This was an impromptu game on soccer on the deck.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I know, I know... I am a day late. As an apology here are some pictures of my little gals wearing their green.
This was an impromptu game on soccer on the deck.
Arabel being cheesy.
Daddy with his girls
my gals
me and the little ladies
This was an impromptu game on soccer on the deck.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Dentist appointments
The girls had their first dentist appointment this afternoon. Emma is a nervous kid when it comes to things like that, so I was a little nervous for her. Arabel on the other hand is a fearless child, so something told me she would have zero problem. I have been talking to Emma about what was going to happen for a couple days, she was originally going to go first to show Arabel how easy it was. Getting there was a different story. Emma started getting really nervous, Arabel was showing no signs of being nervous so she went first instead. Arabel did wonderful. They said her teeth look great! She ended up getting an exam, cleaning and a fluoride treatment. The hygientist was awesome with both girls. She saw that Emma was really nervous and talked her through everything. Emma was brave enough to get an exam, cleaning, fluoride treatment AND x-rays! Her permanent teeth are just waiting for her baby teeth to fall out, the dentist guessed that it would be anytime now that she starts to get wiggles. Both girls ended up in the no cavities club!
All smiles in their new shades, courtesy of the Valley Dental Spa!
All smiles in their new shades, courtesy of the Valley Dental Spa!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Conferences and other news
I had Emma's conference today. We have about a bajillion reasons to be proud of her.
Her report card is "graded" by developmental level: 1- area of concern, 2- needs more time & experience, 3- making progress & 4- meeting outcomes
We were told at conference #1 that 3's are what they are hoping for, most kids won't have 4's across the board. She had some 4's in her work/study skills and her personal/social skills area for the first marking period. (December)
Today, she had almost all 4's and a couple 3+, which is pretty darn good. She has jumped to the top of the class in most of the areas of math and language arts. The teachers (her teacher and her student teacher) couldn't say enough about what a great kid she is. She is kind to everyone she interacts with, she is compassionate with other kids, she loves to help others, and her listening skills are wonderful. She is never in trouble, and seems to be really loving school. All wonderful compliments to hear when you are parent. At one point they told me to keep doing whatever it is that I am doing, it is working wonders. If that isn't a parental ego boost I don't know what is.
I was beaming, I couldn't have been prouder. Well, I was wrong.
The teachers then told me that Emma has jumped 4 (!!!!!!!!!) reading levels in the past 2 months. They are beyond impressed with her. In fact she has already met or exceeded all the expectations they have for kindergarteners before they go to first grade. (She still has 3 months of school left!)
She has graduated from an emergent reader to a beginning reader. She also went from being an experimenting writer to an emerging writer. The reading and writing stages are for kindergarteners - 2nd grade. She is on step 2 of each, which is really good considering she couldn't read AT ALL and couldn't write anything but her name in September.
Her writing vocabulary is around 30 words (up from 6 in December). In fact I saw some of the testing they did with her. The teacher says the sentence, "I see a big cat playing in the sun with a red ball." The kids then write that down. Emma's first testing looked like this : I C A B C P I F S F R B - basically using the first letters. This time... she wrote every word like they sounded, she almost spelled playing right (she missed the L). It was mind blowing to see all that she has learned in the past few months.
Basically, I left the room beaming. The teachers are so happy with her amazing progress and attentiveness to lessons.
Arabel is still conquering potty training. :) She even went to take her nap today with underwear on rather than a diaper. (More thanks to daddy forgetting to put her in a diaper.) She woke up dry! One more step is down!!
The girls have their first dentist appointments on Thursday. Fingers are crossed that everything goes well. I am kind of nervous. Emma is normally a kind of nervous kid when it comes to new things. She assures me that she is going to go in and NOT be scared. We chose a dental practice that is called a dental spa, they use aromatherapy (no yucky dentist office smell), music or dvd's to watch/listen to during your exam and cleaning, paraffin wax dips for your hands, a massage therapist to massage your neck/shoulders is you get tense, and a massage chair in the waiting room. One of the dentists even worked in a pediatric practice for over a year. After we get the girls through their appointments, we will be getting ourselves appointments. Here's to hoping for no cavities.
