Made banana bread and Justin was licking the beater.
One of Joey's best friends Chris and he's our neighbor.
Joey showing us his favorite doggie brownie.
Joey's new bed.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Joey's Last T-Ball Game
Joey let me take a few photos of him.
Joey and Coach and him getting his trophy.
Joey and his cool trophy.
The team - for the 2nd year in a row!
Joey's last T-ball game part 2
Joey hitting off the Tee.
Joey smiling before going to bat.
Waiting on base with his hands in his back pockets.
Joey waiting on base.
Joey's last T-ball Game part 3
Bored and sitting ON base.
Good job team!
Justin HAD to get on the field and run around.
Mr. cool dude.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Joey's reading...and swim lessons
I never thought of myself as the patient, teaching type. I always figured someone else would teach my child. I don't know why but I just never saw myself in that role.
Fast forward to now. A few months ago Joe and I bought almost every Pre-K, Kindergarten teaching book on the market in this area. We hit up Big Lots, Albertsons and maybe one book from Walmart.
Since Joey has finished two books completely. One in a few days. The Pre-K books are too easy. He's breezing through the kindergarten books. Joey and I have been working through them. He's learned to rhyme, letter sounds, shapes, matching, counting by 2s and 5s and opposites.
To make things more challenging we went to the library and took out some beginning reader books.
So far he knows all of his sounds of all the letters and he can sometimes sound out words.
The books the librarian showed us are the ending sounds. So -ad -it -an etc
We tried the -ad book a few days ago. Joey didn't get it.
Tonight we tried the -ad book again. I explained over and over and over - if he sees -ad - it's AD not AUGH DUD (sounding it out). We went through all of the words that end in ad - dad, lad, pad, sad, mad, etc and finally he got it. He figured out it's AD. S and AD = sad. M and AD is mad. He would sound it ALL out before and now he goes S - AD. Yes he got it. He was so proud of himself that he was making Joe and I quiz him.
Joe: Joey, how to do you spell sad - Joey: S A D.
mad - M A D.
And I had a book and was showing him the words and making him recognize them by sight. He was spelling them like crazy. He was reading them like crazy. He was so proud of himself. He even did a four letter word - glad. You could just see him beaming at the realization that he GOT IT. He figured it out.
So tomorrow we'll work on -AD again and then may -IT words like sit, mit, fit, etc.
In addition Joey and Justin had their swim lessons again today. It's M-F this week and M-Th next week during lunch.
The parents are NOT allowed to watch. We sit in a covered area off to the side of the pool. This allows the kids to concentrate without their parents hovering or shouting at them. This is fine with me.
Joey came out today saying he did a backwards flip in the water. He was so proud of himself he told me over and over. He's doing pretty good swimming under water too. I'm not sure how Justin's doing.
Next Thursday they do a presentation for the parents. I heard it's pretty wild. Some parent's other children have gone through the program already and said their kids would just jump off the diving board and swim to the other side of the pool. I can't wait until next Friday to see what the kids have learned!!
Fast forward to now. A few months ago Joe and I bought almost every Pre-K, Kindergarten teaching book on the market in this area. We hit up Big Lots, Albertsons and maybe one book from Walmart.
Since Joey has finished two books completely. One in a few days. The Pre-K books are too easy. He's breezing through the kindergarten books. Joey and I have been working through them. He's learned to rhyme, letter sounds, shapes, matching, counting by 2s and 5s and opposites.
To make things more challenging we went to the library and took out some beginning reader books.
So far he knows all of his sounds of all the letters and he can sometimes sound out words.
The books the librarian showed us are the ending sounds. So -ad -it -an etc
We tried the -ad book a few days ago. Joey didn't get it.
Tonight we tried the -ad book again. I explained over and over and over - if he sees -ad - it's AD not AUGH DUD (sounding it out). We went through all of the words that end in ad - dad, lad, pad, sad, mad, etc and finally he got it. He figured out it's AD. S and AD = sad. M and AD is mad. He would sound it ALL out before and now he goes S - AD. Yes he got it. He was so proud of himself that he was making Joe and I quiz him.
