Snow, More Snow, Basketball, and a Fat Cat...

So we got some serious snow. The kids hardly even wanted to play in it. Even they are ready for spring! I think they spent a total of MAYBE an hour out there?

The birds were happy I had put a feeder outside. :) 

The cat was entertained, though slightly annoyed he could not go out and "play" with his "friends". 

We were initially quite creative and busy…. Jonathan wanted to replicate something he had done at school with snow, baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring.  This kept them entertained for about 45 minutes, so totally worth the mess! After this, everyone dispersed throughout the house to play Legos, build forts, and ask me every three minutes if they could play Wii. 

We also made snow ice cream for the first time. The kids loved it. Me? Not so much. The sugar didn't dissolve so it was super gritty and awfully sweet!

These pics were the day before the snow, but I had to share. We were at PetCo and saw this cat. The photo does NOT do it justice. I have never seen a domestic cat so big.  It HAD to weigh 30 pounds, at least…. 

And this is my littlest monkey waiting with me in the carpool line. He sometimes asks to have his picture taken. I happily oblige. :)

In other news, Ben's basketball team WON yesterday, which means they are one of the two teams in the championship! First year since Ben has been playing that has happened! They usually win the first playoff game and lose the second one.  The game got kind of physical and Ben actually fouled out. He was SO upset. But it worked out in the end and now he's just excited to be in the championship game! So, we are back on Wednesday for what will (finally) be the last game of the season. :)

Snow Day….

Another day, ANOTHER day off.

I'm handling these surprisingly well this year, probably due to the fact that they are more spread out than they were last year and also because on delay days (of which we have had MANY), preschool isn't canceled anymore.

Sadly, I heard that as of yesterday, we only had two hours of "snow days" left and those are now gone and then some. So now, the snow is officially eating into summer which is NOT okay with me.

We have some plans for today. Pancakes have been eaten, Disney Channel is currently being watched. In a little while, I'm getting everyone dressed so we can head to Best Buy and get a keyboard for the Raspberry Pi, which I'm hoping will entertain Simon for part of the day.

I also need to head to the library to pick up some books I have on hold and maybe also to Target because… it's there. LOL.

My night owl child is still sleeping, so off to go make him join the land of the living!

Three Kid Updates….

I hate when I let too much time pass between entries. I don't know where to start.

I guess i'll start where I left off. So that test Ben said he didn't need to study for…. he managed to get an 80%. Pretty respectable. But, he'll be reviewing next time.  ;)

We got to visit Ben's school last week for an open house. It was our first chance to see him in his classroom. It was an eye-opening experience, for sure. He looks really, really happy and comfortable. We saw morning meeting (a little thing they do every morning in homeroom), writing and tech (they were typing something in the tech lab that they had written), and math. The fifth grade is divided into three math sec ions and his math class has 13 kids in it The small class means there is NO hiding… the teacher walks from desk to desk to make sure everyone is doing the right thing and understanding.  One of the the things that struck us as most interesting while we observed (we saw Ben's classes and also wandered into some middle school classes), is how readily kids raised their hands to say they needed clarification on something or weren't getting a concept.  No one seemed worried about looking stupid or getting a wrong answer… and the teachers were in no rush to move on until everyone was on the same page. That's a pretty big deal!

As for Simon --

He just started private cello lessons with a new teacher. The large group situation wasn't working well for him, which the school instrumental teacher waited three entire sessions before decided to share with me. (and only after I asked) At any rate, it was a good move, because he came home from his first lesson yesterday all smiles, saying, "Mr. G says I am a good cellist!" He loves it!

He is doing well in school. Math and spelling are his best subjects. (spelling is the big surprise!) They have been reading chapter books in school finally… just finished Freckle Juice and another one called Elevator Duck. He also picked up his first chapter book to read on his own. (He loves to be read to, but has never had any interest in reading a chapter book of his own accord) Handwriting is still pretty atrocious and his teacher gives him extra practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Truthfully, I'm just biding my time with that until he can just type everything. I don't hold out much hope his handwriting is every going to improve all that substantially. LOL. 

He has been playing a TON with Scratch and Makey-Makey lately. He persistence with this amazes me. Yesterday, he fashioned a room alarm that involved a Scratch program and an aluminum foil step near his door. When you stepped on the foil, it set the alarm off on the computer. Color me impressed. We basically let him play with Scratch, Makey Makey, and anything else coding/invention related as much as he wants even though it's technically "screen time". It's the one thing he is extremely self-motivated about… he REALLY has a knack for it and he has taught himself a ton. 

