I've been missing in action for the past few days. Lots have been going on. Ball games, gymnastic practice, SCHOOL WORK, date nights, birthday parties and loads of family time.

I hope you had a fantastic Leap Day.  I took it easy today.  Sometimes, you just need a break from the laundry, tot-school work, and every day same old, same old. 

Katie was out of school for Presidents' Day.  I put everything on my schedule aside and made it kids day.  They each had gift cards for Walmart and they have been burning a hole in their pockets, if you know what I mean.  Who would have thought that the first thing in the morning, I would head to Walmart.  I had already done my running around a few days before, so this day was all about the toys, books, movies and games.  The kids had a blast!  When we were in line to check out, our tummies were grumbling.  Off to Chick-fil-a for lunch.  We even ran into Ms. G and her little niece. Everyone and their sister was out and about that Monday.  It was a perfect day to venture outside because of the sunshine and light wind.  Ah, it was a beautiful day! After lunch, we went to the park.  I even let Colton go down the swirly slide.  He LOVED IT!  I'll have to post pictures another day.  The entire time we were there, he was right in his sister's footsteps.  Whatever she did, he did as well.  It was too funny and a little scary when more kids arrived there.  He stayed right with them though, nothing slows him down. 

Saturday, we were on the go all day.  We went to see Jon play ball in Athens, but he didn't go in until the last ending because he was sick at his stomach most of the morning.  After the game, we all split up.  The guys went their way and us girlies went our way.  We met up at Mellow Mushroom for lunch and I was soooo bad.  I had two slices of Specialty pizza.  Bad, bad.  Sue, Kacie and I went to Toys R Us to do a little birthday shopping for Colton.  It's hard to find the Marvel and DC comic characters at Walmart and Target.  Toys R Us had a pretty good selection of his favorite characters.  I think he'll like what we are giving him.  I found a huge Green Lantern airplane with weapons that work and Green Lantern himself that flies the plane.  I also found him a small Hulk to easily carry around with him in his backpack.  Susan got him Hulk hands.  They are kind of like gloves that he can put his hands inside.  I didn't get to read it, so I don't know if they make noises or not.  Someone asked me that question, when I told them.  I know I've gone waaayyy overboard on this party, but it will be awesome.  The little stinker has already found my party supply stash and won't keep his hands out of it.  Back at the store, Susan and I didn't get to shop long because we had to get to Natalie's basketball game by 5PM.  I had only been to Natalie's school gym once, so I wasn't too sure how to get there.  I took it for granted that Doug would be able to give me specific directions.  You know street names, right or left turns.  When I called him, he had no clue how to get us there, eventhough they were already at the gym.  Wha?  Thanks to my Maps App, I was able to get us to the campus, but still no clue where to go.  Calling Maryann, she finally handed her phone over to the security guard and he got us there.  We were maybe a block away from the gym.  We made it to our seats just in time for tip off. LOL!  After all of this, Susan ended up taking my gifts for Colton home with her, on accident.  Ooops! 

Would you believe Doug bought me a new laptop and Adobe Photoshop Elements?  I couldn't believe it when I saw it.  He said I needed it for my photos.  If you don't know, I'm seriously considering taking digital photography classes when Colton goes into preschool.  I had the Institute of Photography of New York send me their packet information.  It sounds like a good deal because it's an online course, plus they will supply you with some equipment and supplies needed to get started in your studio.  I'm going to take this slow because I don't want to go belly up on all the necessary equipment and props before I get my experience.  If you've been keeping up with my blog, photos and FB, you've had a chance to get a glimpse of a few of my photos.  I'm getting opportunities and lots of experience.  I need all the experience I can get.  Trial and error.  For the past few days, I've been spending them reading and studying the online Photoshop Elements Techniques and Tips.  I received 25 tutorial videos and two online issues for free.  I'm learning quite a bit about Adobe Photoshop Elements that I've never known before.  I've always had an Adobe Photoshop Elements (V. 5, 7 & now 10).  I loved playing around with the enhancements and photo effects, but never really get into the core of the program.  Elements offers an online subscription for $55 a year or $99 for two years.  I told Doug when I finished reading and studying the issues that I did get for free, I may have to subscribe for a year.  My objective for going back to school is having the ability to take what I've got (talent) and make it even better.  Learn ways to make my ordinary photos into something of a masterpiece.  My dream is to one day own and run a Portrait Innovations or something similar right here.  I need your prayers that I am doing the right thing. I'm depending on God to lead me where He wants me to go. 

