Sunday, February 27, 2011

Lucky the Ducky

Well, Lucky the Duck had a very busy weekend adventure, which we're getting ready to journal for Logan to take to preschool tomorrow.  

First, Lucky enjoy some good home cooked Italian food with us.


He also played with all of Logan's toys.


Lucky also came with us to get Logan's haircut, and to run our Saturday errands (including buying t-ball pants and other various t-ball items.)


Lucky enjoyed a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's Saturday night, too!  He ate tacos, made chocolate pie and played baseball!


Today was so beautiful, Lucky enjoyed some time at the park with Logan.


And visited some of our good friends on our way home from Grandma's, enjoying a walk by a gorgeous lake together!


I'm pretty sure I just saw Lucky yawning, which means he needs to settle in for nice duck nap tonight to get ready for another busy week ahead!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

a very special duck

Logan got to bring home the Lucky Duck VIP bag from preschool today.  Next week he'll be the featured Lucky Duck of the week.  In preparation for Monday, we sat down together and filled out a questionaire all about him.  I provided the handwriting, he provided the answers.  


He  had to color and decorate his own Lucky Duck, complete with  pirate and Bakugan stickers, and then cut it out himself and write his name.



And now this weekend, we have to keep a journal of everything he and his Lucky Duck do.  We plan to go to Dick's tomorrow and buy Logan underwear with a removeable cup for T-Ball, so maybe Lucky Duck can come too!

He and Dylan are spending the night with Grandma Saturday so we'll be counting on her to help us keep track of his adventures too.  Its kind of the preschool version of Flat Stanley.





Sunday, February 20, 2011

a day at the hill

My friend Sharon coordinated a big group day trip to a local ski resort for some snow tubing this afternoon.  We were a little hesitant to take Logan, since last time he wasn't too sure if he liked it.  This was a different resort, different hill and not 30 MPH like a few weeks ago.  He LOVED it this time, and the kids and adults had a blast.   We had a group of 32 people.  

I've never been really big on winter or snow; I'm much more a warm weather person.  But if you have to endure winter, you may as well make the most of it right??







Logan and Kate, they tell everyone they're married.


Afterwards, our attempts to clog our arteries at Cracker Barrel were thwarted with too long of a wait. So we headed to Bob Evans for a late lunch, and had a table of 16, including 7 kids. I was expecting chaos and anarchy, but all the kids were really great (tired is my guess).

So lucky to have such great friends who have such great kids!

cut him off

We can't be sure, but he may have gotten into the liquor cabinet.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

kindergarten ready

For the past year and a half, I have been stressing and struggling over whether or not we'd feel Logan was ready to send to kindergarten next fall.  As long as a child turns 6 by September 30th, they can begin kindergarten that fall.  Logan has a summer birthday, and these days a lot of parents are choosing to give their summer birthday kids, especially boys, the "gift of time" and wait until they turn 6 to send them to kindergarten.  Whether or not I agree with this is irrelavent.  I believe each child is an individual and each parent has to follow their gut instinct on what they think will be best in the long run.

Gone are the days when kindergarten meant going to school, playing and making simple crafts.  These days, the schools expect kids coming into kindergarten knowing what used to be standard for kids by first grade when I was younger.  The pressure is on to make sure your child is 'up to par' with gross and fine motor skills, and can jump right in once the school year begins.   And, since a lot of parents are waiting until their children are 6 to begin elementary school, its creating a cycle where the kids who start as young 5's like Logan will can have almost a year between themselves and some of their classmates.  As a parent, you have to decide, will it hurt your child to be one of the youngest in the class... do you want them to be the oldest and perhaps not challenged enough, leading to boredom and behavioral issues.

But I truly believe each parent has to follow their gut instinct on this.  So many things factor in to a child's being ready or not.   Are they developmentally on track?  Are they socially mature enough to handle it?  Can they sit still and follow directions?  Are they academically ready? 

Today we had Logan's parent teacher conference at preschool.  His teacher had a whole folder of his work to show us, beginning of the school year until now.  She's also been doing different exercises with the kids to assess where they're at and what their strengths are weaknesses are.    Although I talk to her the four days a week I take Logan to school and pick him up, this was a nice 25 minute conversation, uninterrupted and completely focused on Logan and his performance at school.

We had very recently finally come to the decision on our own to send him to kindergarten next fall.  We decided this for so many reasons I can't even write about them all here, but ultimately we completely feel he'll be ready.  He's grown so much this preschool year socially, developmentally and in every other area, and he's going to be ready for the next challenge 6 months from now.  If at some point, early in elementary school, it seems he's academically far behind most kids in his class (from being younger), we can always decide to hold him back and repeat a grade.

The other truth to the matter is, kindergarten is free, preschool, five mornings a week, is expensive.

Ultimately, if we really felt he truly wasn't ready to begin kindergarten.. if there were major developmental or behavioral issues, for example, we would have definitely considered sending him to preschool one more year to mature out of some of that before sending him to kindergarten.   A year ago, I really was on the fence about this. But in the last 6 - 8 months its become abundantly clear he's not only ready, I think he will thrive.

Going into this conference today with his teacher, Andrew and I knew we had made our decision and were following our guts.  But it was still interesting to get his teachers' insight and see his school work.

She was really thorough and talked about everything from how he cuts (great), how he interacts with other kids (wonderful, with a few minor blips here and there), how he follows step by step directions (perfect, and stays on task all on his own), his knowledge of numbers/shapes/colors/concepts (completely up to speed for a kid his age). 

This is a circle he cut by himself back in September.  Pretty darn good, I'd say.


He understands the concept of things  happening in a certain order.


