Updates on us!

No pics... but I have lots of good ones - and videos! - to share at some point! :)

Zachariah:
* Had the CUTEST choir performance I've ever seen
* Memorized the books of the bible in 3 days - studied harder than I've ever seen
* Starting to read chapter books silently, rather than out loud to me
* Heard from another mom that he reads the other kids lunchbox notes for them at lunch (so sweet!)
* Also heard from other moms that he is a nice boy that a lot of the other kids really look up to
* Has a little group of friends he plays with in our "backyard" and I love it for him (football, hide/seek, etc)
* Got to be Star of the Week at school last wee = BIG DEAL.
* Going on his very very first *real* spend-the-night this week, and he is absolutely THRILLED
* Going to be in his very first Thanksgiving play this week, and is SO excited
* Still a morning person - and a freakishly happy one at that! Still goes to bed at 7pm and wakes up before dawn
* Does not like homework
* LOVES his friends
* Not crying before school anymore, but not totally loving it either
*Enjoys riding his bike everywhere, even just to get the mail



Selah Grace:
* Walking around when she doesn't realize it (can walk across our room easily), but drops to a crawl when she thinks about it too much
* Very ticklish under her arms and inner thigh
* Laughs like a tiger growl (So. Funny.)
* Loves the church nursery now, thanks to my sweet friend Ashley!!
* Still hates the car and now will cry if one of us isn't breaking our arm to hold her hand in the back (EXACT same thing Zac did for about a year.... yikes!)
* Wears straggly little pigtails that I just can't get enough of
* Says a very small amount of words, and mostly just answers "Yes!" when asked a question (need to videotape it.... so cute)
* Loves stairs with a false confidence but has no depth perception = accident waiting to happen
* Still LOVES her bed and will not sleep anywhere else
* Finally wears 12 month clothes and pjs
* Starting to really grow - we can definitely tell she is getting bigger
* Very curious and independent - will not ask for things, rather she will try her best to do it herself
* Loves to open and close, put items in and out, and explore areas that are hard to get to (behind the computer printers, all the way under the kitchen table or chairs, inside of drawers or cabinets, etc)
* Turning into more of a night person - prefers to stay up late and sleep in
* Very obedient - if we say "stop" she will usually stop whatever she is doing, if she puts something in her mouth and we say "yuckies" she will take it out and hand it to us



Baby Brother:
* Starting to move around
* Still nameless and it's driving mom NUTS!
* Has not an item to his name... maybe we'll find some time to get him some things in January. :)



Mom and Dad:
Too busy! But happy and in love, feeling blessed and thankful.


That's all I got! SO much to do this week. Things will hopefully slow down in January, but no promises on consistent blog posts until then!

Happy Halloween 2010!

Halloween was super fun this year!

Saturday morning we *attempted* family pics. (don't get your hopes up for a family picture on our Christmas card...)

When we got home, two of the neighbor kids came to get Zac to play. That's something I'll really miss about living here. There is a group of 2nd grade boys who are really sweet good kids, and they always include Zac! They play in the field behind our apartment (I call it our backyard) and it's so cute. Football, baseball, tag, etc. We don't have any boys for ZZ to play with on our street at our house, so we will really miss that. Anyways, so he played for hours with them, which is so so so fun for him!

Then I took him to a birthday party - a costume party! He loved it. Most of the kids from his class were there, and he had a blast playing with everyone. The parents had pretty much cleared the house of furniture, and set up Halloween "fall festival" games all over the house. It was pretty cool. And I got to dish with some of the classroom moms who volunteer regularly. From what I heard, this teacher is as crummy as I thought. :( But at least I know the moms who are able to volunteer at centers and they like my baby boy. :)

Then Saturday night, we met up at a friend's house for the Ranger game. It's actually an old fraternity brother of Brian's, and they also are in our Sunday School class. Zac got to hang with two of his great friends, SG got to sleep, and Brian and I got to chill out with our good friends. Good for everyone!

