Samantha: 115 Months, Week 4
Aedan: 83 Months, Week 3
Owen: 39 Months, Week 4
Owen is our biggest cuddler, and he is always slow to wake up, but we don't mind the snuggles. Here he is on Sunday morning after just waking up that morning. He knows he can come downstairs once his sound machine, the Hatch Rest, turns green at 7:15, and he usually comes shuffling into the kitchen to see one of us and get his morning hug and cuddles. He's bigger now, but he still likes to be held in this way, and it reminded me so much of when he was a baby and would always fall asleep on our shoulder like this. He's such a sweet little boy, and I love how much he still needs us. In some ways it's nice that he is our youngest and still enjoys cuddling with us so much. I love how he has his arms wrapped around Ben's neck and his head tucked into his shoulder.
I can't remember what Samantha and Aedan were watching in these pictures, but it was in the afternoon when Owen was napping, so it must have been a Star Wars movie or something like that that he wouldn't be able to watch. They love watching Star Wars movies together, and I love so much how they sit close together like this while they watch it. They love sharing moments like this, and I enjoy that watching these movies together is a special experience for them.
Sunday night we decided to get out the present from Uncle Tim and Aunt Pla. It was a Lego set where you could build R2-D2 and use an app on your phone to program it and make it move using your voice. It took quite a while for us to follow the directions and put it together, but the kids were having a good time working together to build part of him before bedtime that night.
Ben had decided to work through his new "The Great British Baking Show" cookbook. Here are the cookies he made on Sunday, compared to the picture of them in the book. The kids helped him make the cookies that day, and they
turned out really well. They looked good, and most importantly, they tasted good! Ben is such a talented baker, and he really enjoys doing it and sharing it with all of us.
Monday, January 11th, I subbed for Aedan's class, and he was really excited for me to be his teacher for the day. I was a little nervous about doing first grade, and didn't know how Aedan would respond, but Mrs. Hynick had left good plans for me to follow, the kids were really helpful in showing me their routine, and Aedan was respectful to me as his teacher and enjoyed being able to be with me for the day. I was glad for the opportunity to see how his class worked and to meet his classmates.
Ben stayed home with Owen and did an ear appointment over the phone for Owen. It was a little strange just doing the appointment over the phone because the doctor couldn't even look in his ears and check his ear tubes, but that is what they were doing because of Covid. The reason we were referred to the ear specialist was because it had been a year and a half since his tubes were inserted, and the pediatrician said that she was surprised they hadn't fallen out yet, and we should make sure nothing more needs to be done. The ear specialist said not to worry about the tubes still being in his ears for another year, unless it's causing pain. Ben also took the van in for a car wash to get it cleaned up after our Christmas travels. He took Izzy in the van with them as well, but she didn't like it. It scared her too much.
Here is some art work I saw up on the walls at school while I was there subbing. I decided to take a couple pictures. Aedan's made me smile because he was supposed to draw a monster, but of course he had to make it look like a character, so this is a Darth Vader monster with a red light saber. I really like the patterns and designs that Samantha drew on her picture. It turned out well, and I like the rainbow colors.
Here is some work the kids brought home from school. Samantha has a spelling practice page practicing the short vowels spelling pattern VCCV, a paper on fact and opinion, a spelling pretest, math practice with reducing fractions, converting improper fractions to mixed numbers, a Chapter 5 Math Test that she got 92% on, and a Social Studies test she got 100% on.
Aedan did a worksheet about whether books tell about something real or not, practiced writing numbers to 50, practice matching words, and a math lesson on making ten and ones, counting by 1s to 120, understanding ten and ones, and practice writing his spelling words. He also got his Accelerated Reader STAR test results back, and I was impressed at how well he was doing. His percentile rank was 96, and his scaled score was 344 with a projected score of 419 by the end of the year. His ZPD or reading range was 2.7-3.8, which meant he could independently and successfully read at a level of 2nd grade in the 7th month to 3rd grade in the 8th month, and he's only halfway through 1st grade. His reading abilities have taken off this year, and it's so amazing to listen to him read. He enjoys reading on his own, and he is so good at remembering new words and learning new words as he comes across them. He is really good at picking up the context of words within a sentence, and his comprehension is well beyond 1st grade level. We are so proud of the hard work he is doing in 1st grade, and I can't wait to see how much better of a reader he is by the end of the year. I love watching him learn.
