A little bouncing. 

The place where the kids have swim lessons (and Owen had his summer activity camp) had an Open House today so people could swim and bounce for free to test it out. The kids have been asking to bounce, so we thought it would be a fun thing today. Owen loved it, but Katie was pretty much a mess. There were A TON of kids there (including a lot of rambunctious and NOT well-behaved ones which made everything worse) and she had a fit on every bounce house because there were “too many people” — except it was mostly her fault because unless she was the only one on the ladder, she would stop wherever she was and then as the kids would try to get past her and she’d get upset (and if she’d just have kept going up the ladder, they would have gone up behind her and things would have been just fine). So…we didn’t stay quite as long as we anticipated.

2015 Videos from Santa!

We got these from Santa about a week or so ago. The kids were very excited to watch them! Do you think they both made the naughty or nice list? The kids LOVE these videos SO much and get SO excited about them it’s worth the $12 I pay to make them. 🙂

Owen – Secret Places

Katie – Tour the Post Office

And surprise! Tonight we got these two new videos! Uncle Rob and daddy were able to watch along with us!

Owen – Movie Star

Katie – Elf House

Morning Program Poetry Helper

Every week, 10 students help read a poem during Morning Program. This week was finally Owen’s turn! Daddy didn’t think he was going to be able to make it…but he did! And Uncle Rob was there, too!

  
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We couldn’t hear him, of course, but his lips were moving and he wasn’t crying or hiding so it was all good!

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Another shot at Santa

Our community clubhouse had cookies and activities with Santa this morning, so we thought we’d try with the kids again—just in case we got a better picture (since I could dress the kids up).

But first, the at-home pictures:

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And then while waiting for Santa, they did some crafts and coloring:

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Katie wanted NOTHING to do with Santa, so it was just Owen!

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But she did make more rings to put on the tree!

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A quick visit to Owen’s classroom.

Long story short, he had been missing his daily folder (we’d looked everywhere) so since I had to drop off some stuff at the school, I took him to school and had him search his classroom. We didn’t find it, but he enjoyed showing me a few things in the room.

The treat bag they all decorated—they get small treats at the end of the day if they had good behavior.

I liked this and am going to start using it at home—it’s one of Owen’s major issues when writing!

They had to do an acrostic poem:

Oreos are my favorite
West Virginia football team is not my fav
Eating chicken is my fav
New Years Eves is my fav
Hugs are my favorite
U_____ is cool (he doesn’t even know what this is)
Duny [Dunia] is my friend
Summer is fun
Olives are not my favorite
Nuts are yummy

Inclusive Schools Week—Wear a bow/tie

Technically it’s National Inclusive Schools Week but for basic conversation, it’s a type of spirit week. 🙂

Inclusive Schools Week is an annual event sponsored by the Inclusive Schools Network (ISN) and Stetson & Associates, Inc., which is held each year during the first full week in December. Since its inception in 2001, Inclusive Schools Week has celebrated the progress that schools have made in providing a supportive and quality education to an increasingly diverse student population, including students who are marginalized due to disability, gender, socio-economic status, cultural heritage, language preference and other factors. The Week also provides an important opportunity for educators, students and parents to discuss what else needs to be done in order to ensure that their schools continue to improve their ability to successfully educate all children.

Monday: “Your talents are a gift!” Wear a bow tie or bow to show what a gift you are to our school.

   
 

Katie’s first hibachi!

We had errands to run after swim lessons then we were hungry so we found a coupon for a hibachi place. Owen had been to one years ago but this was Katie’s first time.

She liked the chop sticks.

She was freaked out by the first big shot of flames (which of course they START with) but overall she thought it was cool.

Of course she didn’t like ANYTHING on her plate.

He liked all the showy stuff; tried the soup, salad, shrimp, and scallops (the soup and salad were okay, he didn’t like the others); and actually ate quite a bit of his chicken and rice. He decided he liked Tom’s filet better than his chicken so he wants that next time. 🙂

Cookies with Santa

The local high school hosted a huge craft fair that I wanted to check out (we missed it last year) and they also had a “Cookies with Santa” portion that we wanted to take the kids to. We got to the North Pole shortly after it opened so we didn’t have to wait too long. While daddy held our place in line, the kids worked on bead candy canes:

Can you guess which was Owen’s and which was Katie’s? 🙂

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Santa! (They had someone taking pictures, but it wasn’t anything really posed or official—she was just off to the side snapping so we had NO idea what we would get. I was taking pics the whole time.) Katie wasn’t eager to sit with Santa, but she didn’t turn away…and she talked to him but didn’t get excited about the hug.

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Owen’s turn! He’s too big for Santa’s lap!

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At the end we had Katie go back up. I snapped about six quick pics and this one actually turned out great!

This was one of the ones the student elf took—I was impressed that it turned out as well:

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On the way out, Katie decided she wanted to make antlers:

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Sparty green day!

Even Maggie!

Gov. Snyder proclaims Friday ‘Spartan Green Day’

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has proclaimed Friday as “Spartan Green Day” in honor of the No. 5 Michigan State football team.

The celebratory day in Michigan is one day before the Spartans play No. 4 Iowa in the Big Ten championship in Indianapolis.

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From Owen’s schoolwork that got sent home last night…

I’ll include Translations/text where I think it’s necessary (after the picture so you can take your best guess first). 🙂

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It cant be 4 becue [because] it is to smll it can’t be 400 because it is to big it has to be 40 becuse it is just riet.

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There are 6 basketballs. There are 3 playground balls. How many balls are they in all?

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I want to go to Furarse [France]. (And then he’s talking to the Frase [French] guy.])

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I went trick-or-treating in Michigan i was harry poter my sis was rapunzul for Hallowen.

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I am thankful for my mom and dad because they take care of me.

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I am thankful for…my mom she is nice and my dad he is responsible for his work. School it is cool. Football is great.

Some art of the back of his schoolwork:

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Learning capitalization (I love that they’re learning actual proof marks!):

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hide somewhere in the farm. You should play a trick on the farmer. You should make a robot turkey. You should stay away from the farmer.

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1. I maked a cake for somwones birday.
2. I jump so higi [high].
3. I am litte [little].
4. I am so funny.

He loved the birthday sleepover he went to:

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I went to a sleepover it was so fun! I had a deleshos berekfest [delicious breakfast]. I had pancas wih wit crem and serep [pancakes with whipped cream and syrup].

He loved this birthday party, too!

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I had a birday praty it was fun it was ethten and teegan and lemie’s [Liam’s] Birday. it had a Ball pip and a playhouse.

Traditions: This is us decorating the Christmas tree, complete with the reindeer on the top!

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  1. First, you refrost [defrost] in the refuregeer [refrigerator] and rehetets [preheat? reheated?] the oven.
  2. Next, you shod reed the directions. and ingredients.
  3. Then, you shod cook the turkey
  4. Finally, you can eat the turkey!

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His favorite thing? He likes to go shopping at Costco. “They have so much stuff.” Complete with the Halloween Cheetos display. (I’m guessing we had just been to Costco when this was assigned!)