Jack

Jack is quite the writer; he has lots of imagination for stories. This is a letter he wrote to Uppa and a picture to go with it.

School Update

My prayers have been answered! The kids are doing great in school.

Jack espically is loving school this year, which I am sooo happy about. He loves his teacher; says she is the best teacher ever. He is getting extra reading help this year so I am still praying his reading fluency comes up. He tells me all the time his "table" won the table points because they were so good. He actually got to move tables because a couple of the kids in his original group were disruptive to him so his teacher gave him the option of moving. I don't know if it is because there is more room in this class or what but that did not happen last year. I can see him being recognized and rewarded for his good behavior. I am very pleased with the teacher and school year this year for him so far.

Jacob is doing great in school also. His teacher said he is one of the top students in the class. Of course he is doing great in math and finds lots of confidence in that. His reading and writing is great too. His teacher commented that recently he has really come out of his shell helping other students with their work. He has been self-manger since the beginning of school: which is he can get drinks, take breaks and bathroom breaks without asking. Jacob says his teacher and I are really working him hard this year; he is feeling the difference of third grade. He is doing really well with the transition.

Amelia is doing wonderful in preschool. Of course it is not academically rigorous but she is doing the best she can. Her teachers have started having her write her middle name along with her first and last since she can write that so well. After she masters that she will start on our address and phone number. At home she is reading flash cards and little books really well. She also can add up to ten pretty well. She will definitely be ready for kindergarten by next year.

Jacob

On Jacob and I date we found a sand hill. He spent the next 20 minutes jumping and playing on the hill while I videoed his tricks. It was his date so oh well!

Amelia - preschool

Amelia is starting her last year of preschool; she was very excited to start. This year she is going 4 days a week in the afternoon, 12:30-3:00. It is definitely different for her to be in school four days a week and in the afternoon. Her first week she went three days and was pretty tired by the end of the week.
We go to work around 10:00 each day so by 12:30 she is ready to go do something other then entertain herself. She said she doesn't mind me walking her down to school but would like to be able to walk back to my office on her own. We cleared it with Teacher Brenda so now she walks herself down. She says she likes it because she is the first in her class to be excused.
I pray this year she continues to love school and learning. I want this year to prepare her for the full time job of school that awaits her next year.

Grand Finale

We had a grand finale to summer. The kids and I  took off after church one Sunday to Umma and Uppa's. Once there the kids played, we visited Nana Kim, Gramma Sharpes and went to see Josh's new house. We only stayed one day then we were off to the Oregon coast.
We camped at Cape Lookout for 4 days. It was a great camp, with beautiful sunny weather. We played on the beach, rode bikes and hung out. Dada showed up on the second day we were there to surprise us. Together we went to the Tillamook cheese factory.
After Cape Lookout we drove up to Seaside. The kids had never seen such a great place; I think Seaside is like a mini Las Vegas for kids. I took them on the Tilt a Whirl for the first time; Oh did we have fun! We did the bumper cars, looked in shops and played video games in the giant arcades.
Next we set off for Riffe Lake to meet up with Umma and Uppa. We camped with them the next 2 nights. They brought their new trailer so that was a fun time trying that out. The second night Burton and Dane stayed with us. The camp sight had a fun game of looking for little faces or figures in the trees. The kids really got into this so we spent a couple of hours looking for them. At the end they each got a necklace and a light stick. They walked around, rode bikes, played at the playground and paled around.
It was a wonderful grand finale of summer. We all came back dirty, tired and refreshed.

School Year 2016-2017

We now have a 2nd grader and 3rd grader in our family! I kept saying Jack was in 1st grade all last night on accident because it doesn't seem possible that he is in 2nd grade already!
His teacher Mrs. Klein sent him a postcard for a greeting this year, a nice touch. I am praying this year Jack enjoys school, that he improves on his reading, his class as a whole has good behavior and he finds good friends to play with.
This year Jacob's class is in one of the new portables; he is very excited about this. He has several friends in his class. I pray for Jacob this year a smooth transition to the academics of 3rd grade, that he improves his writing, and that he finds kind, good friends.
Of course I pray for both of them that they are spared the negativity and cruelty of others, that God keeps them safe and that they can continue to be who each of them is.

Coeur d'alene Adventure

This last week the kids and I took an adventure to Coeur d'alene Idaho. We called it an adventure instead of a vacation because Dad was not with us and everyone knows you can't go on vacation without Dad. :)
Anyhow it was an amazing time! We stayed in the Motel 6 about a 9 minute drive from downtown. It wasn't the fanciest place but it was clean. When we first showed up the kids were like, "this is it?" The only time we were at the motel however was to sleep. We spent the days downtown playing at the beach, swimming, playing at the park or walking around downtown. We had ice cream for dinner each night with a hamburger for dessert. Jacob commented that I was a way cooler mom on vacation because of it.
We had such a good time in fact that Dad did decide to come up for the day; which everyone was very happy about. We did the same kind of things; swimming, walking, playing. The last day we were there we met up with Kate Stone, a friend of mine. Her family has a house on the lake that we went to. The house was across the lake so we had to go by her family boat; the kids loved the ride. There we paddle boarded, swam and jumped off a water trampoline; it was a lot of fun.
We all decided we needed to go back again.