For FHE activity today we got out the expansion for Settler's of Catan so that everyone could play. Well, it only brings it up to 6 players and the girls just helped Doug and I, but it was fun to have us all there playing. Jenna brought down Master Mind, so we were playing some side games with her too. Chris does pretty well on his own so it's nice when they get older and can start playing some more complex games.
Monday morning I went with Damon to pick up his class schedule. He got College and Career Readiness and Technology I for his 2 electives. He has the normal L.A,. math (Algebra), science, Texas History, and PE for his other 5 classes. We found his locker, purchased PE clothes, and walked the path of all of classes so he wouldn't be lost the first day. He is pretty nervous about the classes being harder and getting to class on time.
It was a rainy day - we were going to go to Splashtown, but instead we went to the church to play poison ball. The boys love it. They play it after scouts every week too. You can play with one or two balls. You try to get people out by hitting them with a ball (think dodge ball), but if they catch it - then you are out, and you sit down. The thing that is different is that when the person who got you out gets out (sits down), then you get to stand up and play again. You can have a winner - meaning that that person had to get everyone out by themselves. But it is hard to do in a big group. Chris stayed home with Doug, but the girls came to play on the stage with friends. They usually color and play with balls with the other younger kids.
We had dropped off our van in the morning to getting a recall on our sliding door fixed. So in the evening we went to pick it up. On the way home we stopped by Payless to get some shoes. I hadn't thought about shoe shopping earlier since I thought everyone still fit their shoes. Well last week the kids let me know that their shoes were feeling tight so off we went. I wasn't going to go this day, but while at the church a friend told me that it was the last day for their clearance sale. So we found a pair for Chris there. We went to Ross to find a pair for Kaylee and to Famous Footwear for Damon. Tyler was at home with Doug - we bought some for Tyler earlier in the summer. We couldn't find any for Jenna so I told her we would look at some other stores on Tuesday. Can I just say that shoe shopping is my least favorite with kids - unless you just have one. The others are just running around crazy. Chris especially since he was done first he was just a menace in the other stores, sigh. I need to make an effort next year to take them individually or have Doug help me. Something!
Tuesday was another fun filled day. We stopped at the library quick to drop off books and picked up a few new ones. Then we headed over to the movie theater to see the last summer movie: Sing. We don't have that one and the kids have only seen it a couple of times, so it was fun to watch it again. It was pretty crowded, but we were able to find 6 seats on the front row of the balcony part. It was great. I had packed us a lunch so we ate back in the van when the movie was over. Then we headed over to the mall. We found Jenna a pair of shoes at that Payless. They weren't on sale as much as they would have been if we had bought them on Monday, but I had a coupon so it wasn't too bad. We of course had to stop by the pet store and the Lego store - our two regular stops at the mall. I was getting tired and we needed to get back. Damon and Tyler had been invited to play games at a friends house. I'm glad we found Jenna some shoes and it was a fun outing.
After dinner we had even more fun by going to Sk8 Town (Damon and Doug stayed home). I had promised the girls that we would go and we finally found a day to go. We even had some passes so we only had to pay for two of us. When we went to Utah I brought back my mom's old roller-blades so that was fun for me. We had a great time. The kids were in good spirits and they loved trying to get better. They stayed on the carpeted area at the beginning but by the end they were all making laps around the rink and even letting go of the wall for moments at a time. Chris took one hard fall and got a carpet burn on his chin (his face slid into the wall), after that he was a bit more cautious - so maybe it was a good thing. Of course now the girls ask all the time to go back. I guess they like to roller skate. :)
During the summer I have tried to keep us busy and also tried to keep the kids learning or doing some engaging activities. We would do 'centers' when we had time. Our stations included: reading, math, iPad (learning games), typing, and piano. At the beginning of summer they had to earn screen time by getting points by doing various daily chores etc. I got tired of keeping track of their points so by the end of summer they just had to read, do an act of service and one of the following: type, write in their journal, practice handwriting, exercise, or sort legos. They still had to do their daily chore things, they just didn't get points for them anymore. It worked fairly well. My biggest problem with screen time is the fighting about who gets to play what, and the whining when it's time to be done. We starting having a pow-wow in the morning to decide who got to play what and that helped. They still need to work on quitting nicely.
We also swam a lot this year. Between Splashtown and our pool we probably went 3-4 times a week. Sometimes the kids would whine about going, but always had fun when we got there. You definitely need to be in water if you are going to be outside in Houston during the summer. I did get tired of braiding the girls' hair and putting sunscreen on everyone, but that's just how it goes.
