Ava Loves School!

Ava really seems to be thriving in school!

It's kind of funny... some days I won't hear much about what went on at school.  Yesterday, she commented on "Wow, we've talked a lot about what happened at school today!"  I told her I really like when she tells me everything that goes on at school.

Ava took COGAT testing in October, as do all 1st graders (and 3rd graders), I believe, in Cobb County.  After the first round of testing, those students who excelled went on to additional testing.  Ava made the second round.  Of those students, they determined which could participate in her school's TARGET program, for gifted students.  Ava made it in!  Because the school only tests in 1st and 3rd grades, she will be part of this program until at least third grade, where all third graders will again be tested to determine future participation. 

Because of her scores and her teacher's recommendation to the board, Ava will be participating for one full school day, every week, in a TARGET program.  Out of 24 kids in her class, 17 kids will be part of the program.  At first glance, that sounds like a very large percentage.  Most other 1st grade classes do have fewer students in them (from 15 students up); I have a feeling Mrs. Lane's class may have included a larger number of students because they felt the students would be able to keep up with the material covered, based on kindergarten teacher input.  I will be curious to see how many students, total, will participate in the TARGET program in 1st grade.  (There are SIX 1st grade classes at Murdock!)

So this information alone had us on cloud nine, excited for such an amazing opportunity for her.

The day Christmas vacation started, Ava came home with the results of a "TOPS" tests.  She takes these tests (quizzes) after reading a book on the computer.  The test results relayed that the book she read was grade level 4.2 (FOURTH GRADE!).  She received an 80% on it (4/5 questions right).  The results relayed that her average reading level is grade 3.5 (mid 3rd grade).  Crazy!  She IS a little reader.  Grandma and Grandpa Carey got her "Diary of a Wimpy Kid:  The Last Straw" for Christmas.  She is really enjoying reading it.  I asked if she would read it to me, and she read it as fast as I would have read it to her.  I had to stop at a few different words, to be sure she understood what she was reading.  She did understand what she was reading, and the context.

When we returned from Hawaii, Ava presented a handmade card each to Doug and me, which told us how much she missed us and loved us.  Grandma Carey said "She was not prompted.  She did this totally on her own."  That sounds very much like Ava.  She is very crafty and continues to enjoy making things / drawing things. 

The TARGET gifted program starts on January 15th.  We had to buy new school supplies specifically for her to use in that class.  I bought some super fun folders and supplies she should really enjoy.  I am really excited to hear how her day goes that day!  Hoping this is the start of a really fun time in school for her.

Peace, love and smarties,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

2013: Here We Come!

Okay, so I haven't been able to come up with a super-rhymey, cutesy "2013" phrase.  Stay tuned.  I will try to do a better job blogging this year.. I will try to do a better job blogging this year... I will try to do a better job blogging this year...How crazy the last year has been.  Between Daisy Girl Scouts, swimming lessons, gymnastics lessons, homework, working on the deck outside, finishing up the retaining wall, laying sod, you name it, 2012 it has been a full year!  So full, blogging got squeezed right on out of it!

Doug and I just got back from a trip to Hawaii, to celebrate our 15 year anniversary a few weeks early.  We kicked around the idea of going somewhere over Christmas break, since the kids would have a host of grandparents who could help watch them while we were gone.  Originally we thought about going to Greece, but they had zero cruises available and we know their economy is in the toilet right now.  I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Hawaii.  Grandfather got to go to 48 states, and came 500 miles from Hawai'i while in the Navy.  I decided I'd like to round out his list for him.  ;-)

Hawaii it was.  Once we decided in LATE NOVEMBER, Doug THREW together a trip.  How lucky we were that it all worked out... Normally people would have booked vacations like this by, oh, say AUGUST?????   Fortunately everything was still "bookable" and flights were available.  I appreciate his hard work in planning it all.  It worked out so well!  It sounds like everyone had a great time back here on the "mainland" while we were gone.  The kids enjoyed Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Sherry snuggles, lots of snow and just plain "getting spoiled" by family.  :)  I think it was good for them to be apart from us.

In Hawaii, we tried to fit so many things into such a short trip, I think we exhausted ourselves!  I don't think we slept more than 5 hours a night.  On our drive back from Michigan to Georgia, I started getting the chills, so I knew I had met my "Waterloo."  The next day I had a fever and flu symptoms, even after having the flu shot in early December.  I digress. 

Cliff notes version of our trip? 
12/20 - Ava's holiday party at school.  Drove from there to Aunt Jean's house in Rockholds, KY.
12/21 - Continued driving to Michigan.
CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS!
12/27 - Flew from Detroit Metro to Phoenix, from Phoenix to Maui.
12/29 - Flew from Maui to Lihue, Kaua'i.
01/03 - Flew from Lihue, Kaua'i to Honolulu. 
01/04 - Flew from Honolulu to Phoenix, from Phoenix to Detroit Metro.

I will post more pictures and detail later.  For  now, we officially have a blog entry on the books for 2013.  Woo-hoo!

:)
Peace, love and ALOHA,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

A Good Example

Today on the way to school, I had a conversation with Liam.

