Elf hats

The last week of class before Winter Break brought lots of activity and goodies. Zoe's class got elf hats.

Kindergarten artwork!

I love it.

This week we got to go into school and meet the kindergarten teachers for a status check.

Status: they are both recognizing letters and numbers at a level they are expected to be at by the end of the year. Reading. Doing well.  I guess we knew that based on what we see them do at home, but it's always nice to hear it, and it's nice to visit the place they spend their day and talk to their teachers.

And see some art work.

This one was outside Roman's classroom. Roman's teacher Ms. Z said he took his time with this one. 

She says she calls him the little scientist. And this Sunday morning when Zoe crawled in our bed and turned on PBS kids, I had to thank the Wild Kratts for that. 

It's truly amazing what they can learn on tv. 

I love PBS.

And I try to tell the kids that no matter how old you are, you can always learn. I like to learn.

It's always fun to see what they pick on library day at school. We see a lot of non-fiction, a lot of books about animals. Not that we always read them (bad momma), but we try.

And I love it when they tell me about what they learned. We were all amazed that they took a look at owl pellets this fall. Ms. Z said she had a hard time dragging Roman away from it.

In the hall Roman's class also had mittens, with all different kinds of symmetrical designs on them.

Dad thought this looked like a turtle...it does!

Ms. Zoe's reindeer was hung up in her room.

We got a peak at Zoe's journal too. Every morning they can start their day by drawing and writing in their journal. This to me is most precious, and a trip down memory lane.  She started her journal with a picture of me and her visiting the Barbie House at the Mall of America. A picture of us as a family at the ice cream shop (hey, that was a few months ago, I remember that). A picture of deer in our backyard (last week!).

Tis the Season

For warm drinks

And a cat in my new comfy chair!

Wicket!

Mike decorated our tree upstairs (all fancy!) and put it in one of his 'tree boxes' that he designed.

At the library

Roman and I have a good time perusing the library when Zoe has dance class. It was a brilliant idea to put a library in the community center, and it was a brilliant idea to start making small games available for use on-site in the library.  This last time we spent 20 or so minutes with the Magnetic Match Rings game. Maybe I was more amazed by magnetic properties, or at least the floating quality. Opposites attract - oh yeah, THAT'S where it comes from.

At the playground...

...the indoor playground with cousin Audrey.

At one point Zoe hit her head on some (padded) play equipment. A kiss still helps, although she kept shaking her head. She looked up at me with a concerned look and asked "Do you hear that rattling?"

No, Zoe. But you made me laugh.

Zoe's class

http://boboskindergartenblog.blogspot.com/2014/11/iam-thankful-for.html?m=1

I Am Thankful For…………..

food that God made.  (Aaron)

my mom and dad giving me pizza. (Aishlinn)

Henry.  (Abigail)

my mom. (Alex)

candy. (Austin)

a turkey. (Brady)

my mom and my house. (Charlene)

houses.  (Charley)

pilgrims. (David)

my friends. (Elianna)

by brother and my sisters. (Emilia)

my brother and sister. (Gabe)

Jesus. (Isabella)

my family. (Kilah)

food. (Kevin)

toys. (Lauren)

home. (Logan)

food. (Macallan)

my family. (Norse)

my friends. (Preston)

food. (Rex)

my mom and dad. (Rachel)

my mom and dad taking me to fun places. (Toby)

turkeys. (William)

pumpkin pie and my mom and dad. (Zoe)

an amazing class. (Mrs. Johnson )

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!                                              2014

I'll never tire of this

I love you with all of my hrt.

Cleaning up my digital mess of photos

And this is oh so appropriate. Should have put it on the Christmas card last year (with Dad photoshopped in).

We will miss you so much, Grandpa Jon

Last Tuesday night the world lost a great guy. Your grandpa Jon.

Eventually the words will come, but for now a few photos I found while peaking back in the blog...

Halloween!

Batgirl.

And our neighborhood Zombie Ninja, Matthew.

All dressed up for the party hosted by our neighbor.

An opportunity for the kids to show off their costumes.

Gavin, Matthew, Zoe, Gabe and Roman.

I think was the first time the kiddos took the responsibility for prepping and carving their own pumpkin.

Roman's. The classic.

He's already made suggestions for improvement next year.

Zoe and Roman's. 

Zoe's is a princess, complete with tiara and necklace.

And eyelashes.

Dressed for the party at school. 

Mermaid and Spiderman. Why stay consistent?!

I think we were all excited to trick or treat in our new neighborhood and when Matthew's mom asked if the 5 kids on the court wanted to do it together, we were in!

Matthew, Roman, Zoe, Gabe and Gavin.

Zoe's bus buddy Keira also ran into us as we started and joined the fun. 

It was cold. It afforded Zoe the opportunity to dress up as what she originally wanted to be: a witch. With a winter coat on the Hat was all that mattered. And the cape. It worked out. 

As you can see. Wow!

The candy. And Grandma Candy stayed and passed out candy while we were having fun going door to door.

The morning after. 

Without any sort of prompt he dumped his candy and started organizing it.

And when he had to take it off the table he put it in 3 bags: chocolate, fruity and sticky (this I think had two things: rice crispie bar and peanut butter blossom/taffy thing).

That's my boy.

Fall

 

with Audrey!

 

I sense something is missing....

...finally!

The tooth fairy didn't show the first night (again!), but a handwritten note did the trick.

The look on his face the next day when he saw what she brought was priceless. Roman's genuine smile (not always captured in photos).

That's a big, fat pumpkin

In Stillwater. 

This year.

Giant pumpkins. 

Zoe had to borrow my shades for the photo and I only got one without Roman shading his eyes with his hand because he was busy with the popcorn!

Gondola!

Jumping in leaves at Grandma's

I think neither were interested in doing so in our yard after I complained about the snakes.

Snakes!

Yuck!

That'll keep Grandma out of the yard too.