School conferences

Last week Nathan had a very minor asthma episode. It started with his runny nose and dry cough and he barely had any labored breathing. So I only gave him one treatment and he was good to go. I knew that it was coming since they have been coming during the beginning of the month. I am glad that it was minor but I am not making any generalizations about it since it always backfires on me. So I am just stating the facts for my record.

We had school conferences last week and it was great to finally get to talk with their teachers and learn how they were doing. First let me explain their report cards, oh I am sorry "Progress Reports." These are not the traditional, Handwriting, Math, Science, etc with the grades ranging from "E" for excellent, "S" for satisfactory, etc that I remember. They entail 30 to 40 statements in different categories ranging from "Community, Compassion, and Civility, Work Habits, Language Arts-which include Reading, Communication and Writing, Mathematics and Integrated-Authentic Curriculum. On top of those main sections there are statements underneath those sections from "looks at books independently, identifies letters, shares ideas related to topics, forms letters appropriately, understands number concepts, participates in group inquiry process, etc." For those specific statements there is a sliding scale ranging from Beginning to Progressing to Achieving. For each grading period they get a corresponding number (first quarter is a "1", second quarter is a "2", etc). Anyway if you are confused don't worry. I have just now gotten used to the progress reports.

So anyways, Julianne is pretty consistent in her progress report with most of her first quarter skills in the achieving category. Her teacher said that she loves Julianne and if she had a class full of Julianne's her job would be easy. She listens, is considerate of all her classmates, she loves coming to school, she does all her work on time and independently, she is a help around the classroom, etc. She did score lower on "checks for quality work." Which is not surprising to us since she has a tendency to rush through tasks and not finish things completely. So we talked to her about that. Also her teacher is starting to worry about her reading levels. She is worried that she may not move ahead for the next quarter. So we will have to work with her more on that. She loves to write and she can remember her spelling words in no time but for some reason she dislikes to read. She know that all the other kids are reading "fun" chapter books and she is just not ready to do that yet. So for her it is confidence since she hates to be wrong she guesses on most of the harder words and forgets her reading skills and that is why she is afraid to be wrong. So we are working with her and hopefully it will click with her that she can do it.

Mallory was a little more sporadic on her skills. She has achieving Community, Compassion and Civility skills but the rest were all over the board. At the beginning of the year she tested in the average range for her letter sounds and for some reason she has regressed on her scores. I don't know if it is because there was another teacher testing her for this most recent test or because she just did not know them. But she qualifies for additional help so she will be helped by one of the reading resource teachers. This did not surprise me one bit since she has a hard time remembering things. I will ask her what the letter "G" is and then one minute later I will say "Mallory what is this letter?" (I am showing her a G). She will say "H" or another one. So she knows most of the letter sounds and letters but there are a few that she still misses. They are also doing a lot more in Kindergarten then I remember Julianne doing. She is already learning sight words and is taking home little books that she is reading. I did not think they did this until after the holidays. Anyway, I am not concerned and I think the extra help will be good for her. I also have stepped up my work with her. I had a hard time learning to read and especially comprehending boring books so I know that she will be fine.

So that is all. It is fun having two kids in school but there is a lot of stuff to remember now. I am consistently getting papers home talking about htis and remember to bring that to school. I have forgetting lots of stuff for them and feel bad. I need to get a better system for writing things down so that I don't keep forgetting.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-Julianne and Mallory loving school
-Going to a great conference today on Sustainability (I love going to conferences and learning new things. I always get inspired)
-getting over my nasty cough.

