Share and Tell

Every Friday at Ryan's pre-school, he has Show and Tell. Its the highlight of his week. He often calls it "Share and Tell," because, as Ryan puts it, you have to share whatever toy you bring in with your friends.

This week, we had homework attached to Share and Tell. We had to make a Ryan Bag, and then fill it with 3-5 items that are of special value to Ryan.

Some of the photos he selected, and I couldn't talk him out of putting them on the bag. Like the ones of him opening Christmas presents two years ago. Once he found them in the picture box, there was no persuading him that those pictures weren't really representative of "Ryan."

The front of the bag. Ryan at age 1, and at 4, holding Mimi.

The back of the bag: the family page. With a Christmas photo.

Ryan's activity side: soccer and cooking. I didn't have a swimming picture printed, and he moved the TaeKwonDo picture with another Christmas one, so its not exactly the activity side as listed in the assignment, but, well...

The pets side. We only have Romeo, so he thought it was appropriate to also use a big mouse picture, too. ;)

And the contents of the bag: R2-D2; Green Lantern; Iron Man; a Time Improvement "America" ribbon from swim team; the medal he received from playing soccer with the Roly-Polys last spring; and a Lego "ship" he designed and built, and stuck a Clone Trooper Lego on (we have so many of these around the house, its crazy).

It was a bit of a battle as to what went inside the bag. Ryan just wanted to put in some superhero toys, since that is what he wanted to play with today. I explained over and over what the meaning of the contents were, but he just wasn't processing that fact. Sigh.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

This summer, Carl and I had set a reading goal for Alex. He had been excited about the 'Magic Treehouse' books, so I found a special on a set of the first 16 of them. The goal was to get through basically one Treehouse book each week during the summer.

This failed miserably.

Every time I suggested Alex read a book, he would groan and moan and act like I'd ask him to change the cat box. He liked to read in the evening, which we've always done. But anytime we'd try and vary from the predestined reading hour, it was like pulling teeth. And God forbid we ask him to do the reading, as opposed to us reading to him. I couldn't understand it. Carl and I both LOVE to read. We read obsessively.  We both average about 2-3 books a week. Why weren't our children picking up this love for books?

We tried reading time, where all four of us would sit together in the living room with our own books and read to our ourselves. Didn't work.

We tried blackmail, offering one minute of video game time for each minute spent reading. Didn't work. Alex even complained incessantly that the ten minutes of reading went on FOREVER, whereas the ten minutes of game time had barely even started before it was over.


So last Saturday, I took the boys to Barnes and Noble, and told them they could buy any book they wanted, but they had to read it.

Ryan chose the Clone Wars Encyclopedia. Which is rather perfect for him, since he can't really read words yet, but can read the pictures quite well.



He was quite excited to see a word he knew on the cover. "The." He happily exclaimed, "I know this word, Mama!"

Alex wanted to buy 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid.'  I looked through it, and while I wasn't the happiest with the subject matter, I was willing to give it a try.



This was last Saturday.

And something... magical happened.

Alex started to read. On his own. Voluntarily.

He made sure the book was in his backpack every day, so that he could read it at the YMCA aftercare. He asked to stay up late so he could keep reading.

Wednesday night, one hour after we tucked him in, I saw his light was still on. And I found him like this:

Still. Reading.

Thursday night, he finished 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid. All 200+ pages of it.

On Friday, we went and bought Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2, 3 and 4.

He started reading #2 on the way home.

I owe Jeff Kinney a tremendous amount of thanks and gratitude. He finally got Alex to love to read by himself. I'm so happy I'm even overlooking the occasional bad word (for a 1st grader) in the books.

Pack 149, Den 7

Den 7, Pack 149 of the Tiger Cub Scouts was called to order on Monday, August 30, 2010.

It was the first official meeting for the newly formed Den 7, although we've already participated in three activities over the summer.

The boys were given their Cub Scout Handbooks, and they actually had to sign for their books. I think this might be the first time Alex has ever signed for anything!

 

Den Leader Danger Daddy did a great job. 

 He taught the boys the Cub Scout Promise:

I, ___________, promise to do my best

To do my duty to God and my country,

To help other people, and

To obey the Law of the Pack.

They talked about what this promise meant, and what the words of the promise meant. They learned about Wolf Ears, and how Cub Scouts hold their hands when saying the Pledge of Allegiance. We had to bring the flag inside the house so that we would be able to properly say the Pledge, but apparently, Scouts can use the patch on their shirts if all else fails.

The fun activity for this meeting was to make their own Tigers out of paper plates.

