Month: February 2011

Happy Birthday Daisy

Today is Daisy’s 8th Birthday!

More white coming through as the years pass…

Most days you can find her sleeping either on our bed, on the guest room bed (if the door is open), the sofa, her bed, or her bed downstairs (never the carpet! She’s funny that way!) . She likes to snuggle but it’s mostly with Gino and me on occasions (usually when he’s not here and she realizes he’s not coming back soon enough for her liking). She’s gotten very spoiled over the years, she gets more “special”  people treats like banana’s, sweet potatoes, popcorn, rice, apples, pretzels, corn chips, Cheetos®, peanut butter, carrots, and anything she can find after Isabel is done eating a meal! However we have gotten her to sleeping on/in her own dog bed at night, instead of sharing the bed with Gino and I like when she was younger. Now that she’s older, she wears her sweaters more often and has been known to wear them during the summer months as well! Yet, she still acts like a puppy at times and could probably out run other dogs her age. She’s been a great dog and yet at times she gets on our nerves! We love her and would miss her dearly… like Dakota.

Happy Birthday Daisy!

School News: Letter Q

What a difference a day makes, the ice today on the windshield was thinner then yesterdays which made for easy scrapping. Thank you, Daddy! When we arrived at school today, the parking lot was completely empty, for a few moments I was worried that there wasn’t any school. Then realized that it’s the K-6th grade that have no school today. Lucky for them, they get a 4 day weekend with Monday being Presidents day.

Gino went with me to pick up Isabel and he went to the classroom to get her while I stayed in the warm car!

The letter Q is for: Quilt

When I asked Isabel about her day today, the first thing she told me about was who had to sit in time out. I really didn’t want to hear about that but she seemed to think it was important. After a bit more “digging”, we learned that Mrs. W was out of class today because she had a doctor’s appointment. Isabel said the class prayed for her twice. So I hope it’s nothing major and that it’s just a  routine check-up.

The Bible story today was in a different book with different pictures and it was a story about Jesus but Isabel couldn’t remember what it was exactly about.

This week the class has been talking about their pets. The above picture is of Daisy.

The special helper today was Dany. For show and tell Dany brought a Thomas the Tank Engine book. For snack Dany brought to share grapes, carrots w/ranch dip, cookies, and juice. Isabel said she didn’t want to eat the grapes and carrots (the good stuff!), so all she ate were the cookies BUT she didn’t eat a lot because she wanted to save room for the pizza we were making for lunch!

BTW: The practice we’ve been doing with our last name has really paid off. She has done so much better with it. Now if she can just focus on doing it and get it done cleanly and fast… will have to work on that!

Soccer Shots: Day 3

Today I found some paper in my purse (actually my gum package!) and wrote down notes while I was listening to Isabel’s coach, Niki instruct the team. BTW, if you notice the number of kids in the class has gone down about 5 or 6 kids. So the class seems to be a bit more manageable for Niki, Stephanie, and the other instructor.

This week they warmed-up while dribbling the ball as different animals and practicing the moves that they have already learned; the pull back move, the jump move, and toe touches. Isabel is really great at toe touches, she did 26 one time and then 31 the next time! Way to go, Squirt!

Listening to Niki tell them about their new move: the popcorn move. The popcorn move is moving the ball between the inside of your feet in tiny pops (like popcorn!) while you straddle the ball. The team also learned that when kicking the ball into the goal, you want to kick it with your laces (on your shoes). So glad we got her new shoes with laces! Now she can learn to kick goals with her laces! Awesome!

Getting ready to play a game; Mr. Fox what time is it?

The kids started on the line and would ask Mr. Fox what time it was. Mr. Fox would say, 4 o’clock and then the kids would have to dribble 4 times toward Mr. Fox. Then stop. Then ask again, Mr. Fox what time is? Mr. Fox would say 5 o’clock and then the kids would dribble 5 times toward Mr. Fox. This would repeat until Mr. Fox answered, “Dinner time!” Then Mr. Fox would chase the kids back to the line while they dribbled as fast as they could to get there before getting tagged by Mr. Fox! The kids really liked playing this game and all of them participated in it.

Practicing their new popcorn move. Isabel dribbled it out from the line then did the new popcorn move before shooting a goal.

She shoots and scores!

More relay playing; going from one goal to the other dribbling. This week Isabel only made three goals. She was kicking it to hard and it kept getting out of her control and at one point she was fighting for her ball with another player.

Pausing really quick so I can get a photo! Look at that cute soccer player!

School News: Writing

This morning was very cold and I had to scrap thick ice off the windows of the spork before heading to class, which made for a later then normal arrival…

After school Isabel didn’t have much to tell me about her day. She just kept saying that they did a lot of work eventually I did happen to get a little bit of information from her…

The Bible story today was from Luke 8:40-48 and was the story of the women who touched the hem of Jesus and was healed.

Isabel also mentioned that they did their usual Monday journal writing today (since Monday was their Valentines Day party). They worked on the letter “Q”. They also talked about their pets they have at home whether it be a dog, a cat, or a fish. Most of the kids had dogs, some cats, a few fish, and someone had a dog, a cat, and fish! Wow!

The special helper today was Olivia. For show and tell, Olivia brought VeggieTales items. When I asked Isabel if she brought Bob and Larry, she said she couldn’t remember. For snack Olivia brought to share, graham crackers and juice.

