Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Ammon @ 29 weeks
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Gavinisms
Gavin started attending a Christian montessouri school a few weeks ago. His teacher, Ms. V who is a retired montessauri teacher of 30 years, and her husband, Mr. Ken just started this school to stay busy during retirement. She does the teaching and he works in his woodshop building her shelves and manipulatives, etc.
After only two weeks she has commented that he picks things up very quickly and believes he'll be reading by September at the rate he is going. He also knows and recognizes his numbers up to 13. Meaning not only can he count that high, he can also count out that many objects and match them up to their corresponding number. He is loving his school and learning. He especially loves going to the woodshop and helping Mr. Ken. They just made a bird feeder and Gavin was excited to go feed the birds the next morning.
The other day she tells me, "We sure enjoy Gavin. He's is our whole world. I asked my husband why we didn't do this 5 years ago." Almost every day she has another story to tell me about the funny things Gavin has done or said. I'm assured that he is very polite in his corrective comments, just in case you were worried.
Today he took a magazine full of what I called scary things for show and tell. He showed me the picture of the poisonous snake and said, "See? It's not scary! It's not moving because it's not real!" He repeated the same story to his teacher as I was dropping him off this morning to make sure she was okay and not afraid of his magazine pictures.
Last week he came to school with two black eyes after playing "konfu panda" with Lily, falling and hitting his eyes - one time on furniture while attempting some kind of back roll and the other one on his sister's head while doing another move. When Mr. Ken asked him what happened he told him this story: "My dad and I were fighting and I had my eyes covered like this," he holds his little fists up to demonstrate protecting his eyes. "When I brought down this hand to punch him he got me right in this eye. And then I brought down this hand to punch him this way and boom! He got me in this eye!" Mr. Ken looked at him in awe and said, "Really?" Gavin turned to walk away, turned back and said, "No, I fell!"
On the first day, Ms. V was teaching the kids the prayer song for the food. After she was done Gavin cocked his brow, looked at her and said, "That's not a prayer. This is a prayer." He then proceeded to demonstrate the "correct" way to bless your food. When he was finished the teacher simply said, "M---, do you mind if Gavin says all the blessings on the food?" The other little boy replies, "Oh, no."
On another day the other little boy there said, "I don't know how to pray." Gavin confidently looks at him and says, "Don't worry, I'll teach you."
At the end of the first two weeks, Gavin let the teacher say the prayer again. Then he looked at her, sighed and said, "You're still not doing it right."
Not to dim his spirits, but I felt like perhaps his insistance might become more offensive than necessary, so finally I told him, "Darling, I need to teach you a big word, it's called, 'tolerance'. It means we let Ms. V say her prayers the way she wants to say them." He retorted, "But she's trying to bless the whole earth! She can't do that." I asked, "Why not?" He replied, "Because, she just can't."
After Ms. V read the poem about what little boys and girls are made of, Gavin commented, "That's not right. We're made of bones and Heavenly Father made our bones!"
Gavin's teacher is convinced he will grow up to be a minister. I just chuckled and thought, well probably something like that.
After only two weeks she has commented that he picks things up very quickly and believes he'll be reading by September at the rate he is going. He also knows and recognizes his numbers up to 13. Meaning not only can he count that high, he can also count out that many objects and match them up to their corresponding number. He is loving his school and learning. He especially loves going to the woodshop and helping Mr. Ken. They just made a bird feeder and Gavin was excited to go feed the birds the next morning.
The other day she tells me, "We sure enjoy Gavin. He's is our whole world. I asked my husband why we didn't do this 5 years ago." Almost every day she has another story to tell me about the funny things Gavin has done or said. I'm assured that he is very polite in his corrective comments, just in case you were worried.
Today he took a magazine full of what I called scary things for show and tell. He showed me the picture of the poisonous snake and said, "See? It's not scary! It's not moving because it's not real!" He repeated the same story to his teacher as I was dropping him off this morning to make sure she was okay and not afraid of his magazine pictures.