Katie had one of her girlfriends over to spend the night during President's weekend.  Those girls had so much fun with one another.  Giggles, giggles.  They were in one of the bedrooms that is next to ours.  I could hear them girl talking.  So cute.  Then I overheard Katie say, "I have a crush on Garrett."  I was stunned because she hasn't talked about boy crushes all school year.  She seems to be embarrassed to even talk about it.  Of course, I was going over in my head "now, who was Garrett?"  I believe I've met this boy, but I'm having problems placing him in my mind.  The next morning, Doug and I told her that a little birdy told us that she had a crush on Garrett.  First thing, right out of her mouth was "who told you?"  Then, she looked straight at Abby.  We finally told her what happened and she began pouting, she was so embarrassed.  I felt bad for her.  I couldn't believe that she was too embarrassed to come to me and talk about her boy crush. 

Katie is absolutely bored with gymnastics.  I called the office manager a couple of months ago, to see
if they would move Katie up to GymKids.  She said that Katie's coaches are not confident that Katie has mastered the KinderGym steps, in order to move up.  For the past month, she's been begging me to put her back in ballet.  She misses it so much.  She's had fun on the balance beam, but that's pretty much it.  Doug hasn't been pleased with what he sees, when goes to pick her up.  I just don't think gymnastics is her thing.  I pulled her out this week and she was thrilled.  Jumping up for joy as a matter of a fact.  Then, she asked me when she will be going back to ballet.  Ugh!  She didn't realize that it's the end of the year and won't be able to participate in this year's recital.  I told her that if there is not anything, she would like to get involved in next Fall, I'll sign her up.  Smiles all over her face.  Ballet has always been her natural talent.  Meanwhile, I've got her on a waiting list for piano lessons.  It would be great if she could start this Spring/Summer.  It would give me a better feel for next Fall's activities.  I was kind of throwing around the idea of second grade majorette classes, but I think we will wait another year.  She wants to learn how to twirl a baton.  I've tried showing her, but I need a baton that fits my length.  There is a store that pretty much caters to our school needs.  I noticed the other day, they had batons in stock.  We may have to head over there and measure for one.  I could probably show her how to at least get started. 

She made this on Valentine's Day and I hope you can read it. 
"Love is when you help your mom when she is sick.  Love is you.  Love your family.  Love is when like your friend.  Love is loving your daddy." 




I got a kick out of this one.  She wrote this on President's Day.  It reads, "If I were president, I would let everyone to bring toys to school because everyone will be happy."  I don't know about you, but I think she has a good chance of getting the votes for president.  TEHE! 

While Colton and I were in line to pick Katie up from school.  He was telling me that he could see her.  What touched my heart was when he told me "Sissy is my friend."  Precious!  He was so sweet and humbled acting while he said it.  He is such a sweetheart when he wants to be.  Meanwhile, he is sending me through the crazy 3's rollercoaster.  CRAZY!!!  I don't know why they call it the trouble 2s because it's the crazy 3's that make me feel like I'm in the middle of an episode of "The Twilight Zone."  {Doo-do, doo-do}

I have a quick update on Andrew.  The doctors have taken him off sedation.  His mother got to kiss him on the cheek. As they began to pinch, trying to get some sign of him coming out of his coma and his fingers twitched.  The doctors said this is the beginning of a very long road to recovery.  We need to pray God will continue to heal his body and brain.  The pressure is staying normal.  Thank you. 

Last night, Katie was in the school musical "Bugz." The production included all first graders, approximately 200 students, from our school. The little kids got a kick getting to go to the high school for rehearsals. The musical was taken place at the high school auditorium. Each class represented a different species of insects. Katie's class were the Monarch Butterflies. They did such a great job! You talk about a packed house. I didn't invite our whole family because I knew that there would not be enough room for everyone. Instead, I invited the grandparents.


Doesn't he look laid back and ready for the day?  I got tickled at him this morning.  He came down the hallway, straight to the couch, asked for his mek (milk) and nana.  He crossed leg, drinking his cup of Joe in one hand and eatin' his nana with the other.  HAHA!  My funny man.