Joe: Joey, how to do you spell sad - Joey: S A D.
mad - M A D.
And I had a book and was showing him the words and making him recognize them by sight. He was spelling them like crazy. He was reading them like crazy. He was so proud of himself. He even did a four letter word - glad. You could just see him beaming at the realization that he GOT IT. He figured it out.
So tomorrow we'll work on -AD again and then may -IT words like sit, mit, fit, etc.
In addition Joey and Justin had their swim lessons again today. It's M-F this week and M-Th next week during lunch.
The parents are NOT allowed to watch. We sit in a covered area off to the side of the pool. This allows the kids to concentrate without their parents hovering or shouting at them. This is fine with me.
Joey came out today saying he did a backwards flip in the water. He was so proud of himself he told me over and over. He's doing pretty good swimming under water too. I'm not sure how Justin's doing.
Next Thursday they do a presentation for the parents. I heard it's pretty wild. Some parent's other children have gone through the program already and said their kids would just jump off the diving board and swim to the other side of the pool. I can't wait until next Friday to see what the kids have learned!!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Justin's new bed
Justin has been sleeping in a toddler bed for a few month's now. He's quite the whole bed sleeper. Most nights I'd walk in before turning in for the evening and he'd be half hanging off his bed, feet dangling over the edge. I'd have to walk over and reposition him back onto his bed. Obviously he was outgrowing his bed.
Finally we decided it was time for a new bed. We went to Ikea on the worst day possible.
Here are the features of the bed:
Turned upside down the bed quickly converts from a low to a high bed.
Bed sides in different colors allow you to choose and change the look of the bed.
We got blue.
So anyhow we put this together on Saturday evening. We had a lovely Memorial Day party at Joe's boss's boss's house in Plano so we were there from 4-8. There was a pool so the boys were in there about 2-3 hours of that 4 hours we were there.
When we got home the boys begged daddy to make the bed. Justin made it to about 11:30 and then had to go to bed. Joey didn't make it that long and fell asleep on the couch downstairs.
Before we did all of this assembling we took Joey's bed and moved it to Justin's room. I then rearranged ALL of his room. I moved his bookcase, purged some toys, and made it look very clean and simple.
Justin LOVES his big boy bed. We were going to put railings on it but he has been sleeping on it a few days now and doesn't seem to need them. He keeps calling it his 'big boy bed' and smiles as he says it. He's so proud.
Finally we decided it was time for a new bed. We went to Ikea on the worst day possible.
- Mistake #1 - it was a holiday weekend
- Mistake #2 - We should have turned around when we saw the ENTIRE parking lot was filled to the brim, and they were parking in nearby parking lots and walking over.
- Mistake #3 - check ads before coming. They put on sale this dumb chair - normally $89 was marked down to $39 and everyone in the state came to IKEA to get one.
Here are the features of the bed:
Turned upside down the bed quickly converts from a low to a high bed.
Bed sides in different colors allow you to choose and change the look of the bed.
We got blue.
So anyhow we put this together on Saturday evening. We had a lovely Memorial Day party at Joe's boss's boss's house in Plano so we were there from 4-8. There was a pool so the boys were in there about 2-3 hours of that 4 hours we were there.
When we got home the boys begged daddy to make the bed. Justin made it to about 11:30 and then had to go to bed. Joey didn't make it that long and fell asleep on the couch downstairs.
Before we did all of this assembling we took Joey's bed and moved it to Justin's room. I then rearranged ALL of his room. I moved his bookcase, purged some toys, and made it look very clean and simple.
Justin LOVES his big boy bed. We were going to put railings on it but he has been sleeping on it a few days now and doesn't seem to need them. He keeps calling it his 'big boy bed' and smiles as he says it. He's so proud.
Justin's room and his new bed (or Joey's previous bed)
The look towards the bathroom/bedroom door.
When Joey gets bigger it can be a tall bed. Believe it or not the blue on his bed matches his walls. It's pretty wild.
This is how we have it setup now but with a canopy tent on the top. I need to take photos of it still.
Joe's new BBQ grill and sand for the kid's sandbox.
We haven't had a bbq grill since we moved here about a year or so ago. We have tremendous wind and the last grill we had went crashing off our patio and broke.
