Happy Spring world! I only have a couple things I want to put here before I forget. #1, Thomas' school conference... he is maxed out in his reading, his teacher has tested him as high as he can go in first grade. He wants to read The Lightning Thief... he just finished Diary of a Wimpy Kid. That boy can READ! He can even read a book we have called The Universe which is full of scientific descriptions of stars and other things in the universe. It's awesome. He is a very intuitive reader. He also is at the top of the class in math (and considering his teacher thought he needed math help at the beginning of the year, I found that to be a nice amusement for myself). His area he needs to work on? Following class rules and keeping his desk neat. Yes, I think those will be following him the rest of his life. One other note about Thomas... we were sitting at the table eating dinner the other night and I asked him what will happen when someday Glee doesn't want to play with him, when she wants just to have her own friends? He looked me square in the eye and said "I will love her no matter what." I asked what if she wants to marry another boy and go live without us and he said that would never happen, and then she said no way, never happen. Man I love those kids.
Glee got named to honor roll again this trimester. She had all A's and one B on her report card. I have to say I am super proud of her too. She rolls with the punches and does her work without fail. I don't even have to sit with her for homework anymore, she just does it! Her weakest subject... handwriting. I say so what on that one. She will never be judged on her handwriting after third grade, so I told her as long as she does her best, I don't care what grade the teacher gives her on that. By the way, she is often marked off for her "j"'s which will be amusing to you all.
We are off to a wedding at the end of May... IN ENGLAND!!! We bought our tickets and we will be gone for 10 days. All of us are just a little excited...
Friday, April 2, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Krycek 1996-2010
Our much beloved cat died yesterday. She had kidney failure and a terrible heart murmur. She was at least 15 years old, because she wasn't a kitten when we got her, but she wasn't much older than that. We got her our when we got our first apartment as a married couple, on PCH. She was a rescue cat, and I remember the day we got her. We went in to the pet store and there was a ring of chairs set up. They just sort of let the cats go in the ring of chairs. We sat down in chairs and she walked over to us and jumped up on me. Like she chose us. The lady who was there with the cats said she never went to anyone, so she must have known we would be her family.
One of my first times I was ever really afraid for someone I loved, it was kitty. She had jumped up on the roof of our apartment and I was afraid she would get hurt coming down. I actually asked Wayne to climb up and get her. And he did. Little did I know that cat could climb anything. We used to play with her in the front yard on PCH, with a stick, and she would chase it. One time, after a particularly active play session she sat there panting like a dog. It cracked us up.
She moved with us to Wayne's mom's house for the year we lived there saving up for our own house. She was an indoor cat there, and in Gardena when we bought our first house. She laid on my lap while I was pregnant with Glee and then Thomas, claiming them as her own children. She slept in their cribs (no matter what I did).
She moved with us to Torrance, and right now, our house feels like someone is missing. Not like she is just out for the day, but like she is gone. A warmth has left here. The kids keep hearing her collar, and her footsteps on the stairs. I see her shadow out of the corner of my eye. She is not gone, but her body is. I am really sad about this. Losing a pet is harder than I expected. We cling to the ghost, saying she would never leave us, she will always be here.
When we first moved here the kids would often have to go upstairs by themselves to get ready for bed.One of the ways they felt safe was knowing that kitty was up there to scare away any monsters. That's what cats do you know, they scare away monsters. Monsters HATE cats. They are horribly afraid of them. It hasn't come up yet, maybe because Krycek's spirit is still here, but what will happen now. Can the monsters get in? I don't know the answer to that one yet.
I will miss her warm fur, her little meow which wasn't even a meow, more of a mmew with her mouth closed. It was her way of telling me she was okay. I would ask her "you okay?" and she would say "mmew." We all miss the kitty kisses and the meowing at the door to let her out. I wonder if I should tell the punker girl who always stopped to pet her that she was moved on. I wonder if she will miss our cat.
One of my first times I was ever really afraid for someone I loved, it was kitty. She had jumped up on the roof of our apartment and I was afraid she would get hurt coming down. I actually asked Wayne to climb up and get her. And he did. Little did I know that cat could climb anything. We used to play with her in the front yard on PCH, with a stick, and she would chase it. One time, after a particularly active play session she sat there panting like a dog. It cracked us up.
She moved with us to Wayne's mom's house for the year we lived there saving up for our own house. She was an indoor cat there, and in Gardena when we bought our first house. She laid on my lap while I was pregnant with Glee and then Thomas, claiming them as her own children. She slept in their cribs (no matter what I did).
She moved with us to Torrance, and right now, our house feels like someone is missing. Not like she is just out for the day, but like she is gone. A warmth has left here. The kids keep hearing her collar, and her footsteps on the stairs. I see her shadow out of the corner of my eye. She is not gone, but her body is. I am really sad about this. Losing a pet is harder than I expected. We cling to the ghost, saying she would never leave us, she will always be here.
When we first moved here the kids would often have to go upstairs by themselves to get ready for bed.One of the ways they felt safe was knowing that kitty was up there to scare away any monsters. That's what cats do you know, they scare away monsters. Monsters HATE cats. They are horribly afraid of them. It hasn't come up yet, maybe because Krycek's spirit is still here, but what will happen now. Can the monsters get in? I don't know the answer to that one yet.