Last week he came to school with two black eyes after playing "konfu panda" with Lily, falling and hitting his eyes - one time on furniture while attempting some kind of back roll and the other one on his sister's head while doing another move. When Mr. Ken asked him what happened he told him this story: "My dad and I were fighting and I had my eyes covered like this," he holds his little fists up to demonstrate protecting his eyes. "When I brought down this hand to punch him he got me right in this eye. And then I brought down this hand to punch him this way and boom! He got me in this eye!" Mr. Ken looked at him in awe and said, "Really?" Gavin turned to walk away, turned back and said, "No, I fell!"
On the first day, Ms. V was teaching the kids the prayer song for the food. After she was done Gavin cocked his brow, looked at her and said, "That's not a prayer. This is a prayer." He then proceeded to demonstrate the "correct" way to bless your food. When he was finished the teacher simply said, "M---, do you mind if Gavin says all the blessings on the food?" The other little boy replies, "Oh, no."
On another day the other little boy there said, "I don't know how to pray." Gavin confidently looks at him and says, "Don't worry, I'll teach you."
At the end of the first two weeks, Gavin let the teacher say the prayer again. Then he looked at her, sighed and said, "You're still not doing it right."
Not to dim his spirits, but I felt like perhaps his insistance might become more offensive than necessary, so finally I told him, "Darling, I need to teach you a big word, it's called, 'tolerance'. It means we let Ms. V say her prayers the way she wants to say them." He retorted, "But she's trying to bless the whole earth! She can't do that." I asked, "Why not?" He replied, "Because, she just can't."
After Ms. V read the poem about what little boys and girls are made of, Gavin commented, "That's not right. We're made of bones and Heavenly Father made our bones!"
Gavin's teacher is convinced he will grow up to be a minister. I just chuckled and thought, well probably something like that.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Lily's got spirit, yes she does!
Ward Talent Show 2012
Even though she didn't get the award, Jessica stole the show. I think she surprised everyone with her rendition of "Best Day" by Taylor Swift. She was 99% memorized. We had the words scrolling next to her just in case. She didn't miss a beat and she really lit up the stage. I'm still amazed at her raw talent and she made her mom very proud. Woohoo! Way to go Jessica.
Gavin certainly added to the entertainment although he wasn't officially entered in the program. More than once he added to the humour of the night as he joined various performers during their performances. He mainly had to greet the people he knows - like the babysitter from the night before and our home teacher. He's certainly a friendly fellow. If you look real close, you'll notice the latest (3) facial injuries this boy is recovering from.
Here is a webcam video of Jess singing her talent show debut. Not as great as the real thing, but at least something to go by.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Happenings in February
At my appointment at the end of January, my blood pressure was elevated and I had protein and sugar in my urine. Not a good sign. I came home and cried sort of. I informed my family that I was done with anything stressful related and pled for more help around the house. At least Jessica listened and has done a pretty good job helping me out with the younger kids and the housework.
After some research and a not so coincidental conversation with a student who has diabetes, I decided the culprit must be sugar!! It only makes sense seeing how my blood pressure hasn't been elevated until Girl Scout Cookies came on the scene and I have been pretty good about avoiding sugar until then.
So I cut out all refined sugar goodies for the next couple of weeks. Last week things seemed to be back to normal. Blood pressure went down and my tests were normal. I'll find out if diabetes is a real issue in about another week. Meanwhile, I'm trying my best to avoid all the cookies, brownies, cake, chocolate, candy, round rock donuts, etc. . . that seems to make their way into my vincinity. Not an easy task I assure you.
In other news - February 4th was a busy day. Jhonny, Jessica and I got to go see Wicked. Finally! I'm glad to know what the hype is all about. It was good. It might have been better if we'd been closer than the second balcony, but I was happy to be there at all. Jessica loved it.
Later that day, Jhonny took the girls to a daddy daughter dance down the street and Gavin and I went out on our own Valentine's date. He was so excited to be on a date with Mommy. We ate and came home with Cars 2 and watched it together with a bit of icecream. He fell asleep before it was over, but I was impressed that he paid way more attention this time then he did when we saw it in the theatre. He commented that he loved that show.
The girls reported an equally enjoyable time with their dad, especially dancing salsa with him at the end. He is a pretty good dancer. I'm glad he got to have a partner or two that could actually keep up with him. I'm not so good at it right now.