We finally decided we couldn't live without a grill any longer (and our indoor grill wasn't cutting it) so we went out and bought an inexpensive grill at Lowe's for $130. We've used it about 3 times this weekend already and Joe is in heaven. He loves to grill and frankly, I love not having to cook dinner every night!
We finally decided we couldn't live without a grill any longer (and our indoor grill wasn't cutting it) so we went out and bought an inexpensive grill at Lowe's for $130. We've used it about 3 times this weekend already and Joe is in heaven. He loves to grill and frankly, I love not having to cook dinner every night!
Joe and his bbq grill.
The boys were watching an imaginary puppet show.
The boys were watching an imaginary puppet show.
We finally bought new sand for the sandbox and the kids loved playing in it!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Early Father's Day Gift
Joey's last day of preschool was Thursday last week and they had made a father's day gift. Joey remembered he had it in his backpack and ran to get it for daddy. He was not able to wait and wanted to give it to him right away. He made a custom coffee mug for daddy. It's sooo nice!
Joe and his Father's day mug.
Joey's masterpiece.
Friday, May 22, 2009
New Twilight Film
I plan to be there the day it opens. I can NOT wait to see this film. I am so excited!!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Updates...
Make sure to check out the posts from 4/30 and 5/1 below. I added them after the previous post but post dated them.
Joey and Justin have what I would call a 'ghost fever'. It comes and goes. It's only a fever and no other symptoms. It's weird!!
We didn't go camping over the weekend due to the rain and it was a good thing since Joey spiked a 103 fever.
We actually just relaxed and did nothing - but relax. Joe said it was one of the best weekends he's had yet!
Joey busted out and said to me today, 'Mom, it's HOT in California'. This was completely out of the blue.
I said, 'Wow Joey, where did that come from?'
He says to me, 'Mom, there are deserts in California and they are HOT.'
All I can think of is he must have learned that from school! :)
Justin is talking a lot more too. He's saying his ABCs and he even peed on the potty this week. He hasn't since but it's a start!!
Joey and Justin have what I would call a 'ghost fever'. It comes and goes. It's only a fever and no other symptoms. It's weird!!
We didn't go camping over the weekend due to the rain and it was a good thing since Joey spiked a 103 fever.
We actually just relaxed and did nothing - but relax. Joe said it was one of the best weekends he's had yet!
Joey busted out and said to me today, 'Mom, it's HOT in California'. This was completely out of the blue.
I said, 'Wow Joey, where did that come from?'
He says to me, 'Mom, there are deserts in California and they are HOT.'
All I can think of is he must have learned that from school! :)
Justin is talking a lot more too. He's saying his ABCs and he even peed on the potty this week. He hasn't since but it's a start!!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
A brief update...
Let's see - Joey had kindergarten round-up today and two weeks ago I registered him for preschool in the fall. It's hard to believe that he's going to be in kindergarten. My oldest is FIVE!! Time is flying so fast! Jeez. Kindergarten roundup went well. I pegged a teacher I really liked already. She's very eccentric and loud (like me) so I don't think Joey would have any issues hearing her. She seems very loving.
Desiree said one of the teachers that Camille had was NOT touchy feely, so to speak, and I do not think that's the type of teacher for Joey. I guess I've raised him as a very loving, happy child. Heck, he couldn't even stand it when he watched a shark eat a fish at the aquarium last month! LOL...
So next week Joey has a follow-up hearing test. I am going to take the results to the school nurse and see if I get Joey placed in her class. So we'll see.
Justin is doing awesome too. He counts to 14 by himself. He sings the alphabet and he knows the 'sounds' of certain letters like J, G, R and T. Joey is his teacher and takes his role very seriously.
That said I got a few new leapster cartridges off ebay for Joey in the last month. I won a first grade cartridge for his leapster, figuring it would be for next year that he could start it. He took it right away and tried it out and now he's SPELLING words. I always underestimate my kids. I mean, he's 5, not even in kinder and spelling? He amazes me all the time!