I forgot my purse

I forgot to post pictures of Mallory's purse that I made her last week. This is the same pattern that I made for Julianne's purse and Mallory has been bugging me to make her one since I made one for Julianne. Actually the correction to that story is that I made the purse for me but decided that I did not like it and gave it to Julianne. So now I am making one for Mallory and one for her cousins as a Christmas present. I am very happy with the way it turned out. Doing a pattern for a second time is like riding a bike when you have been off of it for while. It was smooth sailing with a little bumps but not as hard as the first time. I have been a little distraught lately because I have not made anything since I made my quilt and my mother-in-law's ditty bags for the veterans. It has been a combination of being too busy with work, D not being home as much and the related lack of free time and my lack of waiting to get the machine out every evening. So with three factors I set up shop in my dining room table. So now the table has my computer and my sewing machine on it. The table used to be exclusively for the kids and their crafts/drawing but I am tried of the kids stuff taking over my stuff. So I put their stuff away and set up my sewing shop. Now I don't have the lingering negativity of thinking that I need to get everything out for an hour of work and then put it back away. Additionally it is in my face more and calling my name to be used. So hopefully that will help my "I don't get to work on stuff for myself" attitude with our changes in D's job and my increased "working outside the home" duties. My next project is making Christmas gifts for family members and hopefully gifts for my friend that is going to have another baby any day now. So I have to get plugging away in order to not make these tasks not seem too daunting.



I like this purse much better than the one Julianne has (shush don't tell her or she will be begging Mallory to trade her or she will never play with her or sleep in her room again). It is sturdier and the fabrics are more stylish. This is actually leftover fabric from Mallory's dress so that was extra nice not to have to buy new fabric (especially since my fabric stash is enormous).

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-making homemade items/gifts
-having a sewing machine
-coming home to my family

Picture updates

Here are my pictures from Halloween that I promised.

Here is Julianne in the parade. The girl next to her is actually Mallory's teacher's daughter. Small world and they are the ones that have the same birthday.

Here's Mallory in her Gothic Juliet costume. she just loved the flow and all the special attachments on it.




Here is Mallory at her class's Halloween party. She kept wanting to play this donut on the string game but she did not want to be blindfolded. So when she finally got up enough courage to do it she decided against the blindfold and was very timid about getting the powdered suger on her. She was adorable and after she did it once she wanted to do it again and was not as timid.



Here is a picture series on Nathan and his mixed up costume. As you can see he does not have his planned Superman costume on. We tried to get it on him and like I explained last week he refused to wear it. So we went outside and our generous neighbor boys loaned him some goods. He loved the mask and really wanted to hold the "shooter".

This is our babysitting neighbor girl who is also in the band.

Julianne switched from a nice cat to a bad cat. Hence the teeth.


Of course Nathan, who wants to try everything and is very persistent about it, wanted to try our neighbor girls trumpet. So he actually did very well and had sounds coming out of it.

Julianne also did pretty well.

Here is the neighborhood gang ready for trick-or-treating.


Here are pictures from Julianne's last soccer game. She played really well. She is the one with the pink shorts/skirt on.

Not much is going on this week. We have been raking leaves and loving the great weather this past weekend. It has been nice all week and it was great.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-having a great run this morning.
-my lovely husband
-having the opportunity to have a professional part time job

Fun in the leaves

Yesterday I witnessed Mallory tackling Nathan in a fit of frustration. The kids were a little crazy yesterday while I was cleaning up from dinner. Julianne was doing her homework at the kitchen table and was getting annoyed because the kids kept coming in there and trying to play with her. So I took them into the playroom and gave them both puzzles to work on. So a few minutes went by and Mallory was working on hers and Nathan was finished with his and then threw his in the air. So I went in to the playroom to talk to Nathan and get him to put it back together so that we could put it away. While I was talking to Nathan his foot accidentally hit Mallory's block puzzle and one of the pieces got out of line. She got mad she pushed him on the floor so he ended up being in a turtle position, or child's pose if you know yoga, and Mallory leaped on top of him and opened her mouth and went right for his neck. Then she got off and pushed him. I stood there and watched the entire episode and to my surprise stood there with my mouth opened wide and I could not react. It happened in slow motion and I can still remember all her moves. Finally, I stopped Mallory and sent her up to her room. Now this is not the first time our sweet Mallory has beat up on Nathan. There have been many occasions where Nathan has come to me saying Mallory bit him or pushed him or hit him. This is just the first time I witnessed it. Julianne does not have as many fight like that with him. I did see her push him into the wall this past weekend but that is a rare occurrence. Mallory rarely gets very frustrated but when she does she loses it and poor little Nathan was in her path. So anyway after that burst of frustration we talked about how unacceptable that behavior is and she had a consequence and she apologised to Nathan after her time out. I am sure that will not be the last but hopefully she will be more patient next time.

