School is finally coming to an end around here. Yes, it's late, but this is the North East for you. They start the end of August and usually go until about mid June. But thanks to that freak October snow storm we had 5 snow days early on in the year. But since we didn't get anymore they just tacked them on like usual to the end of the school year. So the big kids don't get out until Thursday and they are so ready to be done. Honestly, I am too.

But today was CJ's last day of preschool. He is on to Kindergarten in the fall and will be at school with Kaitlyn. This was just a little preview of the sheer emotions that I am going to be experiencing next year when Natalie graduates from middle school, Kaitlyn graduates from elementary school, and CJ graduates from Kindergarten. Next June I am going to be a mess if today is any indication because the moment I saw my boy up on stage I began to tear up. And then when they began to sing that was it I was gone.

So they performed a few songs, then received their diplomas, and ended with a slideshow from the year. That just about killed me. I'm just happy they let the kids come down and sit with their parents at that point because I got to hold my baby boy tight to watch those pictures from the year with him.

I don't think he realizes exactly what's going on. He'll probably wake up Monday morning wanting to get ready to get on the bus. It should get easier when his sisters finish school next week. But it's official, CJ is a Kindergartner. That teeny tiny baby that had so many problems starting out in his first year of life is going on to Kindergarten.

I am beyond proud of my baby boy. He is growing up so fast!

Beginner Band Concert

Tonight was Kaitlyn's band concert.  I got it on video so those of you who couldn't make it tonight can see.  They have come a long way in just a year.  I look forward to seeing how Kaitlyn grows as a clarinetist.  She seems to really enjoy it.  Unfortunately, you can't really see her in the video because she was behind someone else.  So this is more for your listening pleasure than your viewing pleasure.

Kaitlyn's Clarinet Concert

Yet again I am behind. Tons going on. I have many pictures and videos to share with you. We'll start where we left off. On Tuesday April 10th Kaitlyn had a small concert for her clarinet. She had to try out to be a part of this and her and a friend played Old McDonald together on the clarinet. They did a great job. She's really enjoying playing the clarinet! I hope you enjoyed that mini concert!

Alyssa is walking

Last night I had gone downstairs real quick to get something from my neighbor.  When I came back up Joe said you missed it, she walked from the coffee table to me!  What?  She walked without holding onto anything or anyone?  For weeks now she has been standing up on her own and looking like she was going to take those first steps, but has really only managed one or two.  Well, all that changed last night and while I didn't see her very first attempt I did see her walk and caught it on video for you all to enjoy too.  Sorry the video is a little dark, but I think you can still make out what's happening in it ;).



So mark it! 1st steps on March 21, 2012. Alyssa is 13 1/2 months old!

Fifty Nifty United States

On Friday Kaitlyn came home from school and begged us to come to her schools Stafford Showcase Monday afternoon. And all weekend long she kept talking about it and talking about it. It actually got to the point where we were like Kaitlyn if you don't stop we're not going. Of course we were going. Joe had the day off from work thankfully. So we were able to go. It was on the calendar. So yesterday afternoon we arrived at her school a little before 1:30 when the performance was scheduled to start. We waited outside with the other parents who were invited until we could go in. We went in and sat and all of the children began filing in. The principal kicked things off with a little music. "Celebration" to be exact. The kids danced around and then we sat through kids reading stories and poems and a little guess that number stuff. Finally it was the 4th grades turn. They went up there and sang a song called Fifty Nifty United States. I am going to warn you this song gets stuck in your heads. Kaitlyn should never forget how to say all 50 of her states in alphabetical order from this tune...

Celebrating a friend's 8th birthday

Well, yesterday was a beautiful day. Our good family friend's son finally got to have his 8th birthday party. It was supposed to be last weekend, but the weather did not hold up for an outdoor bounce house party. So it was pushed back to yesterday and it was an unseasonably warm day in October filled with sun and fun. The kids all had a blast. There were only a few bumps and bruises too. So it was a fun day. Here's a little video slide show of the kids jumping in the bounce house and the rest of the birthday festivities.



Happy 8th birthday to Spencer! Thanks for including us in your day.

Labor Day weekend 2011

Over the weekend between Joe's work schedule we did manage to make some memories. We went to Lake Compounce on Saturday and then Monday we went to the park. Alyssa is able to sit in the baby swings now. She's not as big of a fan of the swings as Natalie was, but she seemed to have a good time. I put together a little video slide show of our weekend for you to enjoy. Sorry for the lack of pictures of Kaitlyn on Saturday, somehow she escaped my camera's lens.



