Collin's Goodbye

Collin on his 1st day at Preschool, Aug 2007

Today was Collin's last day at his Montessori preschool. I think I was a lot sadder than he was! We had planned on having him stop going in January because of our anticipated move to Arizona. The school directress called last night and offered to pro-rate the months and only charge us for the days he actually attends, but after giving it much thought, I decided it was going to be a hassle to try to juggle school and trips to AZ, packing, etc. especially as our impending move comes closer.
So today I picked him up with a heavy heart! Miss Brianna had made this cute goodbye card from everyone in the class. She gave Collin a big hug - so sad. I was misty-eyed almost all the way home. So silly I know, but that just goes to tell you how much we all love Montessori and what a great experience it was for Collin to attend, even for just a short while. Collin (and I!) learned so much. I will miss packing the little lunches and hearing the cute reports Collin gives each time we drive home from school!!!

Miss Brianna & Collin on his 4th Birthday

A New Best Friend

Collin has found a best friend -- except he will have to say goodbye this week, since Thursday will be his last day at preschool.  Miss Brianna tells us Nishit and Collin are inseparable, stuck-at-the-hip on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and either choose the same or similar work, and work side by side.  Here are a few photos of them at school.  They are both so cute.

(Photos courtesy of Miss Brianna)

Sleepy Sunday

Look at that smile!

Maddie slept thru Church for the first time today. She has been napping from 9-12 every day this last week - so it worked perfectly with our 9-12 Church schedule. She will be two months old next week -- how time flies!!! We are all having a blast having her around. She is so cute, and such a good baby too (and hoping she will stay that way!).

Yes! It's Saturday!

Saturdays are great! Last night Maddie slept for five hours straight (11-4). So this morning I woke up feeling refreshed - and had a little bit of fun getting Maddie dressed. She did like her little panda shoes - she kept looking at them while she was in her car seat!


Kevin took Allie and Collin to a basketball game (BYU vs New Mexico), did some grocery shopping for me too, which he always does on the weekends when he's home, so I can have some time to just "chill". Sweet!

Our First Day Back in Home Preschool!

Collin and I did school at home today for 2 1/2 hours while our sweet Maddie napped. Our Montessori materials arrived in the mail yesterday so as you can imagine, Collin and I (maybe me more than him) were excited to use them. So we started out with work time, then did our sandpaper letters. Collin knew half of them by heart! Then it was off to another work cycle, where I presented how to juice oranges. He did hand washing also, and played the bank game again among other work he chose. Then we did our weather/calendar work, national anthem and pledge before heading off to another work cycle and snack time.
 

Scripture Study - Me and the Kiddos

The kids and I have been reading the Book of Mormon together so far this year. I have been trying to find a good study method and came across a great study help for kids called "Learning to Read Using the Book of Mormon" by Camille Funk (thanks to Jen Lund, who is also using it with her kids and love it!). So far, Allie has read six full chapters in 1 Nephi, and is very eager to keep reading. Tonight she begged to read one more chapter! Collin is halfway thru 1 Nephi 1. He and I read it together. The book includes sight words to memorize -- so far Collin is learning the first three on the list -- I, a, O, then as he progresses to the next few chapters,the words get harder -- yea, of, ye, or, from, want, etc. etc. You get the picture. The chapters are divided up into small sections, and the kids get to check-off everytime they finish a section. I think THAT is what keeps them motivated to keep going. Also, we like the discussion questions at the beginning of each chapter -- I am learning so much! Plus I love the time I am able to sit and read the scriptures with these wonderful kiddos.

Impressed with Montessori (again!)

Collin & friend washing clothes


Collin decorating the Christmas Tree


Triangle work (see the different types - isosceles, equilateral, and scalene used to create triangles)


Brass polishing work (so cute!)

(Photos taken by Miss Brianna - she is so nice to document the different works the kids do at school!)

I spent the morning observing Collin's preschool class. I learned so much, and was so impressed with the things these little four year olds are learning. These kids have memorized most of the 71 Phonograms (see Spalding method) and have carefully learned the different writing strokes used in cursive writing. I mean, Miss Brianna can ask them to close their eyes while she secretly writes a phonogram on her small dry-erase board; she just simply tells them the strokes she is using, as in "connector stroke, uphill stroke, downward basement stroke..." and then when she is done, she asks the kids if they know what phonogram she just wrote. Three out of three - the kids got them right - and they were not easy phonograms either (qu??).

