Six Weeks of School!!

Just a post about our school happenings.....  

We have nightly homework that includes-  
Monday- Letters
Tuesday- One or two sentences with picture
Wednesday-  Numbers 1-20 or 1-100
Thursday-  One or two sentences with picture
Every night read at least two books.    AR reading- Hays two books a week.  Hadlee and Harper read at least one or two pages of AR book.

I think we are getting into a routine of trying to get the homework done when we walk into the house.   Of course it is snack time because they are starving when they get home.    I've been making smoothies that with extra milk and spinach. (it's new for us to add the spinach)   Hays is still struggling to get right to homework when we get home.   He would rather look at his maps.

I've been volunteering in their classroom in the afternoons.    I love it because we can leave school at 3:15.   I also get to talk with Mrs. Weaver and get to know a little more about what's going on in class.   This week she had me make copies....I was feeling a little challenged with the copy machine.   I managed to make 23 copies of 27 pages with holes punched and stapled!    I also got a job!   I'm a substitute for the school district.   I've done it three times and love it.    Well semi love it-  after the first time of teaching 1st graders at another school, my mind was thinking about homeschooling.   For the first time I actually thought it would be to our advantage for me to teach them at home, then we had homework and the thoughts soon left me.   Being a substitute works for us, I can get some extra money, still help out their school, not get bored and make my own schedule.   So far they have called me everyday since I started last week. 


The first couple weeks early mornings were easy as can be.   The kids were eager to wake up and get dressed.   Now I'm waking them up and bribing them with TV before breakfast.   Yesterday they rode the bus for the first time, I didn't get any pictures maybe next time if there is one.   They were so excited to ride the bus but as soon as I picked them up yesterday afternoon, all three said we don't want to ride the bus anymore.  

Yesterday we received the September school newsletter in their backpack.  Hays Middlebrook was on the back page.   There have been 5 kinder kids read to the principal this school year.  The girls want to read so bad but are just not there yet.    We have to remind them every night that Hays has been reading for a long time.  

The kids created  "Flat Me's" in August.   They got to send them to someone to have for a couple of weeks.   All three wanted to send theirs to Ellie in Mexico because it was in another country.  I convinced them that they could do another state but not another country.   Harper sent hers to Hannah.   Hannah took Harper to school, hang out with her at home, to the river to check on the cows, help her with her fire prevention poster and to see Papa Schroeter.   Flat Harper sure had fun in Victoria.

The Berger family aka Mema and Papa got "Flat Hays".   I tried to convince Hays to send himself to Brenham to hangout for the month.   He wanted to go to Victoria and he picked a pretty good time to go.   Hays went to church, out to eat a lot,  to the river to feed the cows, MD Anderson in Houston to get the thumbs up with Mema,  a trip to Austin to fly to San Diego,  lots of sight-seeing in San Diego and safely back to Seguin on Tuesday night. 

"Flat Hadlee" went to Albuquerque, New Mexico.   She went to hang out with Cousin Marion and her dog Rosie.   Marion sent a letter to school so I'm not sure of everything they did- the letter should get there today.  Marion did send me some pictures from the month-  it looks like Hadlee went to work with Marion at the clinic, picked New Mexico chiles and helped her decorate some cakes.   Marion had a full month with early admissions to Med. school - we have our fingers crossed that "Flat Hadlee" helped her with her interview.   Edited- Marion found out a couple hours after writing this post that she was accepted to University of New Mexico Med. School!!!   Yeah!

All three are members of the 100 club.  They counted to 100 during the month of September. 

Hays lost his lunch box.   It's been three days and the lunch box is somewhere at the school.  Poor thing had a minor meltdown at school but Mommy to the rescue with a new PBJ sandwich at the end of lunch.

Hadlee cracked me up the other day- She whispered to me that you can have free lunch at school.  You just tell them your number and it's free.   I checked her lunch account and those 75 cent milks add up during the week and I needed to deposit more money in her account.  