It was a nice weekend!

Jump 'n Jammin Birthday and baby giggles

Today CJ had his first friends birthday party. It was at a local indoor bounce place. He had so much fun. The parents were nice enough to include our two big girls in everything too. Somehow Natalie escaped the camera. Be sure to check out the cute video full of baby belly laughs.

CJ getting in one of the bouncy things

Kaitlyn

CJ coming down the big slide

Making his way through the maze

Daddy got to join us some too

Alyssa found Daddy extremely funny tonight. No tickles he just had to fake sneeze at her and she was giving such hearty belly laughs. CJ even got in on the fun.


Happy kids and big belly baby laughs! Does life get any better than that?

Fireworks for the 4th

Here are the 4th of July fireworks we went to last night. Alyssa did fine with them until the finale. That was when she started crying. I thought she was going to fall asleep in the beginning actually. CJ did much better this year than last though. He wants to see fireworks everyday now. We had a perfect view of them too. It was a great evening.

I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July weekend!

CJ's End of Pre-K 3 Ceremony

Today was CJ's last day of his first experience with preschool. I was told they were going to have a party today to celebrate the summer birthdays and just it being the last day of school. I wasn't really expecting any sort of performance or ceremony. So I brought him to school, but needed to feed Alyssa. So I told his teacher I would be back in about 15 minutes figuring we were just going to be hanging around mostly anyways. Well, I walked back into the classroom and there were chairs set up for the adults and the kids were all standing in the front of the class. A bunch of parents were snapping pictures. So I grabbed my camera and then the kids started to sing. So I had to quickly switch to video mode. But not being entirely prepared I hadn't cleared my memory card. So I ran out of room partly through recording. However, my son quickly lost interest in actually participating in the song so you didn't miss much I promise. I worked on getting some pictures off my memory card though so I could get more video and pictures. They sang one more song, but I couldn't get a good angle on that one. Then they gave each of the kids a certificate and three books and crayons. Then the eating began. For your viewing pleasure though here is my Pre-K 3 year old graduate...


Now tomorrow we go to have him evaluated for the 4 year old program. It's a little easier to get into this program because there's more than one of them in the district. I'm pretty confident he'll get in.

Bronx Zoo

Last Monday Natalie went with her class to the Bronx Zoo. She had a good time until she was almost home. She brought my camera with her and ended up taking some pictures and video so I put it all together in a little movie for you.

Alyssa Giggles

So Alyssa has been giggling a little for a few weeks now. It used to be only Joe could get her to giggle, but today Natalie got some giggles out of her. I caught a little bit of it on video, but she was getting frustrated. She had her going pretty good before I took a video of it. Figures, it never fails, the camera comes out and they stop doing what they were doing.

Picture Catchup 3

So it appears that I have not been very good about sharing pictures lately. I have a month full of events we have attended and I don't believe I've shared one picture from any of them this month. So as sort of an out with the old and in with the new kind of thing, it being New Years Eve day and all, I thought I would do a few Picture Catchup posts today. So be sure not to miss one. I will have a link to all of these posts at the bottom of them though in case you do miss one.

Every month Kaitlyn's school does a showcase of what some of the children have been reading and learning. This month Kaitlyn got a chance to share and she wanted us to come watch. So we went and took in the show. It was really cute and Kaitlyn did a great job! She is getting so much confidence this year. Might have something to do with that great teacher of hers.



To see more pictures from my Picture Catchup 2010 just click here!

You Will Not be JUST Pretty

Totally loved this. I hope I can get my girls to understand this too. Warning, there is a swear in this video so you might not want to watch it around the kids.

Parent Teacher Conferences

It's that time of year again. The dreaded parent/teacher conferences. Well, not dreaded. I usually have a pretty good idea of what to expect since I try to talk to the kids teachers on a regular basis. Parent/Teacher conferences become just a formality really. I have done all three kids conferences now though and as usual there really were no big surprises.

Let me start with CJ. There wasn't too much to say. He is polite and doing as well as can be expected for a not even 3 year old preschooler away from mom for the first time. He gets along great with all of the other children. They all really like him and are excited to see him. He's doing well with using the potty at school. He is not potty trained by any means, but he does on occasion say that he has to go. So we'll keep working on that. He likes to dump toys and then walk away. He has been good about following directions to clean them up. He does that here too, but won't clean them up. You can see right here what he likes to do...


He threw his toys out of the toy box and then climbed in it. Just look at that face. A devious fellow he is.