I observed Collin hand-washing, remembering each and every step Miss Brianna showed him, including carefully folding and rolling his apron; and then happily playing the Bank Game. It is a game where the teacher asks the child to get a certain quantity, like 250, and the child goes to get that in object form: 2 100 squares and 5 tens. Collin did this for a long time, maybe 10 times, stopping by where I was observing and telling me "She told me to get 9 tens again!" or "She told me to get 6 hundreds, 4 tens, and 9 ones Mom!"

Needless to say, I was amazed at how much he has learned from there -- it just inspired me to kick start my home preschool again - in "hibernation" since Maddie was born!

My homemade Christmas ornaments

I have been looking for quite some time now, in my efforts to make Christmas more Christ-centered, a set of ornaments to help the kids remember what Christmas is all about. But since I have not been able to find any out there, I decided to start this ornament project right before Maddie was born -- a set of 24 ornaments, each symbolizing a key event in the Bible and Book of Mormon, from the time of Adam and Eve, up to the time of the Savior's birth.

So, for example: Adam and Eve - a globe; Abraham - starry night; Noah - rainbow (you could do ark); Moses -- two tablets of stone; Jacob - ladder; Isaiah - live coal; Mary - lily (symbol of purity); John the Baptist - dove (symbol of baptism); Samuel the Lamanite - wall/arrow; Story of faithful Nephites who were going to die if the signs of the Savior's birth didn't come to pass - sword; Savior's Birth - manger and star;

I used as inspiration the Jesse tree (thanks to my Catholic roots :)), modified the design and added a couple of Book of Mormon stories. The ornaments are made out of felt. Every day starting on December 1, the kids hang an ornament on a 3-ft Christmas tree, and read the story/scriptures that go with the symbol. On Christmas Eve, it will be Luke 2, and maybe a couple of Christmas songs before hanging the last of the ornaments -- the manger/star.

I didn't get to finish all of the ornaments since I had a bad case of pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel syndrome -- my mom helped me to finish a bunch of them while she was here. When she left on December 20, we still had quite a few to go. She took the finished and unfinished ornaments to the Bahamas so she could finish sewing them for me, and then make a complete set for Anna. I will get to have them in my possession again when she visits in July. I can't wait!!!

All I Want For Christmas is a DHL Truck!!

A funny thing happened on Christmas morning that I just have to write about. Christmas morning is always fun -- especially when you look at your kids' faces and see the pure magic and joy that Christmas morning brings. Our Christmas morning started off with the kids waking up really early, running down to the fireplace and checking their stockings to see if Santa made it. Then they run up to the living room to see if Santa filled their Santa Bags. We have these BIG Santa bags for Santa to put large presents in that don't fit in the stockings - that way he doesn't use Mom's gift wrap :). They get to enjoy what Santa brought for a couple of hours before opening presents from everybody else.

After breakfast, we all get to open the rest of the presents. This year we were joined by my siblings - Archie (flew in from Vegas), Andrea, Aireen & Danny, and Abby & Jake (came in from San Fran). This is the funniest thing that happened (and yes, it was caught on tape!):

Collin has this huge pile of presents and he opens one after the other, looking really excited, but after awhile, he starts muttering, "I wanted a DHL truck..." or "I told Pappi I wanted a DHL truck", or "Where's my DHL, Mom?". So finally he only has three left to open (still no DHL truck) and we give him this balled up present containing this cute GAP bear that he wanted.

Collin: "What's this?" (pause, tears off a piece of the gift wrap). "I don't want this."
Aireen / Andrea: Open it.
Mom: Open it. It's something you really wanted.
Collin: What?!? (he says this in a really snappy tone which made it funny)
------ he proceeds to open the package, and then realizes it is the bear he wanted so -----
Collin: (in his stuffed animal voice) - oh, oh, cute bear.

Then comes the final present -- a big box wrapped in not-so-Christmasy paper (it was all they had left at the Red Balloon)! By this time he is looking really worried that he didn't get a DHL Truck -- but lo and behold, this last box IS the DHL truck he has been waiting for, thanks to his Uncle Archie who splurged on a Bruder DHL truck. Collin had that priceless look on his face as he hurriedly opened his brand-new DHL! As for the bear -- he has since named him Brownie, and sleeps with it at night!

Maddie's Birthday

Madison Louise (Maddie) is here! On November 29, I went into the dr's office at 12 noon, got sent to the hospital, got there at 1 p.m. I checked myself in while Kevin rounded up the kids from school and took them home. Thank goodness Aireen was able to work from home -- she and Danny watched the kids while we're at the hospital.


Kevin got to the hospital at 2:30, and at 3:31 Maddie was born! She weighed in at 7 lbs 7 oz. and 20 inches long. So cute! I love new babies!