Even though we didn't get home until 10:30pm (SO LATE for ZZ!!), he was up at the crack of dawn the next morning. Actually, he was up well before the crack of dawn. He's such a morning person.

Thanks to him, we made it to church early. Also, thanks to Selah Grace, who didn't surprise us with poopy-painting her crib like she did last week when we got her up for church. Silly girl.

Sunday afternoon, Brian helped set up the fall festival at church and the rest of us took a loooooong nap. :)

Then it was HALLOWEEN TIME!!!!!! Yahoooooo!!!!!

We went to the church fall festival first. I love our church! And the fall festival they hold every year is second to NONE! There are thousands of people at this festival and it's the best one around.


We met up with some friends and Zac was THRILLED to see them!!
(he is Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars, by the way...)

And we saw another sweet friend who goes waaaaaay back with Zachariah! :)

Zac ditched everyone to hang with the high school football players at their sports booth.

He loved these "race cars."

After the Fall Festival, we ended up hooking up with some friends to go Trick-or-Treating in their neighborhood. Zac's mask lasted for about 2 houses before I was stuck holding it and his light saber.

For the first 30 minutes, he literally RAN to every house. SO. EXCITED.

Brian and Selah Grace - they spent most of the weekend together so SG could nap. Halloween just wasn't her thing this year. She's a sleeper and we like to make sure she gets good sleep. Unfortunately (or fortunately!) she won't sleep anywhere but her crib. So, we only picked this one night for her to stay up. She's a Texas Tech Cheerleader. :)

And after Brian spilled his drink on her, she certainly smelled like a Red Raider - haha!!

No pics of me. I look like I swallowed a watermelon. (23 weeks along!) There's a visual for you. :)

Hope everyone had a fun and safe weekend!

New car seats for everyone!

In Brian's car, Zachariah's AWESOME 2004 Britax Wizard is finally expiring. Selah Grace has a super cool Britax Boulevard, but it's too bulky to fit Leroy's seat next to it.

In my car, Zachariah's seat has already expired and Selah Grace is in the Graco bucket. Which she still fits just fine, but will probably outgrow it when Leroy gets here.

Soooooo... that means new seats allll around.



We have small cars (corolla and small suv), so this was a super-duper challenge. Thankfully, there are so many online resources! I found a forum of car-seat technicians who were extremely helpful in the 3-across debacle. 3-across is hard enough, but when you have a small car (especially the corolla), where the angle of the seats plays a part, as well as the width and height, and specifically where each seat is wide or narrow in order to puzzle them next to each other - it just gets very complicated.


And I think - after sooooo much research - (drumroll)


Zachariah will get a Britax Parkway. He wants it in Maui Blue. (tacky, but whatever) And he gets to sit on the passenger side (for carpool and because we can move the passenger seat up a bit). Plus he likes the window seat. I cannot BELIEVE he is finally graduating to something other than a 5-point harness! (I admit, I absoutely cringe when I see smaller kids in a booster. I just don't see the rush!) Anyways, the technicians approved his move up to a high-back-booster. We would have gotten the Radian (the seat SG is getting), but it only fits in the middle seat, and it makes more sense to have SG in the Radian. My big boy! He should be able to ride in this seat for the next 5-7 years or so.

Selah Grace will get a Sunshine Kids Radian XT SL. She will sit in the middle. This seat needs the most angle, and it will only fit in the middle. I love the cute pattern! :) It's a very narrow seat that should fit well in our car and will keep her rear-facing for another couple of years. (That's another thing I cringe about - facing babies forward at a year old. Again - why the rush?) It also has the side-impact wings. I've always liked those in the Britax seats, so I was glad to see them offered. And it is supposedly extra cushion-y. She will have this seat until Kindergarten or so.




Leroy will get a Coccoro and sit behind the driver. This will also keep him rear-facing for several years. (It does also fit forward.) It's more narrow than the Radian, and it's really the only narrow seat that will fit behind the driver's seat in my corolla, without totally squishing the driver into the steering wheel. We will have to upgrade his seat, probably in about 4 years. But by then, we will probably have another car and other options.