Liam:  "Mom, Frankie was crying because he had to sit on the bench."

Me:  "Wow, Liam.  Did he get hurt or did he do something he wasn't supposed to do?"

Liam:  "He did something he wasn't supposed to do.  I told him that he shouldn't do it, but he did it anyway.  I don't do bad things anymore."

Me:  "Good job, Liam.  I know you are very sweet.  Sometimes it takes other people a few more times of sitting on the bench before they figure out it isn't fun, and to just follow directions the first time they are told." 

Liam:  "I gave some of my Batman rings to my friends.  I gave three to Adeline, two to Riley and one to Frankie." 

Me:  "That's great, Liam!  That is so fun that you wanted to share with your friends and see them happy with the rings, too." 

I then broke out into the "Love is something if you give it away" song.  Complete cheesefest, I know.  We loved it.  We walked into school singing the song.  A good start to the day.  I smile when I think about Liam's super sweet heart. 

And I'm amazed at how well he is able to sit and listen during class.  I've heard that boys struggle with this more than girls, but honestly he doesn't seem to have any problem sitting and listening!  They get stickers throughout the day for good behavior.  As they get different stickers on their wings, they can turn them in to become a different animal, higher up the ranks.  He is about to become a peacock.  :)  Two of the teachers yesterday commented to me that he had a really good day.  Loves me some Liam.

Peace, love and good boy behavior,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Parents ≠ Swim Instructors

The Atlanta Swim Academy had a spot open up in the "Flounders" class right after Liam's class concludes at 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays.  Although Ava knows how to swim, I thought she could definitely benefit from additional swimming classes.  I told her that I thought ANYONE other than Michael Phelps could benefit from knowing how to swim better.  She replied "But what about Ryan Lochte?" 

Knowing they could both use some time in the water, we decided to go to the South Cobb Aquatic Center on Friday night.  They have an indoor play area in the pool, a lazy river, a beach entry swim area that is fairly shallow, a 3 foot swim area, a three-story water slide, a diving board and a deep end!  All for the right price.  ($3.50 for kids, $4.50 for adults).  It is a good 30 minute drive to get there, but well worth it, I think.

Note:  These pictures are from the aquatic center's Web site.

We told the kids they would be practicing our swimming in the water before they could head over to the play area.  They agreed.  Both kids worked with us for 20 minutes or so, but were hesitant to our instruction.  Funny, Ava seems to be more open lately to my clothing / style suggestions (i.e. - "That doesn't really match.") and learning shortcuts, etc, but not to my swimming instructions.  She didn't want to put her face in the water and told me so.  I told her they were going to make her put her face in the water the following day, so I thought she might want to get used to it that night, instead of during swim lessons. 

Liam seemed more open to instruction.  They did have some serious fun afterward, climbing up the play structure and sliding down again and again.  We brought their pajamas to change into after showering, since we knew they would be toast on the way home.

Saturdays are pretty busy for us, currently.  Ava's gymnastics lesson is at 11 a.m.  We head home, have Liam take a nap, have Ava working on some homework or relaxing before we round up the troops for Liam's 4:30 p.m. swim lesson and Ava's 5:00 lesson, both at the Atlanta Swim Academy.  I want them to get the most out of the lessons, so we try to rest in between morning and evening lessons.

This past Saturday, Ava had her first lesson as a Flounder, with Coach Mandy.  Coach Mandy quickly assessed Ava's current swimming ability, to see if she needed a backpack floatie.  She didn't put a backpack floatie on Ava.  The other little boy in class looked older than Ava, but used a floatie for the first half of class. 

Ava swam very well.  Coach Mandy quickly saw that Ava needed to put her face in the water more, so the rest of her body could work more efficiently when swimming.  Ava took her instruction well.  Coach Mandy told Ava not to move her head from side to side, but to put her face in the water and come up to breathe.  Ava did just that.  Coach also noticed Ava coming up panting, so she told Ava she probably isn't breathing out all of her air while underwater.  Ava quickly started doing that and did less panting when she came up for air. 

Coach Mandy

Ava swam somewhere around five length of the pool without any floaties, noodles, etc!  All this from a girl who was SOOO scared to jump in at last year's first swim meet because she saw "8 FT" on the side of a pool... She was easily jumping into 12 feet of water during this lesson with Coach Mandy.  :)  Coach Mandy commented that Ava is ready to start "side breathing."  I was pretty impressed by that! 

I think it was really a good idea for us to enroll her in swim lessons again.  It helps that her lesson is right after Liam's, so we don't have to make two trips.  Doug commented that she is going to be seriously ready for swim team next June.  She came so far with her progress, all within a HALF HOUR of Coach Mandy's instruction.  We probably could've spent weeks going to the aquatic center, but wouldn't have seen progress like we've seen when Coach Mandy is instructing!

Peace, love and bubbles,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

"There's No Crying in..." Swimming!

