School Open House

Last wednesday was the open house at the boys school.  They had been there already 1.5 weeks this year so it was nice to be able to see everything they had been telling me about.  They excitedly showed me their lockers, their desks, their spots on the carpet and all their work stations.  I got to meet their teacher (who they absolutely love) and was told they are both doing great this year phewff!  It was so cute for them to show me all the little work stations they work at each day.  We will definately make sure to start saving our recyclable materials for the craft station because all the kids are sooo excited about that one.  There was also a book fair in the library.  I must admit I loved the book fairs growing up and I am just as excited as the kids to let them look through all the books and decide which one they think they will like the best.  The boys thought it was hysterically funny that they can go in the boys bathroom at school now by themselves and I have to wait outside for them hahahaha  BOYS!!!

Homework

Last week the two boys had their turn with the "me" bag from school.  This is like the old fashion show and tell that we used to do in school but you have to bring 5 items.  It was nice to get one on one time with each of them to do something special just for them and help them pick out things they wanted to share with their class.

Zachary was first.  He takes soooo long to make a decision on anything so I tried my best not to rush rush his choices.  It took us almost 30 minutes to finally narrow it down to five items (the original was composed of about 50 items).

In Zach's me bag he put captain America, a monster truck, a transformer, his special baby dog and his stuffed Mario.  He did a presentation where he practiced what he would say in front of the class and man did he talk FOREVER about each of the items.  I.e.  He chose stuffed Mario because he and his brother love to play Mario and Luigi.  They play it on the wii and he is asking for a Nintendo DS for his birthday or christmas.  Mario can run and jump and hit his head on blocks etc.  Wow that boy sure has the gift of gab! 

Mathew had the "me" bag the following evening.  He made all his decisions in about 5 minutes and he raced around the house because he already knew what he wanted before he started to look for the items.  He decided on a Zamboni, a red hot wheels truck, his special stone from Afghanistan, a picture of Zach, Jason and him fishing and his stuffed Luigi.  When he presented to us he gave super short sentences so I told him to elaborate a bit more on each one.  Once he got into it he understood what I meant.  It was neat to see how different the items he chose were from Zachary's.  Zach's were all things he likes to play with but Mathew chose all things that had meaning behind them ie. he chose the Zamboni because he likes to play hockey, he chose the stone from Afghanistan because it's a special stone and every time you miss your family or friends you just rub it. 

Hmm...daddy said what

This was the conversation in the car last thursday as I drove the boys to school:

Me:  Are you guys excited to see your friends today?
Zachary:  Yeah and we get to eat in the gym at the big tables again
Mathew:  I eat beside K***** (a girl who's party he went to last year)
Me:  Oh that's nice. 
Mathew:  Yeah she helped me open my fruit cup yesterday.
Me:  Oh, you don't know how to open it?
Mathew:  Yeah I do but she wanted to open it so she could have a bite
Me:  Oh buddy you aren't supposed to share food at school remember
Mathew:  I told her that but she didn't have one, and she wants to start being my girlfriend
Me: oh
Mathew:  Yeah but I have lot's of girlfriends
Me:  Well that's okay, girls are fun to play with too
Mathew:  Yeah but Daddy told me not to get too many girlfriends because girls get crazy when they get older
Me:  Daddy told you that did he hahahaha Oie!

Bicycle Riding

Well a few weeks ago we finally had a few evenings that we were just home with no plans.  The boys decided that that was the day they wanted to ride two wheelers, so we loaded them up and went to a nearby park where they could practice on a softer surface.  To my amazement Zach took Jason stepping less then two feet beside him to take off and ride.....wth!!  For two weeks I had told him I wouldn't let him ride a two wheeler because I wasn't able to run and keep up with it right now and it only took him two steps!!  Mathew on the other hand was very fearful of falling....he did a few tries and then happily hoped on the other bike that still had training wheels and rode that.  The next night Mathew actually went around the entire circle on the two wheeler as long as Jason jogged beside him. 

School Days

This week the boys started Senior Kindergarden.  It was so nice to be able to drop them off at the school yard the first day.  It was great to see how happy they were to actually get to school and it was so nice to see how much fun they were already having with their classmates in the school yard before the bell even rang.  We are so lucky that our boys love school....they love everything about it.  They still proclaim that their favorite part of the school day is recess but hey who doesn't love running and playing with their friends.  This year they talked all about how they are "big" kids now because they have lockers, they eat their lunch in the gym with the other big kids and they get to use the "big" kids washroom.  They talk excitedly every night about all the work stations they did (today mathew brought me home a craft he made me at the craft station and Zachary said he had fun painting).  We talk about the books the teacher reads them and their favorites parts of the day.  They go to a different daycare this year so their bus ride is only about 15 minutes now in comparison to the 45-60 minutes it was last year.  Today it was so cute to see them board the bus....both the boys and their little friend all sit in one seat.....it makes me smile to think they are still so tiny that they fit three in a seat comfortably.  I hope the huge smiles and enthusiam continues because we try to always talk about how important the things we learn at school are.

Bags are all packed and ready to go!

Mathew first day of SK 2012

Zachary First Day of SK 2012

Second year of school already!

 

So nice to have your best friend with you all the time!

Me dropping off the boys!

Swinging

The boys have become great at swinging this summer.  They have always enjoyed riding on the swings but now they are proficient at getting on the swings, actually starting themselves and swinging high through the sky.  Jason and I were watching them swing last night and talking about how much fun swinging used to be as a child.  You would go as high as you possibly could, kick your shoes off and just soar through the air.  It's nice to see that something so simple brings so much joy to young kids.

We were also commenting how as adults if we swing for more then a few minutes we get motion sick....hahaha perhaps that is a special treat of fun reserved especially for childhood!

Feeling the Baby

The boys are ecstatic about the fact that we are going to have another baby.  They talk about it almost daily.  I think they will be quite dissapointed when he actually arrives and is not able to play soccer and games with them.  We have explained that when babies are small they only drink milk, cry and sleep.  The boys still seem excited about this. Zach is proud that he will be able to put the soother in the baby's mouth and Mathew looks forward to turning on the bouncing chairs and swings for him. 

The baby has started kicking much harder laterly.  While camping on the weekend, I was lying in Mathew's bed reading him a story when the baby kicked my stomach where Mathew was lying.  He asked what that was that he felt.  I explained that it was just the baby kicking.....a look of fear crossed his face and he ran to the living area to tell Jason to "come quick because that baby is trying to escape already".  Hahaha we explained the baby was just stretching his legs but Mathew still seems apprehensinve about the whole thing.