We had a great Halloween. Julianne was a black cat, Mallory was this Gothic Juliet and Nathan was a mix between a superman, and star wars character with a shooter in his hand. He was suppose to be superman but he did not want to wear the costume and ended up borrowing our neighbors boy masks and "shooters". So he had fun. Julianne got 164 pieces of candy and Mallory and Nathan probably totaled that much also. So we have gobs of candy at our house and it has been hard to resist.

Here are some pictures of the past week.









Julianne did not come out until later, hence the bad flash picture.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-Having great neighbors to hang out with
-one extra hour of sleep/stuff to do
-The crock pot for busy days

Soccer updates

I forgot to mention in my last post that Julianne scored a goal at her previous soccer game. She now really likes soccer and becoming more aggressive with the ball and going out there and trying to get the ball more. She has a couple really good players on her team I think she was intimidated by them but now she is learning and getting more into it. She actually got a game ball last week (all the players get one during the season) but she was really excited that she got one and she knew that she was going to get one because she "played really hard." So we are so glad that she likes it and is now really putting herself out there. She has a tendency to stand back and watch and not really paprticipate in things because It hink she thinks she will not do it well or will look silly, but it seems she growing out of that. It is really fun to watch her and of course she has a lot to learn. All the girls are ball hogs and there is not really any passing going on but I have been impressed that second graders can play and understand what they should be doing during this game.

Mallory is doing well. She was a little sick last week with a headache and just a grumpy feeling. She did not have a fever but complained about her head hurting for several days. She has been loving school and is excited about going everyday.

Nathan is doing well. He is crazy, stubborn and determined as 2.5 year old should be. He is slowly not taking his afternoon nap which is tiring for me but it is fun to spend some one on one time with him. This week we are volunteering in Mallory's class. The teacher said I could bring Nathan so that will be nice and hopefully he is a help and not a nuances.

During the past 10 days we went to the pumpkin patch and had a lot of fun looking for pumpkins. However, we had fun but I swear that that pumpkin patch is somewhat haunted. Last year when we went to this same pumpkin patch Julianne lost her coat and we never found it again. This year I put 40 dollars in my pockets and when I went to pay for the pumpkins the money was gone. It must have fallen out but that place brings me bad luck. The kids had fun playing in the corn and Julianne was a mess when we got home. she had straw caked in her hair and it was hard to get out.

My stubborn son trying to pick up the pumpkins.

He is trying to pick it up a different way.

And another...

He finally gave up and let Julianne carry it for him.



Group hug.

The corn box.


Julianne was a mess at the end of that day. It was so hard to get all the hay out of her hair.

We also participated in the Second Annual Walk for Autism. I volunteered to do registration and I was there at 7:00 am. It was really cold that morning and by 10:00 I was frozen trying to register people. But I had fun and quickly warmed up during the opening ceremonies and on the walk.

D not really wanting me to take his picture. Shocking!!!


I took my friends pictures this weekend and they turned out really well. I was actually surprised. The boys were fun and the lighting was great, the evening was warm so the pictures were a success.








Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-great fall weather.
-the sound of leaves falling and crunching when we walk and run on them
-spending time with my kids.

Two less days in the week

I now have two less days in the week to get all of my chores/errands/activities completed since I have been working two days. Granted D stays home on one of those days and helps keep the house clean but it is still more work on me. I switched the kids and my clothes this week to winter clothes since I was a little past due so that was my largest time hog. So with less time means my blog may suffer a little from lack of entries. I will keep trying to post once a week but it may be longer than that.