The girls reading. (Can I just say how proud I am of them. They are my most advanced readers going into Kindergarten. They just learned their sight words so young and then just picked it up themselves. It is so fun to watch them read, bigger books and the scriptures too.)
One of Damon's act of service:
Thursday night we got two phone calls from the girls' kindergarten teachers. Jenna got Mrs. Bonner and Kaylee got Mrs. Grabowski. When I asked the second teacher if they were in the same hall she said no. When I registered the girls I had asked if they could be in different classes but in the same hallway so that they would have lunch, recess, PE, and Music together. So the teacher told me to call the school in the morning. In the meantime all of the kindergarten moms are posting on Facebook who their teachers are and seeing if anyone is in the same class. The girls didn't have anyone in their classes but multiple friends told me how great a teacher Mrs. Grabowski is and that if I was going to try and switch the girls to get them in the same hallway to keep her and try and switch Jenna to another class. Other friends had said that they hadn't liked Mrs. Bonner as much,- taught to a classroom level and didn't push the more advanced readers. So I knew that I when I called I wanted to try and switch Jenna if I could. Also we found out that 5 of our church friends got in the same class (it will be like Primary in there). FYI there are 9 kindergarten classes this year, much better than the 13 last year - so grateful for the new school being built and lowering our numbers. No portables this year!
So Friday morning I got a phone call from the counselor (Mrs. Grabowski must have told her of the situation) and told me that Kaylee was now in Mrs. Lemon's class. She had beat me to the my phone call and I didn't have a chance to ask to switch the girls the other way. I briefly tried to ask if I could switch Jenna instead. She said that the classes were already full and that teachers had already made their phone calls. It ended a bit abruptly and I just didn't feel good about it. I called some more friends to learn more about Mrs. Bonner. I send an email to the counselor and told her how I was going to call that morning and make my request. I told her my concerns about Jenna needing a more loving and helpful teacher. I got a phone call later in the day giving me the choice that Kaylee could stay in Grabowski and that Jenna could go into Mrs. Smith's class or leave it the same: Bonner/Lemon. I was told Mrs. Smith was a new teacher, just finished her student teaching at Broadway last year. So I was a little bit nervous about that too. Some new teachers are great, and some aren't. I talked to Doug about it and called the counselor back saying we would take Grabowski and Smith. I felt good about that, but then she called back again later that afternoon saying that the teachers had moved rooms and that Mrs. Smith was not in that hallway anymore- AHHH. I was getting tired of the changes and I had to keep telling Jenna who her new teacher was. Anyway, my new choices were: Kaylee in Grabowski and Jenna in Bruner or both girls in Grabowski. That me me stop for a moment. I had already decided that I wanted them in different classes, but it would be so much easier for me to have them together and to know that they both would get a great teacher was so tempting. I asked the counselor what experience she had with twins being together versus apart. She said that those who were separated usually grew more individually and educationally. She told me that Bruner was a veteran teacher who had taught there a long time and was a great teacher, and that the classroom was right across the hall from Grabowski. So I decided to go with that. Then she even asked which girl I wanted where. I never realized the stress/pressure that would bring: how do you chose which one gets a known great teacher and which one gets a more unknown. That was hard. Anyway we kept Kaylee in Grabowski and Jenna is now in Bruner. Crazy!! But I think it all ended up for the best.
That evening I took the girls in to meet their teachers. They had us all meet in the cafeteria to learn about general stuff, then we went back to the classrooms. The girls were so excited. It took me awhile to fill out all the paperwork twice and it was so hot in the building. I don't think the A/C was working very well. But we got it all done and the girls are ready for kindergarten!
Doug and Damon left Friday afternoon to go camping with the scouts. It really is hard to go camping in this area. You can't go in the summer at all- way too hot. They try to fit them all in during the fall and spring. It was a really warm weekend, poor Doug had a long night. He had a battery operated fan, but he still didn't sleep well. They went to Ink's Lake that is a little west of Austin 3 1/2 hours away. They played in the water and some did some cliff jumping. I think they had a pretty good time.
I cooked some hamburgers for dinner and went swimming afterwards. We went to the Spring Trails pool with some friends for about 30 minutes, but then they left so we went to our pool where our friends were having a birthday party for one of the their girls. So we just joined their swim party. It was fun. Doug and Damon had just gotten home when we got back.
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