Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Swimmy Sunday

Despite being frozen when getting out of the pool on Saturday, the kids were ready to go again on Sunday. This time their friends were there and they got to play with them a bit. You'll notice that Harper isn't wearing the floatie things here like he did the first day. It always takes him a day or two to get used to the idea of swimming without support (and I was NOT getting in that icy water!)



I think we were down there for about 45 minutes before it started pouring so we packed it up and went home. Soon enough we'll be able to stay until we're finished versus rushing home to avoid being struck by lightening or something!

Gloomy, Rainy Memorial Day Weekend

We didn't end up doing much at all this Memorial Day weekend. The weather was quite terrible and it's been raining and raining for what feels like an eternity. The sun has been out between clouds but it's been rare and brief. I had wanted to take the kids to the carnival run by the firehouse but the weather just didn't cooperate. We had also intended to take the kids out to a nearby park/playground and go canoeing but again, weather. Hopefully we'll get a break from all this gloomy rainy weather soon so that we can start having some fun outside.

We were able to get some errands done and some MORE plants in the ground and Tony did do the obligatory grilling out, but mostly we just kept each other company and did things between rainstorms.

That said, the kids didn't care how cold or rainy it was, they were bound and determined to get in the pool when it opened on Saturday. I thought they'd change their minds once they saw how yucky it was outside, but they didn't and off we went (between rainstorms). We didn't go right when the pool opened and when we were there no one else was. I looked in the book though and there had been some other crazy brave people there earlier.






I had to force them out of the pool after about 40 minutes because it was beginning to rain again. They didn't want to leave even though their little bodies were shaking uncontrollably and their teeth were chattering so hard they could hardly talk. 


Tony and I got them back just before a big storm rolled in and gave them each a warm bath and then we settled in for dinner and a movie. We aren't going to let a little rain dampen our weekend! 



Sunday, May 28, 2017

Permitted

Friday afternoon Landon and I drove out to MVA where he took the driver permit test. He was quite nervous and spent our waiting time taking and re-taking the practice exam on the app he downloaded on his phone. We were called over to have his picture taken and give the lady all of our information before we were directed to a little room where he sat and ACED his exam. He was in and out of there in about ten minutes and we were both so relieved it was over!

They don't give you your actual card the day you take your exam anymore so it'll be coming in the mail hopefully one day this week. He has a piece of paper to drag around with him until then and if it EVER stops raining we'll be out practicing all those rules he knows. My baby is growing up so fast...





Final Pre-K Parent Teacher Conference

Dakota was out of school Wednesday-Friday last week and on Wednesday she and I went to her school for a conference with her teacher. Fortunately, everything went great and her teacher had nothing but nice things to say about her. She gets a report card but her teacher wasn't able to give it to me because the final one has to be mailed, but she told me that she got CD (consistently demonstrates) on every area. She is ready for Kindergarten, but I already knew that.

Her teacher also gave me some of the journals Dakota had been making entries in throughout the year. So great to see her growth!

The first booklet was "this is what I look like" and "this is how I write my name" on every page and they completed it monthly. Hers is missing October and I'm guessing she wasn't there the day they did that page.










The second booklet they were asked to draw and write anything they wanted on one page per month. They were told to sound out what they were trying to write and then the teacher went back and wrote what they had intended to write. 











We also had an appointment with her speech therapist and all is well on that front. Dakota has improved by leaps and bounds in speech, so much so that she will only be getting 30 minutes a month of speech next year and that will only be to check up on her and make sure there is no regression! I'm thrilled with her and know that she is well on her way to success!

My Fun Year In First

I love when the kids start bringing home journals and papers that they've kept throughout the year. I think it's cool to see the progression of their writing and drawing and get a little glimpse into what they've been doing when I wasn't there to see. 

Harper brought home this packet titled: My Fun Year in First and I know it's something I'll hang onto forever but is also too cute to keep to myself.


My name is Harper. I am 6 years old. Words to describe me: haircut, nice. Lol, haircut!


The next two pages were dedicated to each classmate, a little oval with their names written in.



My School ROCKS! My school: Ridgeway. My Teacher, Ms. J (Ms. Johnson). My Principal Ms. Koennel. Reason My School Rocks: We get to go to recess every day.


This Is My First Grade Teacher. My teachers name is Ms. J. One thing I'll never forget about my teacher is she is nice. My teacher made me smile when we are nice. 


1st Grade FAVES. 
Food: Mac and Cheese
Animal: Dog
Color: Red
Recess Activity: I do not have one.
TV Show: I do not have one. 
Book: Imaginative Inventions
Subject: PE
Special Area: PE 


Oh What Marvelous Memories/ Write and draw your favorite 1st grade memories: When I played pirate battle ship. 


What a Fun Field Trip, Write and Draw about your favorite field trip. Where did we go? We went to the farm. What did we do? We looked at animals. Why was it fun? We got to play.


Look at the Book! Title: Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? I like this book because it has a lot of sounds in it.


In the Future! Write about a goal you still have for yourself: To do 102 pages in my journal. 


That was Hilarous! Write about a funny moment in first grade: When Sean farted. 


And, finally, My First Grade Classroom. What's your favorite part of your classroom? My desk. Why did you like your classroom? Because we got to do structured play. :) 






Future Guard

Landon and I have been talking a lot about job possibilities and after a night or two of contemplation he has decided that working as a lifeguard seems ideal. I made a call to our local indoor pool and inquired about training and applications and after one call I had what he needed. They have a very lengthy application process which involves a standard application (4 PAGES long), a preliminary swim test (300 meter non-stop swim, dive and retrieve a brick, tread water in place for 2 minutes without use of arms) and a formal interview.


When I was on the phone with the lady about the job she went ahead and set his interview up for the following day. She told me that if they get their training at the pool its $200+  but if the future guard worked for them for 100 hours after training it'd be free. He wants to work at that particular pool anyways so it works out for him just fine AND saves me the money!

His interview was after school one day last week and although he was nervous he was also excited and ready to do his best at the interview/swim test. When they came to get him for the interview they told him it was up to him whether or not I went back as well and he opted to have me there, surprisingly. I thought he did a great job answering the questions and I'm pretty sure that the guard who was interviewing him thought the same. After the questions we went to the pool for the swim test. They told him he had to start with the 300 m swim and after jumping in, Landon had a great start. He's a good swimmer but he's never trained for distance swimming so after 4 laps (he has to do 12 nonstop to make the 300 m requirement) he said he couldn't do anymore. There isn't a time limit on the swim but it does have to be continuous and he just didn't feel like he could do it, so he stopped. He was a little disappointed but said he wasn't surprised since he had never really trained for it or even tried it before. Before quitting for the day though he did rescue the brick off the bottom of the pool and swim back successfully, so we know he can do that part. He says he knows that he can do the treading water for 2 minutes as well because he had to do that when testing at our neighborhood pool. So, he only needs to work on being able to swim 12 laps and then go retake the test. We're hoping he'll be able to meet the requirement before the next training class begins and he says he really wants to do it, so he's got some practice ahead of him. 



Thursday, May 25, 2017

Artsy Partsy, Class 5, Art & Literature

Yesterday's book was The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. We've had this book on our shelves for years and it's a great story about sharing and friendship. My kids really like it and they love all the sparkly scales on the pages.

Image result for the rainbow fish

The first project of the day was done using oil pastels. They made some wavy blue lines to begin and then drew some seaweed and even a bit of coral. Kota decided she wanted two coral on hers. Then they got to squirt some blue liquid watercolor all over their paper and move it around with a large paintbrush. Once it was covered in blue they glued on a giant octopus, some fish and, of course, a very glittery rainbow fish. 




As soon as the teacher said that the next project was going to be super messy I knew it was going to involve clay and, I was right! I didn't get a lot of process photo's because I had to help quite a bit and man is that stuff a mess! But, it is rather fun to create with and this time there wasn't any painting involved, just sticking sequins into the soft clay and then painting on some extra glitter because why not?!




Those two projects took up the entire hour class and they were both a lot of fun to do. We've got one more week of art and then a break for summer. I'm sure looking forward to a break from all this running around but I don't know if I need 11 weeks of break! Guess it doesn't matter since that's what it is this year!






Ballerina Princess Finale

Dakota ended up taking the same ballet class as she did before because she enjoyed it so much and the timing worked well with her pre-k class. I didn't take pictures each class as I did before but today was her final class which meant she had a little performance at the end. She was so excited to get to show me her dance and I was excited to see it (but I didn't cry this time!).


Don't you just love that little tongue sticking out the whole time?! :)

She wants to continue dance lessons and I've found somewhere much closer for the summer so I think that's what we'll end up doing. Driving to Annapolis isn't fun and every time we go the traffic is awful! 



Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Dakota's Field Day

Last week Dakota's pre-k class got to participate in field day with the kindergarten classes. Some students from fifth grade were given the opportunity to escort the pre-k kids between activities and Dakota had a very quiet girl leading her around the field. Despite having just had mulch delivered that morning I decided to let the mulch wait and go watch my youngest participate in the fun. I'm glad I did!

They got to shoot soccer balls into a net:


Balance wiffle balls on top of bats and walk through cones:


Balance a tennis ball on top of a racket:


Throw hula hoops as far as they could:


Try to keep enough pressure on the ball between two poles and walk to a cone without dropping the ball; this was the hardest one!


Kick a huge bouncy ball down a hill (and then go get it!):


There were many other stations set up but as soon as Dakota asked me if she could go home with me I decided I needed to leave. We'd talked about my coming up there beforehand and she said she wanted to leave when I did but I wanted her to stay so she could practice for her upcoming graduation ceremony. In order for her to not have a breakdown I told her that her teacher needed her to stay for graduation practice (she really did say that) and made a quick exit. I was able to go without her crying and I couldn't believe it! She's come so far this past year she's nearly unrecognizable. My little sugar is getting tougher by the day!




April Fools Pranks

The two little kids made me laugh yesterday morning.  I was upstairs getting things ready for school when I heard them talking about how ...