KINDERGARTEN... an update

We are well into Cal's kindergarten year! So far, he is loving it! Everything that I was slightly anxious about is not a big deal at all.

I wanted to give an update so I could keep track of everything going on after 2 months of school.

We go through the car drop off line in the morning-- he gets out of the car at the front of the school when a teacher or a student opens the car door.  He hops out and walks down the hall to his class.  The first time he did this, I was a nervous mess he wouldn't find the classroom-- but, of course, he did.

He is loving his teachers.  Mrs. Shinn and Mrs. Warren are wonderful! We had parent/teacher conferences last week with Mrs. Shinn and she is just fantastic! She's been teaching awhile, so she knows what she's doing.

Homework...! Cal has homework every night....and he loves it! ha! Not sure at what age this changes....but for now, he takes it very seriously! He has a homework sheet posted and we mark off the assignments once they are complete.  In addition to the assignments, he also has a take home reading book each week.  Every night of the week, there is a different assignment that goes with the book.  At this stage in the game, this is something we can do together, and we both enjoy it.  He also is to read with someone 20 minutes every night and then we record the book title in his reading log.  He continues with the BOB books, and is mastering them faster and faster-- it used to take him 4 nights to "master" a book, and now he is getting it by the second night for most books. 

His school is great about reading-- which makes this momma HAPPY! They have site words to memorize each week, and I am impressed with Cal's ability to retain them all.  I have site word flash cards in my car that we will go through when we are driving to/from an activity.  He is getting better and better at these-- it's fun to watch him learn.  

While he is enjoying reading, he LOVES math.  They are doing loads of addition and he is starting to talk about subtracting.  Cal is a total numbers guy.  I think it is from watching sports... he will say, "the score is 7-24...if they score a touch down right now it will be 13-24. If they get the extra point it will be 14-24, but if they go for two, it will be 15-25..." Uhhh....... seriously.  He definitely does not get this from his mother who still counts on her fingers.  A lot. 

They have a special every day: media, PE, art, music, math, technology.  I am not sure Cal's favorite of those.  He loves technology... mainly because they play www.abcya.com.  If you have a kid in grades preK-5, this site is AMAZING! Go there. Let your kids play.  I watched Cal play the other day and it a really great site for kids.  Loads of activities that are educational. 

He gets dropped off at 8:40 and picked up at 3:30.  Makes for a long day, but he never complains of being tired.  Sometimes after school, he will look a little worn out, but that never lasts long.  He is usually rearing and ready to go right away!

He is making some new friends and comes home with stories about what they do together on the playground.  He talks the most about Tyler, Jackson and Laynie-- some cuties!

So that's about it for kindergarten this far! I couldn't be happier with our class, our teacher and our school! And for that, I am beyond grateful.  I look forward to everything else he will learn this year!

 

#carriedaway: week 41

Week 41:

 Day 282: solving all the problems with the world...or something like that.

 Day 283: when emeril lagasse and sammy hagar are eating dinner next to you and when you walk by, they stop to ask you how tall you are....it's okay to ask for a picture, right??

 Day 284: home...and ready to see our boys.

 Day 285: nothing says "welcome home" like going on a field trip with the entire kindergarten first thing this morning.

 Day 286: B is owning carpool

 Day 287: apparently I crack him up. And he has the best laugh ever.

 Day 288: he loves to visit the cats when we go to petsmart...


 

Weekend Update!

Do I say this after every weekend? It was another super busy and action-packed weekend...! hahaha

On Friday, I subbed in Andy's class and then after school, I went and got a mammogram.  A few reasons why-- cancer runs in my family; I want to be so proactive about it all.  And, Molly (my cousin) passing away totally rocked my world.  It scared me and made me want to be even more aware of my health.  Molly didn't have breast cancer, but I wanted to be able to go and make sure everything was A-OK.  And it was.  Phew. I am not waiting until 45 for that first screening.  That's cray. 

Friday night, Eddie planned on taking Cal to the state fair to eat some grub and then watch the demolition derby and monster truck show (if this was that show Home Improvement, they would be grunting right now...).  Andy hasn't gone in the past because it is simply way too loud for his sensitive ears.  This year, though, be said he wanted to go...so they made a boys night out of it! I felt guilty for about .4 seconds (do y'all do that too? It's like a fear of missing out on the memory making...and absolutely stupid of me), and then I agreed to not tag along.  Instead, I went and had a glass of wine while getting a pedi....!!!

It was pretty darn nice... I wandered over to Ulta to look at some new makeup I was wanting to try after reading a blog post last week.  While there, my parents called and asked me if I wanted to have dinner with them... duh... be right there! We ate at the mall and had SUCH a nice time!

I got this picture from Eddie along with the caption: "first stop at the fair"

I was crying I was laughing so hard.  If you know Eddie, he doesn't do port-a-potties.  At all.  He lined that seat like crazy-- I can't stop laughing looking at this....

They had a BIG time and ate yummy fair food and enjoyed the demolition derby...

They stayed up super late and pulled in the driveway close to 10:00.  I went out to meet them and Andy was sound asleep.  I carried him in and had both boys in bed very quickly.  

