back three different times to adjust it to fit him, including putting a brand new tire on it since it was a floor model.

When we got home, we took a family bike ride for the first time. It is going to make for a very fun summer of riding.

3. Good News On The School Front
Anyone who follows my facebook page knows already, but I am still shouting it from the mountaintops that we finally have an answer for Aaron for school next year. As I've mentioned before, I really don't feel like he is ready for kindergarten this fall, being a late October birthday, so I had started researching other options. Our local district doesn't have young fives so I had been entered into a lottery at one of the local charter schools and was wait listed. I had also applied for spots in three other local school and wouldn't have heard until June or July.

No more waiting! We got a letter on Saturday in the mail saying we got into our first choice school. The Y5's teacher has a wonderful reputation and now I can go into the summer knowing what we're going to do for him in the fall.

2. Superhero Birthday Party
My nephew turned five so we headed to their house after church. After an hour and a half drive, we were all ready to start partying. My SIL invited the boys to wear superhero costumes for the party. Of course, any chances to dress up in costumes is a dream for my boys, and they were so excited. Aaron is in the Mr. Incredible costume on the far right and Noah is in back with a Batman mask. This is their super hero muscle pose.




1. Fireproof
Not sure what to say about this movie. I saw some on and off reviews when it came out, but didn't pay a whole lot of attention, due to its title. I have had an irrational fear of fire my whole life and I have purposely avoided this movie, even after I read and heard SO many people talk about it.

Steve finally borrowed it a few weeks ago and watched it, and borrowed it again this weekend. He had suggested I sit and watch it with him several times, so on Sunday night, I stopped writing this post, curled up under a blanket in my hubby's arms, and watched a movie about a husband and wife who have basically lost love for each other, and while the husband (played by an adult Kirk Cameron) finds a relationship with Christ, he also works to save his marriage.

Steve was generous enough to fast forward through the only real fire scene while I hid my eyes, and by the end, I was sobbing uncontrollably the entire last fifteen minutes. I had been having a bit of a pity party the previous couple of hours prior to this movie, so it was a good reminder, once again, of where to keep my priorities.

If you choose to watch this movie, be prepared for cheesy acting with a wonderful message. Also, don't skip past the Behind The Scenes. They had me crying all over again when you realize that the people making this movie are The Real Deal.

The Week Ahead:
Now that we have a place for Aaron to go to school next year, I have two weeks to get all of the registration stuff in or we lose our spot. So tomorrow, it's off to get his shots that we never got around to doing in October, as well as getting his paperwork in and also a copy of his birth certificate to the school. We also have yet another field trip for Noah this week and Noah's first baseball game, with uniforms and "opposing teams". Still not sure if we'll put the garage sale together again next weekend or not. We'll see how the week goes.

Have a great Monday and let em know if you posted your weekend.

Weekend Top Five: 4/20/09

It was a good weekend. The weather was crazy...beautiful the first day, dreary the second. We logged a lot of driving time, some good, some not so great. Stay tuned for a very funny story in Number One.

Here are the Top Five.



5. Friday at Noah's school
I finally got to do lunch duty for the first time in a long time. I had decided to bring some new chalk for the class for recess. I started to draw a hopscotch on the ground for the kids and they just haphazardly jumped on it. I asked if any of them new how to actually PLAY it, and believe it or not, NO ONE knew. Some other teachers and I were fascinated by the fact that kids don't really play those games anymore like we did when we were little. So I taught them how and when I picked Noah up from school, I found out that all the girls continued to play it at the last recess of the day too.

I think I'll have to bring Chinese jump rope next week and teach them that one.

He also completed his third perfect week in a row AND got to stand up at the all school assembly for showing "good self-discipline".

4. Kalamazoo Nature Center
In celebrating Earth Day, the nature center in Kalamazoo that Steve and I visited regularly when we were dating 14 years ago had free admission so we took the boys down. There were definitely some highs and lows to the experience.


High: Seeing how much more the interactive center has to offer since we used to visit.



The kids loved the indoors rain forest.












Aaron had fun pretending to be a bird sitting on her eggs in this exhibit.












Low: Steve was upset that we never made to to the trail that meant so much to us when we were dating. I won't go into details about why, but I promised him then, as I do again now, that next time we will take the boys to that lookout.


High: The boys got to hike on a bunch of different paths and get down close to some of the swampy area to search for turtles (and there were a ton of them).















Low: I made the mistake of telling Noah to stay on the paths so he wouldn't get any ticks and he spent the rest of our time on the trails PANICKING about bug bites. We REALLY need to get him more exposed to the woods.

3. Sunday Church Triple Duty
In the first service, our quartet had to sing, which is usually not bad. but our CE director had not scheduled a nursery worker and Aaron came waltzing up to the front WHILE the scripture was being read and announced out loud, over and over, that he was going to the computer lab. When he was shushed, he cause a bit of a scene...quite embarrassing.

