Writing Workshop 2014

Ben has had a string of simply amazing teachers and his language arts teacher this year was no exception. Seriously, AMAZING. The work she got out of these kids was impressive! They wrote their little hearts out this year ... everything from narratives, to plays, to poetry of all kinds.... 

Yesterday, she put on a writing workshop and all the kids shared 1-2 of their favorite things they had written this year. Ben shared his personal narrative and a book review. 

He also welcomed everyone and introduced the awards segment of the presentation. The teacher made up a whole list of cute awards and the kids all voted on who got what. Ben tied with his friend Tommy for "fastest runner". LOL! 

This was just such a great class. Definitely hoping Simon gets this teacher in a few years! 

Random Assorted Update....

This came home in Simon's folder the other day. It was written, as you can see, by his "best fiend", Ben B. I love this! Ben B. is a super sweet kid too. Hope they are together next year. They also belong to our pool, so he and Simon will get to hang out a lot this summer. So happy he makes friends (or fiends) easily... it's a weight off my shoulders because it's not something that has always come easily for Ben. (my Ben, not Ben B...LOL) 

We were at the pool last night and another classmate Simon likes a lot was there and they just played and played. It's effortless. There are a lot of reasons I worry about Simon, but his ability to make friends  isn't one of them...  at least right now. Thank goodness. :) It's a nice change. 

Spent most of last week in and out of the bookfair. A few times, Jonathan came along for the ride. He was so good too... usually just played on Mrs. Terry's computer, drew in his notebook, or played on DS. On this particular day, his friend Aiden (seriously, he LOVES Aiden.... I think he thinks of him like another big brother) had come too and they played nicely together on PBSkids while we worked. Aiden is so tolerant and patient with J. I love it! 

Friday was a busy day.... we ended it with the opening blast at the pool and the swim team meet and greet. We really went for Ben, but I asked Simon if he wanted to do swim team too and he said he thought maybe he wanted to try it. (he likes he swimsuit and the idea of getting ribbons... thankfully, they give ribbons to all the 8 and unders for just participating in meets... they don't have to place and they can't get disqualified)  Simon can swim, as in, not drown... but strokes are difficult for him. I'm proud of him for wanting to try! Maybe coach Doug will work his magic and we'll have another swimmer by the end of the summer! I'm so proud of him for wanting to try! 

Ben is happy to be back at the pool... this is from yesterday.... and we're going back today. So happy summer is almost here!!!

This is from Friday. My kids were among the first in the pool! It was COLD. Simon's lips were PURPLE. Ben kept getting out to warm up, and Jonathan just shuffled around on the step mostly so didn't get too cold... but Simon stayed IN. After two hours I finally made him get out and warm up... purple lips are scary. LOL!

I had forgotten I bought a Groupon for tickets to Repticon for the weekend. We went yesterday afternoon. These two held a snake! Ack. Simon also held a lizard of some kind. No one would hold the tarantula. LOL. 

I STILL owe Simon a birthday update. It's coming... I swear. :)

Last Day of 3s....

My last kiddo had his LAST day of 3s preschool this past Friday and it was his teacher's LAST day of teaching since she is retiring. Lots of lasts!  :(

Chorus Concert....

Every spring, the 4th grade gives a chorus concert.  They spend the whole last two quarter working on it. Ben started dreading it LAST spring after the assembly for last year's 4th grade chorus. "I'm NEVER doing chorus. EVER. EVER EVER!"  At the time, I didn't realize it was a whole class thing and so I said, "Okay, whatever!"  Then, over the summer I was at a birthday party for one of Simon's friends and the music teacher was there because her son was in Simon's class too.... we got to talking and I told of Ben's utter disdain for chorus and how he said he would "NEVER EVER!" be in chorus. She laughed and said, "Well, he's in for a bad surprise because ALL the 4th graders do it in the spring."

Ohhhh..... yikes.

Anyway, so once spring came around, I braced myself....  he whined a little about it, but quickly got over it. Then, he was actually excited for the concert! YAY!

They did a great job. It's nice to just have one class performing. It was quick... like 45 minutes and not insanely crowded like a whole-school event would be. (At B's old elementary school, they had to hold the concert at the nearby high school!!!)

