Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Three Things Right Now

1 - Luke is STILL into all things geology.  His rock tumbler has been tumbling in our garage since Christmas Day and we're eagerly awaiting seeing his polished rocks next week (Yes... it runs for 4 weeks.  Yes... it sounds like our garage refrigerator is dying every time I go out there.  Yes... the resulting rocks are probably going to look like the ones you can buy by the handful at a museum gift shop. hahaha)  He peruses Geology books before bed and has a whole display set up on his bookcase of some of his more special rocks.

2 - Watching Luke blossom into a leader in his classroom and in his peer group has been one of the greatest blessings of our decision to hold him back a year.  Having a front seat to seeing him develop into a leader academically and socially has been the sign we needed to know we made the right decision for him.  He has a great group of friends, is excelling academically, is displaying leadership strengths in and out of the classroom and has grown by leaps and bounds.

3 - He is a STILL bottomless pit.  I really thought that the last time I talked about this that he was just going through a growth spurt - but no.  He's still hungry all the time.  He usually has a snack after school,  takes seconds (and sometimes thirds) at dinner and asks for a snack about an hour later almost like clockwork.  He has started asking for more food in his lunch and wants scrambled eggs and toast every day for breakfast.  The way to his heart is meatloaf ;)



1 - Mason gives the best compliments.  This week alone I've been told that I'm the "best cooker ever", "most beautifulist girl in the world" and we've made plans to get married.  The compliments aren't reserved just for me either - he's totally enamored with Miss McKinley, the teacher aid in his classroom.  McKinley has babysat for us before and he thinks she hung the moon!  Every day when I ask him to tell me two great things about his day McKinley is one of them.

2 - His perfectionist tendencies are starting to show.  Mason comes across as carefree, goofy and an entertainer - but when he's asked to do new things he often holds back because he doesn't think he's going to be successful at it right away.  If he has a picture in his head of what he wants an art project or drawing to look like and it starts to go awry he immediately wants to start over.  We're working with him on being okay with not knowing how to do something or not doing things perfectly the first time around, but I think it's going to be a tendency he'll have to keep in check his entire life.  We're going to credit this character trait to Uncle Mark as this is TOTALLY my brother!  We're thinking he also inherited his ultra competitive nature from Mark as well. :)

3 - Mason is NOT a morning person.  Dave, Luke and GG can wake up and be fully awake and ready to go within seconds... Mason and I require some time to "preheat" :)  On a typical morning we'll wake the boys up at the same time and Luke gets dressed, brushes his teeth and takes care of his other morning jobs immediately so he can have time to play Legos or get on his Kindle.  Mason on the other hand needs to lament the fact that it's morning for a solid 3-5 minutes before even getting out of his bed and then he moves the pity party to my bed where he continues the lamenting for at least another 5 minutes.  By the time we get to school he's come to terms with the fact that he isn't still in his bed and he's happy and chipper, but man, is he his mother's son.  



1 - Griffin's speech is improving daily.  She talks non-stop and we're working with her on correct enunciation and letter sounds and more and more of her vocabulary is becoming understandable to people outside of our family :)  She's definitely a late talker, but developmentally is right on track.  This time next year we'll be enrolling her in PreK!

2- She LOVES playing kitchen!  Miss Lisa has a pink play kitchen that is the highlight of her day every day at Miss Lisa's.  She loves to cook soup and serve her brothers, Dave and I, her stuffed animals and babies and Jack Bauer. 

3 - Starting maybe a month ago Griffin has started her own version of the bedtime stall routine.  We tuck her in and then a few minutes later she gets out asking for one more hug, one more kiss and one more sip of water.  That hasn't been working for her (because we caught on quickly and started giving our "one more" of all of those things before we tucked her in), so she's added on high fives and fist bumps :)  And she has to give them to Luke, Mason and Jack Buaer as well.  We're pretty big on staying in your bed once you're tucked in, so now our pre-bedtime routine includes hugs, kisses, water, high fives and fist bumps for everyone who's home (and via Facetime for Daddy if he's at work. hahaha)


1 - Dave and I have started The Office over and have been watching a couple episodes on Netflix every night and have been laughing so hard. 


2 - Jack Bauer is looking good with his haircut :)  He's still sleeping with Luke every night and can jump from the floor onto our bed.  (seriously!  It's crazy!)



3 - Yesterday I talked to one of my classes about how sad I was that they have texting and therefore no reason to pass notes in class.  I may have reminisced about the fun in writing notes and passing them to your boyfriend in the hall in between classes and I'm pretty sure I started a "notes revival" in the 8th grade :)  At least they're writing, right??? hahaha  But seriously! How sad that they don't have to write notes and fold them into little paper footballs to slip them to each other in class.  Or actually call someone's home phone and talk to their parents before talking to their friend.  So sad!


