Tonight was "family survivor night" at the middle school. Seila and Kai were begging to go so we gave in after dinner and headed over. Kale was positive that he didn't want to play any of the games. I told him he didn't have to and then later Justin told him he had to. So, he started crying. If you tell him that he has to then the anxiety just overwhelms him. If you give him the choice, he'll almost always choose to participate in the end (okay, didn't work for Space Mountain). I reassured him that he didn't have to and yes, when directions were given and he understood the game, he chose to play. We all had a great time. We were on a team with 3 other families and we worked together at 3 different games to try and win the most point for the night.
Our team did a super great job and we came in 2nd place of about 8 teams. Justin and I felt our ages a bit when dinner tried coming back up. No worries, we held it down. We did come home with a few injuries though. Seila has two floor burns, I have one, and Justin has 3 nasty looking bruises on his legs (someone else's cowboy boots met his shin). We really had a great time! Mr. Barrett gave Kale a medal even though our team didn't win and Mr. Orth mentioned in the mic that Kale and his 4 year old daughter Kenya were MVP's on our team. Kale was pretty proud of that.
He was awfully disappointed to find that his scooter had been stolen while we were inside. The kids all rode their bikes and because Kale won't ride his, he took the scooter. It doesn't chain up very well and so it was just left there. It's not valuable at all. In fact, it is beat up and I'm surprised that it's still functional. However, it was Kale's mode of transportation and someone thought that they needed it more than he did. It's gone. Bummer. Maybe now he'll have to ride his bike.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Soccer
Today after school was Kale and Hadley's second soccer game. Last Wednesday was their first game. They are both really enjoying themselves. Kale loves soccer and even last Friday when we were watching football he said "All this football makes me want to play soccer!" There are a couple of kids on his team that are pretty good for their age and they are able to dominate the game so Kale hardly gets a foot in but he still loves it. He does ask for a lot of rests though and he loves to play defense so that he can just wait for the ball to come to him. He was able to score a goal in one of their practices and he was pretty excited about that. We have had hot weather still. Today was the coolest yet at 82 degrees. I took a picture of him after he got home from the first day of practice because his face was bright red!
Hadley is enjoying herself as well. She is aggressive when she needs to be and she stays back when she needs to. She is a team player and tries to make passes instead of hogging the ball all of the time. There is only one other team so they will just play each other over and over again. They lost their first game last Wednesday and won their game today.
Just a side note, in case you were wondering, our lizard is still alive but we can't figure out how to keep our crickets alive. They were just fine the first time we had to buy them but ever since then we can't seem to keep them alive for more than 2 days. Hmmm.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
School's getting better
So school is going better so far this week. Kale has only asked once every morning if he has to go to school that day. He seems to have had pretty good days. He comes home so excited to tell us all about his day and all the things that they've done. He can't seem to stop talking. We've had him in bed by 7 every night and that must be making a difference. I can't believe how quickly 7:00 comes but he definitely ready for bed. He can't hardly keep his eyes open by then. He still doesn't like recess though and prefers to sit on the bench and watch the other kids play. He really doesn't like big goups. He plays great with his friends when he's one on one with them so I guess I don't mind. Actually, I really enjoy people-watching as well.
Soccer starts tomorrow for Hadley and for Kale. Neither of them wanted me to sign them up but I did anyway. They both need it. Justin helped them get their equipment out of storage today. Once the shin guards and cleats were one, we couldn't keep them in the house. All through dinner Kale kept saying how he thougth it would be fun if our whole family went outside and pretended that he was playing a game and we could watch him make a goal. He wouldn't let it go so we all ended up outside watching him dribble and kick a goal. He's pretty exicted. Hadley is too.
Soccer starts tomorrow for Hadley and for Kale. Neither of them wanted me to sign them up but I did anyway. They both need it. Justin helped them get their equipment out of storage today. Once the shin guards and cleats were one, we couldn't keep them in the house. All through dinner Kale kept saying how he thougth it would be fun if our whole family went outside and pretended that he was playing a game and we could watch him make a goal. He wouldn't let it go so we all ended up outside watching him dribble and kick a goal. He's pretty exicted. Hadley is too.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Well, since the last post we've been terribly busy trying to find our school routine and schedule. Why do I always think that we'll be more organized and not as crazy when school starts? That's just not true.
Kale started Kindergarten on August 31. He was able to go for an orientation day the week before but his official first day was the 31st. He had a pretty good first week, other than the playground was swarming with wasps and so it was off limits to the kids. That was pretty upsetting to Kale. He was really worried about the wasps. This week was okay for him. By Thursday he was whining in the mornings that he didn't want to go to school. He couldn't say why except that he thinks it's boring. Right now they are coloring alot and filling time with art project. He really doesn't like coloring. He does like painting, cutting, glueing, and everything else creative but coloring hurts his hand. At the end of each day however, he is happy and excited to tell me all about his day and show me all his papers. They don't start reading groups until October 1 so he'll have to wait a few more weeks before they really get into the good stuff.