(Note:  You have to see "A League Of Their Own," to catch the blog title meaning. ;-)

Liam started swim lessons one month ago.  We decided to forego the totally unnecessary swimming classes we did with Ava at 10-months old, and wait until the lessons would have more "sticking power" for Liam  :)  I called the Atlanta Swim Academy, which is where Ava attended when she was 3/4.  We signed up for the Barnacles class with Miss Mandy, on Saturdays at 4:30 p.m.  And boy, did we talk up the swim lessons!  :)

The first week, he was gung-ho to jump into the water.  They had a pretty big backpack floatie on him the first week.  At the end of the class, they were able to go down the slide, splashing into the water.  (The slide is a Little Tikes plastic slide, about 2 1/2 feet tall, at most).  The first time Liam slid into the water, he came up with wide eyes.  It was so funny to watch.  The second time down the slide, he couldn't wait for his turn.  There are two other kids in his class (one boy, one girl).  The class finished up with them sliding down the slide that last time.  He ran over to us, we wrapped him in a towel, as he said "Mom, I blew bubbles!"  He was trying to tell us what he did underwater, to get to the top of the water.  All in all, he came away from the lesson excited, happy to have been swimming.  We video taped it, but don't have any still pictures. 

The second week class was canceled due to Labor Day weekend.

The third week / second lesson?  Yikes.  Coach Mandy put a smaller backpack float on him.  They did their routine warm-ups, kicking across the pool with a noodle arched in the water in front of them, then riding it like a seahorse.  Then it came time to attempt swimming.  Gulp.  Liam started crying in the water because he felt himself sinking as he swam (or didn't swim).  He couldn't seem to stay on top of the water enough to keep himself comfortable.  The teacher got onto him for crying.  He hung his head down as she held him, as if he had done something wrong.  She didn't give him further instruction, but just told him to stop crying.  I felt so bad for him! 

He saw other kids jump into the deep end and then swim across the pool (while wearing their back floaties).  He was so eager to jump in, he decided to do it before the teacher got to the deep end (12 feet).  When he jumped in, he didn't stay on top of the water, so he cried and turned back to swim for the wall.  The teacher again told him to stop crying.  He looked at her, as if for direction, but she didn't tell him what he should be doing.  At the end of the lesson, Liam walked over to us, not smiling.  Poor guy.  I felt like he was broken by the lesson that week.  :(  I felt bad, as if I didn't relay how much WORK swimming is!  Instead, we had focused on how fun swimming lessons can be.  We failed to mention that it really is hard work.  Note to self. 

Lesson #3:  On the way to the lesson, we really talked about how much work it is to stay on top of the water.  I told him that he needed "Hulk legs" to keep himself out of the water, and that he probably shouldn't cry, so he could focus on how strong his legs should be.  Doug walked him over to Coach Mandy and told him about Liam's experience last week, that Liam was looking to her for guidance, but that she didn't give Liam instructions.  I think she realized she needed to be a little easier on him.  He was apprehensive, but did well.  I think we can only go up from here.  :)  He used the noodle as a seahorse and is starting to figure out how to efficiently move water behind himself by paddling with his hands.  He doesn't kick consistently / fast enough, so I think he will just have to figure that part out for himself.  He did swim to Mandy, but didn't spend much time in the water floating on his own.  Baby steps.  He didn't want to jump into the deep end until Mandy reassured him that she would catch him.  He did fine then.  At the end of class, he eagerly climbed up the water slide after his first classmate slid down.  When he got to the top, he hesitated and shook his head "no."  We reassured him and then he slid down.  Mandy caught him without him going underwater entirely.  He slid down the second time and she caught him again.  She had him swim to the side of the pool without wearing his back floatie.  He did well.  After the lesson, he came out smiling.  I was glad to see his usual attitude win out over the intrepidation.  :)  So, hopefully he will add to his confidence level through experience and then be gung-ho, once again soon. 

Peace, love and good water ju-ju,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Greater Than, Less Than

Ava’s first grade teacher, Mrs. Lane, posts a blog entry with the upcoming week’s schedule and what they will be learning in the upcoming week.  I love this!  She also sends homework home only on Friday, asking that they turn it in by the following Thursday.  I love this, too.  Ava didn’t have any homework in kindergarten.  Mrs. Lane mentioned at open house that she understands the busy schedule of a family, so that is why she handles homework the way she does.  We can definitely appreciate it!  (I think we might have a hard time adjusting next year, if / when homework might be due the following day, though!)

When I looked at this week’s schedule, I saw “greater than,  less than” math concept.  My memory immediately flashed to first grade, to Mrs. Panza drawing an alligator on the board, explaining the concept.  I’m not sure if I missed the first day of this concept’s explanation (or if I wasn’t paying attention!) but I didn’t understand it.  Yes, I guess it IS possible to not understand “greater than / less than”.  Now, keep in mind that I could easily see that one number was larger than another number.  What I didn’t understand was the symbol < and >.  It might as well have been Greek!  Fast-forward a year, to Mrs. Crawford’s second grade class, when I didn’t fill out my paper since I didn’t know which symbol applied to the math work.  Mrs. Crawford sent me out in the hall to complete my work, even though I didn’t know the first thing about which symbol was the applicable answer for that particular problem.  Nice.  I think this must’ve set the course for the rest of my math career, sadly.  L  So, fast-forward 30 years (exactly), to Mrs. Lane’s blog posting.  It looked something like this:

Math: Greater than, less than/ Subtractions-

missing addends

Reading: Focus on retelling beginning, middle

and end; setting

Extended Text: The Magic Tree House #2

Grammar: Synonyms and antonyms

Writing: Narrative- writing 2 or more sequenced

events on a specific topic

Phonics: Words Their Way- word families, at, ad, ag, ap, an,

S.S., Health, Science

Land forms, Where do I live?

