celebrating the last day of September with random phone pictures

Well, it's the last day of September.  I don't know, but I feel the days went by at an appropriate speed.  It feels like fall today and once again, the air-conditioner is getting a break and the house is getting an airing.  Dinner is in the crockpot and I have managed to secure some time on my computer.  Lucky me.  And, lucky, because I get to share some random-ness of life here.

Kella, enjoying a show.  She's looking pretty comfy sitting in the doll stroller with her snack.

Cale, sporting a velvet jacket and leather bag he wore during Esther's Feast at Sunday school.  Cale likes fancy things.

Liam had a field trip with his class.  Neither Andy or I could go, but he got to hang out with his bestie Gam and Gam's mom.  These two boys are two peas in a pod and love hanging out together.

My new crochet project.  A corner-to-corner stitch blanket.  I love to crochet.

A selfie collage with the littles.  They like playing with my phone.

Crochet and coffee. Or, how I spend my mornings after the girls are in preschool.  I sit in the quiet nursery, watch my Netflix show, drink coffee and work on my blanket.  So nice to have a little bit of time for just me.  

Happy last day of September!

Sisters

Oh, these ladies.....

...they sure do have fun together!

Conferences, done

Parent-teacher conferences are done!  I finished the last one this morning.  Pretty much, my kids are geniuses and are lovely students.  But, seriously, Cale, Ewan and Liam are all doing well and I am thankful that they are kids who do not have a hard time with homework (mostly) and appear to learn easily.

Liam's assessments are out of the water.  He is being moved into reading comprehesion.  His math is great.  He is the the top classes for reading and math and those teachers have freedom to tailor instruction to meet the needs of Liam and his classmates.  Hope you can see in this picture that Liam wants to be a ninja ("nija") when he grows up.  He also was worried about "nothing" for the first day of school.

If there is one boy who I will worry about with his schooling, it will be Ewan.  I don't have a good reason.  Ewan is great at math and can read just fine.  I just see glimpses of misspelled words and I know Ewan would rather be doing anything but schoolwork.  It makes him want to rush through his work to get to the good stuff-playtime.  His teacher is pleased, though, and sees no cause for concern. I know Ewan is a good student.

No picture of Cale, but he is doing fine as well.  I wouldn't expect anything less from Cale.  He is in the high-acheiver class with a teacher who has tons of experience with these kids.  The teacher is teaching them to multi-task and be independent-skills they will need as they prepare to move into middle school.  

Let's hear from 9 year old Ewan!

My tradition of birthday questions continues with Ewan's answers for what he likes at 9....

Favorite color:  yellow

Favorite toy: lego

Favorite stuffed animal:  sting ray

Favorite thing to sleep with: my pillow

Favorite fruit: watermelon

Favorite cereal: shredded wheat

Favorite thing to eat for breakfast:  waffles

Favorite thing to eat for lunch:  pizza

Favorite dessert:  cake

Favorite drink: gatorade

What do you want for your birthday dinner:  ice cream

Favorite animal:  peguin

Favorite book:  Awesome Man

Favorite song:  Uptown Funk

Favorite game:  pokemon

Favorite tv show:  pokemon

Favorite movie:  Home

Favorite thing to do outside:  jump (on the trampoline)

Best friends:  Nate and Dayten

What do you want to be when you grow up:  astronaut

And, to compare, here are Ewan's answers as an 8 year old

Ewan James turns 9!

Seriously, this time going by fast thing can stop anytime.  Ewan turned 9 years old a little over a week ago.  He had been looking forward to his birthday for about a month, countin down the days.  His wants were simple: Legos, Star Wars.  We had a bit of a party for him complete with storm trooper ballon men (thank you Pinterest!) He got to open his presents and dine on waffles and a Death Star birthday cake (Pinterest, again).  Oh, I think our boy had a great day.

Cale battles the Storm Troopers.  Trust me, we had plenty of light sabers to take care of this enemy.

opening gifts-one day the camera and I will figure each other out

Liam likes to photobomb

Legos!

Star Wars!

He claims these birthday gifts as his own.

everyone thought the Lincoln Logs were cool

Yes, time to assemble Lego things.

Ewan and the Death Star.

No birthday is complete without being held like a baby for annual pictures.

Words to describe Ewan...

creative

imagine-er

dreamer

builder

artist

active

fighter

leader

kind

helper

just for fun-google name memes

step 1: go to google images

step 2: type in you name and the word "meme"

for example: "tracy meme"

step 3: enjoy!

the start of preschool

We have hit a landmark at our house.

Every child is now in school-preschool, primary, elementary and middle school. 

Kella and Kinley started preschool last week.  

It was touch and go for a little bit.  I was tired of driving to preschool and thought that maybe we could just do school at home for the girls.  Turns out, I was kidding myself.  Of course the ladies are going to go to the same preschool their brothers went to.  Why would I do anything different.  This is also the last time we will have to pay for 2 kiddos in preschool at the same time.  I don't even want to add up the amount of tuition money we have paid over the past 7 years.  Seven years!

Anyway, Kella goes to preschool 3 days a week from 845-1145 and Kinley follows 2 of those days from 1000-1145.  The ladies both like going and Kinley has been kind to her teachers.

Here we go.  The start of Kella's last year of preschool.  She picked a green dress to wear because she is in the green class.  Also, she loves dresses.

Ready to go.

Excuse me, Kinley.  Can I take your picture?

How about now?

Finally corraled my littlest to get a photo.

Kinley, looking at her new classmates coming in to preschool.  She looks thrilled.

Kinley didn't want to go into class at first.   But, I managed to start her in the direction of the classroom and the teacher slipped in my spot and guided Kinley the rest of the way in to her seat.  And, then, Kinley had a great day.

And, Kella had a great day, too.