I will miss her warm fur, her little meow which wasn't even a meow, more of a mmew with her mouth closed. It was her way of telling me she was okay. I would ask her "you okay?" and she would say "mmew." We all miss the kitty kisses and the meowing at the door to let her out. I wonder if I should tell the punker girl who always stopped to pet her that she was moved on. I wonder if she will miss our cat.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
It's been a while...
We made it through the end of 2009 with little drama, lots of happy and well, just general good cheer.
Christmas was fun this year. Kids got a telescope from dad... he got it from work as a 15 year award or something like that. He decided he didn't need a watch or another clock, and the telescope is awesome. We have seen a blue moon and a full wolf moon, along with various stars and maybe even a couple of planets. This is the year Glee gets to study the Solar System and space... and I took the telescope to school last week to show the kids what a telescope is. Apparently, according to the teacher, all of the kids except Glee had never seen a working telescope. Hmm.
This was the Christmas of arts and crafts. Glee got a sewing machine, and she has made a ton of pillows already. She has one other project to finish, a skirt she made by herself that just needs to be hemmed. Thomas got a car design kit, with a working light box that he uses to design his own hot wheels. Lots of markers, coloring books and crafts were left by Santa too. We had a small group for Christmas this year, and I cooked the usual prime rib. It was mouthwatering to say the least... hardly any leftovers even thought I cooked 15lbs!
Then we made it through January... we had some awesome rain storms, a weeks worth of rain, and spent MLK Day splashing through puddles at the high school. It was tons of fun, Glee and Thomas had a blast, and I took lots of photos.
So, the updates... Glee earned Honor Roll... that's for your whole report card having nothing lower than a B. She had all A's except for a B in Spelling. Good report card! Thomas' was awesome too, only thing checked on his was that he needs to work on not wandering around the classroom so much. He has a tendency to forget what he got out of his seat for. That's okay, I do that a lot too! Thomas has passed his math facts to 12, and now his math tests are all vertical questions, that's the big leap in first grade! So much for needing help in math. He's practically a math savant! Really though, there are only two kids ahead of him in his class in math. His spelling is really good too, and his printing is looking fantastic. He is doing great. Glee is now on her divides 7, which means she has gone through the multiplication tables and is almost through the division. I had to teach her long division for some problems they got that were problems for estimating. It made me mad. The teacher told them they should guess at the answer. You don't guess at math. So I taught her long division so she could get the correct answer. Her teacher was annoyed, but I didn't care. Glee is also learning handwriting (cursive) and her teacher will mark the paper wrong if you write a letter in cursive that you haven't technically learned yet. So there are letters in Glee's name she is not "allowed" to handwrite. I say too bad. Her handwriting is really lovely, she does a good job on it!
So there we go... all caught up. Oh, the last thing, I hurt my back in January so bad that I had to make my first visit to a chiropractor. Wow, what have I been missing! The doc made a huge difference... I have still been having trouble... I need to stretch more, but at least I can walk. There was a day or two where I couldn't hardly stand up. It was horrible. I need to start yoga so I don't get old so fast!
Happy 2010 everyone...
we are in the midst of planning our trip to the UK for my cousin's daughter's wedding. We are so excited and happy to have been invited, and I am really excited about seeing my dearest cousin again soon. We set up the computers to talk via Skype, so we are keeping up on the latest news there.
Christmas was fun this year. Kids got a telescope from dad... he got it from work as a 15 year award or something like that. He decided he didn't need a watch or another clock, and the telescope is awesome. We have seen a blue moon and a full wolf moon, along with various stars and maybe even a couple of planets. This is the year Glee gets to study the Solar System and space... and I took the telescope to school last week to show the kids what a telescope is. Apparently, according to the teacher, all of the kids except Glee had never seen a working telescope. Hmm.
This was the Christmas of arts and crafts. Glee got a sewing machine, and she has made a ton of pillows already. She has one other project to finish, a skirt she made by herself that just needs to be hemmed. Thomas got a car design kit, with a working light box that he uses to design his own hot wheels. Lots of markers, coloring books and crafts were left by Santa too. We had a small group for Christmas this year, and I cooked the usual prime rib. It was mouthwatering to say the least... hardly any leftovers even thought I cooked 15lbs!
Then we made it through January... we had some awesome rain storms, a weeks worth of rain, and spent MLK Day splashing through puddles at the high school. It was tons of fun, Glee and Thomas had a blast, and I took lots of photos.