Everything that comes home with Hays has "Hays Middlebrook".     He loves his name and is proud of his ten letter middle name.   His writing has progressed so much in the last month.   Yeah!


October brings more projects...  "All about me" is due next Monday.   We have a school holiday next week!   There will be two field trips- pumpkin patch and a play at the high school.  

Seguin - Home of the Largest Pecan

We were bored on Saturday morning. I felt the kids pain so we went in search for some fun...garage sales or Wal-Mart. We got in the car and started driving and found a festival downtown. I declared "jackpot" and we stopped to check it out.

Hays posing in front of the main focal point- the fountain.






There was a nice crowd hanging around the fountain and this lady whispered to me that they were getting ready to have a flashmob on the fountain. A couple minutes later "dancing queen" starts playing over the loud speaker and ladies start heading to the fountain with their boas. The kids were at a loss for words at first. Hadlee was ready to join in and asked if she could next time.






They had a train ride so of course they all wanted to ride.






They were having a contest, "Chalk the Fountain" so we had to participate in it.






Harper and her chalk art.







"Nick VanVick" and his hotel.






Our first football game of the year. Two things- TLU football is nothing like Brenham football and it was hot @ 1:00 pm.







Fun at the TLU pool to cool us off!






The diving board is a hit!






Papa and Mema hanging out with us during the week.

Picture Day at School

Oh the drama!!  Hairbow- no hairbow- headband- no headband- braids- no braids- outfits


I'll admit it now, I'm cheap, very cheap.  I didn't buy any school pictures....... the extra $3 for a fake background just threw me over the edge.    I'll take my scolding via the phone or text.   Thank you!

Our Week

I'm Trying to fix our computer so I can start downloading pics from my camera, until then....this has been our life (last week)

Sister love after school, blizzard treat day!










Family walk around campus, Harper was our only biker. They were fighting over the bike by the time our walk was over.









It took me a while to start "crafting" in Seguin. I didn't realize how much paint i had until it went in the bookcase. Here's Harper picking out a color for a project we started for her room.









Hadlee at school.









Hays posing on the firetruck. I eased Harpers' fears and went to the fire presentation at their school. The week before they had the police K-9 unit. She freaked out a little so I was there for moral support.









Friday night we went to a TLU party at one of the staff members house. Two funny things- Wade and I had no clue that the river was so close to the main street in town and we felt like party crashers. We chatted with some people, we ate, the kids played and then we left. It was the oddest thing we've done in a while.










Fall softball...










Most parents have to get their kids stuff from the giftshop when they go places. All Hays needs is a map. Thanks Aunt C for remembering the map. Amy and Brian we had a blast. I can't wait to see the pics.









A day at Schlitterbahn=a good nights sleep.










Our bed hopping has been out of control since we moved last month. Fingers crossed that they will get used to their house soon.









Last week we had a possum in our trash can. I freaked out and so did the possum. We're pretty sure we have mice in the kitchen. We found a cat on Sunday at the ballpark. The kids and I went to pick it up after school yesterday, and one of the workers had grown too attached to it. I don't want the responsibility of an animal but last week did me in.

Interim School Progress Report

I can't believe the kids got their first progress report from school. We are getting into a "routine" and lucky for us have just completed our first school sickness.

I get the privilege of talking to the kids' teacher a couple times a week in the carline so I knew they were all doing well.   I really didn't know what to expect from their progress reports but I was giving myself a pat on the back after reading them.


Hadlee-
Academic Progress:   Meets grade level expectations in all areas.  Behavior:  good
Teacher Comments:  Hadlee is my right hand girl!  She makes having my job worth all the money in the world.  What a special young lady with a beautiful heart (smiley face)   Thank you for all  of the great character you have built in her.   She is amazing!  Hadlee is performing above the first 9 weeks expectations and doing a fabulous job.  Keep up the hard work.

