Picture Challenge Day 14 & 15 & Sam's Birthday Party

The other day I walked past the living room & happened to see this:

I thought it was pretty funny.  What's even funnier is when he tries to get out & ends up getting stuck!  He was happy as a clam just sitting in Brooke's walker, eating white cheese cheetos & watching cartoons! 

Not long after I caught Caleb in the walker, Brooke was back in it.  You can't tell very easily in these pictures, but she was grabbing hold of the fish tank & pulling herself toward the tank & up off the floor.  Her feet would come up off the ground & she'd just sit & grin.  She thought that was the best way ever to watch the cartoons that were on the tv!

 Notice the foot in the air?

Caleb wanted to have his picture taken with the scrapbook...

Tonight we celebrated Sam's birthday.  Her real birthday isn't until Sunday, but since that's the day Travis leaves & she's dancing tomorrow night, we figured it was going to be Friday or forget it!  This year she picked Hello Kitty for her cake.  I think it turned out pretty cute:

I got the cupcakes done & the frosting cleaned up.  I was looking at the cupcakes & was like "Something's wrong."  That's when it hit me.  "Crap.  I forgot the whiskers!"  Since I had already tossed my cake decorating stuff into the sink to soak, the Hello Kitty cupcakes were whisker-less!

She was pretty excited to get her blanket.  I did hear, "My mom FINALLY finished my blanket!"  I knew that would come out of her mouth eventually!

Blue, Brad Paisley, Hanna Montana pattern shirt that Grandma Terri made her.  She's had it cut out probably as long as I've had the butterfly blanket cut out.  I think every time Sam sees her she asks when she's going to get it made!  We're hoping it's long enough to cover her belly!

Adorable dress Grandma Terri made.  I didn't get a picture of the other dress Grandma Terri made her.  I'll have to snap a photo of her in that one!

Caleb was totally into the "Heavy, Heavy, Hangover..."  Caught her pretty good on the nog with more than one gift!"

She was super excited for this.  Grandma Kris & Grandpa Scott got her & her American Girl doll matching pjs & slippers.  And yes, she's wearing them & so is the doll tonight!

She has turned into a Big Time Rush fan.  She got one of their cds for Christmas.  For her birthday she wanted a BTR theme but I told her I didn't know how I was going to do a cake for that.  I found this BTR book/poster book in a book order for her back in December & ordered it to have for her birthday.  She loved it!

She loves this hat.  It has Hello Kitty on the side of it.  Every time she puts it on, she starts doing hip hop!  Silly girl!  Here she's opening a Brad Paisley shirt.

I found this shirt & it screamed her name to me.  It says Nerd Alert.  I thought she'd love it.  And, she did!  I'm sure it will become a favorite.

Aunt Cass & family gave her this cute ear warmer.  It looks super cute on her.  I should learn how to make these!

I can't believe my baby girl is turning NINE!  Her dad is in complete denial & I can't say that I'm not too.  When did she get so old!  Wasn't she just born?  It dawned on me recently that next year I will be sitting through the maturation program next school year!  Wait!  I am SOO not ready for that!  I'm afraid she's growing up way too fast for her dad & I!  I think it makes me appreciate my smaller ones a bit more because I have her around to remind me of how fast they will grow up.  Some fun things about Samantha are: She loves her dance class (obviously).  She's been dancing for LaShar's since she was three & I don't see an end in sight any time soon.  Girlfriend loves to get her groove on.  She's so tall.  I keep telling her she's going to be like Grandma Kris because she's long waisted, but she has legs up to her arm pits & is just so stinking tall.  She's so kind & thoughtful of others.  She always wants everyone to feel good & not be sad.  If someone is sad she does what she can to make them feel better.  She's getting really good on the piano & has recently started asking when we'll sign her up for guitar.  Yes, I know, ironic.  I've told her that I refuse to pay someone to teach her to play guitar when she has the father she does!  I think she'll end up being a one man band just like her daddy!  She loves to sing.  She's always singing - whether it's a song on the radio or one she's made up.  I've noticed that she's starting to write lyrics down recently.  Her dad gave her some song writing tips awhile back & I think she's decided to start working on them.  She knows how to navigate around on the computer better than a lot of other kids her age.  Not sure if I'm glad or worried about this!  The girl reads and reads a lot!  she usually has a minimum of three chapter books going on at once and up to as many as six.  And, one of my favorite things about this girl is that she isn't afraid to come & talk to her mom.  She's so willing to open up and tell me everything about every aspect of her day.  I sure hope she stays that way.  I never imagined that I'd have a daughter that would be that way with me because I so wasn't that way with my mom.

Brooke was extra jumpy after the party so we busted out the Johnny Jumper & put her in it.  I didn't know if she'd like it or not because the last time I had her in it, she was not a big fan of it.  Oh my heck.  The girl LOVED it!  She couldn't jump high or fast enough!  She'd get going and lift her feet up so she could swing!  I'm hoping the video I took will upload.  It was hilarious!

