Reading With Dr. Seuss

I'm so stinkin' impressed with Caden's reading skills.  This is the first time, to my knowledge, that he's read Green Eggs and Ham. 

Way to go Caden and yea for Miss K and Mrs. S - 2 awesome teachers.

Perserverence Pays Off

I'm always telling Jaelyn she can do anything, all she has to do it try.  She proved me right tonight!

I think I can, I think I can

I know I can, I know I can

Caden on an Albuterol High

I discovered this little gem of a video clip yesterday.  Jaelyn's camera battery was dead so I let her use my old camera.  We found it when we downloaded her pictures.  This was taken the day Caden was diagnosed with asthma.  He'd had a couple albuterol treatments and was extremely hyper when we got home from the doctor's office.

Dance Dance Revolution

Dan and I found a DDR clearanced yesterday. The mat is too big for the kids so we dug out the balance board. It is hilarious to watch them wiggle their hips to the music. We are out of school three days next week and I think this will be the perfect thing to entertain us.

Caden Reading

My friend Jennifer sent Caden two Starfall workbooks.  He loves starfall.com so I knew he'd love these.  He immediately set to work on cutting and stapling the small books together.  It's so exciting to see him really reading.

Fairy Show

It took me a bit to figure out how to get this video off my iPhone due to the size, but here it is. The Fairy Show...and I think you will agree the performance speaks for itself. Dan again.

Kilgore Falls

After sitting at Toyota for 2 hours this morning to get the oil changed and the tired rotated, we decided we deserved a treat. Our friends, Miss Krissy and her boys, were free so we all piled in a van and headed to Kilgore Falls. It was perfect! Last week was insufferably hot (pool like bath water), but today was in the 80s with very little humidity. The falls were packed with people.

Our water shoes we bought for Big Kahuna's came in handy with the rocky creek bed. The kids had a ball playing in the waterfall. To begin with, no one would go near it, but we promised Rita's to everyone who went into the falls...and everyone EARNED their Rita's several times :).

It took Caden a little while to build up his courage to go near the falls. Once he found a spot on the rocks where it wasn't as deep, he was in waterfall heaven.

Jaelyn caught a dragon fly.

Allie, Tyler, Jaelyn, Nathan and Caden

Tyler has made a friend in Allie. She was his little shadow and he didn't mind at all. It was cute.

Caden and his best buddy, Nathan

Jaelyn and Kelly

After the falls, we made our stop at Rita's as promised! It was a picture perfect afternoon!

Swim Lessons - Session 1

Last year, I went way over board on the blog with pictures and videos of the kids swimming. Dan was in Iraq though...he needed to see them. This year, he's gone again and well, I guess I'm just being lazy. I've only taken the video camera to swim lessons 2 times. Oh well, you can only do the best you can do, right??? Here are a few of the highlights.

(Pay close attention to Caden's front crawl. You can see his laid back personality even in his swimming)

They had their swim test on Thursday. Allie passed with flying colors to level 5. She hasn't been wanting to swim the length of the pool during lessons so I wasn't sure if she would be willing to for the test, but she did. Jaelyn did awesome and moved up to level 4. I am so impressed with how far she's come. Last June, she wouldn't put her face in the water. Caden had a bit of trouble with the elementary backstroke so he'll be repeating level 3. That's okay. He's only 5 and for a 5 year old, he swims really well. I wasn't going to sign them up for the second session because I hate the early mornings, BUT I'm a glutton for punishment. The kids want to keep going so we'll be at the pool bright and early a week from Monday to do it all over again!

A Night at the Beach

The kids and I drove down to Destin on Wednesday to spend a few evenings with Dan. We played in the pool until he got home from his class and then we had dinner at Longhorn (it's all about the food, remember?). After dinner, we changed into our bathing suits and headed to the beach. As we were getting set up on the beach, someone came over to tell us to watch the kids near the water because there were tar balls everywhere. It looked like a small animal pooped all along the beach and in the water. TMI I know, but ewwww....it is so sad. With every article I read, it gets worse. The pictures from Pensacola Beach on Thursday were horrible and there's no end in sight.

Dan and I relaxed while the kids played in the sand. The weather was perfect and no one seemed to mind that they couldn't get in the water. The kids had a ball playing in the sand and burying each other.

