Reading Rainbow

James has been making leaps and bounds this year with reading in Kindergarten. Mostly he just memorizes short books, but it is still amazing to watch him work his way through the process. Willy also likes to chime in, and is always prepared with his 'reading glasses' (goggles from his toolbox).

SEE our new bookshelves

Over at Kat's writing blog.

This was just one of the little projects Mike managed to eke out over his break.

We are anticipating a big ole snow day tomorrow. It's been crazy to hear that a lot of the east coast has been dealing with snow the last few days.

Ahhh the cabin fever is really setting in!

Willy's eye

What a weekend already! Willy went on his first ER trip Friday. After getting slammed at school by another kid (it was an accident), he was listless and not eating or drinking. We called the doctor, who suggested taking him to the ER. So we did. 

We are thankful that Willy is fine (the doctor checked his eyes, and said if he's not stumbling or throwing up, he will be fine). 

We are dreading the ER bill...but after some tylenol, rest, and his favorite show (Dora) he perked right up. 

The first photo below is of his eye yesterday, the second two are from this morning. Not only has it developed into a really beautiful aubergine color, you can also see it is not bothering him AT ALL today.

Flashbacks

Okay, we recognize we were awful about blogging this fall. With both of us on a school schedule, time just flew by too fast.

We will try to play catch up over the next few weeks.

First, some shots of James being recognized for SURFs behavior (SURFs is the school theme, and stands for things like Self-responsibility, something, something, and something.) It's a good thing.
James and his friend Quinn were the first recipients from his class. Parents are invited to a reception before the assembly, then asked to come forward to stand with their student when he/she has gotten the award. James' was the first name called, and it kind of freaked him out.

He didn't understand what was going on, but mom managed to get up there and stand with him before too much time passed. When all the other kids were standing he understood more, and was more comfortable. I can see, in the first shot, that he's not completely at ease. He's definitely more relaxed when Quinn joins him, and I love this photo of the two of them.

Now some shots from Halloween.
This gem came home with James one afternoon. We thought it might be more appropriately titled "Remember when James didn't want you to take his picture."

The kindergarten classes get to wear costumes on Halloween and have a parade through the school.
Good times.

Below are shots of mom, James and Willy before going out to collect. Then one of Willy with our friend Mia, clearly already in the first stages of extreme sugar dysfunction.

We caught Willy at one point hiding under the piano and sneaking candy. Literally jamming chocolate into his mouth.

That's our boy!

Updates and Christmas Morning

The boys go back to school today after about 10 days at home.

To be perfectly honest, Mom and Dad are really excited. We've had a great time, but we value their teachers more than ever now. Trying to keep two active boys busy when the weather is mucky can be hard.

Kat is looking forward to some time to write, research, and plan classes for next semester.

Mike is hoping to work on some small projects around the house.

We have two weeks until we both start back at the University of Hartford.

We hope to catch up on some blogging in that time... so here goes.


Here are some shots of Christmas morning. First, James working on his paleontology projects. He got several gifts that required excavation. He had so much fun working on these. After the first ten minutes chipping away with no results he said "Actually, I don't think I want to be a paleontologist."
With a little encouragement he rallied and eventually uncovered 2 small dinosaur models and some "jewels" (actually different colored rocks).


This was one of the favorites this year: Criss cross crash. Kat had some trouble with it, because she just wanted to get the cars to all drive around nicely. As Mike pointed out, it's not called Criss, Cross, Let's all Drive Around in Circles.
All the boys were much more into the crash element.  The kitten also LOVES it, which makes it interesting, let's say.
 

Also, check out Kat's writing blog to see how Mike redid her office-- our Christmas gifts to each other for the most part were home renovation projects. Painting and setting up Kat's office, and some bookshelves are up next.

If you are a regular reader of Kat's blog, do sign up to be a follower. You don't have to do anything, it won't deposit emails in your account, it simply makes it look like people read that blog, which will be a good thing when she starts trying to look for an agent again. On the stats tracking for that blog it shows that 90% of the traffic comes from this blog, but almost no friends and family "follow".



 

Snow

james in snow


The snow started coming down yesterday afternoon right before nap time. By the time the boys woke up and put on ALL that gear, the sun was going down.

We slogged over the Jeff and Izzi's to sled with Sadie and Eva. Here are just a few of the shots.

Today there is a foot of snow outside and we're hoping it may melt off before we have to leave. The driveway is a huge shoveling job. We were glad that there is a school holiday anyway, so there was no pressure to go out in it, except for fun.




it's coming down
kat

willy down, james is helping?
willy

tubing down the street


Mike and James getting Sadie and Eva ready for launch


The snow started coming down yesterday afternoon right before nap time. By the time the boys woke up and put on ALL that gear, the sun was going down.

We slogged over the Jeff and Izzi's to sled with Sadie and Eva. Here are just a few of the shots. Enjoy.

Today there is a foot of snow outside and we're hoping it may melt off before we have to leave. The driveway is a huge shoveling job.