I couldn't get the video of Brooke to upload, but you can see it here: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150547757856570

Parent Teacher Conferences

Samantha & Nash both had parent teacher conferences tonight.  I wasn't too sure what to expect.  What?  I know.  Here's why though: In October when they had conferences, I was deathly ill and Travis went to their conferences.  I've talked to their teachers some here and there, but nothing major.  I was curious to see how their tests were looking (typical teacher, right?)

Samantha is getting 4's in all areas except math (Cache uses a scale of 1-4 with 4 being proficient).  She's still having a hard time with rounding for some reason.  Not only have we tried pounding it into her head, so has her teacher!  Guess we still need to practice that.  After I got home I was talking to Travis and was telling him that she also has trouble doing multiplication like 13 x 4 when it's going up and down.  She would write the answer as 412.  The whole concept of carrying the 1 from the 12 is foreign to her which boggles my mind because she carries in addition just fine!  She also has a really difficult time counting money.  She can't figure out how to count a few quarters, nickles, dimes & pennies.  She can skip count mind you, but give her different amounts to skip count, and it completely throws her for a loop.  Travis and I decided it's a place value problem.  So, somehow we've got to figure out where the kink in her place value understanding is and then iron it out!

Her teacher had sent home a print out of all her scores.  I noticed as I was looking through it that about 9 of her homework assignments she only got 50% on.  I asked her teacher why that was tonight.  She said it was because she had turned those in without a parent signature.  What?!  Yes.  Apparently 50% of my child's homework score is whether or not a parent has signed it.  Now, being a teacher, I have a bit more tolerance for this than my husband does.  Travis doesn't think he should have to sign anything to do with homework.  I understand.  I get it.  I might not agree with it, but I get it and I respect it.  I told her teacher I'd be sure to sign every stinkin' paper she gets out of her folder from now on.

She also hasn't been taking AR tests on the books she's reading at home.  Now, I don't remember if I've said it before or not, but I take serious issue with AR.  Why?  Because in my experience, kids have a goal that they didn't set themselves.  A goal, that at first glance, seems nearly impossible to reach in the amount of time given. So, in order to reach said goal, they do 1 of 2 things.  Either 1-read books that are way, way, way below their reading level & take the test simply to get the points.  Or, 2-they cheat and take tests for each other or take tests on books they never read.  I've told my kids I don't care if they take AR tests or not because I for one, know they are reading and would rather they read books that are on their level and that they are interested in than have them do one of the other choices I mentioned.  However, I have also told my kids that if their teacher wants them to AR test, they need to be taking AR tests.  Sam has only taken 20 AR tests since October.  That sounds like a lot, but considering that the girl reads 6 chapter books at a time (I'm not even exaggerating) and that she always reads to her brothers, she should probably have double that many AR tests.  So, I got to have the AR conversation with her teacher tonight too.  Her teacher told her that since she doesn't have her fill out a reading calendar, the AR tests are how she keeps track of her home reading.  She had set Sam a new goal of reaching 40 pts (she has 26) but after our conversation, she changed it to 70.  I told her we'd come home and make a list of all the chapter books she's read and not taken a test on.  I'm hoping I didn't just doom my daughter!

Nash is doing about how I expected.  He needs to work on being a better reader.  It isn't that he can't read, he just isn't fast (thank you DIBELS).  I don't time my kids when they are suppose to be timed in the phonic books, because comprehension and accuracy are more important to me than speed.  Speed doesn't do you any good but comprehension and accuracy are a must!  Nash has taken more AR tests than Sam.  His teacher is pretty good at helping them find time to take an AR test (they are suppose to put their finished books on their desks so she knows they need to test).  Plus, they take AR tests on the phonics books they bring home and read.  I was happy to see that his STAR test had gone from .8-1.8 at the beginning of the school year to 1.2-2.2 at the end of January (Comprehension test for those that are unfamiliar with teacher lingo).  His DIBELS score was 30 cwpm & 83% accuracy.  The district goal for the end of first grade is 45 cwpm.  Cache District has set a goal of 60 cwpm.  Since he didn't hit a particular percentage, he wasn't able to do the retell part of DIBELS.  We will have to practice reading more with him.  I guess I'll have to break my rule of not timing my kids when they read (annoys me!).

Overall, I'm happy with how well my kids are doing.  They are both happy & well adjusted.  They make friends, listen (most of the time) and do what they are suppose to (usually).  I'm proud of both of them.  They both work hard at school and at home.  Especially when you consider they both do piano, Sam dances twice a week and Nash will be starting soccer again soon.