Our biggest event of the past two weeks was that Julianne was at gymnastics on Monday jumping on the trampoline when she went to her belly and kind of landed on her chin. She started crying and got off the gymnastics floor and I could tell she was in a lot of pain. We iced it and just hung out until Mallory was done. She had to walk very slowly and was still in a lot of pain was we were leaving. She could move her arms and her body but could not move her neck very well. When we got home we took it easy and just gave her some Tylenol and had her ice it. On Monday she was not really feeling any better and her left shoulder was considerably lower than her right. So I decided to call the doctor to make sure she did not dislocate her shoulder or have any other bone issues. Well the doctor said she had a muscle spasm and that it would feel better in 3-4 days. So I was glad that I did not have to get any x-rays and she is now back to normal. She was mad that she could not play soccer on Tuesday but I am happy that she is feeling better.

Mallory's second fish (Bluey) died on Tuesday and she was pretty upset and wanted me to immediately go and buy a new one. I told her we had to grieve her old fish first for a few months before we could purchase a new one. What I was really thinking was that I did not want to buy another one since I always have to take care of it. So I checked her fish off my list of one more chore to take care of. If we get another one she will be in charge of cleaning the fish bowl and taking care of it because that fish and Julianne's stinky/pooping frog drive me up the wall:)

Nathan is doing great. He likes school when he is in the classroom but he always says "I don't want to go to school" or "I don't like it" but he goes in willfully and seems to have fun. Mallory and I have been enjoying our time together. This past Monday we went to the local Goodwill store to look around and to give some old clothes away. There was not a great selection of things so we only bought Nathan a pair of pants and Mallory a stuffed animal.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-Fall leaves
-A quiet house
-learning new things at work everyday

The week in review

Well we escaped September without Nathan having an asthma episode but this weekend it was back. It was not too bad of one but it did slow him down a little. He is better today and went to school with a little wheezing and coughing but he is back to his old self. His eczema is alright. He is not itching it as much but that could also be because the weather is colder and he has been wearing pants. I looked back at my blog from last year and in November I said that his eczema was almost gone on his legs so I think I am choosing a bad time to try my wheat/gluten free experiment. I should really try it in the spring/summer when his legs are really bad and irritated. However, at the beginning of the week they were really red and irritated and by the end of the week his skin was softer and not as red. So who knows. I am still plugging along on the diet restriction for about 6 weeks. I thought I would only do it a week or two but a lot of things say to wait until 2 months to wait until all the gluten/wheat is out of the system. So we will see. He is actually doing really well with the food choices. He still asks for his favorite cereal but is easily tempted by the rice and corn cereals. Julianne is actually really jealous that Nathan gets to each Rice Chex cereal and she does not. He also has pretzels which she wants to eat so bad. So it is going alright. Since he does not really eat my dinners that I make it doesn't really matter at dinner time.

Julianne had her first Girl Scouts campout this weekend. She had a lot of fun and did not have any reservations about going. She was really tired and worn out when she got back on Sunday and within half an hour had to turn around and go to her soccer game. That was really unpleasant for her. She threw the largest fit and was really mad that we were making her go to soccer. There was a lot of yelling and crying from her end. In the end she got dressed and pulled through and had an OK soccer game. She has a hard time transitioning to different activities and I know that she was worn out but we still wanted her to participate in the game she committed herself to.

We went to the So You Think You Can Dance concert this past week and we had a lot of fun. We were suppose to go with friends but they could not find a babysitter and the husband was sick so we took the girls. They girls had a lot of fun since they watch parts of the show throughout the season with us. Mallory was so cute because after about 10 minutes of watching it she ran up to me and said mom, "Those are real people." It was the cutest thing ever. She is used to watching it on TV and when her 5 year old brain started thinking she realized that they were real dancers and it was not on TV. So it was cute. Julianne kept saying, "This is my favorite dance." She said that on every dance. So that was cute. We had a great time.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-Hearing the High School Band play a concert next door. (my neighbors hosted the band for dinner before a game and the band played a concert in the street.
-Nathan and is ability to express himself with words
-Julianne trying hard at soccer
-Mallory loving kindergarten