Anyway, by Thursday night he was visibly tired. He got to bed at about 8, even though his bed time is 7:30, and went right to sleep. I decided to let him sleep as long as he needed in the morning because he had mentioned that he had wanted to take a nap at school Thursday but they didn't end up having rest time. He slept until Kai woke him up at about 8:20. He was obviously still tired because he was terribly whiny about going to school. He even almost started crying. I let him stay for a while and lay in my bed. Of course, he didn't fall back asleep. When I got home from playing basketball, he was watching a movie so I made him get up and go to school. Again, we had more tears so I agreed to go with him and watch him from across the room. We got to school a little bit before lunch time. I stayed through lunch and then recess. That was the agreement so he was fine when I left.
When he got home, he was happy and cheerful and showed me all of his papers and told me all about his afternoon. I asked if he was glad he went to school and he said yes so I think he was sleep deprived and we're going to really have to work on that. New bed time: 7pm.
In the meantime, Seila, Kai, and Hadley are doing their school work at home. They all seem to really enjoy it. Kai has a hard time staying focused some days. Hadley misses playing with all her friends at recess. They are doing well at getting their work done and being responsible. We are going to add jump rope lessons on Tuesdays with a friend who was on a team when she was a little girl. Hopefully we'll be able to figure out how to add Spanish lessons from a different friend. Hadley's Science course had led us to some fun experiments and learning opportunities already. She is learning about ecosystems. We now have a new compost bin in our backyard (Kai helped me build it) as well as a lizard in our kitchen (don't worry, he's in a cage). We named him Zoom and sometime you'll have to ask us why his name is Zoom.
Justin's cousin and his family are moving to Royal City soon and their boys went ahead and started school here. In June, he started building trusses here in Royal and his family was finally able to come last week. So, this last week we've had fun getting to know their family a little bit more each day. We're so excited for them to be here in Royal! They are actually living in Basin City right now until their rental house becomes available. He brings the kids to school every day when he drives out to work.
Pictures are in the previous post.
Kale started Kindergarten on August 31. He was able to go for an orientation day the week before but his official first day was the 31st. He had a pretty good first week, other than the playground was swarming with wasps and so it was off limits to the kids. That was pretty upsetting to Kale. He was really worried about the wasps. This week was okay for him. By Thursday he was whining in the mornings that he didn't want to go to school. He couldn't say why except that he thinks it's boring. Right now they are coloring alot and filling time with art project. He really doesn't like coloring. He does like painting, cutting, glueing, and everything else creative but coloring hurts his hand. At the end of each day however, he is happy and excited to tell me all about his day and show me all his papers. They don't start reading groups until October 1 so he'll have to wait a few more weeks before they really get into the good stuff.
Anyway, by Thursday night he was visibly tired. He got to bed at about 8, even though his bed time is 7:30, and went right to sleep. I decided to let him sleep as long as he needed in the morning because he had mentioned that he had wanted to take a nap at school Thursday but they didn't end up having rest time. He slept until Kai woke him up at about 8:20. He was obviously still tired because he was terribly whiny about going to school. He even almost started crying. I let him stay for a while and lay in my bed. Of course, he didn't fall back asleep. When I got home from playing basketball, he was watching a movie so I made him get up and go to school. Again, we had more tears so I agreed to go with him and watch him from across the room. We got to school a little bit before lunch time. I stayed through lunch and then recess. That was the agreement so he was fine when I left.
When he got home, he was happy and cheerful and showed me all of his papers and told me all about his afternoon. I asked if he was glad he went to school and he said yes so I think he was sleep deprived and we're going to really have to work on that. New bed time: 7pm.
In the meantime, Seila, Kai, and Hadley are doing their school work at home. They all seem to really enjoy it. Kai has a hard time staying focused some days. Hadley misses playing with all her friends at recess. They are doing well at getting their work done and being responsible. We are going to add jump rope lessons on Tuesdays with a friend who was on a team when she was a little girl. Hopefully we'll be able to figure out how to add Spanish lessons from a different friend. Hadley's Science course had led us to some fun experiments and learning opportunities already. She is learning about ecosystems. We now have a new compost bin in our backyard (Kai helped me build it) as well as a lizard in our kitchen (don't worry, he's in a cage). We named him Zoom and sometime you'll have to ask us why his name is Zoom.
Justin's cousin and his family are moving to Royal City soon and their boys went ahead and started school here. In June, he started building trusses here in Royal and his family was finally able to come last week. So, this last week we've had fun getting to know their family a little bit more each day. We're so excited for them to be here in Royal! They are actually living in Basin City right now until their rental house becomes available. He brings the kids to school every day when he drives out to work.
Pictures are in the previous post.
Picture update
Here is a picture of our new lizard "Zoom". The light was funny when I took this picture and I thought I'd mention that he is all green. However, he does, on occasion, turn brown.
Here are pictures of Kale on his first day of school, orientation day, August 27. We walked over with his friends Derek and Luke Bergeson. We had such a crazy morning that day that I almost forgot to take a pictures.
Kai got braces on Sept 1. He was pretty excited. I'm not sure why but he is. I know, he needs a haircut. 10 days later, he still needs a haircut. I'm hoping to get to that today. Since getting his braces on, he's lost 4 brackets already. He's following all the rules so it must just be the bite. Last time we went in, they put a bumper on one of the braces so it wouldn't fall off. It fell off anyway. So, we'll be making another trip in to the orthodontist office on Monday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)