I had a few color choices, but I think I chose ones that will look okay together. I was hoping to have the babies in matching seats on the outside and Zac in the middle - just to be aesthetically pleasing... haha! But, we worked with what we had, and I think they'll look cute. Brian does not understand my need for them to look cute together.

Do you think they'll all look cute next to each other?

After weeks of back-and-forth, I think these are the best (and really the ONLY) options that will fit. I'm almost sure we will need a professional to get these things installed correctly. It will be such a tight fit in my car.

Zac's getting his first because his seats are expiring (his Parkways should be shipped next week) and I'm going to keep checking the sales for the Radians and the Coccoros since they aren't necessary just yet. And gosh SG's is super pricey.

The big bummer is that we have to buy 2 of each seat. VERY expensive to buy 6 brand new car seats!!! We are going to be listing some things on craigslist for some extra cash, that's for sure! ha!

BUT, it's better than a car payment. We just keep repeating that. :)

Plus, our babies will all be safe and that is obviously the most important thing of all.

tiny but good zz update

I emailed the teacher yesterday asking about CogAT testing for K-ers. She emailed me back about that, then added at the end that she will be sending home a chapter book instead of a reader for Zachariah's take-home book.

YAY!! :)

And she said she will have activities at the end of the chapters!!

I don't care how that came to fruition. I'm just SO pleased with that!! It will be SO much more beneficial for Zachariah than to read about grasshoppers and fellows. lol

YIPPEE!!

We have been trying to be very prayerful about this decision. Although, I'm much more emotional about it all. So, about a month ago, I handed it over to Brian because he is so much more thoughtful about big decisions. He looks at all aspects, he gives everyone the benefit of the doubt, gives everyone a chance, doesn't get his feelings hurt, comes at things very practically and respectfully, etc. When he finally does feel strongly about something, you know it's a BIG deal. lol! I know he is covering it in prayer and making the right choice for our family, and I totally trust him. So, if you're wondering why we're still trying to work with this teacher, that's why.


And for those who asked, the gifted/talented testing hasn't taken place yet for K. We sent in his app back in September, but I think the testing is in December. But, I've taught GT for 3 years, so I know how it works. You still need a teacher willing to work with the kids, kwim?

Parent Teacher conference

We had Zac's parent/teacher conference last week. I thought I'd be all nervous and excited, but instead, we were both thinking we knew what we would hear. And we were pretty much right.

After the conference, Brian looked at me and asked, "Does she seem completely emotionally detached? Or is it just me?"

I laughed. That is the perfect way to describe her.


Reading MAP scores:
Phonological awareness: 176
Phonics: 168
Concepts of Print: 170
Vocab and Word Structure: 183
Comprehension: 187
Writing: 172

Lexile Range: 62-212

Math MAP scores:
Problem Solving 167
Number Sense: 165
Computation: 175
Measurement and Geometry: 184
Statistics and Probability: 177
Algebra: 181

(explanation of map scores and range - basically he falls in 2nd grade)

TPRI: It only goes through 2nd grade and he scored perfect on that.


Personally I was very disappointed by the reading map scores, but that's the teacher in me. From my experience, I think he reads at a higher level. (I gave him this quick assessment last week and he scored in 5th grade.) On the flip side, I was surprised his math scores were as high as they were. But it is what it is.



So, we knew his scores before the conference. But for all we know, all the kids score well on these. It was a 15 minute conference. The first 10, she just handed us paper after paper of his work. Then she showed us his scores. Then there were like 2 minutes left.

And it went similar to this. (I remember her answers because I've dissected this conference in 82 different ways, trying to sort through my frustration and irritation and disappointment.)


Are there other kids on his level in your class?
No

Are there other kids in Kindergarten on his level that he could work with?
I don't know, but we don't have our classes at the same time.

What does he do during reading groups?
All the children have a copy of the same reader. So, I have the other kids in his group read, and when they get stuck on a word, Zachariah reads.

If he's already tested past the take-home readers, will you still be sending books home for us to read with him?
Yes, and they might look easy, but there are some harder words [showing us book], like "grasshopper" and "fellow."

