Monday, September 22, 2014

Happy 6th Birthday!

SIX? How has that happened?


Hello Zoe!


Everything is awesome
(even if it's a 'bad cop' looking Lego guy)


A little celebrating with family: Grandma and Grandpa B, Andy, Laura and Audrey (almost 1!), Uncle Dave and Grandma Candy (who spent the night last night....you were so excited).


Miss Audrey is next to celebrate :)

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Zoe' Creations


Hermit crabs in the Specialist's room.
"The hermit crab got out of it's shell. And that yellow piece right there is the Batman symbol. And that's the woodchips, and the top of the tank. And that's its two eyes."
Anything else?
"I smelled the wet wood chips...and it smelled a little bit not good."

Twice a day they go with another teacher to do a variety of things: art, science, gym, the library. All very exciting.



Monkey!
A test in cutting skills I think.

But adorable.


Mystery bag. What is this Zo?
I got a blue whistle. 
Sure enough.


Wicket (our cat), Marble (the turtle, on the ground), Roman (with blue fairy wings), Daddy with our goldfish balancing on his head, Mommy, Zoe.


Mommy and Daddy, with a bird in the air and a squirrel on the ground.



This is a school bus.



"That's just stuff that I wanted to put on the piece of paper."
"Rex told me this was sloppy...he's not very nice."
That darn Rex. Forever in mama bear's radar as the boy who criticized my angel's work ;)


Zoe had Pete the Cat too. Pete got some pink and purple boots (fabulous!)


Zoe made this turtle on the first day of school (oops., she just pointed out his back leg was missing). She took it out and promptly gave it to Roman. What a sweetie.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Roman's Masterpieces


I mostly like the writing. I love their writing and how they space their letters. Roman's is typically more tightly spaced and regimented. Not in this example, of course. But in the past I was more accustomed to seeing Zoe's words because she got in a writing groove, and home came Roman's and it was....different. I like that. Unique styles each.
And the frog drawing is awesome.


Seed/Bean art. Minnesota State Fair exhibit, here we come.


Very nice.
backwards a. That always gets me - the backward letters. Last year Roman had some writings where the whole word was backward and read right to left. I think it was his name. I wondered if it was a mirror trick, or if he did it on purpose. "No."
The mind is an amazing thing.
I suppose that letters are just symbols that we've decided mean something, so why not backward? Which makes it even more amazing to me that all these lines and curves on the screen mean something.
Orange shirt. Roman and Dad love the orange.


This, I was told last night as I was taking pictures is "a masterpiece".
There you go.
And something about the porcupine's butt. Mom rolled her eyes, made a dismissive "Roman...." and we moved on.


Observation skills.
"I observed that snails have moss on their shell."
"I observed the brown stuff was snail poop."
"I observed you can actually see snails move. I thought that you couldn't see snails move 'cause lots of books they tell you that you can't even see them move, but you can."

check.
I wish _I_ was in kindergarten.


Both Roman and Zoe were SO excited to ride the bus this year, and it's still going well. They spent their 2nd week talking about buses and bus safety and the like.
I'm told the other passengers are the white cat from Pete the Cat and Pete the Cat. This is a book series they've been reading in class.


Thus...Roman/Pete the Cat.


Roman's room has a frog theme. He brought this home one day. 
Zoe just asked 'how did you paint the frog?'
"Water paint...and you know how I did the back?  Oil pistols."
Apparently oil pistols are like an 'oily crayon.'

Friday, September 19, 2014

Parent Night at school


A list of all the kids in the school. Traditional names? Some. But some not so much. Mike and Mary selected something not so Mike and Mary, and so have a lot of parents.



Look, apples!


With birthdays coming up. 


We saw this on the way in.
We laughed.


And the sign explained the face.


Tee hee.


Zoe decorated herself by her coat hook. Long hair, big smile and eyelashes. That's our girl.
They are bringing home a lot of drawings and such, and I keep thinking I need to take pictures and post. Trying to catch up. It was a busy week as Roman started gymnastics and Zoe started dance class. And we signed Roman up for Scouts. He'll be a Lion. If he sticks with it he'll then be a Tiger.

Lion. Tiger. Bear? Oh my, no, that's later. Too bad.





Sunday, September 14, 2014

Fall?!


A stop at Victoria Valley Orchard for some apples and a stroll in the orchard.


Kind of nice to go to a place that just does apples.


Thursday, September 11, 2014

Wow, I am so behind

I've lost my system (and that's okay).
Take photos with real camera. Sit down and download. Organize (folderize). Crop. Save. Upload. Write. Publish. Burn a disc once and awhile.  It's demise started with the smart phone (more than 2 years ago) and was escalated by the disappearance of free time in a day.
So, I need to define a new normal.
New normal:
Living in a quiet neighborhood, where the kids can go out and play by themselves (that was a tremendous "oh wow" moment), or more likely with their new neighborhood friends (Matthew and Gabe). It's made me realize that we aren't going to have them 'for ourselves' much longer, not really. So when they're driving me insane with their clinging and their demands for attention (in whatever form it manifests itself), I need to remember that our focused you-are-my-everything time with the little ones is dwindling.

OH MY!
But, we're not their yet.
My best attempt of photographic proof of that the last two months existed:


...checking out a local park....


...checking out the local beach...



....checking out the new school....

...Waiting anxiously and excitedly for the bus on the first day of school...



And, I am told that Zoe, Roman and Gabe all sit together in the same seat now (after the first day). Gabe is in Zoe's class too.




Courtesy of Ms. Johnson.