The Royal Blog

12/18/09

12/16/09

E2, showing off her mad bar skillz during her last mini stars class:

E1's mani - three hours of gymnastics right after the manicure made some of the polish wear off:

  
 

12/10/09

12/09/09

12/04/09

12/01/09

11/30/09

While I was waiting to pick E1 up from school, I decided to call the ped's office and see if they could fit her in for an H1N1 shot.  They could, so we went.  E1 wanted me to take a picture of her arm, and let me know several times that the shot really, really hurt. 

 

Why E1 still believes in Santa

* B & I couldn't possibly eat all those cookies ourselves.  (And she was serious. I thought "Hello? Are you new here?"  but said "That's because you don't put out Oreos.")

* There's soot in front of the fireplace every Christmas morning. (I said "I know - like I'd make more work for myself and do something I'd have to clean up!")

* No offense, but Santa's presents are a lot more expensive than what we buy her.  (Bless her heart, she thinks the phone she got last year - and hasn't used since March - costs about what a laptop costs. Which she wants (laptop).  If Santa can give her a phone, he can certainly make a laptop for her.  "Yeah, well, Santa's noticed you don't take very good care of your things.")

* She wants a Blackberry.  (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.)

11/23/2009

11/20/09: Ladies in Red

I thought about reminding E1 and Z to wear OSU shirts today but never got around to it.  Coincidentally, all the kids ended up wearing red today.

 
 

11/19/09

11/17/09

11/16/09

And look who lost a tooth last night!

11/12/09

Early release day, hooray!  So now we're watching Tabatha's Salon Takeover!

11/11/09

Progress Report: Grade 5, Quarter 1 11/10/09

Grade/Achievement

A: Classroom work consistently meet the highest expectations
B: Classroom work meets expectations and has a good degree of accuracy

Performance

3: Strong
2: Satisfactory
1: Minimal

Social Development: 3's
Work Habits: 3's
Reading: 3's, A+
Writing: 3's
Writing Process and Applications: A-
Writing Conventions: A-
Spelling/Word Study: A+
Social Studies: 3's  Geography/Regions: A+
Science: 3's Astronomy: A+
Health: 3's  Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs: A
Math: 2's (expressing ideas with clarity), 3's, A

I'd say fifth grade is agreeing with her!
 

11/05/09

11/04/09

B & E2 were at the bookstore last night to get the latest installment in the 39 Clues series.  Apparently B told E2 not to climb on a table, and apparently someone did not listen, and then took a nose dive off said table.  E2 had a very restless night and is staying home today. Fortunately her nose doesn't hurt too much (drinking from her sippy cup was uncomfortable) and she let me clean her up a little.  I am having trouble not laughing at her extremely nasal voice.

And here's the kidlets on November 3rd of last year:

Parent-Teacher Conference

Had a conference with E1's Language Arts & Science teachers this morning.  She is doing SO well.  Organized, fits in well, has adjusted well, fine with the increase in homework, so much fun to have in class, calming influence on the other kids, etc etc etc.  The only area where they have noticed a difference is writing.  She is not a bad writer, just hasn't learned how to expand on her thoughts and write more detailed sentences. 

11/02/09

10/30/09

E1 did wear her costume for the parade and party but was not wearing it when I picked her up.  Sounds like very little school work got done today - not sure why *yesterday* was an early release day; seems like it should have been today. 

Sounds like E2 had a lot of fun at her preschool party and after!  If she had any more sugar in her, she'd be a human Pixie Stick! 

 

Z ended up not wearing his costume to school.  His day? Was like any other school day!  Oh well - this big bad 7th grader didn't seem to mind!
 

Halloween 2009

Z is again TorT with his friend J.  He gets to wear his costume to school tomorrow, however, no masks or weapons allowed.  I told him he should go as a Retired Reaper.  Or maybe as a Taking The Day Off Reaper. 

 

I made the girls put on their costumes a little early so we could take photos while there was still some light.  E2 is a purple ("AND GREEN!") fairy with baggy tights, and E1 is basically the same thing she was last year.

Ready to go! E2 was beside herself with anticipation and wanted to go RIGHT NOW!

 

After about four stops where E2 cowered behind me, I gave up and brought her home.  Fortunately she gets to wear her costume tomorrow to preschool and is staying there for the daycare party too.  I wasn't terribly upset because I was not into it this year.  I LOVE having a little one who is into the magic of Disney and Fairies and Princesses but I am sooo over Trick or Treating and Santa.

10/28/09

Technically this is more E1 before gymnastics (with her Vera bag for her grips) than E1 after school (especially since she changed clothes):

10/12/09

PHEW!  Z had a GREAT day!  There are people he already knew (and liked) in several classes, he has people to sit with at lunch, he played soccer in gym, he likes most of his teachers, and I am SO relieved!!!

Today is Z's last day of Sixth Grade!

Monday he goes to 7th Grade!!  Eeeeek!  I'm excited and gut-wrenchingly nervous all at once! 

He did very well on his acceleration/above-grade tests:

Math: 99%
Reading: 99%
Science: 99%
Social Studies: 86%

I would be more concerned about the Social Studies score if I didn't know that one of the questions he missed was "Who is the Muslim Prophet?" (he guessed "Buddha"). 

The state of Ohio likes scores to be at or above 75%; our district prefers at or above the upper 80's. 

After our acceleration meeting (the Principal brought up E1; she is doing fantastic! When Mrs. T asks the teachers how she is doing, they say "Better than the rest of the class!" ) B and I went over to the middle school to fill out a couple papers and get a quick tour.  Monday I will take Z in a little early so he can get his schedule, find out where his locker is and also get a quick tour.  From then on he will be riding the bus.

The middle school is a little confusing.  There are two grades (7th and 8th) and each grade is split in half (team 1 and team 2).  When team 1 is at Science/Social Studies/English, team 2 is at Math/Phys. Ed/Spanish etc., and vice versa.   When team 1 is at lunch, team 2 is at recess (called 'community time') and vice versa.  Size-wise the middle school is about the same at our elementary school and it actually has fewer students.  I'm glad, I think that will be less overwhelming for him.

We do not have his exact schedule yet, but he will be taking:

• Algebra
• Enriched English
• Social Studies
• Science
• Spanish
• General Music/Phys Ed/Art
• Assist (Study Hall)

 I don't think Z's transition will be quite as smooth as E1's - especially since he missed the first six weeks - and I wish we would have had him skip 5th grade instead.  But hindsight is 20/20, and I think in the long run he will be okay.

10/08/09

10/07/09

10/06/09

10/02/09

9/29/09

9/28/09

9/24/09

E1 after school.  On Thursdays she stays for 30 minutes with her math teacher (our district eliminated language arts EPP and instead of going to math *and* math epp, students now go to math with their EPP teacher) to get her up to speed with the 5th grade.  Today Mrs C said that she is caught up but is willing to continue the lessons so I was all over that.  So nice of her to give up her time.  If I were a teacher, my tires would be squealing out of the parking lot 30 seconds after the last bus left.

Today was picture-day:  E1 is wearing a blue shirt, blue jean shorts and there is blue in her socks and tennis shoes.  She was very happy that I picked the blue background for her photo.  Girlie loves her blue!

9/23/09

9/22/09

ETA: Right before she got out of the car this morning, E1 said "I thought 5th grade was going to be hard." Not for you my little sweetie!

9/21/09

E1 right after school.

9/18/09

9/17/09

9/16/09

9/15/09

9/14/09

9/11/09

9/10/09

Last night at gymnastics, a little girl in a rec class got in E1's way twice, once while E1 was landing her vault.  So now her ankle hurts. Grrrrr.

09/09/09

 

9/8/09

Two more photos

9/4/09

 

Why yes, she really likes that green hoodie, why do you ask? ;P

9/3/09

We lost track of time this morning, so no a.m. picture (and she was almost late!).  This is E1 after school, finishing up a Nancy Drew book (The Secret of the Old Clock). 

I have a big box of all my Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden books somewhere ~ I'll have to look again later and see if they turn up. 

9/2/09

This looks like yesterday's photo, but E1 *is* wearing clean clothes. 

She got in the car yesterday and said "I LOVE study hall!!  I got all my homework done!"  Hurray! With her brutal gymnastics schedule (15 hours of practice weekly, 2 hours of privates most weeks, 1 hour of dance once or twice a month and two hours of open gym some Friday nights) it is really important that she stay on top of things.

9/1/09

8/31/09