Continents and Oceans

 As you can imagine, I didn’t want Ava’s lifelong attitude toward math to be the same one I possess.  So, Sunday we sat down and I explained “greater than, less than.”  I brought out the old “alligator” analogy, telling her that the alligator only wanted to eat the biggest number.  The “<”symbol would look like the open jaws of an alligator, eating food (biggest number). 

We did 20 or so problems, to solidify her understanding.  Ava understood it immediately and did all of the problems like a champ!  She drew teeth on the greater than sign, for each of her answers.  When I told her she didn’t have to add teeth, she said she wanted to add them.  So, we had a paper full of teeth.  I had her read the answered problem out loud, so she could “translate” the symbols into words, as well.  She understood.  I then created some open-ended problems, which I thought would really make sure she got it.  One of the problems I gave her looked like this:

9 < __ 

In the blank, Ava wrote her response as "9 < 1000." I had to chuckle.  We only went over the “thousands” place once recently.  So obviously that stuck, too.   She finished about 20 other problems like this one, each one answered correctly.  She actually asks if I will give her more math problems (subtraction, etc). 

On Monday, Mrs. Lane e-mailed me, telling me Ava was the only one in class who knew what “greater than , less than” meant.  That’s my girl.  J  I am sure there will be other educational hurdles, but at least she made it past one that tripped me up!  J

Peace, love and Ava's understanding > math problems,

Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Liam Reads!!!

Liam is starting to read! 

On August 29, Liam (4 years + 2 months) read aloud his first book by himself!  (Not memorized, I promise!)  Doug and I were both able to hear him read it out loud.  It was one of the Bob books, "Mac."  Normally Duog would have been at work, but he was home sick, so he was able to witness the moment.  He said he wished we would've captured it on video...

Liam was SOOOO excited that he had read a book!  Doug was seriously impressed that Liam was able to read so well.  Liam has gone on to read other Bob books from the blue box series (Beginning readers).  We are so happy for him, that he is interested in reading. 

Miss Ebony (his teacher at Lighthouse Academy in pre-K) has been amazingly instrumental in helping him along.  They use the Abeka reading program at the school, which emphasizes a phoenetical approach to reading.  Miss Ebony means business, too!  The kids were used to more “play time” in their last class (3 year-old class), but in Miss Ebony’s class, it is more like school.  They sit at chairs, have assigned seating at tables and do quite a bit of school work.  So, thanks to Miss Ebony and Abeka, we’ve been able to sound our way through the Bob books.  J 

At bedtime lately, Liam brings a stack of books (anywhere from 3 to 9 books!) to us, to start reading.  At first he bawked at the idea of reading a Bob book before any of the other fun books in the stack, but now he automatically knows we will be reading a Bob book before any other books, and brings the Bob books with the rest of the stack.  ;-)  He does so well with it!

When we head upstairs for bed, we also read two Bible stories in the kids’ beds, before prayers and turning out the light.  They have a bookmark (a popsicle craft stick) they use to keep track of which story we read the night prior.  We finished with the more elementary (simple) Bible story book, so now we’re reading the comic-style version of the Bible that Grandpa Dean and Grandma Dolly gave to Liam for his birthday. 

I’ve told Doug (and I firmly believe) that kids who read the Bible are among the most well-read.  (How can you NOT be, if you see words like Nebuchadnezzar?  ;-)   The kids seem genuinely interested in each of the stories.  I love to hear their comments about the stories we read.  J

I’m so geeked for Liam! Knowing he can sound words out definitely makes me feel confident he will do well in Kindergarten.  He will be “assessed” in May, to see if he is ready to take on kindergarten in the next school year.  I have no doubt he will do well with the assessment.  With such a late birthday for the Georgia cut-off (September 1), I'm trying to work hard with him, to be sure he is ready for Kindergarten next fall. 

Some of Ava’s fellow kindergarteners had summer birthdays and were purposely held back by their parents.  I think, given that Liam is already used to day care / a classroom setting, he will do well. There were some kids (two) in Ava’s kindergarten class, who, when I was volunteering in her classroom, I noticed didn’t know very basic words like “the” and “and”.  L  (After I was finished with basic volunteering tasks, the teacher asked if I would work with one of them directly.)  Those two students went on to repeat kindergarten this year.  Knowing Liam can sound out words and they couldn’t even in kindergarten, makes me more confident Liam will go on to thrive at Murdock, next school year.  We will be focusing on more fine-motor skills in the next month or so, to be sure he can write his name as neatly as possible.  He can write his name now, but we’ll work on practicing it more.  J Our normal early-morning routine of "playing school" - after big sis Ava heads to the bus - is paying off!

Peace, love and books!

Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

"Mom, you are a big woman!"