The second service went better and I ended up helping in Aaron's Sunday School Class as well, playing the piano and letting the kids dance around with some instruments.

Bell rehearsal after church went REALLY well this week. After working so hard this year, it was fun to go back and read some pieces from earlier in the year as we prepare for our two public performances coming up in the near future.

2. A Visit With Friends
After church, we piled the kids back into the car for a drive to see some friends who have only recently moved back to Michigan. We hadn't seen them in quite awhile and only met their younger daughter once or twice since she was born (now 14 months old). Their older daughter is the same age as Aaron.

Noah was nervous when we told him we were going since it would be only "girl stuff" and didn't think there would be anything for him to do. But the kids played well and had a lot of fun.




Noah Actually loves playing with little girls, and it held true with Diva-PJ, as Chris calls the girls on his site Dad of Divas.

She is such a cutie and an absolute delight to sit and watch. Noah loved playing ball with her, chasing her, and playing with her toys too.





We had a very fun afternoon and look forward to another visit soon.

1. Birds and Bees- Preschool Style
We did have one interesting event as a result of our visit with Chris and Jean and their GIRLS.

Throughout the years, we have allowed the boys to take baths with their cousins or friends. We stopped them a few years ago, even though we did allow Aaron and his cousin to play together in the bathtub at Grandma's house recently.

Because of this, the boys know that there is a difference between boys and girls. It is never really talked about, but they just KNOW.
While we there, Aaron left the bathroom door open while he was doing his thing. Diva-J saw him and was FASCINATED by IT.

A little while later, Noah came down and announced that Aaron and Diva-J were upstairs pulling their plants down

DOH!

Up Chris and I ran to put an end to the "doctor" session and after having a discussion about "privates" needing to stay PRIVATE, we went about our evening.

Apparently, the discussion continued in the Diva household after we left. Chris called about a half hour after we got home to announce that Diva-J wanted to know "Why do boys pee out of their belly button?"

(Chris, if you are reading this, I want to hear how the rest of the discussion went.)

I have to admit that it has been giving me a giggle ever since, but it also makes it clear that we have more work to do on Aaron closing the bathroom door when he does his thing.


The week ahead: Not very interesting other than Noah's school carnival on Friday that Steve and I are running a game for. Also, Noah is going for his fourth week in a row of perfect days. It will be a new record. Our other goal would be to get Aaron to stay asleep the entire night. Don't know how to accomplish that one.

Please link up if you posted your weekend. I don't want to miss it.

Pumpkin Goes To School

I have mentioned so many times that Pumpkin is driving us nuts. He is destructive and mean to Minnie. There is rarely a time when I am on the computer that I don't hear Minnie hissing at Pumpkin because he is being a pain.









But he is also a beloved part of our family. How can you bring something into your home, love it, and then shoo it aside?


Aaron was determined to have Elmo in this picture when I took it








A few weeks ago, Noah asked if he could bring Pumpkin to school for his next show and tell. As luck would have it, his show and tell day fell on the same week that Aaron was Star Of The Week for his class. He has been waiting for it all year long. As Star of the Week, you are allowed to bring your pet to school.

So this week, Pumpkin logged quite a few travel miles.

On Tuesday, it was to Noah's first grade class.


First Noah sat in front to answer questions. I should have called Deb to ask how old Pumpkin was since I didn't remember when he was born and made a guess.
















Then he carried him around in a circle to let every one pet him











But true to cat personality, Pumpkin preferred to roam on his own.












Look at this picture and tell me that Noah wouldn't be scarred for life if Pumpkin went away. He is cradling him just like a baby with the sweetest look on his face.











He was so proud the whole time.

The entire time, Aaron was pouting because HE didn't get to pet Pumpkin. It didn't matter that he gets to pet Pumpkin every day of his life, the fact that he didn't get any attention while Pumpkin was in Noah's class was quite upsetting for him.

Which is why it was good that the next day on Wednesday, it was Aaron's turn to bring Pumpkin to school.

I figured he would be so excited. And he was, when I walked in the door. He sat down in his special Star of the Week chair and started talking about Pumpkin.










Then he was determined to be the one to hold him.












That's when the trouble started.

Just like the previous day in Noah's class, Pumpkin didn't WANT to be held. He wanted to be off and exploring.











Aaron got so upset, actually embarrassed I think, and started crying shouting "I want to go home". He had so much trouble getting calmed down, the poor kid actually had to go sit at a table while I carried Pumpkin from kid to kid in order for them to pet him.








So it was not quite the best experience for Aaron, but it is also another little piece of the puzzle of why I am still struggling with the decision to pull him from preschool. But more on that another time.