Saturday morning, we had two soccer games at 9am.  I went to Andy's and Eddie went to Cal's.  Andy's season isn't over yet, but we did the team picture and they handed out medals-- he was pumped.

After the games, we headed home to get some stuff done and to walk the dogs.  We were heading to the Carolina game that afternoon!

We met a bunch of friends at a tailgate party that was super fun.  Sweet Anne Carter was there in her UVA cheerleading costume so we had to get a picture next to Andy in his jersey. 

Two fun friends at the tailgate!

We headed over to meet my parents to help us get everyone into the game.  I loved walking up and seeing Cal and my dad chatting it up. 

We ran into my friend Andrea and her little boy Wells once we were inside.  He showed up wearing the most adorable button down shirt and then quickly changed into his new jersey-- welcome to boy life, Andrea!!! hahaha I used to love dressing the boys so cute for the games...but now they insist on the jerseys...always. 

My boys looooved playing with Wells and it was the cutest thing ever watching Wells play with them.  He loved paying catch with them.  It was seriously adorable.  LOVE how he is looking up at Cal.  I mean... how sweet is that?

I got to see Julie too- these two are Andy's God Moms so I had to take a picture with them!

Me and Andrea and Julie!

We looked over and the Ram walked in...! 

 I thought Andy would be terrified, but he was thrilled to go up to him.

It was such a fun Saturday with these boys!

After the game we went over to my mom's house with a bunch of people and ate more tailgate food and kept on drinking.  It was another long night for the boys-- we didn't get home until close to 10 again.  We had a sleepless night in our house with Cal having loads of leg cramps from an over busy day and Andy with the start of a cough. 

Sunday we were lazy in the morning (well, the boys were...my chores don't allow me to be too lazy!) and then I went with Cal and Andy to the Fall Fest at the Country Club-- it was so much fun!

There are bounce houses filling up parking lots and food trucks.  These two got in the boxing ring together...

 They were still friends after it all, thankfully!

Next up was these two: Cal and Brad!

 And they too, remained friends after! Love their smiles!

We came home from the fall fest worn out! I threw the boys in the tub for a long bath.  

We are SUPER excited for next weekend and HALLOWEEN! It will be a fun week leading up to it. Looking forward to it!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!


 

Book Nerd

I love a good book.  I usually do not have the time to sit down and read, but when we travel, especially without the boys, I will knock out several books.  I wanted to share some of the books I have read lately in hopes of passing along good ones...and you can do the same for me! (please!)

Here is a look at some of the books I have read in the past month or so:

The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty

This wasn't my favorite of her books (I have read just about all of them I think...), but I love the way this author writes and I really enjoy reading her books.  I get sucked in to the characters and the plot line and I don't want to put it down.  This one sucked me in just like the others... I loved the characters and was anxious to find out what happened to them. 

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The Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

Ohhh, this one was a good one.  The book group I am in picked this book to read and it took me a while to get into it-- not because the book was slow, but because I had zero time to let myself get into it.  And then I sat and read and I was hooked.  It is disturbing and insane and unthinkable.  The main character is recovering from something tragic that happened in her past and I thought the whole time that the tragic event was the event they filled readers in on in the beginning...but then the event actually happens.  Not knowing what was coming made this book even better.  I finished it on the way home from Ole Miss and Julie was laughing at me turning pages so quickly. 

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Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

 Read this one on the way down to Cabo-- it was a quick read.  I loved Mindy on The Office and I found myself reading this book with Kelly Kapoor's voice in my head. This was another book for book club... I found it funny and easy to read, but it wasn't the best book ever.  It is definitely good if you want light and easy and mindless!

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Save The Date by Mary Kay Andrews

This is another author I really enjoy.  Most of her novels take place in the south-- usually Savannah, Charleston, or near those areas.  I started this one on the way home from Cabo because it was light and easy.  I started to read another one, but couldn't keep up with characters so I switched to this one and I loved it! Her books are fun and I find myself not wanting to put them down. 

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I have also been listening to audio books.  This makes me sound like a complete nerd, I know.  I love love love this. When I am cleaning house or walking the dogs, I will turn the book on and let my mind wander.  I have done a few books this way and it has become a habit.  For some reason, I have been doing Elin Hilderbrand's books via audio and love them.
So far, I have read/listened to:

Barefoot

 Looooooved this one and did not want it to end!

Summer People

This was another one I really enjoyed.  Loved the characters and was actually surprised at the ending-- it wasn't predictable! This was one I found myself wanting to listen to more and more. 

The Beach Club

 This is the one I am currently listening to.  I just started it and already I really like it. 

I have no idea why I am only listening to her books-- I am a creature of habit, maybe?? But they are great for passing time.  Over Labor Day weekend, Cal and I drove to the beach and hit horrible traffic-- he was in the back seat totally content on his iPad, so I turned on a book and was in heaven driving along. 


There you have some books! I started a few other ones while I was in Cabo and then opted out after a few chapters.  Maybe I will go back and read them, but probably not-- there are too many good books out there!


What else should I be reading? I keep a running list on my phone and would love suggestions...!