Her report card is "graded" by developmental level: 1- area of concern, 2- needs more time & experience, 3- making progress & 4- meeting outcomes
We were told at conference #1 that 3's are what they are hoping for, most kids won't have 4's across the board. She had some 4's in her work/study skills and her personal/social skills area for the first marking period. (December)
Today, she had almost all 4's and a couple 3+, which is pretty darn good. She has jumped to the top of the class in most of the areas of math and language arts. The teachers (her teacher and her student teacher) couldn't say enough about what a great kid she is. She is kind to everyone she interacts with, she is compassionate with other kids, she loves to help others, and her listening skills are wonderful. She is never in trouble, and seems to be really loving school. All wonderful compliments to hear when you are parent. At one point they told me to keep doing whatever it is that I am doing, it is working wonders. If that isn't a parental ego boost I don't know what is.
I was beaming, I couldn't have been prouder. Well, I was wrong.
The teachers then told me that Emma has jumped 4 (!!!!!!!!!) reading levels in the past 2 months. They are beyond impressed with her. In fact she has already met or exceeded all the expectations they have for kindergarteners before they go to first grade. (She still has 3 months of school left!)
She has graduated from an emergent reader to a beginning reader. She also went from being an experimenting writer to an emerging writer. The reading and writing stages are for kindergarteners - 2nd grade. She is on step 2 of each, which is really good considering she couldn't read AT ALL and couldn't write anything but her name in September.
Her writing vocabulary is around 30 words (up from 6 in December). In fact I saw some of the testing they did with her. The teacher says the sentence, "I see a big cat playing in the sun with a red ball." The kids then write that down. Emma's first testing looked like this : I C A B C P I F S F R B - basically using the first letters. This time... she wrote every word like they sounded, she almost spelled playing right (she missed the L). It was mind blowing to see all that she has learned in the past few months.
Basically, I left the room beaming. The teachers are so happy with her amazing progress and attentiveness to lessons.
Arabel is still conquering potty training. :) She even went to take her nap today with underwear on rather than a diaper. (More thanks to daddy forgetting to put her in a diaper.) She woke up dry! One more step is down!!
The girls have their first dentist appointments on Thursday. Fingers are crossed that everything goes well. I am kind of nervous. Emma is normally a kind of nervous kid when it comes to new things. She assures me that she is going to go in and NOT be scared. We chose a dental practice that is called a dental spa, they use aromatherapy (no yucky dentist office smell), music or dvd's to watch/listen to during your exam and cleaning, paraffin wax dips for your hands, a massage therapist to massage your neck/shoulders is you get tense, and a massage chair in the waiting room. One of the dentists even worked in a pediatric practice for over a year. After we get the girls through their appointments, we will be getting ourselves appointments. Here's to hoping for no cavities.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Lots of fun updates
It seems as if everyone is actually healthy now. Getting the ick out of here is a huge accomplishment. I could do without the kids throwing up for... well, ever from this point forward.
Arabel has decided that she is done with diapers. She asked for panties last week and we haven't turned back. She is currently only wearing diapers at night and nap time (though, we could probably nix the nap time diaper) or if we are planning on being out of the house for an extended period of time, just in case. She is doing awesome! We have had ONE accident in a little over a week. I am incredibly proud of her. We told her she could get her ears pierced when she potty trained, so she is continually asking about it. Rob and I made the same deal with Emma, she just chose to wait until last year. Arabel is also looking forward to being able to go camping with Grammy & Papa this year. They started taking Emma on a camping trip to Big Bear Lake for a few days when she was potty trained. Arabel has been talking about going and I think that it has been the final push to get her thinking about getting rid of diapers for good.