Today I was also observed by my boss from the district.  She told me that the principal from my Wednesday school was bragging about me at the principal's meeting yesterday.  That made me smile.  I really, really like my Wednesday principal.  As my boss was leaving, she turned to me and said, "Please don't quit!  Please come back next year!  I want to put you in charge of this program when I leave the district."  That completely caught me off guard!  What a compliment!  I for one, hope she isn't leaving the district any time soon!  I also found out the other day that I'm eligible to submit lesson plans to the Utah High Ability Initiative.  If my lesson plans are approved and placed in the state database, I will receive $100 per lesson plan.  Wahoo!  I've got more than one lesson plan sitting in my binder that I know will be accepted!

Picture Challenge Day 12 & 13

I've been doing an ok job of taking my pictures.  I just haven't done a very good job of getting them posted the same day I take them!

I let Brooke have her valentine sucker from her cousin Rylee yesterday.  Little sister was in HEAVEN!  She loved it!  I think she might be like Caleb in that suckers will be a favorite.

Since bringing her high chair up & clipping it to the counter she has turned into Swiper!

My Aunt Debbie is amazing!  Check out the valentines she made my kids!  They thought they were the coolest thing ever!  (Which they are!)

Tonight Brookelyn got to play with her cousin who is 3 days older than she is.  Brookelyn still looks like she'd make 3 of Olivia!  They were cute together.  Olivia isn't crawling yet so B was a little harder for Olivia to keep up to.  

Last night I gave Caleb a blueberry muffin.  Apparently he unwrapped it and only ate a bite or two.  When I came over not long after, Sister had eaten the whole thing.  So, tonight I gave her her own muffin.  She loved it!  She couldn't shove it in her face fast enough!

And last, but not least, there's this little cutie.  I took her to the ENT today.  Yep, we will be purchasing yet another (set #10 in fact) set of tubes.  She will also be getting her adenoids out.  March 8th - her cousin's first birthday!  Not too far away & hoping that it makes her feel better!

I

Picture Challenge Day 10 & 11

The picture of the blanket I did that I posted the other day I actually took on my phone & emailed to myself so I could blog it.  Why?  Because I didn't want to hook my camera up to my PC and download 2 pictures! I did get the blanket ragged the same night I finished it.  I stayed up until about 3 am, but now it's done & I just need to figure out how to wrap the sucker up!  So, here's 1 project (only about a yr & a half in the making) finished:

And here's another project started:

What is going to be you ask?  A rag blanket that is for Caleb's preschool teacher.  She's due at the end of the month but I'm afraid her baby boy will be coming any day now!

Nash got some Kre-o LEGOS at Christmas.  He got Bumblebee & Optimus Prime.  He whipped Bumblebee together in under an hour & completely on his own.  He had tried, several times, to build Optimus into the semi truck.  Last night he got Optimus put together as Optimus.  He was pretty proud of himself (I don't blame it, it was no small feat!) and I was pretty proud of him too.  I told him we had to get a picture of it!  And what do you know?  The kid looks more like his dad every time I turn around!

 I came home from work today & found this:

 Sister is getting pretty dang good on all fours.  Especially when she has the cord to dad's laptap to chase after!

My kids were so excited.  They got a valentine in the mail today (Thanks Rylee).  Can you see the look on Brooke's face?  She was so excited!  It was funny because she had absolutely no idea what it was.  All she knew was that the other kids were making a big deal out of it and were excited so she was too!  She was quite upset when I wouldn't let her have her sucker unsupervised!

Not too long ago Smith's had blueberries on sale.  You could get 16 oz for $4 or you could buy 8 oz for $4.  I don't know about you, but it was a no brainer for me...I got the 16 oz.  Brooke liked to eat them plain, but it was making a terrible mess.  I finally decided to bake something with them (Sam's a blueberry muffin fiend).  So, I cranked out a blueberry strussell.  Not bad for a first attempt & a recipe that we hadn't used before.  I was surprised at how thick the "batter" was.  More like cookie dough if you ask me.  It made for a good after dinner dessert though.  (I also made a batch of blueberry muffins, but they didn't look as pretty, so I didn't snap a picture.) 

After Caleb got out of the tub Sam helped him with his hair.  He was might proud of his awesome hairdo.  Almost time for another haircut!

I busted out our high chair that attaches to the counter this past weekend.  Brooke is loving it now that I've found all the straps & can safely strap her in there!  Charlotte is loving it too actually.  I think they're going to become besties rather quickly.  Why?  Well, what dog wouldn't love the kid that does this:

There was an impromptu guitar lesson at our house tonight.  It was later followed by an impromptu waltz lesson for Sam.  I wasn't able to snap a shot of the waltzing, but I did get the guitar lesson.  All the kids were pretty excited when their dad busted out his old pics and let them each choose one.  Hopefully I won't find them all chewed up by the dog any time soon.