laundry fun with kids

So, the boys have apparently reached the age where they put stuff (random weird stuff) in their pockets. And leave it there. For me to find when I do the laundry. Yesterday I found a piece of mulch in the dryer. Today, while doing another load, I thought to ask Gavin if he's been picking up rocks while playing baseball keeping them. I mentioned the mulch - he said he picked it up at his school. "It's my pretend walkie-talkie!" he declared, offended that I didn't understand as much from the get go. Oh, I love that kid and his imagination. I can just see him on the playground at his school, talking into his pretend walkie-talkie....

commercials are dumb

Okay, so we generally watch our TV shows off the DVR rather than live ... grown up shows, kid shows, all of it. Today Gavin was watching some Saturday morning cartoons (not being recorded, we couldn't fast forward through the commercials) and now, all morning since, I've been told - repeatedly - that Gavin wants Sketchers shoes. "I want those!" is the refrain any time he's allowed to see the commercials during a kid show. Argh. Oh, and also? He gets so irritated when I fast forward through the commercials. He wants to watch them, and I cramp his style by using the remote to bypass the glitzy commercials. Poor kid.....

at the park with Kelly

Kelly took the boys to the park today. Gavin is the cutest around, isn't he? He smiles so nicely for Kelly when she takes pictures. All the pictures I take have him smiling in a weird way.

Right now, G is pretending to play baseball in the living room, using a plastic bowling pin as a bat. "Pincher pinch, batter bat!" he yells out before swinging. Funny little man.

wordle

So my first graders did a neat project using wordle and it was so cool. Anyway, you can enter the link to a website and it will create a wordle for you. If you use particular words more frequently, they will show up bigger. Guess what I talk about a lot?? My kids (the school ones) had a blast entering their word lists they kept while reading Donavan's Word Jar. I posted their wordle creations on my teacher website. Have a look if you want!

Colin loves Star Wars too!

Okay, so Gavin has been a Star Wars kid for a while now. And, monkey see monkey do, Colin is also turning into a Star Wars fiend. They love to play together with their light sabers, they love to watch the movies and the Clone Wars TV show, and they *love* to play with the Star Wars action figures Gavin got from Gramma Joy for Christmas.

Colin can name all the figures! Check it out:

coming soon.... pictures!

Okay, we've had Gavin's birthday (first his party, including a visit from Gramma Joy, then his real birthday a week later) AND Christmas (with a visit from Grammy). I promise that pictures were taken. I also promise to upload those pictures and post them here with commentary.

A quick recap: Gavin had his birthday party at the Hoppin Hippo on 12/12. He had a blast and loved playing with all his friends. His real birthday occured on 12/19 and he is now officially 4 years old. I continue to feel baffled at that whole situation. Then Christmas came! Santa brought way too much stuff (duh, who didn't see that coming?) and the boys had a blast.

I am off of work for 2 weeks total - I go back January 3 for staff development and my class returns on Jan. 4. Gavin and Colin are loving being at home with me and Scott (who is taking a lot of time off to be with us at home - yay!) but I know they'll be excited to see Kelly and her family when they get back into that routine.

Pictures soon, I promise!!!

reading

Gavin has been learning and understanding more and more every day about letters, sounds and words. It is such a trip to watch him soak it up, process it all, and share it back in his way.

He's been "reading" Blue Hat Green Hat for a while now. Tonight he read it to his brother So cute, for so many reasons - 1) duh, it's so cool to see him as an emergent reader and 2) the boys do such a good job together.

In other news, Scott has gotten on a plane and is currently (I hope!) in the air on his way back to the land of craziness, i.e. our house!!! He left early Monday morning, and we have been missing him all week. This morning especially was r.o.u.g.h. - reason #3 why this video and the boys being cute together is making me so happy! The week has actually been pretty great. I've had a blast with the kids. Last night (hello, vomit, you are so not welcome here) and this morning, though, the strain of being without Scott was really starting to show! SO happy he's on his way back :)