 

No one wanted to leave when it was over, so I think it was a big success. 

Next up: popcorn sales. Let me know how many boxes you want. ;)

Invitations

I've spent way too much time worrying about invitations for Alex's birthday party. I decided to send out evites this year. I don't think Alex has received a non-evite invitation in well over a year. Since starting kindergarten, certainly. Its how most people send things out. Even Ryan seems to get most of his invites via evite, even when the parents don't even have our email addresses. They find us, somehow.

Sooo... I caved, and evite actually has one that is *somewhat* superhero-ish, the theme for his party this year

It looks like this:

So I'm sending this out to his friends, rather than snail mailing or hand delivering his invites.

But as much as I love the ease of evites, and the fact that is more environmentally friendly, as well as mommy time friendly and bank account friendly, I finally decided I couldn't live without a hard copy to put in his scrapbook.

So I made these up at Shutterfly:

And I love them so much more than my evite. Much, much more. 

I really wish evite had a way to allow you to upload your own design. You can upload one main image, but its not the same thing, in my expert party planning opinion. And I know, probably no one obsesses the way I do about these things, but still... its just so much nicer having a lovely actually paper invitation.

Danger Carts

At our last visit to Home Depot, neither boy wanted to ride in the Mommy cart which was going to the plants section of the big orange box. They preferred to go with Daddy to get some wood cut.

My feelings were a bit hurt.

When I rejoined Team Danger, I discovered the allure of shopping with Daddy. He lets the boys ride on "Danger Carts."

And I thought I was living on the wild side letting them in my cart even though they now exceed the height and weight limits listed.

First Week of School

Digging around in Alex's new backpack tonight, I found a piece of paper folded up about 18 times.

Unfolding it was like opening a Christmas present.

For once I had it completely, 100% unfolded, it became clear that this was a note Alex wrote to us sometime last week. Most likely on the first day of school.

I pressed it for a few hours, to try and flatten it as best as possible.

This is what the end result looks like:

It was worth the wait.

Tonight was also significant in that it was the first time Ryan has had homework.

He was so excited to come home with his homework folder. If he brings back his completed work tomorrow, not only does he get a sticker, but even more exciting, he will get to visit the beloved treasure chest.

So while Alex read his Neil Armstrong book from this week's book bag, Ryan and I did his homework.

He was particularly proud of his little "a"s in his name.

As was I.

A new apple tree

Team Danger hereby pledges to purchase, transport, install and maintain a new apple tree for Safety Mommy.

RIP, Golden Dorset Apples

I've officially given up on my apple tree.

This was its third summer. The first year, it just grew and seemed to be doing pretty well.

Last year, it actually produced some apples.

Some critters (squirrels, I assume) ate any apples before I could pick them. But at least they were there.

This year, it was green for a bit. But no apples ever grew.

And now it looks like this.

I'm going to dig it up this weekend.

Good night, sweet apples. I would have liked to have known thee well.

On a plus note in my garden, my passion vine has started blooming. Its finicky, and only comes up in late summer. Its not snaking around my tree very well, preferring instead to take over the rosemary and other nearby plants. But I love waking up and finding the flowers in my backyard.

My Little Black Belt

This past Friday, August 20, Alex received his Black Belt in TaeKwonDo.

We had a bunch of family in attendance: my mom, Sandie, my aunt, Cheryl, and my grandmother, Bebe; Carl's sister Elaine, her husband Drew, and our nephew, Connor; and Carl's cousin, Staci, and her daughter, Bailey.

Because this was such a special event, I didn't take photos during the ceremony, opting instead to video the event. First up was Ryan, receiving his Tiger Cub Blue Belt. He was still a bit under the weather, but he still managed to pull through for the ceremony. Next up, Carl received his Senior Red Belt. Next stop for him is his own Black Belt. Both of these new beltings I taped perfectly.

And finally, our six year old became one of the youngest Black Belts ever at his school. They called his name, and BEEP.

My battery died.

So, no video of Alex receiving his Black Belt from Mr. Aherne.

No video of Alex receiving his Black Belt certificate.

No video of the nice speech Carl made to Alex, expressing how proud of him he was.

I'm hoping someone else ended up with some photos I might be able to use. But since Bailey was taking pictures for her mom, Elaine was busy with Connor, and my mom and Cheryl are still pretty new to digital cameras, I'm not holding my breath.

I took a few photos afterwards to try and make up for the lost ceremony memories, but ... sigh... they will live on only in our mental memories.

We celebrated at home afterwards with some cake and pizza, and then the kids (including Noel and Tati) went for a night swim before deciding to move the party indoors and entertaining us with their dancing.

That part, at least, was a stellar success.

First Day of First Grade

Today was Alex's first day with his new class for first grade. I can't write that it was his first day in his new classroom, because his new first grade class with Ms. Stading is in the exact same classroom that his old kindergarten class with Ms. Gittinger was in. He's happy enough with that fact, though, because "I already know where to go and I won't get lost."

This was also Ryan's first day back at preschool after his tonsillectomy. He is in a new classroom, as well, with a new teacher, Ms. Pam. He's in what Country Home calls their "private kindergarten." Its meant for the older kids, like Alex, who just miss the September 1 cut-off. But we were so pleased with Alex's experience there that we did our best to get Ryan signed up for it, as well. He was also happy to be going back, and of course, Mimi also started back up at Country Home.

My alarm went off at 6am, and then Alex woke up at 6:15 a.m. But he told us it didn't go off for long, because he was already awake and dressed. He was ready to go back to school! Either that, or he was really nervous. But he said it was because he was so excited.

Carl took requests for breakfast. Alex wanted three (!) eggs and bacon. Ryan wanted mini-pancakes. I wanted Diet Coke.

Then it was off to Spicewood.

Alex will start taking the bus tomorrow morning, but on the first day, even though they don't want you to walk them to their rooms, we do. It was a big difference from when we walked him in to class for the first day of kindergarten. There was total silence in the classroom. All the children were sitting at their tables, doing a worksheet. They went in, hung up their bags, and sat down. What I wouldn't give for that kind of power at home.

Keeping Ryan Occupied

TGFN.

Thank God for Netflix.

Especially Netflix's "Watch Instantly" feature which is hooked up to the TV via the PS3.

And thanks to the Netflix Gods who came up with the sheer brilliant idea to load up the three seasons worth of Backyardigans episodes. At roughly sixteen episodes per season, I have forty-eight episodes ready to start within seconds. We only have three saved on the DVR, and if I hear the "Robot on the Rampage" songs once again, I might lose it. But with Netflix, he can watch "Surf's Up," "Racing Day," "Escape from Fairytale Village," and so many, many more.

Oh, and thanks to the Netflix Gods who grant unlimited access to the Watch it Instantly shows. Way back in the days, we were once limited to something like 20 hours per month of watching instantly. TGFN those days are over!

Other than watching Backyardigans, Ryan has been playing with LEGOs. Shocking, I know.

We've also discovered a shortage in Play-dough in the house, but thanks to an emergency run to Target, we now have twenty-four full size cans in a rainbow of colors.

And he's been coloring and drawing.

This one is my favorite. I think its quite good for a 4.5 year old.

At first I thought the two people were sleeping. But no. That's Alex on the left, and I'm on the right.

Ryan is flying up above his ship, at the top of the picture, in the center.

We've run out of his pain meds, but fortunately, we have one refill. I was a bit afraid I might run out in the middle of the night. When he wakes up at three am, screaming, its never a good thing, and it takes forever to calm him back down and get back to sleep. 

In other news, while Ryan has been convalescing, Alex is at gymnastics camp this week, with his friend Carson. Its at the Capital Gymnastics in Avery Ranch, further away from our house, but its such a nicer facility than the one close to us, I've stopped complaining. Even Alex is happier with it than the one on McNeil, and I don't think its just because Carson is there, either. Its huge - almost three times as big as the one we've been to in the past.

Cleaning

While Ryan has been re-cooperating this week, I've been working at home. And in typical Annalynn fashion, before I could start working, I needed to clean off my desk.And reorganize the home office. So I've dusted, disinfected, and gathered up numerous bags of items to go to Goodwill.


But I'm still left with two disturbingly large boxes of miscellaneous artwork and schoolwork created by Team Danger over the past year. I went ahead and purged the bulk of the worksheets, as well as the random daily drawings of  spaceships and Star Wars figures.

And yet, I'm not even breaking the ice on the amount of hand crafted, drawn , and painted goodies.

Alex spent two weeks in art camp this summer, and I have an entire box of items just dedicated to his creations there. That doesn't even include all the items we've already placed out on display, like the two liter bottle of magic potion, his dragon wings and tail, his shield, and his chalice.

 Here is Alex holding his magic potion, and wearing his wings.

And then there was this one ...

Trash, you might think to yourself.

Ah, but you would be wrong.

This is ... a dragon.

A dragon I was told we could not throw out.

I mean, seriously... where on earth does a parent keep this kind of thing??