Friday was Katie's school picnic and this time, Doug got to come. I think he really enjoyed visiting Katie's classroom and seeing all that she does in class. Ms. G went over a few of their regular activities. We got to read a few stories in Katie's journal. We found a couple of the pretty funny stories.

I had the opportunity to meet a few of Katie's friends and their parents. I finally got to meet Katie's close friend, A. They are like two peas in a pod. They are a lot alike. I think A's mom and I hit it off pretty good. The more we talked, getting to know one another, the more we found out that we have the same connections. She knows my family members and friends and I know hers. She's already talking about having the girls spend the night one weekend. We even met up with them at Hobby Lobby. I needed to get some supplies and A's mom needed to pick up her eldest daughter's framed painting. Her daughter is only 10 years old and I saw the painting. She has such a great talent. She's planning to have it entered into a contest.




Katie's teacher, Ms. G, had nothing but nice things to say about Katie, which makes my heart smile.  She said that Katie is making all good choices and makes a good leader with the group of girls that she is friends with.  Hearing this makes me relieved, knowing that Katie can't be persuaded.  Kids are under so much peer pressure in school at all ages.  I never thought I would say this, but I hope she will continue to be the hard head she is and stand firm in her beliefs. 

Her grades are doing great.  The progress report that we just received showed that she had a 100 average.  I reminded her that all the hard work really does pay off.  Ms. G has added a little more to the homework.  Katie has math flash cards to go over every night now.  The objective is to teach the children how to add in doubles (ex. 9+9=18).  I think it's great because I've been teaching Katie her numbers by 5, so it will help her to tell time.  In class, they did the doubles song in front of all the parents.  They added all the way up to 10+10=20.  Their Doubles Rap is pretty cute and they love singing it. 


Their class just had a word indentification test on the two pages of words lists.  They are suppose to bring home another list of words to remember.  They won't officially begin having spelling tests until after Thanksgiving or Christmas.  In Social Studies they will be exploring the continents and oceans and doing some research.  I've seen an improvement on Katie's reading this month.  She was so excited because Ms. G. moved her reading level up to Level E, which is a more reading and less picture helping stories.  I've noticed Katie grabbing books from our family library and reading them to Colton.  I've got to get my video camera out, so I can tape them at least one time.  Their class is scheduled for a field trip coming up soon.  I'm sorta glad that they won't need chaperones this time around.  The class is gathering canned foods for the next two weeks.  The field trip is the students going to several different charitable organizations, distributing canned food items that will go to those in need.  I absolutely love trips like this.  I love knowing Katie is participating in charity groups such as these. 

Lately, it seems that I only have time to quickly blog at nighttime, while everyones asleep. I'm lucky to do some catching up on my most favorite bloggers that I love to follow. I've put the sweet everyday devotional bloggers to the side like 5 Minutes of Faith for Moms, Joyce Meyers and Beth Moore. It's so easy to cut out the important spiritual messages, that I should be reading, to make time to read about the newest creative ways to entertain. This morning as I'm breezing through my Reading List, I noticed "5 Minutes of Faith" had a new post "Wishes-Glimmers of Hope." This time, I made time to read and reflect my life. I can relate to the quote below. "I Wish!"

I hope you will find the time to read this devotion from Barbie at "5 Minutes of Faith," just CLICK HERE!

Katie News
A few weeks ago, Dr. Green found a small cavity on one of Katie's molars.  Before I was even going to ask about sealants, Dr. Green brought up the subject.  This is the second time Katie's had a tiny cavity in her teeth.  Ugh!  It's very discouraging as a parent.  He said it's probably because her back teeth are such a tight fit between each other.  We floss, but let's get real.  Yeah, we might miss a day or two of flossing and I can't control her flossing when she's off spending the night with someone.  I know I had weak teeth that is why I wanted her to get the sealants, to help. 