Harper-
Academic Progress:  Meets grade level expectations in all areas.   WOW!    Behavior:  good
Teacher Comments:  Harper is doing a remarkable job!   She is such a sweet, sweet young lady and a blessing in my life.   Thank you for the amazing job you are doing at home. (smiley face)  Harper is on target to be a Kindergarten star!   She is exceeding expectations for the first 9 weeks.   Keep up the hard work.

Hays-
Academic Progress:  Letters, Sounds, and Math-  exceeds grade level expectations.  Language Arts and Social Skills-  meets grade level expectations (working on mastery of handwriting)   Work Habits-  Still Developing/Progresing toward mastery (working diligently and staying on task)   Behavior:  good
Teacher Comments:   Hays is such an amazing young man!   He has been a blessing to have in class.  He makes me smile every day (smiley face)   Thank you for raising such a wonderful young man....
I will be designing separate lessons for Hays, but at the same time try and keep him doing some of the "normal" kindergarten routines.   Keep consistency in his AR reading. 
(We are working on the AR reading.   Apparently Mr. Hays isn't honest all the time and he really has books to read to me every night.    

Yeah!!!   For anyone reading this that has helped mold them into the kiddos they are, Thank you very much.  (it's taken a village to raise them, that's for sure)

Grandparent's Day at School

Papaw Wilson, Papa Berger and Mema joined us for lunch at our school for Grandparent's Day.   The kids were so excited to get to eat with their grandparents.   The grandparents were in and out in 30 minutes- it's a fast thing in public school.   The girls dined on veggie pizza, Hays had his pbj and the grandparents got pepperoni pizza.  

Harper made a deal with Mema that she would get picked up by only her in the carline.    Mema held up to her word about Harper getting picked up by her but the siblings had to tag along.  

Free Time

It's been a hot summer, our poor A/C at our new house makes it down to 75 around 11:00 p.m.     I don't know if we will remember how hot it was this summer but just in case we read this in the future, it's hot and dry!

A couple of weekends ago we went to Dallas.  We tagged along with Daddy, he worked and we played.....we went to the mall to kill some time one of the days and because it was too hot to do anything outside.   I got a couple compliments about how well behaved and how cute all three of you looked while we were at the mall.     Minutes before the first "best behavior" compliment,  the kids were throwing their Sonic toys off of the second story, playing tag, and hanging all of over gross mall furniture, while I was trying to talk on the phone.   They were basically threatened with their life but it worked.  

Hadlee wanted her picture taken.





I took the picture and noticed that Harper was hanging out on this bench...





Not my sweet child throwing a temper tantrum!    All because she didn't get anything and Hays did.  






We had fun and got to ride in our first family minivan.   Not much different on the volume level,  earplugs were still needed.








Hays and his atlas, he loves his atlas.  Santa needs to bring him about 5 more for Christmas.






Harper requested that someone other than Mommy paint her nails.....Thank you, Aunt Ro.






We melted crayons in a plastic bottle using the sun.  The girls had fun one afternoon.






Hannah Camille (and Mema and Aunt Cynthia)   at our house!  

Playing on Prexy

The kids love their new house. I wanted a house with shade...we have lots of trees and a huge backyard. It's a total 70's house so there lots of built-ins. I had the kids take pictures on my phone when we first moved in, the pics are gone so I'll have to take some with the updates....trashing of curtains and blinds. The other night Wade was trying to show Ro a picture of our house from a couple of years ago on google maps, he tried and tried to get the panoramic view, it took Hays a second. Gotta love it!   It's pretty cool, we're 837.



Hays in his storage headboard. Yesterday he was standing on top of it and Hadlee was jumping off of it. He also had "Hollywood lights" with a mirror. Those have found there way to the shed.





I thought it was hilarious that Hadlee said "beach seeds", of course they are peach seeds. We have 2 peach trees, 3 pecan trees, 1 fig and 1 pear tree in our backyard.    The kids love doing the "Good Luck Charlie" videos, as they like to call them.