Liam, while we are eating ice cream at Coldstone's tonight:

 

"Mom, you are a big woman!"

 

I won't take it personally, since I know we've been discussing girls growing up to be women, boys to be men. But way to start early with inappropriately manly comments, Liam!

First Day of School - 2012

The school year has officially started! 





Ava was so excited to start school this year, as a first-grader at Murdock Elementary.  Liam is in his Pre-Kindergarten year at Lighthouse Academy.  He is excited to be "Big Man On Campus," in the oldest class at Lighthouse, now that the older summer campers are back to school.





We went to Murdock's class list posting party on Friday, August 3rd, to see who Ava's first grade teacher would be.  Ava saw her buddies Issy Lacasella and Ella Wheeler.  They all had to find out what class the other was in; Ava and Issy are in class together.  :)  Ava is in Mrs. Lane's class with 23 other students:

Natalie Alexis Allphin

Mariana Alvarez

Gal Amir (was in kindergarten with Ava)

Caanan True Armour

Klara Blanka Stefania Babinska

Jaret Ian Beck

Janae Veronica Lanoiox Bermudez

Ava Elise Carey

Krista Mary Foley

William Logan Groover

Elizabeth Brooke Katz (is in Girl Scout Daisies with Ava)

Adarsh Krishna

Isabelle Makena Lacasella (was in kindergarten with Ava / is in Daisies, too.)

Nathaniel Martin Long

Taylor Kate McCook

Romil Hitendra Mehta

Alexis Haley Needle

Taylor Mackenzie Owen  (is in Girl Scout Daisies with Ava)

Brennan Arc Renna (the P.E. teacher's son)

Ava Michelle Rocco (who, from what I can tell, will be "Ava R.")

Dana Rose Shekastehband

Carter David Sirota

Samantha Elaine Tener (the computer teacher's son)

Liam Merric Tilden

At first, I was a little concerned, since Ava's class seemed to have the highest number of students enrolled (24).  After speaking with Ava's friend's Mom, I was told that a few first grade teachers don't have any EIP students in them, so they have more students.  (EIP- Early Intervention Program, for those students who might need more help during the school day).  Mrs. Lane also doesn't have a para-pro (student teacher), so I assume her students would need to function well independently, with little assistance.  I think Ava will do fine, but did remind her that she will definitely need to be sure to ask for help, if she needs it, given the number of kids in her class.

I think we probably lucked out, as someone else pointed out.  Mrs. Lane's class consists of the PTA president's daughter, the gym teacher's son (Mr. Renna) and the computer teacher's daughter (Mr. Tener).  Last year the children of Mr. Renna and Mr. Tener were also in the same kindergarten class.  Coincidence?  Probably not.  ;-)

I did think it was pretty funny that Ava is in a classroom with:
2 Ava's
2 Taylors
1 Liam

She is doing so well with reading!  We've read the first Ivy and Bean book, and a few of the Magic Tree House books.  "Ivy and Bean" books seem to be her speed, since they're about two best friends who are girls and the fun they have together.  We will definitely be focusing on comprehension and spelling this year.  She seems to have a knack for reading.

We then attended Murdock's "Meet-And-Greet" the Thursday before school started.  This allows students and teachers to sign-up for PTA, MESF, After-School Program, pay for lunch in advance, sign-up for any after-school extra curricular clubs, find their desk and meet their new teacher / classmates.  We ordered our school supplies through the PTA this year, which was nice.  We shopped for treasure box items at the dollar store.  Ava is signed-up for KidzArt, to take place on Thursday afternoons.  Her BFF Cosette will be attending, as well.  Olivia, our neighbor, will be going, too, so it should be fun!




I'm so excited to see what is in store for Ava this year at Murdock, with Mrs. Lane!  In my first grade journal, I ended every day's journal entry with the phrase "And I love Mrs. Panza."  I hope the same rings true for Ava. :)  Exciting times.

Liam is now in Miss Ebony's pre-k class at school.  I am so thankful!  She is a great teacher.  I'm hoping introducing him to the Abeka reading program is as helpful to him, as it was to Ava.  Pre-K will definitely be more learning and less free play.  I've mentioned to Liam that we need to be sure to learn lots, so he's ready for kindergarten next year.  He will be one of the youngest in kindergarten, since his birthday is in July.  The cut-off here is September 1st.  We've got our work cut-out for us this year!  I'm sure he will do great, though.  I love spending time with him in the morning, after Ava is on the bus, to read and work on motor skills / writing.  It is our special time together. :)

At Lighthouse, he is with the same motley crew, including Aiden, Marissa, Frankie, Kwame, Trey, Taylor.  Amazing how long these little ones have been together!  This has been the only school Liam has ever attended.  It will be nice to have no day care payment next year, and have Liam in "big kid" school.  He was a little sad when he figured out he wouldn't be riding the bus with Ava and Olivia.  Soon enough.  :)

Speaking of the bus, this year the neighborhood bus stop grew from three students to five (Olivia and Meilani are attending kindergarten this year).  You can see the busy-ness of our little neighborhood fairly early in the morning, now.  So we now have a 4th grader (Nicholas Argentis), 3rd grader (Matthew Quinn), 1st grader (Ava) and two kindergarteners (Olivia and Meilani).  Mr. Mike, the bus driver, won 1st in the state "Road-eo" competition, and then went on to win 2nd place in the NATION!  On the first day of school, I congratulated him.  I'm SO thankful we have him transporting our precious cargo to school. 