After lunch, I had Isabel sit down with me and work on writing her last name in her own journal. I might have her do this daily or at least a few times weekly.

I wrote an example for her to follow and then told her to do the same on each line. I gave her the option of writing her name more then once on each line.

She chose to do one per line. Her favorite part of writing her name is the “i”.

Focused on writing the “z” and “a”.

My cutie-patootie!

On the last line I had her write her entire name. She did a great job!

In the space above her writing, I told her she could draw any picture she wanted. She drew the earth (the dark circle) and the moon (the white circle).

School News: Valentines Day

Since today was Valentines day, I wanted to do something very special with Isabel’s hair for Valentines Day. The hair-do that I chose is from a website that I found recently while surfing the web for girly-do’s that I could attempt to do. Since I am not a “hair style” person (pigtails or a barrette are the only things working for us!), this hair style seemed easy enough for even me! So without any practice before hand, I attempted it and actually got it to work with ease! I’m so proud of myself. Enjoy!

Isabel’s special hair-do before class… luckily for us its held together all day!

When I arrived back at school to pick her up, all the kids were lined up along the wall by the door, holding their valentines and silhouette pictures (we’ll see these later). I had wanted to get a picture but by the time I made it into the door, the kids had moved or parents/siblings were standing in the way. It would have been a great shot and I’m sorry that I missed it. Isabel had been standing near the front of the line and grabbed me right away to show me all her special things from class today. The tables were filled with overflowing valentine pouches. Isabel was very excited to show me all the candy/cookies/valentines/goodies she had gotten from her classmates and teachers.

Isabel’s valentine holder that they made to hold their valentines, of course. I overheard Mrs. W tell one mom that each child got to hand out their own valentines (with help) to all their classmates. What fun!

Even though today was extra special during class. They still had a Bible story which was from Mark 10:13-16 and was the story of the little children and Jesus. “Let the children come unto me for the kingdom of heaven belongs to these… and he took them into his arms and blessed them.”

Since it was raining outside, they had recess in the gym. Isabel said that they did running/relay games and acted like different animals. “We galloped like horses. Ran fast like deer. And hopped like frogs.” She said.

All the kids from the class got to bring their favorite stuffed animal to class. Each child got to stand up and tell the class about their special animal and why it was special to them. Isabel said that there were lots of bears, a giraffe, a frog, and one very very special lamb named Lula! “Zachary brought a bear to class and he told everyone that he thought it was a beaver.” Isabel said, “But Momma, it didn’t have big front teeth like a beaver. Zachary was being silly!”

The class also got to decorate their very own valentine cookie. They were each given a circle cookie (don’t know why it’s a circle) and then they got to frost it and put sprinkles on it. Isabel said, “Mrs. W said we could eat half of our cookie. I ate half of mine!”

The special helper today was Lilliana. For show and tell, she brought a pink and white, plain (no decorations) jewelry stand. “To hold bracelets and necklaces, Momma.” said Isabel. For snack, Lilliana brought Go-Gurt® and juice to share. Isabel said that she got green but there was pink and blue too.

Isabel’s silhouette. I spoke with Mrs. Calvert on the way out the door and she told me that Mrs. W had been working on these for weeks. Very cool!

Does it look like her?

Isabel and Lula with her valentines from school.

My valentine from Isabel.

School News: Disappointment

Isabel was excited to get to school this morning… because today was Makayla’s special helper day! She went to school thinking Makayla was going to pick her for the “special-helper” friend. She even went so far as to ask her at school when we arrived…

however…

The first words I hear upon my arrival after school… “She didn’t pick me.” Isabel said with so much sadness; my heart was just breaking for her! I didn’t want to talk about it in the classroom so we quickly gathered all her things and left for home. Below is a bit of our conversation on the road for home…

Me: Makayla didn’t pick you for the special helper friend?
Isabel (very sad): No.
Me: Who did she pick?
Isabel (still very sad): She picked Payton.
Me: I am sorry that Makayla didn’t pick you Isabel, (excitement building in my voice) but do you know what???
Isabel: hhhmmm (her little face looking like the tears were going to fall any second).
Me: This means that Makayla isn’t as shy anymore! She’s becoming more comfortable with all the other kids in your class. That’s not to say she’s not friends with you because I can tell she really likes you. But she’s ready for more friends! That is so great Isabel!
Isabel: It still makes me sad. (still sounding very sad and the tears getting closer!)
Me: I know, Baby Girl. Your friends with Payton. So now you can all be friends and Makayla doesn’t have to feel left out and afraid! You helped her by being her friend first and getting her to open up to all the other’s in your class and not being so shy. Don’t you think Makayla still likes you?
Isabel: … yes.
Me: Yes. She does and you can all be friends… we ended up talking a bit more and when we arrived at home Daddy and Isabel had a little talk… and hugs too.

Later in the day, after all the sadness was gone, I got a bit more information (not much) about what happened at school today.

The Bible story today was from Luke 15:11-32 and was about the prodigal son.

The special helper today was Makayla. For show and tell, she brought a lot of Hello Kitty things. For snack, Makayla brought crackers or cookies and juice. Isabel said she had cookies while others had crackers or cookies like she did.