We've also had a lot of movement on the house in Rockdale!! Yeah! We thought we almost had it sold for real this past weekend, but the couple couldn't make up their minds yet and wanted to see some other places. So we're back to lease to own with our original choice of tenants. We should be meeting with them this week to sign a lease agreement. Hurray! It couldn't come at a better time. Paying for two houses is NOT fun. As soon as we can get that money back in our pocket, I can start preparing for this baby. Since we sold everything, we've got a lot of shopping to do. I've had my eye on a few items that I'm just biding my time for. . .
Lily finally lost her second bottom tooth. It took some wrestling it out of her, but we finally got it out. Unfortunately she lost her money to making restitution for some stolen m&m's. After informing Lily that she would have to use her tooth fairy money to pay for more and return what she had eaten, she (unbeknownst to us) wrote the tooth fairy a note telling her what happened and requesting a second dollar to replace what she had lost. It was a sad morning when she revealed the still present note under her pillow and I had to go over how the tooth fairy and the repentance process works.
The kids are all getting excited about Ammon coming into the family. They love to feel him kicking me. I just keep thinking - at least 12 more weeks and then any time. . . I hope the time goes quickly.
I finally got the taxes done. I was dreading it, but somehow we've been blessed once again and not only do we not owe anything, we are actually getting some back. Phew!
After some research and a not so coincidental conversation with a student who has diabetes, I decided the culprit must be sugar!! It only makes sense seeing how my blood pressure hasn't been elevated until Girl Scout Cookies came on the scene and I have been pretty good about avoiding sugar until then.
So I cut out all refined sugar goodies for the next couple of weeks. Last week things seemed to be back to normal. Blood pressure went down and my tests were normal. I'll find out if diabetes is a real issue in about another week. Meanwhile, I'm trying my best to avoid all the cookies, brownies, cake, chocolate, candy, round rock donuts, etc. . . that seems to make their way into my vincinity. Not an easy task I assure you.
In other news - February 4th was a busy day. Jhonny, Jessica and I got to go see Wicked. Finally! I'm glad to know what the hype is all about. It was good. It might have been better if we'd been closer than the second balcony, but I was happy to be there at all. Jessica loved it.
Later that day, Jhonny took the girls to a daddy daughter dance down the street and Gavin and I went out on our own Valentine's date. He was so excited to be on a date with Mommy. We ate and came home with Cars 2 and watched it together with a bit of icecream. He fell asleep before it was over, but I was impressed that he paid way more attention this time then he did when we saw it in the theatre. He commented that he loved that show.
The girls reported an equally enjoyable time with their dad, especially dancing salsa with him at the end. He is a pretty good dancer. I'm glad he got to have a partner or two that could actually keep up with him. I'm not so good at it right now.
We've also had a lot of movement on the house in Rockdale!! Yeah! We thought we almost had it sold for real this past weekend, but the couple couldn't make up their minds yet and wanted to see some other places. So we're back to lease to own with our original choice of tenants. We should be meeting with them this week to sign a lease agreement. Hurray! It couldn't come at a better time. Paying for two houses is NOT fun. As soon as we can get that money back in our pocket, I can start preparing for this baby. Since we sold everything, we've got a lot of shopping to do. I've had my eye on a few items that I'm just biding my time for. . .
Lily finally lost her second bottom tooth. It took some wrestling it out of her, but we finally got it out. Unfortunately she lost her money to making restitution for some stolen m&m's. After informing Lily that she would have to use her tooth fairy money to pay for more and return what she had eaten, she (unbeknownst to us) wrote the tooth fairy a note telling her what happened and requesting a second dollar to replace what she had lost. It was a sad morning when she revealed the still present note under her pillow and I had to go over how the tooth fairy and the repentance process works.
The kids are all getting excited about Ammon coming into the family. They love to feel him kicking me. I just keep thinking - at least 12 more weeks and then any time. . . I hope the time goes quickly.
I finally got the taxes done. I was dreading it, but somehow we've been blessed once again and not only do we not owe anything, we are actually getting some back. Phew!
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