Peace, love and first-day-of-school excitement,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

"Would You Like Some Coffee, Ma'am?"

Liam: "Mom, when did God make me?"
Me: "God made you in my belly. I tried to eat sooo healthy, since the food I ate is what you ate, too!"
Liam: "Mom, did you drink coffee?"
Me: :/

 

What Liam does not know, is my focus on eating all things healthy while pregnant with him - and Ava.  Coffee - YES, CAFFEINATED - was the only real "guilty pleasure" I allowed myself.  And what does a four year-old know about coffee's affect on the human body, anyway?

14 YEARS of Wedded Bliss

January 24th marked fourteen years that Doug and I have been married.  Hard to believe it's been that long!  (And that we're that old???)

We had our picture taken by my Mom before going out on a date during the holidays.  I knew Doug really liked the picture, so I had it printed out and framed so he could put it on his desk at work.  I also got him a bag of miniature Heath bars, which are one of his favorites.  Doug got the movie "Courageous" for me.  I was originally hoping to see it over Thanksgiving, but the start time ended up being crazy late, so we opted to go for coffee and a walk around downtown Rochester, instead. 

The pictures I printed out for Doug's frame

(I thought I'd let him pick which one he liked best)

The movie he bought for me, for our anniversary

We hope to have a bigger celebration next year, when we celebrate 15 years! 

It was fun to run around getting things for our anniversary with Ava as my sidekick.  We picked up the photo together and then went to get a picture frame, balloons and some rainbow roses.  While at the grocery store, Ava picked out the mylar balloon (we bought four additional red and white plain balloons).  I told Ava we should probably get Daddy's favorite dessert, as well, so we found some Tira Mi Su in the bakery area.  While there, I saw a cookie cake that was decorated with icing and balloon decorations.  I thought it might be fun for the kids to have their own dessert, so we added that to the cart. 

In retrospect, I think it was a good thing for Ava to see how important it was to celebrate 14 years of marriage.  I probably wouldn't have normally bought balloons, but thought it might help her realize how "fun" anniversaries can be.  She may not remember shopping for our anniversary vividly, but just knowing that it's important to celebrate our "togetherness" should stick with her!  When we got home, I filled out Doug's card while she was busy drawing a piece of artwork for the occasion.  :-)  Liam was super excited when he walked in and saw balloons and roses on the table.  It was a fun time.

I had written something on Facebook about our anniversary earlier in the day.  It was very heart-warming to see all of the comments of congratulations and love from friends and family.  God has truly blessed our marriage and family immensely!

What's funny is that Doug and I both wrote similar things in our cards for each other.  We both mentioned being thankful for "waking up next to each other."  I guess after being together 14 years, we might be morphing into the same person.  ;-)

We plan on going out on Saturday night, since our friends Mark and Amy have kindly volunteered to babysit for us.  Our neighbor Kirsten mentioned her favorite new restaurant is "Seed," which is a farm-to-table type restaurant.  All of the food cooked at this restaurant was grown locally.  Sounds super yummy!  I can't wait to try this new place!

Peace, love and togetherness,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Entertain, Inform or Persuade

Ava cracks me up.  The other day we were reading a book before bedtime. 

Ava breaks out with this random thought: 

"The purpose of books is to entertain, inform or persuade... I think this book is to entertain." 

This girl has a memory like an elephant; she doesn't forget a thing. 

Peace, love and retention of a good kind,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Popcorn Words

Ava's class at school has been working on their "popcorn words."  These are words that should "pop" into the student's head and be automatically recognized (without needing to sound them out).  There are 80 words total, 40 that comprise the kindergarten list.  Ava finshed ALL 80 words before Christmas! 

At first taking a word for face value wasn't the easiest thing for her, since she learned phonetically how to read words (with A Beka's reading program at Lighthouse Academy).  Reading phonetically should help her in the long run, though, since she'll be able to sound her way through words that might seem difficult. 

She is quite the reader!  Prior to the holidays, she has been reading up through level "I" in Newmark's rising reader leveled books.  We haven't attempted anything above level I, yet. 

Newmark's "level" chart:

This is the note that was sent home with her, which was attached to a bag of celebratory popcorn!  Now that she has made her way through the popcorn words, she is working on spelling all of the popcorn words correctly.  I think Ava, a little boy named Cody and Ava's friend Ansley are the first three to have moved onto spelling the popcorn words. 

Go Ava!!!

Peace, love and kernels,

Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Ava's Report Card #2

Ava received her second report card Friday.  She did GREAT!  She is meeting all of the expectations very well.  The only thing we found that we can work on with her is identifying and describing our national holidays.  (I had no idea - especially considering how crafty she is for EVERY holiday!)  I thought it was interesting that this is the only item on which she received a "2" (Progressing toward meeting standards), instead of a "3" (Meets standards).  I am wondering if it was because "Veteran's Day" was celebrated right around the time the report cards were graded?  I guess I had not yet gone over it with her!

