Posted on January 30, 2011 by Nancy
All 3 kids got their progress reports this past week. There were no HUGE surprises, but definitely a couple of eye openers. I’m looking forward to the Kindergarten parent conferences.
Logan’s made me laugh…he got a “working on Skill plus” (W+) in Participates willingly with classroom clean up. Good to see that’s the same as at home 😉 He got a W in Using crayons and Tracing, and W+ in using scissors. Everything else is a Good Progress (G).
Burke Meets Standards (M) in most everything, with a few Demonstrates Understanding and is applying with increasing frequencies (P) peppered through. He still has Emerging (E) in his social skills though. Clearly some things we need to reinforce more at home, and I’m glad we have an idea of what those things are now.
Maggie. Maggie, Maggie, Maggie. I think we’ve come to realize that school might always be a bit of a struggle for her. It’s still early in her academic life though, so perhaps not. We’ll obviously give her all of the support she needs. I think the root of it all is the P in Puts forth best effort. We see this at home as well…and we’re working on getting her to try her hardest. She probably has about the same number of Ps and Ms as Burke, but in different areas (Duh – they’re different kids 🙂 ) Her social skills are just fine. She’s got Es in a few areas, but the alarming one is the Not Emerging (NE) in Recognizes numbers 1 – 20. She can *count* to 100…she just doesn’t recognize many of the written teens. We’ve created some flash cards and we’re working on it. She has an NE in Estimates as well, but that one doesn’t worry me as much…I mean – I’m still terrible as estimating things 😉
I have no doubt that the brains are in there…and we know from her speech sessions that she has a different way of learning things. We just need to figure out how to best support her and get her learning in her own way.
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Posted on January 29, 2011 by Nancy
The dog trainer (or should I say, people trainer who happens to love dogs?) came for an evaluation session with Higgins today.
The first thing to go? The chain. Higgins is now sporting a nice, black nylon collar/choker. And he’ll be wearing his leash around the house for a while so we can make immediate corrections when necessary.
This trainer (who I found online) turns out to be a cop in our town! And he trains police dogs as well. He seems to be perfect for the job and should get us…I mean Higgins…on track in no time. 🙂
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Posted on January 28, 2011 by Nancy
Higgins has made himself right at home. Today he jumped up on the bed to be right beside me while I was working. (Training evaluation tomorrow!!)
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There were 36 kids (plus a few siblings) at Burke and Maggie’s Kid party. They had a lot of fun 🙂
And they each got their own cake: a princess one and a Cars one.
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This year’s shaped cake from my Dad was a soccer ball!
Filed under: Higgins, twins | Tagged: birthday, cake, dog, shaped cakes | 1 Comment »
Posted on January 27, 2011 by Nancy
Last night we had a storm that brought about 12 inches of snow.
After a storm last week that brought somewhere around 6 inches of snow.
After a storm 2 weeks ago that brought 26 inches of snow.
That’s over 44 inches of snow!! That’s taller than my kids. We have no place to put it all. The snowbanks are taller than Mike. (Have you ever tried to heft snow up to the top of a snowbank that is taller than you? Not a pretty sight.) Enough already!!
All this snow also means that today is the kids’ 4th snow day (and one holiday) in 3 weeks. 5 days at home. GAH! The snow also means that my nanny can’t get here…when my nanny isn’t here, I don’t get a lot of work done.
When you work from home full-time, there ARE no snow days! So frustrating.
</rant>
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Posted on January 26, 2011 by Nancy
Cheryl over at Twinfatuation hosts this one. Go on over to see who else is playing – and join in too!
All this snow (OMG, will it ever end???) made me want to find a picture of Burke and Maggie’s first jaunt out to “play” in snow. They didn’t love it. 😉
This picture is from December 9, 2005 – about a month and a half before they turned 1.
First Snow
Poor Burke didn’t even have any snow boots (or booties to cover his feet!) … bad mommy!
Filed under: twins, WBW | Tagged: First snow, not equipped for the weather | Leave a comment »
Posted on January 25, 2011 by Nancy
So…we all know that I LOVE these alphabet things right? (remember these? The FB Meme and the favorite TV shows, Movies, Books, Foods, and Potatoes? Ya, I have an illness. 🙂 ) I haven’t done an ABC post in a long time…but this one is different. I saw it over on MamaC’s blog, Wine and Coffee. It’s an A to Z Challenge!
Although…I already know that I’ll probably cheat. At least…I think it’ll be cheating. heh
Here are the Rules:
How does this reading challenge work? Choose the option that works best for you…
Authors — Read alphabetically by author. Commit to 26 books.