So Pumpkin got two days in school. And he was VERY happy to get back home and be subjected to a bath by big sister Minnie when he returned.

Photo Story Friday: Santa Comes To Preschool

Aaron's preschool class had their Christmas party yesterday.







Pretty much you typical Christmas party;

BINGO, a craft,





snacks













and a cute little program in which none of the kids really sang but still looked cute.














The funniest part was when there was a knock on the door and Santa came in to visit.


Keeping in true Aaron personality, while the rest of the kids looked at him in wonder, Aaron ran up to him with open arms (all the while getting scolded by the teacher to stay in his place....I was with him...go give the big guy a hug!)








But then, while all the rest of the kids were waiting at their tables for the candy canes that Santa was distributing, MY SON was at the window.

Why? You may ask

He was searching for the sleigh. He was absolutely convinced that the sleigh just HAD to be outside somewhere.



So then he went up to Santa to ask him and Santa pointed up to tell him that the sleigh was on the roof with the reindeer.









And this:




is how I found my son took for the rest of the time that Santa was visiting his class.













This week was full of some major stresses of which I have kept out of the blog this week, but I hope next week will be better and the problems we are facing become less daunting than they feel at the moment.

Have a great weekend.

Weekend Top Five 11/3/08

Another busy weekend, but much more relaxing than last week actually. Room cleaning became much less stressful than last week, partly because the toys are now spread among three rooms instead of two (Stay tuned for a Tackle It Tuesday to explain in the future). I am actually quite relieved to have Halloween over and get on with the REAL holidays. Two of our local radio stations have already switched to all Christmas music programming!

Here are the top five for this weekend:

5. NOAH DID IT!

A very excited 6 year old came home from school on Friday. Five perfect days at school for the first time. He keeps asking when he gets to school again so he can get his prize. I don't think it's the prize he wants, just the idea that he actually earned it.



How proud does he look?












4. Halloween

Yup, Friday night was the culminating event of the All Hallows Eve festivities. We fully intended to only go to the mall for a little trick or treating and then be done, which we did. They had a magician and juggler as well as stops outside of every store with people handing out candy.









We were done by 6:30 and still had the whole night ahead of us so we came home and our neighbor's party had just started and our neighbor kids were just starting to go out trick or treating so we joined them.
















3. Bowling (Oops, didn't happen, no lanes available when we got there)
3. Revised. Grand Rapids Children's Museum

When in doubt, Noah wants to go to the children's museum. I do believe that the $60 we paid for the children's museum membership this year has been paid back at least four or five times, between our visits to the museum and the dual memberships we got throughout this past summer. I think the novelty is starting to wear off though. Aaron chose to spend time "putting on a show" on the stage. Noah was more of a wanderer than a player today and at bedtime he said that it didn't seem to be as much fun as it used to be. It kind of made me a little sad.


2. Saturday Night Movie Night...Christmas Time Is Here (sort of)

As everyone who know us is already aware, we are Christmas freaks. We got married four days before Christmas, even though it about sent my in-laws to an early grave. Maybe in spite of the fact that this year we are having to reduce the gift load significantly, we are getting more into the spirit earlier than ever. We just had to get Halloween out of the way. There is one set of garland and lights that never came down last January and the boys have turned it on periodically all year long and "played Christmas", so of course the lights went on tonight when we turned off the lamps and snuggled into our blankets on the floor.

So we watched a classic from my childhood, Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas and a couple of shorts from Mickey Mouse's Twice Upon A Christmas.

BTW, if you watched Emmett Otter when you were little and got mad when they re -released it and took the scene where Ma Otter tells Hattie Muskrat to "fall off the dock", you can see it if you follow the link above. I know we were disappointed when we bought it and it was cut.

If you are starting the Christmas celebrating early like me, feel free to scroll down to the bottom of this site and follow the countdown. It is so neat, but it was too big to put on my sidebar.

1. Family Trip to the Library

The month of November has Sunday afternoon programs at our local library. This week was a mime.

Actually, a REALLY GOOD mime. Often, I sit through these programs thinking, okay, same ole, same ole, but this husband/wife team was very entertaining and kept BOTH boys' attentions for a full hour.















Of course, audience participation always helps. The boys got up on stage to act like monkeys during one of the story songs. Noah got into it big time. The mime said not to come up on stage unless you can "act silly". Not a problem for Noah the Ham.









I am assuming that none of you consider eating half (slight exaggeration)of the boys' Halloween candy as bullet worthy for the top five? I didn't think so :(

Well, next week is looking a little more strange since I will be gone all day Saturday for my students' Sonatina Festival. Who knows what Daddy will cook up to do with the boys?

As always, if you post about your weekend activities, please join into Mr. Linky below.