Monday, May 20, 2013

Narrative Summary

 Wednesday of last week we met with James and Audrey’s teacher for a few minutes before school so we could sign off on some papers, ask any questions we had, address any issues she had and get her written report of the their progress through out the year. When she gave me the papers I didn’t pay any attention to them; don’t ask questions. I myself am not sure as to why I do some of the things I do. Any way, I was cleaning up the weekend mess in the play room this morning and ran across the papers. I stopped to read it to see what it was and had to seriously hold back the tears. HOW HAD I MISSED THIS?????!!!!!

Audrey Grace:
1. Personal and Social Development
  *Audrey is such a sweet and special little girl. She has so much self confidence and self direction. Audrey has a desire to always learn more. She is not afraid to ask for help and always gets along well with the other children. Audrey si a big part of our class and is very caring of others.

2. Language and Literacy
 *Audrey listens well and can follow two and three step directions. She demonstrates knowledge of phonological awareness. Audrey speaks well and always uses expanded vocabulary when talking. She loves to read books and understands the concepts of print. She knows all her letters and can identify them when reading and with in the enviornment. Audrey has very nice handwriting and can write her name as well as other words. She enjoys the writing center.

3. Mathematical Thinking
 *Audrey is beginning to use simple strategies to solve mathematical problems. She knows all her numbers and can count. Audrey knows how to sort and make her own patterns. She knows her shapes and can recognize them within the environment. Audrey knows how to place objects in order and always participates in class measuring activities.

4. Scientific Thinking
 *Audrey is always asking questions and always using her senses for observing and exploring. She plays in the science center often and uses the science tools for investigating within the classroom. Audrey is now able to look at objects and make comparisons.

5. Social Studies
 *Audrey knows that people are different and can identify those differences. She understands about her family and the role everyone has. Audrey can tell about community helpers and can describe what is required of them. She does not pick the computer or ipad much at center time but does have knowledge about technology. Audrey knows why we have rules and demonstrates great examples of being a leader. She can look at and tell about things within the environment.

6. The Arts
 *Audrey always participates in group music, creative movement, and dances. She is such a joy to watch. She also enjoys art and likes to use a variety of material when creating. She has become very observant of the work of others and will make comments about it.

7. Physical Development and Health
 *Audrey has great gross motor skills. She can run, jump, and climb with ease. She also has great fine motor skills. She has hand strength to perform tasks. She has control of all writing, drawing, and art tools. Audrey can perform most self help skills and follow basic health and safety rules.

James Bryant:
1. Personal and Social Development
 *James is such a joy to have in our class. He has lots of self confidence and self direction. He follows class rules and is always eager to learn something new. He is a great leader and role model for some of our other students. James is not afraid to ask for help and always gets along well with other students. He is always participating in our class discussions and class activites. Our school day is never boring!!

2. Language and Literacy
 * James listens well and always follows instructions/ He can follow two and three step directions and knows and understands about phonological awareness. James speaks well and uses expanded vocabulary often. He looks at books often and comprehends and responds to stories that are read aloud. He knows his letters and can recognize them within the environment. I am so proud that he goes to the writing center more. He writes his name and can write words. He gets his S right when he takes his time and thinks about what he is doing :)

3. Mathematical Thinking
 *James knows his numbers and can count people and objects. He understands how to sort and can make and recognize patterns. James knows his shapes and can describe them. James can place items in order according to size and always participates in measuring activities. 

4. Scientific Thinking
 *James plays in the science center often and uses his senses to observe and explore inside and outside. he uses science tools for investigating and can make comparisons among objects.

5. Social Studies
 *James knows and understands about his family. He can describe others jobs and tell what is required of them to perform. He loves to play on the computer and and ipads and does understand about technology. James knows why we have rules and is a leader in the classroom. He is very observant and does know about where things are within the environment.

6. The Arts
 *James always participates in class music and dance. We look to James for some moves. He is very creative. He has become very interested in art and enjoys using different materials when creating something. He is such a sweet boy and is very observant of the work of others and will comment on it.

7. Physical Development and Health
 *James has great gross motor skills. He can run and jump with ease. He also has great fine motor skills.  James can hold pencils and crayons correctly and can write and color with control. James can perform most self help skills and follows most health and safety rules. 

I was brought to the brink of tears many times while reading their reports. What amazing children I have!! I am so proud of them and so thankful that the Lord has blessed them both with kind and caring spirits, a thirst for knowledge, and self confidence. I’ve missed my darlings and am very excited about the Summer and getting to spend some much needed quality down time with them. They have changed and grown so much over the course of the last 10 months. It will be good to have all my little chicks (including their father!!) under the same roof through out the course of our summer days!!








Thursday, May 16, 2013

Are they 5 or 15?

Yesterday James and Audrey got Olivia out of her highchair with out me knowing. I have no idea how they know how to get the tray off but obviously they do. I thought to my self  “Geez, are these kids 5 or 15 years old?”

This morning I had another one of those ‘thought moments’ when I went up stairs to get the twins up for school and Audrey and I were walking down stairs at the same time. That’s when I noticed a scratch on Audrey’s chin that I knew had not been there the night before. So I asked about it and this is how the conversation went: *note: she had a 'deer in headlights look but was trying hard not to look’ the entire time...