(I know there was a look on my face at this point. I couldn't help it.)

Does he ever have different work than the other kids?
He does the same work. But we do need to work on self-motivation. When I ask him to do additional work, he usually asks me why he has to do it.

Does he have good behavior in class?
Yes, all the kids look up to him. He's a great helper, too. The kids know they can always go to him for help.

So, is there anything extra or challenging that he can do besides help the other kids?
I am sure that the other children will soon catch up to Zachariah, and at that time, he will have other students he can work with.

But if the other kids are moving up, then Zachariah just stays and waits for them to catch up? Shouldn't he have the chance to move up quickly, too?

This is where she shrugged and smiled. As in, our time was up and the conference was over.

No joke.

And that was pretty much it.

Oh, and she did give us a copy of the ABC cards we cut out. We couldn't believe it. It was a joke that we might get those. And we did? I guess we'll keep them for Selah Grace?

All in all, it was just disappointing.

Unfortunately, it was pretty much what we were expecting.


Is it stupid of me that I was expecting some kind of compliment on Zac? Not only because he's my kiddo, but because he's a really good kid? And a smart kid? Or just because it's our very first parent/teacher conference and above all, we'd like to know you care about him? Or at least like him?


For various reasons, we do not want to move teachers. But ohmygoodness, no wonder he isn't a fan of school. He has two choices with his work: do the boring stuff OR be the only kid in there who has to do something harder. (and I'm using "harder" very loosely - what I saw was hardly differentiating. It was just busy work to keep him busy longer.)

I have a few specific issues, as a parent.
1. We're sending him to school to learn. Not to help you teach.
2. My child deserves to learn just like everyone else.
3. It's a shame that a teacher with that much experience doesn't have the supplemental materials (or the desire) to meet the needs of the kids at different levels in her classroom.
4. If he isn't challenged NOW, then what happens when he finally is challenged? He will not know how to handle it. He will not know how to handle other kids being better than him. He should be learning this now, and should be grouped with some other "ahead" kids to give him a run for his money.




When you have a kid who is behind, you have all sorts of resources to help you. Because test scores are important, of course. But when you have one ahead, it just comes off as bragging. It's frustrating because the kids all have the same needs at this age. This is the age to soak up knowledge, to learn how to try hard, to learn what it means to give your best, to be excited about learning.

When he had the day off last Friday, we did a packet of work here, and he was so into it. I know he's still got the desire in there. He loves the harder stuff - the math puzzles, the word puzzles, the problem solving. It made me happy he still has the desire, but sad that he's in an environment where it doesn't matter.

His teacher stinks.

That's what I think about that.

The Pink Aisle... it was like a magnet

We were at Walmart, getting a gift for one of Zachariah's friends, who happens to be a girl.

Brian came looking for me and he had Selah Grace with him. All of a sudden we heard shrieking.

Selah Grace's eyes were as big as saucers! She had found.... BARBIES!!!

My pumpkin with a pumpkin

The stomach bug attacked me this weekend. One minute I was hanging with the family and the next minute... well, it was just bad.

Sadly, we had tickets for the big Tech game this weekend down by the state fair. We were able to sell them, but what a bummer!

Then I sent Brian off hunting instead, hoping he'd stay well, but not long after he left, I was calling him begging him to come back home. Apparently I overestimated my ability to take care of a little toddler while spending half my time in the bathroom.

Anyways, I think the worst is over. And lucky Brian got away scot free!



Last week, I scheduled two doctor appts for today right during Selah Grace's naptime and Zachariah's pick-up time. Where is my brain? I didn't even realize my mishap until this morning.

Thankfully a friend said she could get Zac. But I have to bring SG to my appts. UGH. Hopefully they can still hear Leroy's heartbeat during the screaming.

On a good note, we will get confirmation that this is a boy. Maybe that will spur us on to find a real name for him.



So, here are some pics of Selah Grace. My mom got her this little kufi hat for her birthday and I really love it. I want one in every color!