R2-D2 was a pretty complicated building project, so we finished building the rest of him on Monday night as our evening family activity. Here are the proud builders posing with their new creation. Aedan was particularly excited to see how he worked, but that would have to wait for another night.
Here is some work the kids brought home from school on Tuesday. Aedan was working on making groups of ten, and Samantha was working on simplifying fractions and working on her weekly spelling words with prefixes.
Since I subbed on Monday and Thursday this week, I spent Tuesday vacuuming and cleaning out the inside of van and then started cleaning the house. My parents were coming to visit for the weekend; plus, the house needed to be cleaned anyways. I mostly enjoy subbing. It's not as fun or as good as being the regular teacher because you don't know the kids' names or what the plans are for the day until you walk in the door, but I always say that I can do anything for one day, and I don't have to take any work home with me, so that is a definite plus. Plus, I get to bring in some extra money for our family. There has only been one class so far that was terrible, and I wouldn't sub for again. Other than that, most classes go well, the teachers leave good plans, and even though the kids are generally chattier than they would normally be, they are respectful, helpful, and manageable.
On Wednesday we had some friends over from church for a play date, so that was fun for me to have someone to talk to and for Owen to have someone to play with. I hadn't seen her or her kids since the summertime because of Covid and everyone just being busy, so it was good to catch up again. My friend, Heather, has two little girls, one near Owen's age, and he had fun playing with someone other than just me. I enjoyed actually being able to sit and have a conversation. I missed being able to talk to other moms, and I don't think I quite realized how much I missed it. Her and I have a lot in common with being teachers, and we bonded in talking about our oldest daughters that seem to have a lot in common. We ended up sitting in the basement while our kids played around us, we had lunch together, and then it was time for everyone to go home and take naps. Now that things are getting better with Covid, our schedule is a little more free, and we no longer have a foster baby, I want to be more intentional about inviting people over for play dates, especially with everything being closed still and having no activities for Owen to be doing.
We still had our Christmas tree and everything up, and we would normally have taken it down by now, but I wanted to leave up our Christmas decorations so my parents could see when they visited for the weekend.
Here is some work the kids brought home from school on Wednesday. Aedan was practicing using words to complete sentences, practicing drawing tens and ones, and practice writing his spelling words with a long u sound.
My favorite thing of all is to see what he draws on the back of his papers, as there is almost always something. He finishes his work quickly and uses his extra time to draw. I especially like this first picture of Dog Man and Big Petey from the Dog Man series. He is really into these books right now, and he does such a great job of copying the drawings. I'm always so impressed at how he draws and the stories that he can tell by explaining his drawings.
Samantha did work with changing improper fractions to mixed numbers, deciphering fact from opinion, and practicing her spelling words with prefixes.
I took these cute pictures of Owen sitting in his bed because he said that he has to push the legs of his pajama pants up like this in order to sleep. I have no idea why or what the purpose is behind it, but he was excited to show me, and his dimpled smile is just irresistible. Man, he's such a cute boy. I love spending my days with this little sweetie.
Here is more work Aedan brought home on Thursday: a problem solving worksheet in making tens and ones, practice writing his spelling words with long u sounds on which his handwriting is very nice, and his weekly spelling test that he got 100% on. It's nice to see what he's working on at school and how well he is doing, too.
After finally completing R2-D2, the kids couldn't wait to get the app on Daddy's phone so they could control, talk to, and make him move. It was quite entertaining as you can see in these videos. They thought it was great that they could talk to R2-D2 and have him respond. Aedan, in particular, found great joy in programming him to move and spin and make noises. This is such a fun, interactive Lego set, and we can take it apart and build something different, too!
Since we didn't get to see Aunt Jeni and Alaina for Christmas, she sent all the presents in the mail to us, which was very kind of her. The kids were excited to open their presents that evening. Owen got an Optimus Prime transformer, Aedan got a book and building kit kind of like K'nex, and Samantha got a Constructors Set and Harry Potter play outfit for her American Girl doll.
