Smarter Than a Five Year Old

Christian's birthday falls in August, putting him right before the cut-off date for school.  I have always heard and truly believe that boys do better if they are older in their grade.  If I started CK in kindergarten this year, he would been one of the youngest kids in his class.  Seeing as how this little boy really loves athletics, I don't want his size to hold him back... so I have held him back.  Therefore, he technically would not start school until next year. 

I also chose not to enroll him in preschool.  Instead, I have been homeschooling him (this will be our second year).  I have sort of hit a dilemma, though.  He has exceeded both the preschool and kindergarten curriculum.  So, my whole idea of holding him back has actually pushed him farther ahead.  I am hoping that one of the two schools we have picked for our kids will offer AP classes for the younger grades.  That is, luckily, not a concern right now.  Homeschool is going great and I will continue with it until it no longer works for our family. 

We don't do school every single day and when we do, its only for about 20 minute increments (always while Taylor Rose is napping).  The kids do watch Sesame Street during lunch just about every day, and they both love Barney and LeapFrog.  Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are pretty routine.  We occasionally do homework on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but a lot of times those tend to be Christian's nap days.  On my lazy days, I just hook him up to the computer with a phonics, math, or Spanish game.  Every adventure can be a time for learning, especially in the car.  Actually, Christian learned all of his sounds in the car.  We made up songs for all of the alphabet sounds and used things we saw to learn colors.  It is a whole lot of repetition and patience with some fun crafts and games thrown in along the way.

Both kids get "outside time", as we call it, every single day.  If it is raining, then I move my car so they can run around or ride scooters in the garage.  It helps me keep my sanity and burns off the kids' energy a bit.  Christian's absolute favorite part of the day, aside from when his daddy walks in the door, is when his friends get home so he can play and ride bikes with them. 

This puzzle was a Christmas present.  The box says it is for ages 5-8, but it took CK about 3 minutes to get it all together completely by himself.

CK wrote us this note yesterday before he went out to play with his friends.

"Di Not Loc  -Christian" (Do Not Lock  -Christian)

We have not yet gone over how "o" can make the "oo" sound yet, so I guess he just threw in an "i".  I think its a pretty good note!  We definitely got the message.

Speaking of the "oo" sound, we have been going over how letter combinations can make entirely different sounds.  I write the letter combination and CK puts letter stickers down in the appropriate blanks to make the word.  I always draw a picture at the top of the page to remind him of the sound. 

We called this set the "Pirate" words.

Here are the "Owww!" words (notice the bandaid at the top?).

 Today we worked on "Mad Dog Words"... they say "rrrrrrrr."

We have kindergarten flash cards with sight words on them.  He can read most of them, but not by memorization.  I like him to sound them out so he can potentially read any word.  He has had a lot of fun putting the words together to make sentences.  Aahhh, it's all coming together now!

Any ideas on a fun name for the "th" sound?  I was thinking of making it the sound that a sword makes as it cuts through the air.  It kinda sounds like a long "ththththth...", right?

Christmas Spirit

We have fallen into the Christmas spirit here at the Matthews's house. 
(and yes, that extra "s" is supposed to be there after the apostrophe) 

The tree is up and the presents are wrapped ...except for the big ones that couldn't be wrapped.  They're hiding in the shed. 

Even Tay's toes have caught the red and green bug.

Hi!

Tay helped me make dessert later that night.  By "helped me make", I mean licked clean...

Luke 2:12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

On The Outside Looking In

I have a schedule that I like our family to follow, sort of.  It gives me a bit of free time to cook, update my blog, or make little home improvements here and there.  On our schedule is "daddy play time", which comes up around 5:30 every week night.  This is when I cook dinner, finish up a project, or clean up around the ol' casa.

Since I had the camera out, I recorded how the rest of the family spends this allotted time.

This is what happens every single time I vacuum, and I vacuum A LOT.  After the inital chaos ends, Tay grabs the cord and runs around with it.  I have to plug it back in at least 3 times before I can finish a room.

This is a new favorite game, also a workout for Daddy, called "crab."

And here is an old favorite...

What's she really like in person?

I always see cute and fun girls on t.v. and wonder what they are like in person. 

 Is she really that fun?  What are her pet peeves?  Is she a snob?

Well, no need to wonder your pretty head over what Miss Taylor Rose is like in real life.  I took a day and documented her steps. 

We all had ice cream the other night after dinner.  Tay had already finished two helpings of Haagen Dazs chocolate/peanut butter ice cream.  She wanted more, but the flavor we got for the kids was all gone.  I couldn't share mine with her because it was some sort of coffee flavor. Here is what happened when I told her we had no more... 

Santa Claus had a puppy dog puppet that really made an impression on her.

I don't think she learned this from her daddy.

Naming and pointing out body parts (she knows more, but I went blank)

Words Tay says that I LOVE

She loves her picture book and can identify most everything in it!

XTO Christmas Party 2011

XTO put on another FABULOUS Christmas party.  The food was sooooo super good.  Massive shrimp, crab cakes, cheese and cracker bar - and that was just the appetizers.  The meal consisted of grass fed beef filet, free-range chicken breast, grilled asparagus, wild rice, sweet potato/baked potato bar, and many desserts. 