Yesterday was the big day to get her tooth filled and receive sealants.  I've never had sealants before, way after my time, so I didn't know what to expect.  I was just going by what the hygienist explained to me, while I was scheduling the appointment.  Easy, breezy!  Right?  Well, I picked Katie up just before school let out to take her to the dentist appointment.  She knew what to expect.  She wasn't thrilled, but she was alright with it.  I let her take her favorite toy, usually a doll, to hang on to while having her teeth cleaned or in this case, get her teeth worked on.  She held on to her Smurfette and my hand, while the hygienist was applying the sealants.  I have to tell you, there is a lot to get sealants applied to your teeth.  Bless her heart.  First, you have to put your head way up on the head rest and lean it back as far as possible.  They have the little cotton swabs along your bottom jaw and a thin wide cotton patch along the upper and side cheek.  You have to keep your mouth wide open with all this stuff in your mouth.  Let's not forget the suction tube to keep your saliva away from your molars, so the sealant will dry onto your back teeth.  UGH!  Poor baby.  The hygienist explained to me and Katie what to expect before the procedure, but you still couldn't gather until you saw with your own eyes, what it really entails.  Katie did so good, but after the third time of applying sealants, she was getting scared.  They tried to get the fourth set done, but we all think she couldn't continue with it.  She tried very hard to keep her head back and mouth wide open, but was too tired.  She ended up tasting the cleaning solution, which is soap for your teeth.  Yuck!  She said it tasted disgusting and kept wanting to spit it out.  Dr. Green hurriedly washed the soap off her fourth set of teeth and said lets schedule another time to finish the sealant and fill the cavity.  He and his family have become friends of mine, so he told me that if I could get her in the morning time for cleanings and filling, it would be better on her.  He was too afraid to continue for fear that he would scare her too much, by pushing her.  Afterwards, he spent about 5 minutes talking with her about "The Smurfs" movie, which she loves.  They also talked about his little girl EK and how much she likes school.  EK was in Katie's ballet class last year.  Dr. Green and his wife are such sweet people and down to earth.  EK and Katie go to the same school, but they only get to see each other during recess and lunch. 

When we left, Katie was a little disappointed in herself because she didn't want to have to go back.  I took her to Walmart and I was preparing to get out when I could hear Katie snubbing.  I quickly turned around to see what was the matter.  She told me, she was sorry that she wasn't good during her dentist appointment.  Y'all my heart sunk.  I felt so bad for her.  I hugged on her and told her that she did an excellent job and how brave she was to go through something so scary.  She admitted, she was beginning to get scared.  I assured her that was why Dr. Green decided to stop because he could see she was getting uncomfortable and scared. 

We could tell Walmart was getting ready, in the Toy Department,  for Christmas with all the new toys.  I'm just one of the kids when it comes to new toys, checking them out.  A while back when "The Smurfs" movie first came out, I told Katie how I was a big Smurfs fan when I was little.  How I use to have a big Smurf stuffed animal that I slept with during the night.  I use to have the Smurf glasses that you would get at fast food restaurants and small plastic figurines.  While looking at all the toys and making out our Christmas wish lists, what should I see?  On the side of the aisle were stuffed Smurfs of all kinds and sizes.  I got Katie's attention from the aisle over.  I wished you could have seen her eyes.  I had her pick out a Smurf for her and one for Dash.  She couldn't believe it.  She didn't have to wait until Christmas to get a stuffed Smurf.  LOL!  She loves her Smurfette so much.  I was sort of surprised how Dash liked his Clumsy.  He drug that Smurf all over the house last night and made sure he was in bed with him last night for bedtime. 

Katie is doing great in school.  They had their DIBELS testing last week.  Just as a reminder.  DIBELS stands for: Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills.  The instructors are looking for Initial Sounds Fluency - identify a picture by its beginning sound by pointing to the picture or naming it.  Letter Naming Fluency - recognize upper and lowercase letters out of order.  Phoneme Segmentation Fluency - tell all the sounds heard in spoken words.  And lastly, Nonsense Word Fluency - blends sounds together that make nonsense words. I received Katie's results and they are as follows:
Letter Naming = 57 (expected to know 37 by beginning of school year)
Phoneme Seg. = 61 (expected to know 35 or more)
Nonsense Words = 47 (expected to know 50 by January 2012)

She had her first spelling test yesterday and made a 100.  Mrs. G is only working on three letter words right now.  I was kind of wondering how she would give a test and it was easier on the kids that I first thought. 

Mrs. M told me today that her Teacher Appreciation gift basket came in handy. Her and her family hit the road Thursday and Friday because her son, Daniel, is the baseball team's pitcher and the team got to go to the playoffs. Unfortunately, our team lost both games. Mrs. M said that everyone enjoyed eating all the snacks on the road.