Me: Hey Audrey what happened to your chin?
Audrey: I got it at school yesterday. On the play ground.
Me: Noooo, you didn’t. It was not there last night.
Audrey: Yes huh. I tripped and fell yesterday on the play ground.
Me: Audrey, honey, don’t lie to me. Don’t make up a story. I know it was not there last night. Now, tell the truth. You got it when you were playing last night instead of laying in bed like you are supposed to, didn’t you?
Audrey who is still very hesitant: Uh-huh. Yes ma’am.
Me: *Gave her the whole speech about getting in more trouble for lying than telling the truth* Then asked her how it happened.
Audrey: I don’t remember. Really I don’t.
Me: *I just let it go and we went down stairs*

Fast forward a few minutes and we were all in my bathroom brushing teeth and I had the thought to ask James how Audrey got that scratch. Never thinking there was still more to this story. James automatically answers with: She got it on the play ground at school. I stopped dead in my tracks because it dawns on me that the whole play ground thing is a HUGE cover up story for something more than Audrey just being out of the bed when she should of been asleep. And my 5 year old children had schemed together to come up with a story and were sticking to it more than 8 hours later. I was flabbergasted and still am really.

So I said “James, tell the truth now. Audrey already told me that it happened last night upstairs.” The look on my son’s face was PRICELESS to say the least. He threw his hands up and looked at Audrey as if to say “Why did you cave??? We had a deal dude!!” Still, I was thinking it was Audrey’s cover up. But then I asked James what really happened, his body language immediately became that of someone who knew the gig was up and is about to loose it all. He says “I threw something at Audrey last night and it hit her on her chin. But I am really sorry about it and I told her last night how sorry I was.” I was still in shock that these kids who are supposed to be babies could come up with such a cover up, both stick to it and almost get away with it. But I proceeded to give them both a nice long speech about telling the truth and trust and all that jazz. And told them that this time I would let it slide but if it EVER, EVER, EVER happens again they will be in some kind of serious trouble.

The thing though that has me blown away the most is the fact that Audrey threw her self under the bus for her brother. The brother that out of anger threw something at her and hurt her. The brother that has a bad habit of getting physical when he gets angry. He talked her into lying to her mother to protect him when she was the one that had been wronged. I have heard him beg her to not tell on him before so I have a pretty good idea of how the whole thing went down. But still, here are these 5 year old children who were able to think cunningly enough to come up with a pretty believable story to try and save one of their behinds. Unfortunately for them what they do not realize yet is that their mother missed her calling as a crime scene investigator. If I could of gotten past the blood and overall grossness that those situations entail, I would have made a killer investigator. It always has driven Jon nuts that I am so observant just because he is not. But hopefully in years to come he will be grateful for it :) Also, I have a nose like a bloodhound so these children will never get away with coming home smelling like any thing other than how they smelled when they left.

All I can keep thinking is WOW!!! We have reached a new level in our parenting years. And they are only 5 so I better buckle up because these twins of mine are tighter than most siblings ever think about being.











Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Little Pink Toes

My baby girl had a first the other night; I painted her teeny tiny toe nails for the first time. It was so cute and so sweet that I am kicking my self for not having the video camera rolling. Ugh.

Any way, it was time to paint Audrey’s again and we tried to sneak off to my bathroom so Olivia wouldn’t get in the middle of it and make a mess but she was in a serious mama mood that night and had a melt down out side of my door. Not a fit either, a serious ‘I am heart broken because I need my mommy’ kind of melt down. So I let her in and much to my surprise she left the bottles alone. Instead she sat down next to us and scooted her chubby little feet into the mix and sweetly but assuredly stated ‘My tuwn pwease. Toes powish pwease.’ Well who could resist that? Not this soft old mama and not even Audrey who thought it was so cute she couldn’t stop giggling at her little sister!



It was fun to paint them and she did really well with not touching them until they were dry. I’m still shocked at how well she did but when I think about it she is almost 2 years old and is growing up. *SIGH* She was so stinkin cute afterwards about looking at them and showing them to every body that she even made her daddy talk in a seriously silly voice. I’m still laughing about that :)




Thursday, May 9, 2013

End of Year Program and a Few Random Facts

James and Audrey had their end of the year program Tuesday morning and man did they do GREAT!! All the kids did; no body got stage fright and they all used their super duper LOUD voices!! It was so much fun seeing them up on stage, performing with their friends. But at the same time it was surreal seeing them up there. I know they have been in school for almost 10 months but it’s still hard at times to believe they are as old as they are!!

They sang lots of songs and they each had a letter from the alphabet that stood for something that they got to say into the microphone. The twins did so well and I was so proud of them!! They really are some of the cutest kids alive. After their program we went to the pre-k play ground and ate pizza and cake and visited with friends. It was a good morning! And I am so proud of how well rounded my children seem to be. I just finished filling out the ticket order form for Audrey’s dance recital that will be on June 1st and I am so excited about that! Her costume is so pretty this year. Oh and we went to the dentist today and WOO HOO no cavities!!!!! The dentist did tell me that they don’t have any loose teeth right now but that should be happening with in the next year or so. I say BOO HOO to that.







Friday, May 3, 2013

Mr. Mizell

Who ever has been praying, KEEP PRAYING!! We’ve had 4 inquiry’s on the house this week after I blogged the other day. Well, technically we’ve had 5 but you can’t really count the one we had last night. She say “I bet dat light bill done be six or seven hundret dollar on a house dat big. Welllll, me an my son might gone come look at it.”

Any way, my husband informed me as he was walking out he door this morning that the middle school was having a dance this afternoon (weird, I know) and that the middle school teachers were dressing up in strange costumes and surprising the students with a dance of their own to get things going. I frantically raced around trying to find someone to come sit with Olivia and I did, thank goodness. Because in 6 years this was the first time Jon remembered to tell me about something he was doing at school BEFORE the fact and I wasn’t gonna miss it!

Needless to say, the crowd went WILD when the music started! This is one of the many reasons I fell in love with Jon pretty much at first sight 12 years ago!! He KNOWS how to have a good time and he has this incredible ability to make people laugh. Really laugh. Oh and I might add to this post that my dear husband was voted TEACHER OF THE YEAR for Whigham School this year. SO proud and SO thankful for him.