August 2014/Summer goals.

One fun Friday night when friends came over for dinner!

This was the Saturday before school started, so we wanted to get as much time as possible in at the pool. I was even going to try to put a bag over Isla's cast so she could go one more time. Right before we showed up, someone threw up in the pool! So we hung out at the park to wait it out. We ended up going home, but the big kids got to go back later. 

After discovering American Ninja Warrior, the boys' playground play has changed dramatically. Their dream is to create a course in our backyard.

At the point, Isla does pretty much everything she would do if she didn't have a cast on. 

Everett likes finding bug carcasses and such. He found a cool snake skin this day, too.

Getting ready for our fancy back to school dinner on Sunday night. 

Don't think I took any pictures of the meal, but we use our fancy (to us!) glasses and put out a tablecloth so it feels special. 

The big first day of school! Carson started second grade and has Mr. Todd.
I originally didn't want to consider having Carson skip a grade. The trend these days is to set your child up so he is on the older end of the class to give him that developmental advantage. It seems like no one skips grades anymore! And Carson loved his kindergarten year and did very well. He wasn't one of those really smart kids who gets in trouble because they're bored. (Carson takes following directions extremely seriously under all circumstances.) So, a couple of things helped us make our decision to let Carson skip first grade. One, I volunteered some in his classroom, and even though he had no complaints, it was obvious to me that he was a little out of place there. He's not only academically advanced, but he's socially and emotionally mature as well. His closest friends from church and the neighborhood are one or two years older than him. He had one pretty good friend in his kindergarten class, but I from my and his teacher's observations, the other kindergartners just seemed younger than him. Mrs. Guyer said she would occasionally make a joke or comment to the class that was way above a kids' level of understanding, and she would realize Carson was the only one laughing or who "got" what she was saying. The second, and biggest reason we felt so good about this change was an idea I had. Even if Carson skips a grade now, that doesn't mean he has to remain in this grade throughout his schooling. Being a military family, we'll definitely move at least a couple of times in the next decade. Between each move, we have lots of options. I could homeschool him for a year. We could send him abroad to have a global experience and language immersion. (We might all live abroad!) After a move, or a year of home schooling, we could put him back in his original grade so that in high school he's with his peers for sports and social events. (The plan is to have him taking college courses during his high school years anyway.) So basically, we felt like second grade was the absolute best place for Carson to be this year. He took a four-part first grade test this summer and scored in the 90s on each section. Passing was to score over 70 on some, 80 on the others. So it was a nice reassurance that he was really ok to skip first. We already knew his teacher, since he attended Mr. Todd's reading group last year, and he's awesome. I don't know if next year he'll do third grade at Scobee, or be home schooled, or whatever. But for now, this is great for him!

Everett is in kindergarten! I have lots of tender feelings for this sweet boy, and I do not like having him gone all day long! I promised him that I would occasionally sneak him out of school after lunch, so we can still have our "Mommy and Ev time." (Last year, while the girls napped, he and I would snuggle on the couch and read books or have a treat together.) After the first day of school, Everett came home practically in tears. According to him, kindergarten is "way too much learning, and not enough playing." He's had better experiences since the first day though! His teacher is Ms. Cisneros.

One night in August, around 12:30 a.m. The life of a surgery resident...

Faye's at that age where if she takes an afternoon nap, she's not tired enough for bed until wayyy too late for my liking. But if she doesn't take a nap I find her like this at 5 p.m. No good!!

The kids finished their summer goals the week before school started. Carson was most enthusiastic about his goal of scoring 1,000 baskets. He achieved it after about three days, spending about 6 hours outside each day at the hoop! I should have taken a picture of the back of the poster. There are tally marks all over it. Carson learned to tie his shoes, and he barely finished reading Alma from the Book of Mormon. (I let him stay up pretty late a few nights that last week of summer to do that and to record the 100 books he read.)

Everett finished his entire Brain Quest first grade workbook. He has really nice handwriting, and I love the careful way he does each worksheet. (Much neater than his big brother!) He made dinner for us and a friend, and he liked to make bagels for everyone whenever we had them. He memorized five scriptures; John 3:16 is the cutest to hear him recite. Swimming across the pool was the toughest one for him. He tried and tried, but he can't yet take a breath and keep going. We adapted the goal to say he could put his feet down once and still get it, and he did do that once! 

Faye learned a song in Spanish (un barco chiquito). She could already ride a two wheeler, but her goal was to make it to the pool and back without help. She gave a lesson about Jesus calming the storm to the family. She babysat a friend's little baby five times and learned to change his diaper. And she added an additional goal of making a skirt, because she really wanted me to do that with her. 

The big summer goals party was at Incredible Pizza. (Can I just say I hate places like this?) Everett had been there for a birthday party, and the boys were dying to go. They earned it, so off we went.

Everyone got a little gift. Carson got a new watch. Everett got a reading lamp that clips to a book. Faye got a nice new hairbrush. And Isla got play dough tools.

Phew, glad to be out of that loud, crowded, screen-filled, money-sucking place.

But glad these kiddies had a great time! 

Four hard-working, amazing kids.