She has improved in many different areas, now with most of her "learning skills and behaviors" rated S for "successful". 

The key is: 
S= Successful - Student displays appropriate learning skills and behaviors.
P= Progressing - Student is progressing; displays appropriate learning skills and behaviors most of the time. 
N=Needs Improvement - Student does not display learning skills and behaviors that lead to success.

Here are the areas on her report card:

Learning Skills                                                  Q1 / Q2
Organizes self and materials                              S / S
Works neatly                                                         S / S
Works independently                                           S / S
Asks questions / seeks help when needed       P / P
Completes tasks in a timely manner                  S / S
Stays on task                                                        S / S
Learning Behaviors                                         Q1 / Q2
Uses self control                                                   S / S
Exhibits good listening skills                               S / S
Accepts responsibility for behavior                    P / P
Claims fair share of attention                              S / S
Expresses feelings appropriately                       S / S
Cooperation, Rules & Procedures               Q1 / Q2
Treats others with respect                                   P / S
Accepts personal responsibility                         P / P
Works cooperatively                                            P / S
Follows directions                                                S / S
Shows respect for property                                 S / S
Shows respect for authority                                 S / S
Controls talking                                                     P / S

So it appears she has improved quite a bit! 

I do think I might ask Mrs. Mckenzie, teacher of the Mckenzie Mcintoshes, what the deal is with "accepts personal responsibility" and "accepts responsibility for behavior".  If anything, I think if she is caught responding to another student when they aren't supposed to be talking, she will often tell me "that person was talking to me and I was telling them to be quiet."  So it might sound like she isn't accepting responsibility for responding / talking to them.  Not sure.  I went over all of the items (positive and possible improvements).  She seemed very receptive and loved hearing how well she did. 

We let her pick where we went for dinner on Friday night.  Grandma Pam would be happy...She chose Frankie's.  She has grown quite fond of their tortellini.  She says she loves it because it tastes "warm".  It is served in a cream-style sauce, so I think she's describing comfort food!  :) 

We're so thankful she continues to progress!  Fun times.  She is loving school.

Peace, love and studious Mcintoshes,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Prepping for Christmas: Mr. and Mrs. Claus vs. Elflings

Doug and I have this awful habit of coming up with the most elaborate, time-consuming projects to give out as Christmas gifts.  These ideas casually spring into our head on or around December 1st. 

Couple these fun ideas with the following "must-do's":

• Christmas gift shopping (in time to get holiday gifts to Arizona and Nevada before the Christmas holiday / and for the least possible shipping charges),
• Decorate tree.
• Holiday party attending (school, day care, friends and work),
• Trying to savor a few holiday family moments
• An occasional baking night for holiday goodies
• Wrapping the kids' toys
• Laundry and packing for two weeks in Michigan
• Schedule appointment to have Christmas pictures taken for Christmas card.
• (Find outfits, trim up kids' hair for said Christmas card family portrait).
• Send Christmas cards.
• Preparations for heading out of town (which includes setting timers throughout the house, so any potential perps won't realize we're out of town. ;)
• Contacting US Postal Service to put our mail on hold.
• Contacting our Community Supported Agriculture organization, so they won't deliver vegetables to our front door while we're gone. 
• Cleaning my house so I don't leave it in a state that is seriously regrettable, should I perish in an automobile accident between here and Rochester Hills, Michigan. ;-)
• Attend normal activities, keep kids fed, avoid getting sick.  ;-)
• Remember to give African dwarf frogs to our sweet neighbors with small bag of food before heading out of town.
• "Keep calm and carry on."

And there you have our life in December!  Oy!

This year, I decided the BEST gift for my sister would be a digital frame that included an SD card with all of our family pictures.  My Dad and Dolly fortunately gave me a great start, with 1,200 pictures from their own digital frame.  Piece of cake, right?  Umm...Not so much. 

I asked my Mom, Dad and Dolly for any other family pictures that Sherry would love.  (Sidenote:  A big thank you to Mom, Dad and Dolly for my badgering them to find the most memorable pictures and send to me).  I thought I would just add any pictures that I had of Sherry's family to the existing collection from Dad and Dolly.  Oh. Mi. Gosh. 

A little sidebar:  My Mom, knowing me all-too-well, has been sending me little dollar store photo albums filled with pictures, since Doug and I moved to Georgia in 1998, whenever there was a momentous occasion in the family.  I scanned my little heart out after Thanksgiving, before Christmas, to turn pre-digital age pictures into .jpg files that could be saved to a 16 Gig memory card.  2,300 pictures later, my sister has a comprehensive collection of pictures that I think know she loves. 