More Reading

Learning to Read

My dear friend Jennifer recently shared with me about a program she did with all of her kids to teach them to read. I'll have to discuss with her why she just now decided to share this nugget of wisdom with me. I have had 2 other kids who needed help learning to read, you know ;-), but for now, I headed to the library and checked out her book. It turns out it's the same program I used when I tutored at Ferry Pass and when I taught at Montclair. Caden and I have been doing a few lessons a night and if I forget, he'll come and get me to "do our lessons." He loves it and is doing really well. He has a few site words and is getting faster and faster at phonics. Pretty soon, he'll be doing all of the decoding in his head. His kindergarten teacher is going to love me because he's going to be reading on his own by the end of the summer or maybe she'll hate me because he'll be way ahead and need to be challenged.

Here are a couple of short video clips Dan shot the other night of his "lesson."

Ladew Gardens

We have a topiary garden about 30 minutes from our house. We've been once before and loved the pretty flowers. This weekend was $1 weekend so we went this afternoon. It was cold, but bearable. Spring has definitely been fickle. I love the drive to Ladew. We live in such a congested area, but drive for 10 minutes and you are in farmland. It's beautiful. The daffodils were gone already, but all the tulips were blooming. I took a ton of pictures...here are my 50 favorites :p.

Swinging

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Caden likes to recite from memory read two books to us: Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Three Little Kittens. I think it's so cute. I was especially impressed with how he followed along with his finger on the last page. He's ready to really start reading!

Happy Birthday Little Man

I cannot fathom how Caden could be turning 5 today. It just doesn't seem possible. I see him as my baby boy, but when I look at recent photos, I can indeed see a maturing little boy. I tell Caden all the time that he can't grow up, but he promises me that he'll still hug and kiss me when he's grown. I really do need to get that promise in writing or maybe video since he can't write anything other than his name very well.

We started celebrating Caden's birthday in Pensacola with presents and cookies. Today we had lunch with friends and came home to bake cupcakes for him to take to school tomorrow. Saturday, we are having a "surprise party" for him at Chuck E. Cheese with 2 of his little friends.

Caden's Christmas Party

Caden's preschool class started practicing their Christmas play right after Thanksgiving. Caden was assigned the role of Joseph. He cried when he found out because Joseph sounds important and he didn't want to have to speak in front of so many parents. Miss Patty assured him he'd only have to knock on a few doors and he was happy. Caden is a very good knocker, encase you didn't know :p.

Caden spiked a fever Tuesday night and I was worried he wouldn't be well enough to play Joseph. His fever went away, but he's been left with a cough. I gave him some Delsym and took him to school this morning anyway. Half of his class is coughing so I didn't feel bad. The play was really cute and the kids had a great time at their party. Santa didn't have time to stop and visit, but he did drop off a bag of presents by the door. Santa gave Caden a pile of sticker books. They'll be perfect for our car trip to Florida ;).

Sneak Peak at Our Vacation

The Dancing Queen

Jedi Wars

$1.41 at the thrift store this afternoon for a Darth Vader helmet equaled hours of priceless fun!

Our Venus Fly Trap

Caden has never been a big eater and he's never eaten vegetables. Even as a baby he would spit out and then refuse all baby food. We've been working at getting him to eat vegetables for as long as I can remember. We go through stages where I make him try a bite, usually ending in him gagging and spitting up all of his dinner, and stages where I just let it go and hope he'll start eating vegetables at some point. I've been known to add spinach leaves to blueberry smoothies and carrots to brownies in the past. In the last few days, he's decided he'll eat carrots. I started out slicing them paper thin and giving him 4 (for the number of years old he is). I'm slowly slicing them thicker with the hopes of working up to 1 baby carrot. It's not a lot, but it's a start. The kids learned about Venus Fly Traps from a kids' show today so, I picked up a carrot and made buzzing sounds at dinner. He thought it was hilarious, especially when Daddy added the sound effect while he was chewing his "flies." He ate his 4 bites and then asked for more. In all, he ate 1-1/2 baby carrots. I know it's not much compared to the vegetables Allie eats, but you have to understand that Caden's main vegetables are pickles (and I'm not totally sure they count!). Anyway, we all thought this video was hilarious. I think you'll agree.