We usually take some friends with us, but this year I was the guest since I no longer work for XTO/ExxonMobil.

The boys enjoyed the open bar.  I got some very dirty looks when I went to get Ryan's drinks for him. 

It was so good to see everyone.  Some co-workers became like family after seeing them day after day for years.  Most of all, it was good to get out of my gym clothes (my stay-at-home uniform these days) and all dressed up for a little socializing with good company.

My belly decided to pop out about 4 days before the party, so at least I looked pregnant and not just bloated. 

Ryan and I attempted a picture.

(Which we never do b/c we both end up frustrated.  He just can NOT take a normal pic.)

 We attempted again

 Third time was a charm, sort of.

 We decided to try really hard not to try.  Ryan still looks goofy!

 Shane and Tristan, who suck for taking cute and normal pictures.

 Bumpin it

 Girls

 More girls!

 Mr. Jay

 We were checking out our old people faces.  Ya know, when your cheeks sink in and, er, you get fish mouth?  Hahaha!

Stressed to Tears, Almost

As is our family's tradition, Ryan and I went to the Gaylord Texan for dinner and to look at the lights as part of our anniversary/Christmas celebration.  We did not do the Ice! exhibit this year, though.  Instead, I wasted two hours of our time following the kids around trying to take a decent picture for our Christmas cards.

I was reminded of a story that my sister had just told me.  We were talking about how hard it is to paint our nails on our right hand.  I said that I even have trouble with my right foot for some odd reason.  She went on to tell me about a time when she went through almost an entire bottle of nail polish trying to paint her toes.  She was so extremely frustrated that all she could do was cry.  Her boyfriend asked her to please just give up.

I couldn't relate to ever being that frustrated...  until the day at Gaylord. 

First, we took the kids to see Santa.  He was 15 minutes late and we had already been waiting for 15 minutes.  Standing in line with 2 young kids for 30 minutes is NOT fun.  Especially while trying to keep them off the ground and clean, at least until after the pictures.  When Santa finally arrived, he did not apologize and actually seemed a bit bothered to even be there.  Since Tay was cranky, she didn't want to see him.  I put her in his lap, thinking he would be friendly with her and make her feel better.  Instead,  he seemed very irritated with her and it made her angier.  She threw a fit.  My secret candy stash wouldn't even cure her fit. I asked them to hurry up and take a picture, but the lady wanted to play photgrapher and capture that perfect shot.  I said "No, its fine.  Please, just take one picture so we can get out of your way."  She kept trying to get Tay to look at the camera, not even using any kind of technique.  I grabbed Tay up and walked over to the register.  The girl with the big Bump-It working behind the register was clearly new and extremely impersonable.  We waited for another 15 minutes for her to get the computer program working, but it never did happen.  We left and came back an hour later... when they were still having trouble locating our pictures.  When one was finally found, I said "That one is fine.  We really need to go."  She proceeded to scan through all the day's photos looking for more of our awful pictures.  I had to walk off.  I was way beyond frustrated.

During our hour break between the Santa photo scavenger hunt, I followed the kids around like paparazzi and gathered over 200 photos.  I turned into an evil stage mom after about 45 minutes, demanding poses and smiles.  How crazy I must've looked yelling "SMILE LIKE YOU'RE HAPPY, DANGIT!".  Tay would NOT sit still and kept fussing about everything.  She was throwing fits and just being unpleasant.  Christian was trying hard to fake smile, but it showed.  Oddly enough, the kids were very affectionate towards eachother.  I have lots of them kissing... which melted away some of my funk.  A short walk later, they ended up having a good time at the giant gingerbread house but this is only because I let them lick the walls.  I know!  I bet a hundred other kids have done it, too.  I know, I know.  But, its no worse than them touching it and then putting their hands in their mouth.  Plus, they have great immune systems.  No harm done.  They were happy and that made me happy.  Of course, I forgot to adjust my camera so the pictures didn't turn out.  But, I had already accepted my defeat.

They were so sweet on the way in.

 Sadly, we let this ruin the mood for first half of the night.

 They were both amazed with all the beautiful trees.  So was I!

 Wow!

 The entire place looked fabulous, as always.

 Waiting on Santa.

 I had my camera's settings all off again.

 But, oh well.

 Tay loved the fluffy fake snow.

 Kisses

 

and more kisses.

 Right after I took this, the train drove by.  They both loved watching that!

 "Tay, I think this is REAL candy!!"

 "Wait.  Look!  I think we can eat it."

 "Yep, its real."

 "Wanna try?" 

 Sweet sugary kisses

 Goodnight Gaylord.  Whew!

Yesterday, we took the kids to the Parks to let them give Santa another shot.  I didn't want Tay have a bad taste in her mouth left over from The Gaylord.  This Santa and Mrs. Claus were so super nice!  The kids loved them both!  Tay loved all of their stuffed animals, especially the Hello Kitty she is holding.  (I guess we will be making a trip to Build a Bear for that Hello Kitty soon.)