48 comments :

  1. I never thought of that before! Oh the nervous stomach when you'd pass it and weren't sure it'd make it to the recipient before the teacher noticed. Eek! That takes me back. :)

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    1. Right?!?! Or when you were afraid a note might get intercepted by someone else... all so stressful and fun :)

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  2. My second grade boy has been a bottomless pit for two years now!! Your Mason reminds me SO much of my Emmet. I love it!! And I miss passing notes! Texting is not the same! Happy Wednesday!

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    1. Texting is soooooooo not the same! And what on earth are we going to do with our bottomless pits?!?!?! :)

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  3. Every time you do this series, I think "why don't I do that?". I totally love this! Also, Mason does give the BEST compliments!

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    1. you're just saying that because he wants to take you to prom :) hahaha

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  4. Talking about note passing...last year I had girls pass notes saying they would text later that night... In FIRST grade- that was unreal to me!!

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  5. Love these little snippets about your kiddos!! And, so sad about the notes--at our school, we used to whip out the multi-color markers and really decorate the note too! I guess that was before we had emojis!! Haha!

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  6. I found a whole box full of notes from junior high, and OH MY WORD were they hysterical!!!!!

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    1. Next time we get together we should each bring a few to share :) I have some CLASSIC ones too!

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  7. My son is only 6 months older than Luke (Oct 2007), but two grades ahead (3rd Grade). Crazy how that can work !

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    1. WOW! That is crazy! In my middle school classes I have some big gaps as well.

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  8. What's ⬆️ What's ⬇️ What's ��....LYLAS
    i loved notes!! We made our own emoticons and finding a new cool folding trick was e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g!!!

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  9. The notes :( Yes! I have a box full of notes that my husband and I passed to one another in high school, the best part was having to wait an hour for a response, kept my mind in the clouds and not on biology ;)

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  10. I love reading about what you all are up to currently. I still have notes from my husband ( we dated in high school)!;)

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  11. I love looking at old boxes of notes, but the most impressive things are how I would fold those suckers. Seriously!?! I true recently, differently cannot fold those cool designs with enevelooe or looking sleeve anymore.

    Andrea, what will you do if the kids start passing notes in your class! Haha

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    1. The little triangle football fold??? So funny!!! I kind of hope they do start passing notes... because that will give me the chance to intercept them and read them out loud. hahaha (totally kidding!!!)

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  12. Love this series! You've inspired me! (http://pumpkinsnpearls.blogspot.com/2016/01/three-things-right-now.html)

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  13. Love this post format! I remember filling every inch of notes to friends with pictures, doodles and side notes... I think I'm going to write a note today :)

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  14. Funny story- Stephen and I were cleaning the garage the other day and we found a note that I wrote him my junior year of high school when we first dated!!! So sad kids these days will never know the what it is to write notes... :)

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  15. Love these posts! Such a great way for you to look back at the different seasons of your life.

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    1. Thanks, Lindsay! They're the little things that don't make up a post in itself, but things I don't want to forget about either!

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  16. My son got a rock tumbler last year for Christmas. I had no idea that it took 4 weeks... we ended up traveling back and forth between Ohio and Michigan three times that month... and we had to pack that rock tumbler up EVERY TIME! :)

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    1. I LOVE that you traveled with your tumbler :) What a great mama!

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  17. I love this series! I don't blog, but I think I'm going to add this to our family photo books. Maybe once a month? Or just every so often. I'm so far behind on our photo books, it might not matter!

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    1. I try to jot things down as I think of them and then when I have three for everybody I write the post - I love the idea of putting it into your photo books!

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  18. This was awesome! ...and how sad about the notes. I just found a bunch of notes that I've had saved since high school and it was awesome reading them! Have a great week, girl!

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    1. So sad!!! How fun to get to re-live a little bit of high school! HAve a fantastic weekend!

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  19. Oh my gosh!! When I was teaching I would tell my students on the reg that it was so sad they didn't pass notes anymore!!!! I always shared my fun little story about keeping said notes. My best friend kept all of our notes from Jr high and high school, then when it came time for her to give a speech at my wedding she pieced together snippets of all our notes (mostly what I had to say) for her speech. It was he most amazing thing ever and I will cherish that forever!!!

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    1. How amazing is your bestie?!?!? And yes - it's the end of an era!

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  20. I never thought about the notes passing. I still have all of my notes I wrote back and forth with my friends in H.S....and getting in trouble from passing said notes, haha!

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    1. Right?!?! I got in trouble for passing notes in Algebra II and had to move my desk all the way to the back of the room so I couldn't reach anyone to pass. hahaha

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  21. I love your post. Especially the part about not having the opportunity to write and pass notes. I bet you are an awesome teacher. Your kids are adorable.

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  22. Such a sweet post!
    I never thought about how note passing no longer exists! That is sad. I still have a box full of notes from my friends!

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  23. I think you just helped me hit the nail on the head with our 4 year old with your description of Mason and perfectionism! Wouldn't have thought of it that way before

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    1. It's so true!!! Those perfectionist tendencies are STRONG!

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  24. Mason and I are kindred spirits! I told my husband the other day that I didn't particularly like the "up" part of of getting up in the morning. It's just. so. hard! Love the notes about your kids - how fun to look back on these when they're older.

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