Now that Joey's so into spelling and learning sounds, Justin is into learning it from him. It's so cute having Joey teach him. When Joey brings his books home from school, he reads them to Joey and then Justin reads them back to Justin. Joey uses this little stick to point to the letters and then when Justin reads, he does the same thing too. It's sooo cute.
Sunday, on Mother's day, I got sick. I woke up with a KILLER sore throat. I called the Dr. on Monday and they wanted me to come in and get tested for strep. Luckily it wasn't strep, wasn't the swine flu, it's just a cold. It's Tuesday today and I'm already at the end of the cold. My cough is starting up. Usually that is my last step of the cold. I've been taking zicam around the clock so I want to think it shortened the cold by a few days.
We recently sold all of the geotrax because the boys weren't playing with them anymore and got enough money to buy a wii and a wii fit for the boys. Joey loves the new game system. He and Joe play bowling and he's quite good and has quite an attitude about it. He'll talk smack about it too. What a stinker!
I love the wii fit. I'll do the balance games on it or the aerobics are my favorite. It's a fun way to get a workout!
Mother's day was nice for me, with the exception that I was sick. I had bought two things off the flylady website - a new timer and a dryer cleaner. LOL... I liked my gifts too! A week before Joe got me a dozen roses - just because he's a nice guy. I love my hubbie! :)
Last weekend Joey and Justin were fighting because Joey had a ton of cat stuffed animals and Justin had none. Joey gave one to Justin and then wanted it back. Justin didn't want to give it back because he liked it and it became quite the ordeal. So we decided to go to a community garage sale in a neighborhood down the street to find some stuffed kitties. We found SIX baby kitties and a stuffed cat carrier for $1.00! Rock on! Then we found a palm tree framed print for my bathroom and Joey got a new matchbox car track set for .75! We got Joey a few pairs of shoes for $1.00/piece. Let me tell you - our boys wear the HELL out of their shoes!
I finally read all 4 Twilight books and the book online and I MISS IT! I loved those books. I'm feeling withdrawals. Augh!
I'm enjoying the warmer weather lately. It just started to get into the 80s and I LOVE it. We've had a LOT of rain lately. Most of Joey's baseball games have been canceled and rescheduled.
on 5/3 I asked the kids, 'If you can have ANYTHING to eat, what do you want', meaning restaurants, anything - and Justin yelled 'pop' and Joey agreed 'pop'. The kids are allowed to drink soda every day. I think that's funny.
On 4/28 I woke up and saw black sharpie on my glass end tables, the dining room table, our formal dining room table AND the kids toys. If your child gets a hold of a black sharpie marker (like mine did) and writes on your furniture, cry, yell and then get a Mr. Clean Magic eraser and rub it out. Luckily JUSTIN stayed away from the couches. Sigh...
Well that's about all for now. Good night!
Desiree said one of the teachers that Camille had was NOT touchy feely, so to speak, and I do not think that's the type of teacher for Joey. I guess I've raised him as a very loving, happy child. Heck, he couldn't even stand it when he watched a shark eat a fish at the aquarium last month! LOL...
So next week Joey has a follow-up hearing test. I am going to take the results to the school nurse and see if I get Joey placed in her class. So we'll see.
Justin is doing awesome too. He counts to 14 by himself. He sings the alphabet and he knows the 'sounds' of certain letters like J, G, R and T. Joey is his teacher and takes his role very seriously.
That said I got a few new leapster cartridges off ebay for Joey in the last month. I won a first grade cartridge for his leapster, figuring it would be for next year that he could start it. He took it right away and tried it out and now he's SPELLING words. I always underestimate my kids. I mean, he's 5, not even in kinder and spelling? He amazes me all the time!
Now that Joey's so into spelling and learning sounds, Justin is into learning it from him. It's so cute having Joey teach him. When Joey brings his books home from school, he reads them to Joey and then Justin reads them back to Justin. Joey uses this little stick to point to the letters and then when Justin reads, he does the same thing too. It's sooo cute.
Sunday, on Mother's day, I got sick. I woke up with a KILLER sore throat. I called the Dr. on Monday and they wanted me to come in and get tested for strep. Luckily it wasn't strep, wasn't the swine flu, it's just a cold. It's Tuesday today and I'm already at the end of the cold. My cough is starting up. Usually that is my last step of the cold. I've been taking zicam around the clock so I want to think it shortened the cold by a few days.