Ben and I really loved the present that Jeni got for us. It was this beautiful Ireland clock to commemorate how Ben and I met in Ireland. I love how the background is a nice emerald green color, and we were going to have to figure out where would be a good place to display the clock in our home.
I know I talk a lot about how good of a reader Aedan is, and here's a couple videos that Ben took of Aedan reading before bed that night. I also love that he's wearing his favorite ninja turtle footie pajamas. Every time these are clean, they are the first ones he chooses to wear. It will be sad when he gets too big, and they no longer fit him.
For some reason Samantha and Aedan both woke up Friday morning acting mean and tired, which usually means they don't listen well and are not respectful. My parents were flying in that night for a visit, so I did a little bit of cleaning and picking up of the house that day.
Owen and I just stayed home that day, but we did fun things together, too. Since our local library is not doing in person story time due to Covid, we have been watching story time online and then doing the craft included in the packet that we picked up. When Owen and I are home together like this, I will often do story time with him because it's a little bit of a special activity for him. The theme of this session of story time is French stories, so we listened to the stories, and then he colored his paint palette red, yellow, blue, and green. It actually took him quite a while to do this coloring because he was being so careful to only color inside the lines. When one hand got tired of coloring, he would just switch the marker to the other hand. We think he will be left-handed, but sometimes we aren't so sure! I helped him hold the paper still so it wouldn't wiggle around too much. It was fun just sitting there watching him color and being with him, focusing on him, and not being distracted by getting up and doing something. These days at home with Owen are fleeting, and I know I will miss them some day. I want to soak up these moments where he wants to be with me and do things with me.
Once he noticed I was taking pictures of him coloring, he decided to look up and give me these adorable, shy smiles. His dimples just do me in every time. He is such a cute little boy, and he's so fun to be with. This year has been strange with Covid and everything being cancelled, but we have been able to find joy and fun in the little things of being together and playing at home.
Owen has been going into Aedan's room to play with these litter super hero figures a lot. Most of the time Aedan doesn't mind if he goes into his room and plays, but today, I told him he could just bring the whole bin out in the upstairs hallway, or book nook area, so that he could play and have more space to spread out while I was cleaning the bedrooms. He wanted to put on a little show for me in how he was playing with his action figures, so I came out and sat in the black chair to watch his show. He had all the good guys and bad guys lined up to fight each other, or grouped together with good guys and bad guys. Just like earlier, I was enjoying just watching him play, listening to him talk, and hearing the stories he was coming up with.
I left right after eating dinner to go pick up my parents from the airport. It was nice because they flew into the Wilkes-Barre airport this time, so it was quick and easy to go pick them up. We got back home as the kids were starting to get ready for bed, but they were able to see Grandpa and Grandma for a little while. The rest of the evening we just hung out with my parents and talked, catching up on life. They enjoyed seeing all of our Christmas decorations still up, and it was nice that they could make the trip out to see us. We always enjoy having family and friends come and stay at our home.
On Saturday morning I caught Samantha reading in her bed very early that morning. I can't remember exactly what time it was now, but I feel like it was 6:00 or so. I was pretty upset because she knows she should not be sneaking around and reading when she is supposed to be sleeping, especially with how tired she has been acting lately. We decided to be nice this time and let her know that if it happens again she will have a punishment.
It was my turn to take Samantha to her swim lesson early that Saturday morning. It was much easier going with just her than the two boys, and it was fun to watch how much she enjoyed the water and the new skills she was working on. She loves swimming so much. She has always been such a little fish! Here is a video of her holding a kickboard and swimming on her back, practicing a frog kick, kind of like for the breast stroke, and swimming the length of the pool using the backstroke (which is her favorite one). They always end the lesson with some free time to jump in the water off the side, learning how to dive, or doing some other more fun activity to wrap things up. Her lesson lasts for forty-five minutes, and they work her hard! She does a lot of laps back and forth and is pretty tired out by the end of her lesson. This was definitely a good activity to sign the kids up for this winter.
Ben decided to try out another recipe from his "The Great British Baking Show" cookbook called Chocolate Babka. It had chocolate and hazelnuts in it, and it was delicious. He really is such a talented baker, and it will be fun to try some of these new recipes out. We don't mind being his taste testers!
(Blog about January 10-16, 2021)
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