Katie is still enjoying her play time at school. Thursday was game day at school. Katie took her new "Trouble" board game and she said that the kids really liked playing it in class. Today was "Art Day".  All the students got to paint, color, draw, play with clay or play dough.  Katie brought home 3 creations, I will have to share you at another time.  They turned out so good.  Tomorrow, is "Outside Play Day".  Katie's taking her bean bag toss and horseshoes to play with the group. 

Friday was the big "Field Day". Oh my gosh! It was sooo HOT! The high was suppose to be in the mid 80's, but I think the humdity had to be 90%. I made the mistake of wearing my crop pants, instead of my shorts. Everyone was drenched in sweat. I HATE sweating! The upside to having a wet t-shirt, when the wind blows you have an instant air conditioner. LOL! Sorry, I had to say it eventhough it's probably uncouth to say. I believe the children thought they were in heaven. Coach B had all sorts of activities all over the soccer field. Katie couldn't believe her eyes, 4 inflatables. LOL! She loves those things. In fact, there were 2 bounce houses, 1 giant inflatable slide and 1 catepillar agility inflatable. On one side of the field, Coach B had races (running and sack racing). On the opposite side was the hula hoop contest and all the children learned the Cha-Cha Slide dance. It was so cute to watch them. The racing was precious! All the little kids ran straight to Coach B instead of the finish line. They would all end up in a ball that a few of the kids tripped upon each other. Katie did good. She ended up in the ball with the running. She received 3rd place out of 10 girls in the sack race. She was so excited. I was glad that Coach B gave every runner a ribbon. I'll have to post the hula hoop and Cha-Cha Slide dance videos at another time. It was priceless! I had no idea that Coach B taught the kids this dance or I would have tried to help her practice for Field Day. You'll see in the video that she wasn't dancing all that great. I asked her later, if she was embarrassed because I had the camera on her. "No", she answered. "Why didn't you dance?" I asked. "Because I couldn't really remember what to do." she answered. Later in the day, I think the heat was getting to Katie just a little. She drank her water and ate two ice pops, but she was actually asking me if we could leave yet. She never says that when it comes to school activities. In fact, she's always begging me to stay a little longer. We were both pretty exhausted as soon as we got back home. She hit her bed and I hit the couch for about an hour. Doug wanted to get some lawn mowing done, while Colton was sleeping. Thankfully, Colton slept his usual 2 hours. LOL!







Saturday morning, we spent about 2 hours at the ballet studio for rehearsal. The girls got to wear their costumes and us parents got to watch the rehearsal. This is usually when I like to video tape Katie practicing. Unfortunately, right when I started to record, a group of older dancers stood up in front of stage and none of the parents could see, much less record our little ballerinas rehearsal. THANKS OLDER DANCERS! I'll have one more chance to record during this week's rehearsal at the performance stage before the recital.

We got home from ballet rehearsal just in enough time to get a breather and we headed out again.  Doug wanted to go to our local airport to see the Air Show that was advertised.  I believe the Army helped out a lot with the show because they had an Army helicopter giving rides, two other Army helicopters performing and a jet that was used in the Operation Desert Storm.  You'll have to forgive me, I forgot the name of this jet.   Doug told me, but I was too busy either watching the show or the kids fussing.






Sunday afternoon, I attended Jodie's graduation. I still can't believe she's out of high school now. She plans to head to USA next Fall. Bless her heart, I felt so bad for her. She looked like she was crying the entire time. We wish her the best of luck with new adventures.

Today, I got a lot of things accomplished that I've been putting off for a few days now. I don't know what it is, but we've been invaded with ants and spiders. I grabbed my good bug spray and commenced to killing those little bad boys. While I was at it, I cleaned up some of Doug's collection of stuff that has collected in our carport. Yay! It looks a little bit better.  

As you know, I've been working on our little Summer School for Katie.  I've got a few science experiments lined up.  I've got her projects lined up as well.  One of the projects, she is read a few books on my list and get a small journal as to what she thought about it and which ones was her favorite.  Since the tornadoes, she seems interested in the weather.  I don't think it's a issue of fear, but curiosity.  So, we will find out why we have the weather that we do; what time of the year each often occurs; experiment making a volcano, find out why warm air needs lots of room, make our own tornado.  Of course, we have to do some fun stuff like making fake snot, find out if oil and water mix, and bath salts.  I might even teach her to forecast the weather for us, we will see.  I hope to make it fun and hands on.  I've got my agenda and fun field trips planned.  We're hoping to make it to The McWane Science Center  this Summer. 