Emma celebrated her 100th day of school a week and a half ago. She took in 100 dried cherries for snack. All of the other kids in her class brought in 100 pieces of snack and they traded around to get a whole platter of different things. She is now counting to 100 by 5's and 10's. Rob and I are excited about conferences next week. We look forward to seeing how much she has learned and how much she has grown. I go in every Wednesday for reading group, so I get to see how she grows on a weekly basis. She brings home reading books everyday, we rarely have a book for more than a day. The idea is that they keep the book until they are able to read the entire thing perfectly. Most books she reads through the first time with no problem. I have her read them more than once, just for practice. I think that we are going to see a big difference compared to conferences at the beginning of the year.
I just got back from a trip to see my best friend in Maryland. She had a baby at the end of December and I was dying to meet the little guy. The temperatures were in the high 70's while I was there. I enjoyed a glass of wine, outside, while wearing a tank top and flip flops, in mid February!! Unfortunately, I flew back to Michigan the day after SNOMG part 2. I landed at the airport and was greeted with 8-9 inches of snow and bitter cold. I am holding out hope that warmer temps are in the future for us. The kids are over winter, in fact they busted out their swimsuits and were modeling them the other day.
Arabel has decided that she is done with diapers. She asked for panties last week and we haven't turned back. She is currently only wearing diapers at night and nap time (though, we could probably nix the nap time diaper) or if we are planning on being out of the house for an extended period of time, just in case. She is doing awesome! We have had ONE accident in a little over a week. I am incredibly proud of her. We told her she could get her ears pierced when she potty trained, so she is continually asking about it. Rob and I made the same deal with Emma, she just chose to wait until last year. Arabel is also looking forward to being able to go camping with Grammy & Papa this year. They started taking Emma on a camping trip to Big Bear Lake for a few days when she was potty trained. Arabel has been talking about going and I think that it has been the final push to get her thinking about getting rid of diapers for good.
Emma celebrated her 100th day of school a week and a half ago. She took in 100 dried cherries for snack. All of the other kids in her class brought in 100 pieces of snack and they traded around to get a whole platter of different things. She is now counting to 100 by 5's and 10's. Rob and I are excited about conferences next week. We look forward to seeing how much she has learned and how much she has grown. I go in every Wednesday for reading group, so I get to see how she grows on a weekly basis. She brings home reading books everyday, we rarely have a book for more than a day. The idea is that they keep the book until they are able to read the entire thing perfectly. Most books she reads through the first time with no problem. I have her read them more than once, just for practice. I think that we are going to see a big difference compared to conferences at the beginning of the year.
I just got back from a trip to see my best friend in Maryland. She had a baby at the end of December and I was dying to meet the little guy. The temperatures were in the high 70's while I was there. I enjoyed a glass of wine, outside, while wearing a tank top and flip flops, in mid February!! Unfortunately, I flew back to Michigan the day after SNOMG part 2. I landed at the airport and was greeted with 8-9 inches of snow and bitter cold. I am holding out hope that warmer temps are in the future for us. The kids are over winter, in fact they busted out their swimsuits and were modeling them the other day.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
SN-OMG 2011!
We have survived Snowpocolypse, SnowMIgeddon, Sn-OMG... whatever, the kids are calling the blizzard of 2011. We ended up getting just under a foot in the span of about 6 hours. I think the grand total was somewhere in the area of 14-ish inches. Emma was thrilled to learn she had a snow day. *side note: she wouldn't have attended yesterday anyway, due to the nastiness she had. Rob and I spent an hour outside trying to make a dent in the snow piled in the driveway. We ended up giving up and calling a plow company. It was the smartest decision we could have made. The end of the driveway (thanks to the city plows) had piles of snow about 2 1/2 feet deep. Not surprisingly, Emma got another snow day tomorrow. I am sure that many people in the area are stuck with unplowed streets.
I hope everyone else is safe and surviving sn-OMG!
I hope everyone else is safe and surviving sn-OMG!
Monday, January 31, 2011
I spoke too soon
This whole sick kid thing is the least fun thing I could imagine. We were on our way home from Toys R Us (using gift cards from Christmas for the girls) and Emma pukes everywhere. Seriously, what in the heck can I do? I hear it is a nasty virus that is taking like 2 weeks to get out of their system. I just really don't want Emma to be missing much more school. Please tell me winter is almost over.
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