Our Vegas trip

Tim and I had our second annual Vegas trip with our friends, Carrie and Scott.
We changed it up a bit this year and tried some resteraunts that were off the beaten path. WOW. The Italian restaurant, Batistas was amazing. A nice man walked around playing the accordian and singing to people.
The Tapas at Fireflies were awesome too.
We got a cabana for a day and relaxed and we danced the nights away at the clubs.
The kids stayed with Nana and Papa and enjoyed all the fun things they did as well as their little dog, Max.

a week in review

Kayla recorded a radio commercial. First time in a studio!


"Whopper Cake" was one of the books Collin recently checked out at the library.
It inspired him to make a whopper (huge) cake of his own. The kids made two different kinds of cake and layered them. So fun!



Nana got a doggie. He is a sweetie and his name is Max.


We hit the zoo with our friend Margaret and her kiddos. Lots of turtles out that day!



Kayla, Bailey and Collin had an art afternoon in Nana's casita.


I can't get enough of these cute cuddly girls.


Ridiculously cute!

A day in the life of a Mom

*wake up to feed two hungry kids.
*have kids feed two hungry dogs
*ignore cat
*Email rsvp's to two birthday party invitations
*remove dog toy from second story hanging light fixture with a shower curtain rod
*pack up backpacks and lunches
*drop son at a playdate
*drop daughter at school
*drop Guess jeans at seamstress to be hemmed
*stop at grocery store for more deli meat and milk
*send 4th angry email to a teacher keeping up my end of an email argument
*complain to friend about the injustices of the world and the American Education system.
*complain to second friend about the injustices of the world and the American Education system (this time via text)
*work out on Elliptical
*take 15 minutes of zen time sitting in the pool
*spray tan myself for our Vegas trip
*read text response about the injustices of the world and the American Education System.
*Feel mollified
*Meet Mom for pedicure.... ahhhh
*run to Costco for vita-tops and milk. Damnit did I already get milk? Ooh simply gogurt is on sale!
*drop cold groceries at home
*pick up both kids from school, dealing with the awkward moment of seeing my email argument partner
*find out I have won argument. Mollified, justified, exhausted
*meet another friend for dinner.
*Complain about the injustices of the world and the American Education system
Good night

Parent Teacher conference... Kayla

It was great to meet with Mrs. W. She is so sweet and reminds me a lot of Collin's loving preschool teachers. She hugs the kids, encourages them and even talks to them on a friend level at times.
We learned that Kayla is lively, creative and talkative in class but very well behaved. Socially and emotionally she is well adjusted, which just goes to show that homeschooling a child does not necessarily hurt them socially. It depends on their personality to begin with.
She is still a bit more mature than the kids in her class... always has been a bit of an old soul. So apparently she had some frustrations when they were put in to groups to work on geology. She didn't like the arguing and interrupting going on.
But that's OK... it's a great lesson to work with all different types of kids.
That's life!
Science, reading and writing are all going well. In fact, just as Collin's teacher had commented, Mrs. W said Kayla has a wonderful writing talent.
Who would have thunk it that I would have these two great writers when I could barely tolerate working on writing with them because I hate handwriting myself and it pains me to watch a kid trying to do it.
The other thing I did not work on with Kayla is timed math tests.
I am impressed with how fast she's caught up but she still has to get a little faster.
So our goal is to practice timed math facts every day... maybe we'll have time now that her play has ended.

Parent Teacher conference... Collin

Yesterday was our parent teacher conference with Collin's kindergarten teacher.
We loved hearing how our second born wild and crazy guy was doing in kindergarten.
We were excited to learn that Collin is at the final stages of writing that is expected in kindergarten.
They were asked to draw a picture of their favorite snacks. Collin drew a bag of Trail Mix and underneath he wrote, "Tral Mics"
Which is actually really good!
So his "individual prescription" as they call it is already having him moving on to writing sentences with complete thoughts. Go Collin!
He is reading well and recognizes all the sight words required to move in to the reading program early. Collin can't wait to show his teacher what kinds of books he can already read!
And he has a love of counting and numbers.
Most of all, we were happy to learn that the teacher considers him a very passionate and excited learner and that he is almost perfectly behaved in class.
Almost because he interrupts. :) That is something he has to work on. He has a lot to say a LOT of the time but we're glad he is confident and excited!
All in all, a great conference to confirm what we already knew.
Collin is one smart cookie! And a great kid most importantly. We can't wait to see all the "character counts badges" he has earned!

Foster family

Yay! It has finally happened! I am fostering someone.
Babies, puppies or kittens... I would have been happy with any but Tim limited it to kittens. :) That's OK. We love kittens in this house!
Here our are babies: Hunter, Patch and Nonnie in that order


Each kid was able to name a kitten and the one left I got to name. For the first time in my life I couldn't come up with anything! So Kayla suggested I name her "Anonymous" which I thought was a bit long, so we went with Nonnie for short.
The kittens have been loads of fun... and loads of work!
Collin is having some pretty strong allergic reactions to them. So strange since he doesn't react to JuneBug and tested negative for pet allergies. But this always happens to him when he is around multiple cats or kittens.
So we'll see how it goes. If he doesn't get better our fosterees might have to go to another home for the remainder of their pre-adoption time but for now... fun!

News!

Some exciting things happened on Thursday and Friday:

*Collin had his first playdate with a new kindergarten friend. They had a blast!
I'm so glad that he has wonderful friends in his class.

*Kayla got her first report card (the school does them every three weeks- LOVE that!)
They grade with percentages on these report cards (the four major report cards are different) but basically she got all A's and one B. It was neat to look at her scores and see them go up each week. She adjusted FAST from homeschool to school!

*Kayla auditioned for a "Milk" commercial radio spot and GOT the part!
She records soon and it is great pay for her and great for her resume! Go Kayla!