Katie was happy that she didn't have to bring her school books (different reading level books)home. Like any other typical kid, she hates homework. I tell you what though, that hard homework has paid off. Her DIBELS scores came back today. Our little girl is officially ready for the first grade. YAY! Just to remind you as to what DIBELS is, it stands for "Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills".

DIBELS Scores
Katie is suppose to know the following at the beginning of the First Grade Year in August:

• Letter Naming (37 entering 1st Grade) - Katie scored 65 this month! Letter Naming means: Student recognizes upper and lowercase letters out of order.
• Phoneme Segmentation (35 entering 1st Grade) - Katie scored 68 this month!  Phoneme Seg. means: Student tells all the sounds heard in spoken words.  For example, mop has 3 sounds . . . m-o-p.
• Nonsense Words (50 by January entering 1st Grade) - Katie scored 52 this month!  Nonsense Words means: Student blends sounds together that make nonsense words.  For example, p-o-c = poc, k-a-j = kaj, o-t = ot.

We are so proud of our little girl!!!  Eventhough, she will not have a graduation, I'm thinking about having the grandparents and us maybe go out to eat or something special like that.  The other day, Katie and I went to the jewelry store to get a new battery for my watch.  While we were waiting, Katie and I checked out all the beautiful jewelry.  I showed her the children's jewelry section.  They had some sweet slide charm bracelets with initial pieces.  She seemed to really like the bracelet and asked if she could have one with a "K" and two birthstones for her birthday.  I was sort of thinking about getting it for her for graduating Kindergarten.   I may go back and check them out a little better. 

Colton Plays Soccer with David Beckham
I have a funny Colton story. I wished I had my video camera running this morning, while Colton was watching Sesame Street. David Beckham was a guest on the show and was holding his soccer ball. Right off the bat, Colton goes running to the tv, holding his hands out and saying "ball, ball." He got right up to the tv, with his hands on the tv. I guess he wanted David to hand him the ball. Colton tried and tried to get the ball out of David's hands.  It was cute,  I had to laugh. 

Colton's Birthday Plans
Now that I've got new supplies for Colton's birthday decorations, I worked on it most of the day today.  Colton tried to help, so I had to stop for a little bit and wait until he took his nap.  Believe it or not, I got a lot done within 1 1/2 hours.  I tried my hand at paper globes for the first time today.  I messed up my first globe, but the second one turned out perfect.  I bought some more paper today to make at least two more.  I'll be hanging these from the ceiling during Colton's birthday party.  I'm still working on the dot garland and printed my template for the "Colton" banner. 

Prayer List
Mom had her doctor's appointment today.  She has a ruptured L5 and F1 disks in her back.  So, she should receive a call tomorrow from her doctor's office to schedule another back surgery.  With mom's C-Def history, Dr. Clark will put her on some kind of probotics before the surgery.  Dr. Clark also suggests that mom not spend the night at the hosptial unless it's necessary.  Please keep my mom in your prayers for the upcoming surgery.  I'll let you know any more updates. 

Katie's Report Card
I finally got Katie's report card this afternoon.  Doug and I are happy parents right now.  To avoid listing everything on her report card, I'll just list the areas she's gone from "Exhibits Skill/Concept with Guidance" to "Exhibits Mastery of Skill/Concept".  She shows to have mastered the following:

• Progress as a Reader
• Listening Comprehension
• Identifies Opposites
• Identifies Ending Sounds
• Segments Words
• Blends Words
• Identifies Color and Sight Words
• Able to Express Thoughts on Paper
• Counts to 100
• Groups Objects and Identifies Numbers 0-20
• Displays Basic Addition Concepts
• Correct Usage of Math Vocabulary
• Works Independently, Stays on Task
• Organizes Self, Materials, & Belongings

She still needs guidance witht he following areas:

• Identifies Story Elements (Character, Setting, Sequencing, etc.)
• Uses Strategies to Comprehend Text (Predicting, Making Connections, etc.)
• Recites Months of the Year
• Control Talking
• Works Neatly

She has no "unable to Exhibit Skill/Concept at This Time!  YAY!  We are so glad to not see this on her report card.