Sadly, my tiny child was in the front row, on the floor.... I could hardly see him, much less take good pictures. And even worse, during one song, he had a giant picture of a drum in front of his face the entire time. LOL.  

Here he is... white shirt... right in the front. ;)

During the instruments song.... with drum over his face....

With his friend Tommy before the concert....

Mother's Day....

Mother's day....

Went to brunch with grandmom and Aunt Deb.  Actually managed to get 1) a picture of all three boys looking at the camera  2) a family picture  and 3) a pic with me with the boys.... can't remember the last time we took one of those....

Mother's Day Tea....

Friday was my third and final Mother's Day Tea at Chestnut Grove....


So sweet. The kids sang some little songs. (I have video I have to get off my phone at some point) Then we went downstairs for the tea. Adorable and tear-inducing as usual. :)

Jonathan with his oh-so-patient teacher, Mrs. Poe. 

Singing songs with his class.....

I'll Start Here and Work My Way Back.... Happy 7th Birthday to Simon!

Simon's Minecraft birthday party!

A few kids from his class at school, a neighborhood friend, some friends from our old neighborhood, and some cousins and brothers = great crowd for another Gametruck party!

The kids had a blast and I am officially done with birthdays for a little while. (well, until August...)

Aunt Krystyna makes the coolest cakes!  (although don't ask her to make this exact one...  apparently it was a little tedious...) ;)   Please note the little "Simon" Steve.

Posts I Owe This Blog....

Later!

* Simon's birthday post
* Mother's Day
* Jonathan's Mother's Day Tea at preschool
* Simon's Minecraft Party

Updates....

Gah. So busy lately. The end of the school year is sneaking up on me, as is mother's day/Simon's bday (Sunday!) and I have a ton to do.

Let's see....

Ben:

Ben is doing well. Not much to report. He's getting excited for swim season which starts in ONE MONTH! Hooray! He's also excited that it means we can take a break from Saturday lessons for awhile. Those really cramp his style. Even though he has fun once we get there and loves his teacher, he hates stopping what he's doing in the middle of Saturday to go.

He has a writing workshop coming up in his language arts class in a couple weeks that I'm pretty excited to go to. He says math is his favorite class, but language arts is where he has really shined this year. I can't wait to hear what he's written!

Simon:

Simon is doing SO well in school right now. His teacher has nothing but good reports every day. He used to need all kinds of reminders to know where to put his papers. (folders are all color coded by subject for the kids). But now? She says he's reminding all the OTHER kids. Hilarious. She revamped his checklist to reflect what she wants him to focus on right now, which is capitals and punctuation. It only took one checklist for him to get the idea and start checking over his work. Now she is telling me he is doing THAT without reminders too. YAY!

His birthday is coming up and he wants Ninjago and Minecraft stuff. He and Ben got back into their Legos over Spring break and have been living and breathing Ninjago since then. I'm happy to see him playing something other than Minecraft.

Speaking of Minecraft, I am actually SO proud of him with something related to that. He was wanted for MONTHS now to make his own Minecraft server. I'm not exactly sure WHAT this entails, but I gather it means he can host a game of his own and people can log into it. Ya'll.... this kid googled and watched youtube videos NONSTOP for weeks and taught himself how to do this. I watched over his shoulder yesterday as he typed in commands and codes and it's kind of amazing. One of his birthday presents is going to be his own Minecraft account. Right now, he plays on the one I created when we first discovered the game. It's something he has wanted for ages now and I'm SO excited to give it to him.

Jonathan:

Jonathan has had a few very great weeks! He is no longer crying about going to school. His teacher hit upon a great little motivator. She asks him to pick a book from home and bring it to read to the class. He was ALL over this. And since then? No more crying. Mrs. P and I are both kicking ourselves for not thinking of it sooner, although honestly, I'm not even sure it would have worked any sooner. He just seems to have turned a corner in general.

This is not to say we aren't still working on some things. He bit Simon the other day. I thought we were done with that. Apparently not.

 Anyway, so all is well. Just busy and non-stop. And yet, I still feel like I get nothing done. I guess such is my life right now!