So, the updates... Glee earned Honor Roll... that's for your whole report card having nothing lower than a B. She had all A's except for a B in Spelling. Good report card! Thomas' was awesome too, only thing checked on his was that he needs to work on not wandering around the classroom so much. He has a tendency to forget what he got out of his seat for. That's okay, I do that a lot too! Thomas has passed his math facts to 12, and now his math tests are all vertical questions, that's the big leap in first grade! So much for needing help in math. He's practically a math savant! Really though, there are only two kids ahead of him in his class in math. His spelling is really good too, and his printing is looking fantastic. He is doing great. Glee is now on her divides 7, which means she has gone through the multiplication tables and is almost through the division. I had to teach her long division for some problems they got that were problems for estimating. It made me mad. The teacher told them they should guess at the answer. You don't guess at math. So I taught her long division so she could get the correct answer. Her teacher was annoyed, but I didn't care. Glee is also learning handwriting (cursive) and her teacher will mark the paper wrong if you write a letter in cursive that you haven't technically learned yet. So there are letters in Glee's name she is not "allowed" to handwrite. I say too bad. Her handwriting is really lovely, she does a good job on it!
So there we go... all caught up. Oh, the last thing, I hurt my back in January so bad that I had to make my first visit to a chiropractor. Wow, what have I been missing! The doc made a huge difference... I have still been having trouble... I need to stretch more, but at least I can walk. There was a day or two where I couldn't hardly stand up. It was horrible. I need to start yoga so I don't get old so fast!
Happy 2010 everyone...
we are in the midst of planning our trip to the UK for my cousin's daughter's wedding. We are so excited and happy to have been invited, and I am really excited about seeing my dearest cousin again soon. We set up the computers to talk via Skype, so we are keeping up on the latest news there.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Field Trip
I forgot to mention, I got to go on a field trip with Glee's class to the California Science Center and Imax theatre. Lots of fun. In her class there are 8 kids, four boys and four girls. They are called the GATE cluster, higher achieving kids. The other 12 kids in her class are 2nd grade (she's 3rd). Those kids really are a different level than the other third graders. Very strange. They stick together too. One of the boys in her class, named Kevin, plays an online game called Maplestory. He told Glee about and now her, Thomas and I all have characters. She was playing the other day when a character came up to her and called her by her real name. It freaked me out a little. Here is my 8 year old playing an online game with a boy from her school, all virtually... and it was an amazing thing to me. Our technology is a major thing, it has really evolved. Computers barely existed when I was 8 and it wasn't until I was 16 that you could "go online." Here she is communicating with a school friend in the virtual world. It blows my mind. Just think what her life will be like if she is doing this at 8!
The Turtle
My whole family is visiting right now, they have been here almost a week and will be here through the weekend. It's been interesting. I wouldn't say fun (although there have been fun moments) and I wouldn't say good (although there have been some good moments), but I realized a lot about my family that I hadn't realized before and I am grateful for the lessons. I need to learn the lessons.
We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific and for a bunch of people from Colorado they sure weren't as impressed with ocean stuff and I think I would have been. I guess they are all just fish, but still. We stopped at one exhibit and they had a monitor above it showing what happens when sea life gets caught in fishing nets, sort of a promo for eating fish caught in a safe manner I guess. I got nervous, glancing over at Glee when they showed the dolphins stuck in the nets, but she didn't seem to notice. There were other animals trapped as well, and suddenly I felt a thump against my legs and waist and it was Thomas. My poor Thomas. He was weeping, because he saw a sea turtle stuck by the neck in the fishing net. He said he never wanted to see anything that horrible again in his whole life and he was crying, seriously. So I hugged him, a lot, and told him we had a responsibility as humans to take care of the animals in the world and maybe someday something he does will help save the sea turtles. He felt a little better, but still sad. So, when it came time to go he checked out the animals in the gift shop and got himself a little gray sea turtle he brought home to live with his turtle entourage. He named the little guy OJ (his name and Jr... you all know what I mean). It was really sweet, and OJ is now friends with Turtle, Little Hawaii, Little Sewy, Bill, Ben, Thomas, and Torbadice (he made that last one up all on his own...), along with a few others I don't know there names.
My sweet boy, my sweet sweet boy. This Friday is his turn to lead the craft at cub scouts. He wants to do leaf rubbings, so we will.
We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific and for a bunch of people from Colorado they sure weren't as impressed with ocean stuff and I think I would have been. I guess they are all just fish, but still. We stopped at one exhibit and they had a monitor above it showing what happens when sea life gets caught in fishing nets, sort of a promo for eating fish caught in a safe manner I guess. I got nervous, glancing over at Glee when they showed the dolphins stuck in the nets, but she didn't seem to notice. There were other animals trapped as well, and suddenly I felt a thump against my legs and waist and it was Thomas. My poor Thomas. He was weeping, because he saw a sea turtle stuck by the neck in the fishing net. He said he never wanted to see anything that horrible again in his whole life and he was crying, seriously. So I hugged him, a lot, and told him we had a responsibility as humans to take care of the animals in the world and maybe someday something he does will help save the sea turtles. He felt a little better, but still sad. So, when it came time to go he checked out the animals in the gift shop and got himself a little gray sea turtle he brought home to live with his turtle entourage. He named the little guy OJ (his name and Jr... you all know what I mean). It was really sweet, and OJ is now friends with Turtle, Little Hawaii, Little Sewy, Bill, Ben, Thomas, and Torbadice (he made that last one up all on his own...), along with a few others I don't know there names.
My sweet boy, my sweet sweet boy. This Friday is his turn to lead the craft at cub scouts. He wants to do leaf rubbings, so we will.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