At home, I've been working with her on telling time.  She knows her o'clocks (9:00, 10:00, etc.), but I've just started working with her on the thirties (9:30, 10:30, etc.).  She'll get it!  We are also working on money.  Getting her to identify each coin and how much each is worth.  Yesterday, I introduced to her measurement.  She found that she likes Sudoku.  Wade - I can actually get the Kindergarten stage of Sudoku.  LOL!  I thought you would appreciate that.  I also have her do number mazes 1-20 and she breezes through them.  It helps her to identify the numbers.  She's doing great on addition.  I'm thinking about introducing subtraction to her. 

On a side note, Katie has announced that she would be interested in taking gymnastics.  I've gotten some information from my gymnastics mommas.  I think we'll probably send Katie to a camp this Summer, BUT (a big BUT) Katie has to get an attitude adjustment first before we'll agree to send her.  Sometimes I think, she and I have been butting heads since she was 3 years old.  Just when I sit back and think "ahh!  Finally, she's not acting like a Miss Prissy Priss.  I can actually breathe again without constantly being on her."  She'll begin tasting the waters once again.  It's part of life though.  My little chickadee is spreading those little wings, practicing independence. 

Raymonda
Mrs. W likes to switch up the Spring Galas between one big production and the individual groups. This year is big production year and this ballet will be based on the Russian performance "Raymonda". Still being new to the whole ballet world as a future Prima Ballerina's momma, I have to do research on these productions.

According to Ballet Encyclopedia, the synopsis goes as follows:

Act I: Raymonda, who is betrothed to Jean de Brienne, is celebrating her birthday. Jean, who is expected to arrive the next day, has send some presents in advance. One of these presents is an embroidered portrait of himself. First, however, Abderman arrives and tries to court Raymonda. Raymonda then dreams that Jean comes down from his portrait to dance with her, however, when she wakes up she finds that Abderman is there again to "renew his amorous proposals." Act II: The festivities continue, and Abderman asks Raymonda to dance. Then, he and his accomplices attempt to abduct her. However, at that moment Jean arrives with his brother, the King of Hungary. There is a duel and Abderman is killed. Act III: There is a feast at the castle to celebrate the marriage of the two lovers, and much dancing.

Katie and her class will have the honor of being the Spanish guests in the performance and I L-O-V-E their costumes.  Mrs. W has changed costume companies.  She measured all the girls for their costumes a few weeks ago and several of the girls (groups) have already received their costumes.  Katie's group hasn't received theirs yet, but I can't wait to see them.  Mrs. W has a board displayed inside the studio with pictures of costume examples.  Here's a sneak peek of Katie's Spanish costume:


School Girl
Eventhough, Katie seems to be practicing with me on how she will be when she's 16 and wanting to stretch her wings, we are still proud of how well she's doing in school.  Her reading level started at "A" and now Mrs M feels she is ready for level "D".  It's a little more challenging, but I know with lots of practice Katie will succeed.  She continues to bring home more sight words to add with the others.  She took a test the other day.  I call it a spelling test because it was her list of sight words, which happens to be color names (purple, black, white, yellow, etc.).  She didn't miss a one.  YAY! 

We were suppose to receive Katie's Progress Report the week we had so much snow.  Well, I still haven't received it.  I asked Mrs. M about it and she had to make a few changes, but for me not to worry about Katie.  She added that she's doing great. 

Sickness is going around school, so I've been holding my breath on that one.  What is it with kids being so excited to tell you about the kid pitching their cookies during lunchtime into a girlfriend's lunch box and onto another girl's new shoes?  Everyday I ask her "what happened at school today?" and for some reason or other, she never can remember.  Who knew that it took someone to throw up for Katie to remember what happened that day. 

Colton Update
Colton's growing by leaps and bounds.  He'll be 2 in a couple of short months and I can tell it.  He's been wearing 24 month outfits and pants for the past couple of months, but he could still wear 18 month shirts.  Not anymore!  I finally had to pack up the 18 month shirts because they are a little short on the arms.  Haha! 

I've been s-l-o-w-l-y making Colton's birthday decorations.  Our theme this year will be "Trains".  I've created a general train from MS Publisher.  I think they turned out pretty cute.  What do you think?
Train Labels

I've also drafted out Colton's birthday party invites with the same label to go with it.  I'll post it when I'm satisfied. 