Titles — Read alphabetically by title. Commit to 26 books.
Authors & Titles — Commit to reading 52 books
How strict is the 26 or 52? I know it isn’t always easy to find those difficult letters. The thought of finding the X’s (for example) might scare folks away. It shouldn’t! I’m a merciful host! (Ask anyone!)
If you want to give the X’s a go… For authors, try to find an X in the first name, middle name, or last name. For titles, it doesn’t have to be the starting word. Try to find an X somewhere in a title, and it’d count in my book.
Still can’t find a book for the letter you need? I’ll take your word for it. I’ve been there. I know. If your library doesn’t see the need to order books just because it starts with an X, then I don’t blame you for not wanting to special order a book that you may or may not enjoy. You gave it your best, don’t feel bad. You can still make this challenge work for you.
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My choice is the titles (I’m thinking it’ll be a little easier than the author – especially since that means I can read multiple books by the same author, but who knows!).
How am I going to cheat? I think I’m supposed to read them in order: A to Z…but I’m not reading an A book right now (It’s an S!!), and I’ve just finished an H book. And since my reading time has been significantly dwindling over the past …oh… six years, I’m gonna have to count those! Also, I’m going to have to bet my book club isn’t going to be too keen on having to read titles in order for me…so there you have it, I’m challenged, but doing it my way. (Hope that’s okay!!)
Anybody else up for it?
Filed under: me | Tagged: alphabet favorites, book list, reading challenge | 3 Comments »
Posted on January 24, 2011 by Nancy
We celebrated the kids’ kid birthday party (36 kids – plus a few siblings) at Jump On In today.
This *fantastic* place that has two rooms full of inflatable jump/slide/obstacle things. And they were so incredibly accommodating to the whole “I have twins in two different classes so there will be tons of kids, but I don’t want to pay an arm an a leg for two parties” thing. 🙂
There were no serious injuries and no one got sick…I’d say that means it was a higly successful party!! (And THAT Makes My Monday.)
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Posted on January 23, 2011 by Nancy
Happy Birthday Kiddos!
I cannot believe you two are 6. *six!* Where did the time go? It seems like just yesterday that you were testing the waters figuring out how to walk and other things like that. And now? You are both learning how to read and write! It’s amazing to watch you sound words out and figure out how to spell things. I’m loving the way your brains are working – both very different, but both working.
Burke, you’re turning into such a little gentleman. Just this week, you got off the bus after school and noticed that the van hatch was open…and grabbed *the rest* of my groceries to bring them inside for me! Without being asked!!
Maggie, you enjoy helping out as well and ask me what you can do all the time (usually when I’m in the kitchen). You’ve taken an interest in feeding Higgins, so that’s turned into your job (much to the dog’s delight!)
We had a wonderful day today…not even chaning out of our jammies. 🙂 Card games and puzzles, books and chemistry experiments, pizza and Looney Tunes (your current favorite thing to watch). A lovely, lazy day 🙂
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Posted on January 22, 2011 by Nancy
Grandpa made a soccer ball cake for Burke and Maggie this year!
(Can you believe that they’re *six* tomorrow??)
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Posted on January 21, 2011 by Nancy
Is it possible for a dog to have separation anxiety?
Our nice, quiet, loving dog from that first week has turned into an anxious, barking (but still loving) guy who doesn’t like it when I’m out of his sight. (Perhaps Mike too, but I’ve noticed it more with me…perhaps simply because I’m the one who is home all day.)
Heaven forbid if I even make a motion for the door. Or put my boots on. Even if it’s to bring HIM out!
I suppose if I’d been left to wander around the streets of the Bronx (where they found him), and then put into a kill shelter (where he was rescued from), I’d be a little anxious as well…but sheeesh!
On the flip side…I’m guessing that means he’s feeling more comfortable here as well. I mean, he was *super* quiet before, and now he’s comfortable letting us know how he feels. And he is *LOVING* playing fetch with his Kong ball (One of two toys he hasn’t completely destroyed in under 2 minutes – the other being the Kong Classic toy). We’ll sit on the couch and he’ll bring the ball over and drop it in someone’s lap (kids included) waiting for someone to toss it. And I swear he’s got this big ol’ grin on his face while his tail is about wagging off his body waiting for that toss. 🙂
Filed under: Higgins | Tagged: catch, dog, enough with the barking!, separation anxiety | 3 Comments »
The Zimmer Zoo 