Not much new in Jonathan-land. He stays for extended days at preschool now more days than not and seems to like it.   :)

He has gotten more into writing lately and is doing it more and more (on his own terms of course) He asks me how to spell things all the time and I've started keeping a little notebook with words he asks about so he can reference it when he needs it. I find it strangely interesting that he can read pretty much anything, but asks how things are spelled. (If I make him slow down and sound it out, he can do it himself and then can recognize the word once it's spelled correctly… but usually can't just flat out spell a word on his own… even an easy one like "cat")  Seriously, isn't that weird and interesting? You would think with the reading would come the spelling; but obviously they are two completely different processes for him. 

We just a ton of snow dumped on us last night. The big boys and I went out sledding in the early evening. They had SO much fun. It was nice that Tom was home so Jonathan could stay inside because he's kind of high maintenance in the snow most of the time and doesn't last very long. LOL. 

Now that we have had one really good snow, I am anxious for spring to come. I'm ready for warmth and sunshine. I've been pretty tolerant of winter thus far, even though it's my least favorite season… but yeah, it's time for something new. ;)

Late Again....

Another delay today. Makes for such a short day! Jonathan and I went to the store and then really didn't have time for much else beyond lunch and a little playtime before it was time to get Ben and Simon.

He painted some pictures, I tricked him into writing a little bit, we made a paper airplane and a map. Then he asked me to make him an EliteBook (laptop tablet thing that the county schools all have now) out of paper. I worked on that sucker for 45 minutes. The end result did not please him.  LOL. So we moved on to playing with the snowblower box and making beds.

Off to get Ben. Off to get Simon. Annnnnd that was basically my day.

I bought ingredients for dinner, but now have a case of the "screw-its" and we're having leftover pizza and leftover tacos. I'll cook tomorrow night instead. I have to help Ben study for a vocabulary test and help Simon study for a spelling test. I just don't have time to clean and cut asparagus right now. LOL.

Also? It's cold. Like REALLY cold.

This was our cat lounging all person-like in his sunny spot this morning... LOL. 

And here's what Simon did before school. He jerry-rigged a laser from a board game he got for Christmas onto a laser tag gun to make himself a sight. (is that what those things are called? I don't even know...) It worked perfectly! But then he kept coming back and tweaking it to add features. I love when he gets involved in these little projects... it's when I can really see how his brain works.... he's definitely a builder/inventor/engineer type. I want to sign him up for Camp Invention this summer because I think he would love it. We need a friend though. Any takers?

First Snow of the Winter!

We got some SNOW! Not very much. Three inches, maybe? Enough for it to look pretty, get a day off of school (and a delay today), sled in and play in. Basically, the good kind.

The boys went out a couple times and just hung out all day.... I tried out Tom's snowblower I gave him for Christmas. (who knew how fun that was?!?!).  

Ben has finally stopped calling this "The Worst Winter EVER!" (he was convinced it was never going to snow) ;)

First Snow Delay of the School Year!

We have 1/8" of snow on the ground currently at 7a.m. Schools have closed and that is a-okay with me! Delays are disruptive and hard to manage around here.

In other news, everyone transitioned back to school nicely yesterday. Poor Simon though... oh man. (I KNEW this was going to happen).... so I reminded him he had cello after school yesterday when I dropped him off.  There were two things working against him remembering this -- 1) He usually has cello BEFORE school... this was a makeup lesson.  and 2) He did not yet HAVE his cello in his possession because the teacher collects them at the end of every quarter, so he wasn't reminded by that.

Anyway, so I went and got Ben from school. Went home, puttered around the house. I had emailed Simon's teacher earlier in the day, though I knew I had waited too long and missed her lunch email-checking window.... I got an email from her around 4p.m. that said, "Uh oh. I didn't get this until now and he headed to the Parent Pickup Line when the bell rang." (3:50)  I replied, "That's okay... I'm sure if he went there and then didn't see me at the door, he remembered."

A few more minutes went by and I thought that perhaps I should call the office and just double check that he figured it out.

My hand was ON THE PHONE when it rang.... and it was school..... the receptionist says, "MRs. Graff? I have Simon here waiting patiently for you!"

(facepalm)  I had her just send him down to the music teacher's room.... poor kid. I felt so badly though that he thought I didn't show up that I really just wanted to go right up and get him. (that was always one of my anxieties as a kid... someone forgetting to pick me up)  I stuck it out. Went up to get him at 4:40 after the lesson and all was fine. He was completely unfazed. So whatever. But SHEESH.