His teacher said in group he will just sit there. Won't really sing or do any of the hand motions or anything which she found strange. I told her that's always the way he has been. Takes it all in. I assured her though that at home he is attempting to repeat the things he's learning. He's often attempting to sing his ABC's and has even started doing "The Wheels on the Bus". I got proof of that tonight too...

So as you can see he's doing very well.

Now Kaitlyn, her conference lasted the longest, but it was all good. I am so pleased with how well everything is going for her this year. Her teacher is so encouraging. He LOVES Kaitlyn. Wishes he had more students like her that truly wanted to learn. So he has been so great in finding ways to encourage that in anyway possible. He says she has a great mind. She really gets stories even those beyond her reading level that are read to her she can retell them and answer questions about it. She's an in the moment writer which is hard to teach I guess at this age. So for example if she's writing about a trip to the store she will start with the trip to the store and not with she got up and it was sunny out that morning. We have to work on her listing of things, but he will get that with her in time. All in all things were positive and he really gets Kaitlyn which I am so happy to see. He sent me to talk to her special ed teacher who I must say had me breathing a huge sigh of relief when I went there. They are finally teaching her that letters are sounds and when grouped together with other letters they will make other sounds. Not the memorizing words they were trying to get her to do. It's the Wilson Program they are using with her and I've heard great things about this. I have even seen improvement in her reading this year already in the short time she has been doing this. In all honesty I think Kaitlyn eventually will be able to decode and read words better than her sister who is an excellent reader. I feel like we're moving in the right direction with her. So very happy with her hard work and the help of her wonderful teachers this year.

Now for Natalie. She also got a progress report today. She wasn't happy with her grades, but I assured her she has time to pull them up and get them where she wants them. Now she knows what she needs to work on. She got all A's and B's except for Social Studies she got a C. I wasn't too surprised by her grades. So lets see I'll go in order of subject by how I spoke to her teachers. I started out with her Language Arts teacher where she has a 95 average. There wasn't much to say about her. Her teacher LOVES her. She said she's a great student and I should be very proud. I am. I love those reports. She hands all of her work in on time and it's all great work. I talked to her about the after school Literary magazine that she's doing with the kids and told her that I think Natalie would be interested in that so she's going to talk to her about it. It's creative writing. She'll be great at that. So she's very excited to talk to Natalie about that. She has no concerns about Natalie and showed me a test she just graded of her which she got a 97 on. So she's continuing the great work there.

Next I moved onto her Science teacher. She said she is pretty quiet in class. She'd like to hear from her more, but she's doing great. Handing in all of her work on time and everything. She has an 84 average in that class, but there's lots of room for improvement there. Many extra credit assignments she can complete. She would like to hear from her more in class too. Ahhh, story of her life. That's always the thing I get about Natalie. We discussed that at length today actually too. And when I came home I told her that her teachers truly want to hear what she has to say so they will welcome any input she can give.

After Science I moved onto her math class. She also has an 84 average in there. He said that all her work is complete and handed in on time. He's not sure if she's understanding things or not because again she doesn't talk in class. Hmmm, see a pattern here. But he can't see where she's having problems if she's not coming to him and often won't find out things until test time. It is very early in the year. He said conferences are even earlier than usual this year too so normally they would have more grades to go off of. So again lots of room for her to improve.

Finally there's Social Studies. Unfortunately this is the class that Natalie struggles the most in with a 77 average there. And unfortunately that's the one teacher who was not there tonight. Something about he was going to try to get there, but he injured his eye today or something. So I had to leave my name and phone number on a piece of paper for him to call me and do a phone conference. But I know we're going to hear she doesn't talk enough in class. I would like to find out about extra credit and ways she can improve her grade. I have also talked to Natalie about going to him before or after class and discussing ways to bring up her grade. They are doing a lot in geography right now which she finds boring. Maybe eventually it will become more interesting for her, but right now she just doesn't like it. I can't say I blame her since Social Studies was usually my worst subject too. But I get the feeling from all of her other teachers that they really want to do everything possible to help them succeed. So if Natalie's not happy with her grades (which she's not) then she can do something about them. She just needs to get herself noticed I think and ask for help or find out about extra credit. Since all of the other team teachers had this same attitude about her I'm pretty sure with a little extra work she can get that grade where she wants it.

So that is it. Parent/teacher conferences are done until April. For the most part all of these changes we've experienced in education this year are going well. I'm very pleased with all of my kids hard work, good manners, and respect that they show their teachers.