We recently sold all of the geotrax because the boys weren't playing with them anymore and got enough money to buy a wii and a wii fit for the boys. Joey loves the new game system. He and Joe play bowling and he's quite good and has quite an attitude about it. He'll talk smack about it too. What a stinker!
I love the wii fit. I'll do the balance games on it or the aerobics are my favorite. It's a fun way to get a workout!
Mother's day was nice for me, with the exception that I was sick. I had bought two things off the flylady website - a new timer and a dryer cleaner. LOL... I liked my gifts too! A week before Joe got me a dozen roses - just because he's a nice guy. I love my hubbie! :)
Last weekend Joey and Justin were fighting because Joey had a ton of cat stuffed animals and Justin had none. Joey gave one to Justin and then wanted it back. Justin didn't want to give it back because he liked it and it became quite the ordeal. So we decided to go to a community garage sale in a neighborhood down the street to find some stuffed kitties. We found SIX baby kitties and a stuffed cat carrier for $1.00! Rock on! Then we found a palm tree framed print for my bathroom and Joey got a new matchbox car track set for .75! We got Joey a few pairs of shoes for $1.00/piece. Let me tell you - our boys wear the HELL out of their shoes!
I finally read all 4 Twilight books and the book online and I MISS IT! I loved those books. I'm feeling withdrawals. Augh!
I'm enjoying the warmer weather lately. It just started to get into the 80s and I LOVE it. We've had a LOT of rain lately. Most of Joey's baseball games have been canceled and rescheduled.
on 5/3 I asked the kids, 'If you can have ANYTHING to eat, what do you want', meaning restaurants, anything - and Justin yelled 'pop' and Joey agreed 'pop'. The kids are allowed to drink soda every day. I think that's funny.
On 4/28 I woke up and saw black sharpie on my glass end tables, the dining room table, our formal dining room table AND the kids toys. If your child gets a hold of a black sharpie marker (like mine did) and writes on your furniture, cry, yell and then get a Mr. Clean Magic eraser and rub it out. Luckily JUSTIN stayed away from the couches. Sigh...
Well that's about all for now. Good night!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Van Wash
One day Justin got a hold of the sidewalk chalk and started to draw pretty lines in the driveway. I'm most likely weeding in the front yard. I go and take a peek as to what Justin's doing and he's drawing nice little chalk marks on mom's van and dad's car. Lovely.
So we pulled the cars out and gave them their much needed wash. Silly boys.
So we pulled the cars out and gave them their much needed wash. Silly boys.
Justin in front of his chalk masterpiece.
Justin helping wash the van.
The evidence.
So cute....
Friday, May 1, 2009
New cars and an allowance!
On this day I picked up a bunch of cars from a lady on freecycle and Justin had a blast going through them all and playing with them. They fought pretty hard over a police car they got. Justin is at the stage where he wants whatever Joey has. I guess once Joey has something it makes Justin think it must be pretty cool. I don't know.
Justin and his cars.
Cool cars!
We started giving Joey an allowance. He's 5 so he has 5 chores to do around the house. He empties trash, he folds socks and dishrags, he cleans his toys, he puts away dishes from the dishwasher and cleans the table. He gets $5 every week and we pay him every 2 weeks so he gets $10. He's saving for a Star Wars Light Sabor (sword or whatever they call it).
Justin is 2 and has two chores - he picks up his toys and he picks up the cat dishes off the floor each morning. He gets $2.00 every week and is also paid every 2 weeks $4.00.
We started to give Justin an allowance and you couldn't wipe the smile off the kid's face if you tried. He was soooo proud that he earned money too. It was so cute.
Justin is 2 and has two chores - he picks up his toys and he picks up the cat dishes off the floor each morning. He gets $2.00 every week and is also paid every 2 weeks $4.00.
We started to give Justin an allowance and you couldn't wipe the smile off the kid's face if you tried. He was soooo proud that he earned money too. It was so cute.
I got an allowance mom!
Putting it in his bank!
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