I know she likes her family pictures displayed throughout her house, so I thought this would be THE perfect gift for her.  Knowing she might not be super geeked about the frame itself, I put a note on the frame package that said "Plug Me In."  She cried when she plugged in the frame.  At first, I don't think she realized how many pictures were actually included in this frame.  It's hard to visualize 2,700 pictures!  Doug asked me before Christmas if my goal was to "make Sherry cry."  Well, not intentionally!  :)

'You know how you just can't wait to give someone a gift that you know will be perfect for them?  This was THE gift this year.  I was SOOOO excited to give this to Sherry.  More excited than any gift I could think of receiving myself this Christmas.  There are now over 2,700 pictures on Sherry's frame.  My Mom liked it so much, she wanted a copy.  I liked it so much, I finally decided to break out the digital frame I bought a year ago and put it to use. 

In addition to this gift, I decided to get really crafty and come up with a few different recipes.  I saw Williams' Sonoma sold a "Pecan Pie In-A-Jar" made by the Saba River Company.  I took it on as a challenge, baking a few four different pecan pies to come up with just the right recipe to put in a jar.  I took two of the "good" pies to Liam's day care Christmas party.  Everyone raved about the pies!  Everything needed to make the pie is included in the jar, with exception to eggs, butter and a storebought deep-dish pie crust.  I absolutely love the labels, from  http://www.myownlabels.com/). 

(Note:  It was unbelievable how hard it was to find smooth-sided Ball quart jars.  So that was added to my endless"To Do" list.  I didn't want an embossed/bumpy jar since I had to affix a label to it.  Michael's sells smooth-sided ones, thankfully.)

My unlabeled jar on the left, vs. the Williams Sonoma jar on the right:

I also wanted to make a winter fruit jam of some sort. After my Google search came up lacking, I used a recipe I found and then tweaked it to include specific fruits.   (Fresh cranberries, apples, pears, dried pineapple, orange, lemon).  It turned out super yummy!  It's my take on a cranberry walnut relish that makes it's appearance often at holiday tables.  I guess I could technically add walnuts and make it a conserve in the future.  Hmm.

The gift Doug made this year was an oven rack tool that he turned on his lathe.  They are beautiful!  It has a fork-type tip to it, so you can push an oven rack in without having to touch it.  Above the fork area, there is a hook cut out of the wood, so you can grab the oven rack and pull it toward you without getting burned.  He made about 9 of them.  They were all made out of different, contrasting woods.  He actually drew up a prototype for it and everything!  So it was seriously custom-made.  He finished them and put the polyurethane coat on them the MORNING. BEFORE. WE. LEFT. for Michigan.  Everyone seemed to like them.  Aunt Jean commented that hers was too pretty to use.  I hope they're useful to everyone that received them!  These pictures honestly don't do them justice.  Some wood even had a hint of purple in it. 

And, the reason I wrote this post originally... Here is how the Carey kids prep for Christmas.  This picture taken during the car ride to Michigan.  :)  Rough work, isn't it?  ;-)

Peace, love and holiday goodness,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Merry Christmas from the Carey Clan!

2011 Christmas card and family photo.

I called on Thursday, 12/15 to make an appointment for pictures to be taken at Portrait Innovations.   Considering the usual mad crunch to get things done before leaving for Michigan, I thought it might be a longshot that they would have something available.  They had a slot open the next night, a Friday!  Phew!  I haven't sent Christmas cards out in three years, I'm guessing.  Doug didn't relish the thought of taking pictures, but was a good sport and went along with it.  I'm so glad he did!  We were running late for our appointment, but when we got there, we waited almost an hour and a half.  Gulp. 

Once they were ready to take our pictures, the kids were pros!  The photographer was great with the kids.  She asked Doug if he wouldn't mind slipping a red velvet Santa sleeve onto his arm.  It was a glove like Santa's, with a red sleeve that only went up to his elbow.  At first I thought...What in the world?  She handed him a tray of "milk and cookies" and told the kids to pretend like they were giving milk and cookies to Santa.  The kids thought it was absolutely hilarious that they were actually looking up at their Daddy and not Santa.  Oh how funny this was to me (and them).  Only Doug's (I mean Santa's) red sleeve was captured in the picture, along with the kids' expressions. 
Portrait Innovations took some of the best pictures of Liam I've seen, so far.  It is SO HARD to catch Liam with his eyes open!  They did a great job.  Doug also mentioned that we wouldn't be leaving their studio without the picture of Ava with the black background.  He loved it.

We walked to an ice cream shop while our pictures were printing.  The pictures were done at 9 p.m.  We headed home.  The next morning, I was hoping to print labels before the kids' gymnastics class.  Unfortunately we didn't have enough labels.  I ran to Publix and bought stamps.  They didn't have the Avery labels.  I went to Office Max and bought the labels.  I headed home, printed out the Avery labels, grabbed our Christmas return address labels and the Christmas cards to be sent, and then headed to the kids' gymnastics class.  I stuffed, applied stamps, return labels, address labels and sealed the envelopes during their gymnastics class.  After gymnastics class, I dropped the nearly 70 Christmas cards in the post office mailbox, in time for the 1:15 p.m. mail pick-up.  Ba-da-boom, ba-da-bing.  Never before have Christmas cards been processed so quickly (14 hours, to be exact)!  If we would've printed the cards or letters ourselves, I would've been sunk.  It was nice for at least one holiday project to go quickly and turn out well! 

Kudos to the kiddos and Doug for going along with it!

Peace, love and family-style,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam