More Snow Pictures

This snowman was entirely their creation....usually they enlist me and I end up doing it so I stayed out of this one! Thomas wanted prunes for the eyes. We used prunes but within a few minutes, one of the chickens came and stole one eye to their chagrin. Nathan absolutely loves popcorn(yes, Uncle Tim!). While at a hockey game, we bought a bag of popcorn which Nathan ate almost entirely. Since then, I've been trying to make it a bit more as it sure is an easy snack! The boys are also really into Richard Scary! They sit and read his books for 20 minutes at a time. The library in Hudson doesn't seem to have them and it wasn't until we branched out to the Marlboro library that we found them. They also love the Berenstain Bears and Franklyn series of books.

In the car on Sunday, Thomas used an expression that we don't use in our house so we branched into the discussion that there are words that they will learn at school from their friends that are considered dirty. Matt explained how his Mom used to use soap and water to clean out their mouth when a dirty word came out. We tried to explain how nasty this was and that this was something they didn't want us to do. So the next day, Nathan was saying something to annoy Thomas and Thomas informed him to just stop as it was a dirty word (it wasn't! but he thought it would end Nathan bugging him). Then yesterday, I was writing up some bills in the office and the boys came in with soap stuck in their teeth. They just had to try this out to see how it felt to wash their mouth's out!

Sledding

We've had a few good sledding days this winter but mostly we've just had good ice skating. Here are a few from sledding on our backyard hill with Isabelle and Lillian. Thomas took the picture of Ellie and his train track.

Yesterday we met the new children's librarian at our little town library. She wrote down our names to remember us. So she took Thomas' information first. She asked him his last name so he immediately spelled it. He couldn't think of the e so skipped to the last r and the librarian suggested e to which he was affirmative. I was so impressed! Nathan usually writes his last name now when signing cards, etc. Thomas doesn't take the time to but obviously he has been paying attention to the details of it. We can't go any where without questions of what this sign or that sign says--love it! They are very interested in words. I was noticing a few weeks ago the first time Nathan was reading the letters off his shirt....he was correctly recognizing them upside down! I think they are brilliant! : )

kindergarten open house and great aunts/danes

At the beginning of February, Matt's aunt Barb came from CA to pick up her 11 week old great dane puppy at a town not far from us! Aunt Barb, Suzanne (puppy breeder) and two of the puppies came to see us. It was great to be together (we had met up with A. Barb in Colorado last June so the boys know her). We went the next day down to Suzanne's house to visit a little longer (the last picture is in Suzanne's back yard).

Last week, I went to the kindergarten open house! How can I already be going to this? Anyways, I was happy with the feeling I got there. The principle ran the open house. She seemed friendly, experienced, keen on knowing each kid in her 214 student elementary school. For such a small school, it seemed like the school had lots of resources like occupation therapy available to the students. There are two kindergarten (2010 class size is numbered at 23 currently but that could go up or down) classes where one is half day and the other full day (you pay $3000 extra for your kid to attend full day). So we met both teachers, the school nurse, the lady who screens the children ( I forget her title), the special education head, the school secretary and the aide in the full day class. Then we could go see the kindergarten classrooms. I got to talk to the half day teacher at this point. I really like her! She doesn't have an aide and loves parental help in the classroom! She has an art minor so does her best to bring that into her teaching. Like she plays classical CDs while they are working because there has been a study done saying it promotes learning...or something along those lines. She has them up and moving every 20 minutes (again siting a study that promotes this...study or no study, I know my kids last about 20 minutes or less doing something engaging). She gave an example of doing an exercise touching their elbow to their opposite knee and counting to it. She has a sand table and a reading corner. It was a cheery classroom. Because they are just 8:30 to 11:30, she has the mentality that they "can finish tomorrow" which I was glad to hear though she encourages completing what they can.

January pictures

The first two pictures show Thomas and Nathan listening to their grandfather tell a story by way of the cell phone. While my parents were in Florida for the month of January, my boys were having story withdrawal, so to cure them we called every once in awhile to get a story. We really haven't gotten much snow this winter, but when some comes, Thomas is the first to get out in it.