He knows how to pick colored pattern up and glue a pattern on another piece of paper.


The one thing challenging him right now is handwriting.   He needs much more practice applying the right amount of pressure to his writing utensil, and forming his letters with more definition.    This came as no surprise at all, since we gots a heads up on this last fall and have been working with him a lot on his fine motor skills.   Dylan's handwriting was the same way at this... I think its very common for boys to struggle with this area.  They're more active than girls and have spent these early years honing in becoming gross motor experts..not sitting still for long periods and coloring/drawing.   By first grade, Dylan's handwriting was greatly improved and now its even better.  It just takes time and practice.

Despite that one little area that needs work, she agreed with us, he's completely ready for kindergarten and she thinks he'll do well next fall.   We just have to work on his handwriting between now and the end of the summer.     And between the internet, and amount of teachers I know, I'll have all the resources in the world to make sure he gets lots and lots of handwriting practice.

I feel good we've not only made our decision for him, and that we strongly feel its the right decision, but that his current teacher feels he's ready too. 

Kindergarten registration in our county is Apil 12th.  And I'll be there, standing in line, forms in hand, trying not to tear up about sending my youngest baby off to kindergarten next fall and seeing him reach yet another huge milestone.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

skateboardin'

We have an amazing indoor kids gym near us we've been going to for years.   I know the owner, and was able to arrange a semi-private skateboarding clinic for my boys and some friends.  The day finally arrived yesterday, and after school the boys spent two hours learning some basics and even some new tricks!   Dylan is getting better and better.  Logan is just starting out, but did really well too!


Best of all, no one broke any bones.  They're all asking to do another class, so I've already set one up for mid-March!

Monday, February 14, 2011

V-Day

We don't make a big huge deal out of  Valentine's Day at our house.  As a rule, we don't go out to dinner (too crowded), and we don't buy each other expensive gifts.   Just a few small treats for the kids, an exchange of sappy cards, and Andrew usually gives me the night off from cooking by creating a fantastic meal.  We cuddle up after dinner and enjoy time at home together.   

I did make a circa 1980's strawberry heart shaped cake for dessert tonight, and Logan and I attended Dylan's second grade class party.  Wow, the level of decibels a room of twenty two 7 and 8 year olds create is pretty amazing.  

Our neighbor is Dylan's room mom, and she had some really fun stuff planned for the kids.  I was there to help where I could, and got a few photos of the madness.  I'm so thankful to have these moments in Dylan's class with him, hanging with his friends and hearing from his teacher how great my child is.  :-) 

Time goes by so fast and sometimes I can't even believe he's already halfway thru 2nd grade.    Logan had his party at school today too, but it was just for the students.  He and Dylan both came home with a bag-o-Valentine's cards and treats which are currently all over the kitchen floor.

creating the Valentine's bag


Valentine's wreaths



Valentine candy chopstick relay race



Happy Valentine's!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

who let the dogs out?

Last fall, we learned our county would be getting its own minor league baseball team in spring 2012.  A brand new stadium is going to be built a couple miles from where we live, and beginning next spring, we'll have good, family fun right in our backyard.  We're so excited!   This will be something we can enjoy with our boys for years to come.



They have named the future team the Loudoun Hounds, and they've been doing some awesome marketing to get the name out there and get community support.  Today they held their first ever public event -- a FanFest at our high school, for people to come find out about the team.  They had tons of fun for the kids and they unveiled their mascot.  They really seem to have their act together from a marketing standpoint... it all seems very organized and top notch so far.  I read this is their CEO's dream and its been a decade in the making. We saw the plans for the new stadium today at the FanFest and its going to be a great time next spring when it opens! They had huge turn out for this event and I think its a testament to the fact that people here are really excited about getting behind the team and making it part of their family entertainment.

I left the memory card to the camera in my computer by accident, so these photos were taken on my phone (thus the somewhat crappy quality).





Friday, February 11, 2011

his wish

This week in school, they were to write about their one wish for this new year.  Here is Dylan's wish.  I'm so glad we'll be able to make it come true for him in November!  Now, there won't be a lot of skateboard ramps there but I'm sure once he sees all the other rides he'll be okay with that.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

rocket man

Craft of the week after studying outerspace at preschool!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

G & G visit

This past weekend, Grandpa Joe and Grandma Bobbie came up for a little visit for a few days.  We celebrated Superbowl Sunday and Chris, Jessica, Josh and Maya came over for some yummy food and play time. 



Maya concocted this classy outfit from the play clothes bin.


I also got a couple of shots of the boys spending quality time with G & G.   Dylan played a little Twister with Grandma (she's such a good sport!). 


Grandpa Joe with two of his three favorite grandsons.


Logan snuggled up with Grandpa and when they weren't watching boat races on the iPad, they enjoyed a little R & R.

he's jammin'

For Christmas, Andrew loaded his old iPod shuffle with songs Dylan likes and put it in his stocking.  He loves music, always has.  And being our child, this is a good thing.  Andrew and I both love music and have a pretty eclectic mix of stuff we like.  We try to play a lot of music around the house and riding in the car.  Lots of times the boys will choose listening to music over watching a movie on a car trip.  I love when Dylan really latches onto a song that I loved growing up too.  Lately he's been listening to this one a lot, and this one.   And this is a new song, but its all the rage with he and his friends right now. The boys have been having a dance party in the family room to it every night after dinner.

His birthday is coming up in April, and I think we're going to get him an iPod.  I know it would be easier for him to search for the songs he wants to hear, and it can fit much more music than the shuffle.  Plus he's so far proven he can be responsible by taking good care of his DSi XL