Rewards

Last Friday (July 25th) Natalie received the academic excellence award in her kindergarten class. She was recognized in front of the whole track K through six. Daddy and Matthew came too. Natalie had actually no idea that she was going to receive the award. From past experience I know that a lot of parents surprise their children with the news. I also know that Natalie has moments when she absolutely does not like to be the center of attention (her last two birthday parties), so I wasn't sure how she would do knowing that she'd be on stage (literally). Instead, I decided to talk about the assembly and what to except since it would be her first one in kindergarten. We talked about sitting quietly criss-cross applesauce and being a good listener. I told her that when she saw me, she couldn't run to me and that we just had to wave. I explained that some kids would be receiving awards for their hard work in school and told them what they would do when their name was called.

Then the big day came! Natalie was called first since they go in chronological order. She was so cute. I couldn't see her complete reaction (the principal was in my line of view), but she was surprised. Later she recalled to me how she didn't know what to do - sit or stand on the stage. Apparently she sat first and the principal helped her. Her face beamed the whole time. She was so proud! She is such a smart little punkin! We're so proud of her.

Why Ben? Why Jerry?

I just want to know how can Ben and Jerry's live with themselves? I just had a spoonful (yes, only a spoonful) of their creme brulee flavor and it was so amazing! But then you look at the serving size, calories, and fat content and EGADS . . .! Does it really need to be so high? Can't they use one percent milk? It just doesn't seem right. I am really good about my servings too. I portion them out so I have exactly one fourth of the container. But still . . . it just doesn't seem right!

Better Late Than Never - Summer Fun Photos

Having lunch at Grant's Sponge Bob birthday party.

All American biker? Well, it was the Fourth of July!

Matthew enjoying watermellon on the Fourth of July.Taking a quick rest after our usual Saturday night run at the lakes.

Showing our school spirt! After all, summer here means school!

The Right Stuff!!

NKOTB!!!! On tour! These are my Jonas Brothers! Who wants to go with me?!

And Don't Forget Matthew!

So on top of Miss Nat (she actually wrote Nat on her work at school because Nat is shorter!) knowing her words, she brings home little predictable books that they make each day. Fridays are bookbag days. The books that the kids made go home in the bag and we're supposed to practice reading them three times and send the bag back with a little slip in it saying that we read the books. We are supposed to make a little book box for them to keep them safe for practicing. This past week was the first book bag lot. Natalie was excited to read them to me. The text went something like this:
Chester loves his mommy.
Chester loves his bookbag.
Chester loves.. . etc
Chester loves school.
or:
The purple book
the purple crayon
the purple . . .

You get the idea. After the excitement wore off, Natalie realized that she really didn't want to keep reading me these books because they lacked challenge. I had her read them to Matthew and he really enjoyed them. That's when I decided to give them to Matthew! I told Natalie that she could put her books in a special spot for Matthew to read since she knew them so well. He LOVES reading them and after some practice he could also read the predictable text. So, Matthew, you rock too!

Matthew has also taken a an interest in Leapfrog's Letter Factory dvd, too. How early can I get him reading?! Perhaps I should just focus on the potty training first!

And She Aced It!

Today was Natalie's day to do her sight word testing in Kindergarten. She read ALL 70 words! Yep, she's done. Her teacher told me that she told Natalie, "You're a very special girl." Natalie replied, "Yes, I am." We have healthy self esteem in this house! Anyway, now she has to spell them, but reading all seventy words and it's only the second week of school is pretty phenomenal. You rock, Natalie!

Busted!

In my defense, Matthew NEVER asks for his ice cream the following day. I always finish his frozen yogurt. It's only fair. He always eats mine! Anyway, tonight after I got home from work (late because of Back to School Night) Matthew informs me that he wants his pink ice cream - the one I ate yesterday! I told him there wasn't any. He kept on insisting that his pink ice cream was in the freezer. So we looked! It wasn't (duh!). Luckily he settled for some of Daddy's cookies and cream ice cream and forgot all about the pink one! I guess I'll think twice before finishing his ice cream again!

What's This?

I know I said I wasn't going to write anything until the weekend because I am so utterly exhausted, but I might forget this if I don't. And, yes, I am still tired. I just graded sixteen multiplication tests, addition test, and subtraction tests and I graded, by use of a rubric, sixteen paragraphs. So, if my paragraphs are out of sorts it's because the highest paper was a ten out of 16! I digress.

Anyway, we got frozen yogurt from the Golden Spoon the other day and Matthew hadn't finished his. After putting him to bed, I thought I'd eat his mini strawberry because I knew he wouldn't. When we bring the yogurt home he usually likes to play in it. He'll it it at the "ice cream store" but not at home. The yogurt was pretty hard from being in the freezer since Tuesday. I noticed multicolored sprinkles had been mixed in and some of Natalie's white chocolate chips as well. Then I came to something hard and blue. "What's this?" I wondered aloud. I tapped it. It was hard. Frozen, I assumed. "It's a fruit snack," I guessed. Ryan looked at me and said, "I think it's a dinosaur." And sure enough, it WAS a small dinosaur toy! Did that stop me from eating the yogurt? Absolutely not! I ate around it and pulled out a small, blue dinosaur! I guess Matthew's dinosaurs had wanted some of his "ice cream" the other day. Ah, the things you'll eat when you're tired!

Sooooo Tired

So tired . . . must sleep . . . will catch up with Nat's first day of Kindergarten over the weekend.

Matthew's First Movie!

All month I debated on whether or not to take Matthew to a movie. Would he sit still? Would he be quiet? Would he want to leave? Natalie was three and four months when she saw her first movie. She sat for it, but her personality even at that age was not as active as Buddy's. I wasn't sure if he was ready.

On several occasions we made plans to go see Horton Hears a Who, which surprisingly was still playing. I chickened out every time. I took Natalie to see Kung Fu Panda and didn't take Matthew. I sneakily (is that even a word) waited until he was asleep! Since Natalie started enjoying movies I've been the the lucky one to take her, but only because I plan it.

As soon as Ryan saw the trailer for Wall-E, he declared that one his. At first I agreed because I do take Natalie to see all the movies so it's only fair that Daddy has a turn. We've seen: Charlotte's Web, Happy Feet, Happily Never After, Surf's Up, Enchanted, The Water Horse, and Kung Fu Panda. I guess Ryan was due for a turn.

Matthew, however, had different ideas. He, too, saw a trailer. He also heard Daddy and Natalie talk about Wall-E quite a bit. Natalie and Matthew then named our vacuum cleaner Wall-E. So it was no surprise that Matthew, upon hearing Daddy and Natalie so frequently talk about Wall-E, decide he wanted to go too. The night before the big Wall-E trip, as Natalie and Daddy bubbled with excitement, Matthew looked at me with all sincerity and said, "Mommy, Wall-E is my bet friend." Aw, how can you not give in to that?

So, it was after work (for me) on July 1st that we all went to see the 4:30 showing of Wall-E and do you know what? He did great! The immense size of the movie screen impressed him. He had his own bag of popcorn which he shared with me. He laughed at appropriate places and he sat pretty well through most of it. Towards the end he would go from my lap to Ryan's lap and back and forth. And I did miss the end of the movie because at that time he announced to the whole movie theater that he pooped! Then of course he had to add that the movie theater pooped and the movie screen pooped! Thank goodness theaters are loud! But really, he actually did great and he was so happy to be a big boy and do big boy things. So, I guess now we can take family trips to the movies when the picture is right. Yay, because I love movies!

*The pictures aren't the greatest but they'll preserve the memory!