These labels are accessible to anyone who would appreciate them.  Just print and cut for cupcake picks, garland and banner accents.  Have fun!

I've been doing a lot of practicing and idea searching for his party. I liked the train idea this past Summer. At first, I didn't know how to go about it and I really didn't want to go with all of "Thomas the Tank Engine" designs. That's when I checked out Hostess with the Mostess blog and there it was.  The train party of the year!  Of course, I wanted to design my own and did a few exercises before I got it just right.  Here's a picture of the train party that I'm hoping to be Colton's party. 


I'm also making the paper dot garland from scrapbook paper as well. I'm making my garland 60", so I can swag them along my ceiling. I also made a couple of 30" garlands to just let them dangle. It being a boy birthday party, I chose all prime colors (blue, green, yellow, red).

Colton's vocabulary is growing all the time.  His new words are "oh, gosh" and "I cookie", which translates to "I want a cookie".  From time to time, we get confused with "gosh" and "cars" because they sound so much a like. 

Auburn Fans arrive in Glendale for the big game next Tuesday.  ROLL TIDE!

Katie School Update
I received Katie's DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) report today.  Can I just say Wow!  I currently can't find her DIBELS score from August, but they were nothing close to the scores I'm going to give you tonight.  I'll break it down, so you can understand it.  This test was just taken for the month of January. 

• Initial Sounds (identifies a picture by its beginning sound by pointing to the picture or naming it.  The student says the beginning sound of a given picture) - it's recommended she know at least 25 by January.  Katie knew 40.
• Letter Naming (recognizes upper and lowercase letters out of order) - its recommended she know at least 40 by May.  Katie knew 55.
• Phoneme Segmentation (tells all the sounds heard in spoken words) - its recommended she know at least 35 by May.  Katie knew 58.
• Nonsense Words (blends sounds together that make nonsense words) - its recommened she know at least 25 by May.  Katie knew 35.

Katie has worked very hard and having to put up with me badgering her about her school work.  She did it!  Yay!  We are soooo proud of her and I couldn't show her enough of how excited I was for her.  She gets mad at me when I push her a little further.  Hopefully, now she sees that practice does make perfect.  For that, I and her daddy think she got that perfect score today.  Her daddy and I will have to do something very special for her.  We want her know that it does pay to try your best and work hard.  Mrs. M sent home her weekly parent/teacher note.  We should receive Katie's Progress Report aka Report Card on either this Friday or next Monday.  I'm so excited to see if there are any improvements.  After seeing the DIBELS report, there should be a significant changes to her literacy score.  Mrs. M has each student to write letters/notes to one another.  Katie brought home some computer made stationary for her letters to her friends.  It was cute watching her writing letters to two of her friends.  She is to turn the letters into Mrs. M in the morning.  Mrs. M will give the letters to the children that they are addressed to.  Mrs. M will be having the children do this for a while.  I think it's a great idea.  Katie had quite a bit of homework this afternoon.  Not only did she have to write her two letters, but count to 100, go over her new sight words for the month.  This month, her sight words are the names of colors (black, brown, pink, purple, etc.).  I just went over them twice tonight because she was able to fire off the names almost instantly.  I was shocked.  I thought maybe she just memorized the order, so I mixed it up.  Nope, she got them through the first run.  She read through her assigned books (approx. 5 books).  She's been reading through these for about a month, so I'm kind of hoping Mrs. M will give her the next set soon.  Mrs. M mentioned in the weekly note that they will be bringing in a little more math into their lessons.  They will be starting with addition this week.  Alright!  I've been working with Katie and adding for the past few months, but I do it in form of a story.  You know, if you have 4 apples and buy 2 more from the grocery store, how many do you have now?  Most of the time, she nails the answer.  Well, now she's going to have to get use to seeing it written down on paper.  So, this afternoon I sat with her and our little white board.  Oh my gosh!  I blew her mind when I wrote down the numbers with the "plus" symbol.  What's that? I'm sure she was thinking.  I worked with her for about 30 minutes on how to read a problem and then how you count your fingers to get the anwer.  I'm hoping it will help her for when she starts her addition at school.  Katie told me that they didn't work on math today.  Mrs. M may wait until next week since it's so late in the week. 

Here are a few pictures from the party: