9 years ago today, I went from being a mother of one little boy, to a mother of TWO little boys.
Happy Birthday to my Joey!
Summertime July 10, 2008
Week 4 of Summer Break, and I’m still alive to tell the story.
The kids haven’t been reading as much as I’d like, and watching too much TV. We’ve had 2 awfully hot weeks, at least one totally unmotivated week, and that first week we just needed to decompress.
We’ve made some progress though. Jason finally learned how to ride a bike without training wheels (yes, he’s kind of timid about stuff like that) and Ryan is finally interested in using the potty and talking more.
Where have my babies gone? June 16, 2008
I am now officially the mother of a middle school student. Jason had his 5th grade promotion ceremony on Friday. He had a fabulous teacher this year… we’re sad to see her go.
Joey will be in the third grade in the fall. He’s still behind in reading, but he’s getting some extra support for that. He’s doing well in math though, and loves the music program at school. He says he wants to be a P.E. teacher when he grows up.
Allison will be in the first grade in the fall. She loves school and I’m sure she’ll be nagging me to go back to school soon. For the first time ever, I have a child who is working at grade level or above at the end of kindergarten. She’s an absolute sponge when it comes to learning.
Ryan is my only “baby” left, and he’s growing fast too. He’s starting to talk more and is generally more social. He’s taken over Jason and Joey’s collection of Thomas the Tank Engine trains and loves watching Road Runner cartoons. He’s a character.
I think I’m going to have a busy summer keeping these guys entertained.
fucking hell April 30, 2008
I’ve come to the conclusion that my youngest sister never really knew me at all… or she’s delusional. I can’t figure out which. She thinks I actually hate her. Referred to our parents like they were not my parents. Made a bunch of assumptions that were way the fuck off base.
Her story keeps changing. I’m tired of trying to figure it out. Tired to death. I’ve been worried about her since this whole mess started. Of course she doesn’t see that. All she sees is that I’m not taking everything she says at face value. Nevermind that I’ve never been inclined to put up with this variety of bullshit. Not from family, not from friends, not from anyone.
She had the gall to say that I didn’t love our aunt who I referred to as “our late and unlamented aunt”. Yeah, she’s unlamented, but that’s not because she wasn’t loved. It’s because most of us realize that where ever she is now, she’s safe from harm and at peace. Neither of which she enjoyed on earth.
I don’t do heartsick well, but here I am.
Phone with video + Cheryl = weirdness April 10, 2008
My new cell phone (LG nV) has a video camera on it was well as the typical camera. Sadly, both on this phone are as good or better than my 5 1/2 year old digital camera.
I’d share some of the videos I’ve taken, but photobucket really mangled the video quality when I uploaded them.
Kids say the darnedest things February 28, 2008
Up at our elementary school, a frequent class assignment for the kindergarten students is to talk to a parent volunteer about a book the class has just read, and the parent volunteer types it out. Later it gets posted next to a piece of related artwork in the hall outside of the kindergarten classrooms.
This month’s book was a patriotic themed one, and the kindergarteners were asked “What do you think America is?”.
Some of the answers are hilarious. Allison’s response is as follows.
“America is a place with a farm that grows food so people can eat. They wear lots of stuff and they wear scarves.”
When I’ve had spare moments at the school, I’ve been reading all of them, and some of them have me laughing until it hurts. I’ll have to remember to jot down or take pictures of a few more before they take them down.
Here are pictures of the art project and the dictation project
that new electronics smell February 22, 2008
You know you have no life when your idea of a fun evening at home involves loading stuff onto your new electronic toys.
more pictures from the Monterey Bay Aquarium January 22, 2008
Jellyfish
Juvenile great white shark
sea otter, just chilling out
Monterey Bay
The freshest sushi you’ll never eat January 22, 2008
On Sunday we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and while I was there, I couldn’t resist admiring all the tuna swimming around in the tanks.
I also couldn’t resist quietly joking with Jeff that I needed soy sauce or tartar sauce.
Those tuna are yellowfins, and holy smokes, do they get big!
A very proud Mama January 19, 2008
I’m always proud of my kids, but this past week, I’ve had even more reasons to be proud.
Once a month, my school that the older three attend has a student recognition thing called the “High Flying Hawks Award”, where 1 student from each class is recognized for hard work/effort in Reading, Writing, Math or Character… one grade level also does a presentation (usually sings a song or performs a skit) on the month’s “pillar of character”.
This month, Jason and Joey were both recognized for the math category. This is a big milestone for both as math doesn’t come so easily for Jason, and for Joey, he has to work extra hard in everything else, so it’s nice to be recognized for the thing that does come easily.
The kindergarden classes sang a song about friends… now that was just really stinkin’ cute. Of course, that was the day I forgot the digital camera. Not a terrible loss though, as Allison got hidden behind taller classmates.