School's Out

Every year from the time I was 10 years old my dad would play Alice Cooper's School's Out on the last day of school. We always looked forward to it. So ever since the girls started school I've been doing the same thing on the last day of school. I almost forgot this year, but the girls reminded me. So in case anyone out there is looking for a fun family tradition for the last day of school or just really like Alice Cooper, then here you go.



Natalie commented this year that she sometimes wishes school would really blow up. And Kaitlyn liked the part that goes, "No more teachers dirty looks". Yup, I think they were ready for school to be out. Maybe not on a permanent basis, but School's Out FOR THE SUMMER!

Snow Day Fun

Last Wednesday we had our first snow day. We had some friends over for part of the morning. They wanted to go out and play in the snow, but the conditions weren't ideal. It was raining at that point and no one really had the proper snow attire. So in an attempt to keep them from asking me to go outside and play I got them to play a game. They chose Hullaballoo. It turned into a very fun game that they played for most of the morning. Here's just a little of what it looked like...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Santa Train and Parade

Yesterday was a fun filled day. We met Grandma and Grandpa at the train in Thomaston to take a trip with Santa. An hour and a half ride on the train seeing the sites and most importantly Santa. Then after that it was over our friend's house for dinner and then to go with them to Old Saybrook for a Christmas parade. An evening parade in the middle of December in CT is something I've never experienced before. So we all bundled up real good and headed out into the cold evening. It was interesting and the kids seemed to have a good time with their friends. I put together a little video slide show of the day's events. Enjoy!

Pass it on...

Just trying to get this out there. An important message that should be passed along. Make all of your friends and family watch it. You'll love it!

Watch Out for the Punk Punks

Recently I was contacted by someone from JumpStart.com. They wanted me to have my children try out a new Wii video game called "Escape From Adventure Island". It was due to release on November 17th. I was offered a chance to check it out before it was released. This is what I was told about the game:

Escape from Adventure Island is designed for children between the ages of 5-9. It's an action-packed game that invites players to use their explorer skills and brain power to find a way to escape the mysterious island that they crashed landed on. As players race to collect the pieces needed to repair their blimp, they will navigate 3D worlds both above and below the water. Along the way, players will practice over 150 math, reading, and critical thinking skills all while having fun!

I thought this sounds like the perfect game for my daughter Kaitlyn. Perhaps it will help with her reading skills which she struggles with. So I anxiously accepted the offer. A few weeks later the game arrived in the mail and we opened it up and tried it out.

I was excited to see that both my 7 year old and my 10 year old were enjoying playing. As a matter of fact they were quickly fighting over who got to play it next. Unfortunately it is only a one player game. This was something I wished was not the case. I wish that it was a multiple player game. It wouldn't stop the fighting in my house I'm sure, but it might have made things a little bit easier. Then they would have only been fighting about which section of the game they were going to play. Instead of who would play next and what section of the game they should play.

In the few weeks we have had the game we haven't even begun to fully get into every aspect of the game. Both girls are very interested in it though. Even though it says it is for ages 5-9 I believe they could even raise those age limits. Natalie found some parts challenging. There are multiplication, division, and fractions on it for math which are exactly the things Natalie is working on at age 10 and in the 5th grade. From what I saw they did seem to be more simple multiplication and division problems, but I didn't sit there and watch them play the whole time. When I asked Natalie if it was challenging for her she replied that yes it was. So still fun and challenging even for a 10 year old.

We did find that it was difficult to navigate through the game without having the nun-chuck hooked up to the controller. That turned into a bit of a pain every time they wanted to find a different area to explore having to hook the nun-chuck back up and then unplug it to play the games. Now granted, Kaitlyn always seems to have trouble getting the Wii remote to work just right. Not sure if it's where we have the bar located for the remote or what, but even still Joe found it difficult to navigate without using the nun-chuck too.

All in all though I think this is a great game. I certainly don't mind so much having the girls play this video game even on weeknights when they have school the next day. I do feel like they are learning all sorts of things and I look forward to them continuing to explore more of the game. If I could change anything about this game it would just be that it was a multi-player game and the navigation in the "story mode" was a little more user friendly. I have to say though I do definitely highly recommend this game to all elementary age children. It retails for only $29.99 and is available for sale now. It is rated "E" for everyone by the ESRB. I think it would make a great Christmas gift for your children. It's got what mom wants (education) and what kids want (fun and adventure).

Here's a video of the girls playing the game. Be sure to watch out for the Punk Punks...