xmas eve and xmas 2009

pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/XmasEveAndXmas2009#
Xmas 2009: We started our Christmas groove before Thanksgiving by dressing the kids up in their holiday clothes, going to the mall to get a picture taken with Santa. When Santa asked them what they wanted for Christmas, Chloe said “Swim To Me Pup” (a water-proof dog robot that really swims), and Alex asked for “a flip-over remote control car that is the same on the other side”. Our official Christmas celebration started just before lunch on Christmas Eve when Casey’s dad (the kids call him “Big Daddy”), Bubbe, and Jeff came over for lunch and a gift exchange. They gave Alex a Lego set that had enough pieces and directions to build a jet, a prop-plane, or a helicopter. Alex decided to build the jet and by the time they left, he had completed it with little or no help from adults. We are all very impressed with Alex’s ability to stay on task, and his ability to understand complicated multi-step directions. That evening we went up to Uncle Steve’s house outside Baltimore for our annual Christmas Eve dinner with MomMom. PopPop was recovering from pneumonia and although he was well enough to be home from the hospital, he didn’t feel well enough to come to the party. Cori, Sarah, Blade, and Skye were there too, so the twins had lots of kids to play with. We didn’t get the kids in bed until 10pm and they didn’t have much trouble getting to sleep despite the excitement. In recent weeks the kids have been trying to get up as early as possible so they have time to watch cartoons before school. One day Alex got up at 4:30 am and I didn’t want that to happen again, so I told them before they went to bed, “don’t get up before 6am”. At 6:04 am they were in our bed asking if it was time to go downstairs. By 6:30 all the presents were unwrapped! Around 9am my family came over for breakfast and gift exchange. The kids really enjoyed showing off their presents to their cousins (Natalie and Aiden) and we got a chance to sit down and enjoy each other’s company while the kids played. Although each twin got the toy that they’d asked Santa for, neither one was their favorite. Alex’s favorite toy was a mini remote control truck. Playing games on the Wii over the past year has significantly improved his hand/eye coordination and he was able to drive the fast little truck wherever he wanted. Chloe had several favorites. She got an art set with pastels, paints, colored pencils and an easel that she’s been using a lot. She got a loom for weaving pot-holders and finished her first project before dinner Christmas day. She got a stencil set that both kids have been using a lot, and she got a “Spin Art” rotator painter that allows her to drip paint onto spinning paper to make patterns. For Christmas dinner we went to Grammy Barb’s house and got to visit with Blade and Skye again. After all that Christmas we were all exhausted, but joyful and very thankful. Here's a link to the pictures (I already sent the link around via e-mail) http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/XmasEveAndXmas2009#

blizzard of 2009

The Blizzard of 2009: The closer we got to the storm, the greater the snow accumulation predictions. It started snowing Friday, Dec 18 at about 9pm and started sticking immediately. By the time we got up Saturday morning there were already 9 inches. For a significant portion of the day it snowed over an inch per hour. The greatest accumulation we measured in our yard was 21 inches. Casey and I took turns, one of us shoveling while the other watched the kids sled down the neighbor’s side yard (nick-named “Jack and Jill’s Hill”). It is nice to have a sledding area so close to the house, but unfortunate that at the bottom of the hill is the street leading to our cul-de-sac. Even though almost no one was our driving in the blizzard, we felt obligated to stand near the kids and make sure they didn’t do a sledding run right in front of a car. All told we shoveled 4 times on Saturday and still had several inches left to do on Sunday. The temperature was just below freezing, so the snow was heavy and wet. Bad for shoveling, but good for snow men and snow forts. One of my Facebook friends posted a picture of an awesome fort that her husband and kids made by filling 5 gallon bucket full of snow then dumping them out like a sand castle. We tried several times but were unable to perfect the packing/dumping technique. Before the blizzard was predicted Dan and Danielle had scheduled Aiden’s 2nd birthday party for Sunday. They ended up cancelling the party, but we went over anyway to help them eat the cake that they’d already bought. Grammy Carole and Granddad ventured out too and we all trudged down to the park near Dan’s house for a sledding and a snowball fight. Alex has very fond memories of the snowball fight with his dad last year at Quiet Waters Park and so was more interested in snowball fighting than sledding. On Monday the county closed school and the Federal Government offices in DC closed. We decided to get some new tires for the truck at Sears which is across from the mall. It took us about 3 times as long as usual to get there, not because of the snow, but because of the Christmas shoppers going to the mall! I figured if several million Marylanders could get to the mall, surely schools would be opened on Tuesday. No such luck. The county closed school on Tuesday and Wednesday which brought us right up to Christmas Eve which was already a holiday. In all the kids were off school for 2 solid weeks! There was so much snow that even though the temperatures for the rest of the week didn’t stay below freezing, the snow didn’t melt until Friday, so the kids got to play in it for 6 days. Pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/AidenS2ndBdayPartyPart1# although I’ve already sent the link around, so you’ve probably already seen them.

week ending dec 6, 2009:

Week ending December 6, 2009: This week we had our first snow, and went to our first holiday party. Early in the week the kids asked “Mommy, when is it going to snow?” and I said “December 5th”. Casey chuckled and asked why I said that. I said “because it always snows on December 5th”. Guess what? It snowed on December 5th. It started out as rain and switched over to snow at about lunch time. From that point on the kids asked about 40 times “Is there enough snow to sled yet?” By about 3:30 I gave in and drove them to a local park that has a steep hill. The grass was still showing through and the sledding was REALLY slow, but the kids enjoyed the heck out of it. The party was the annual gingerbread house making party hosted by our college friends, Rob and Tina Read. There are several kids all about the same age who enjoy each other’s company, and of course we love our “grownup” time!

nov 2009, the rest of it:

Nov 2009, the rest of it: We had a great visit with Dan, Danielle, Natalie and Aiden, complete with a nice meal provided by Dan, and lots of fun in the pile of leaves. Aunt Danielle doesn’t like to get dirty, so as she was enjoying the play as an innocent bystander, Dan decided to sneak up behind her and toss her into the pile. The kids were only too happy to cover her up with leaves and complete her induction into the grungy fun.

The twins had a Thanksgiving celebration at school. Before the celebration one of their homework assignments was to tell me about the First Thanksgiving. I was really impressed by how much of the story they understood and could relate. For the celebration one of the kindergarten classes wore head bands to represent the American Indians and another class work pilgrim hats. Both classes were brought together for the celebration to symbolize the Indians and pilgrims coming together on the first Thanksgiving. Parents were invited to join the class I counted 18 parents for the approximately 36 students in the two classes. The kids were so excited about the simple pleasure of a special snack together. It was really heartwarming.

Chloe’s already starting worrying about Christmas. Well meaning adults everywhere ask the kids “have you been good? Is Santa going to bring you a lot of presents?” Now whenever Chloe realizes that she’s misbehaved she starts bawling and thinks that she’s ruined her Christmas. Casey and I have both given her pep-talks about how Santa doesn’t expect kids to be perfect and that everyone (even grownups) makes mistakes. I guess it is a hard lesson to learn that it is ok to be imperfect. About a week later Casey was showing Chloe how to play a song on the guitar and Chloe said to him (in her “don’t be silly” voice) “Daaaaddy! I’m only 6, I can’t do it right EVERY time!” I guess she’s getting the hang of it.

nov 09, parent/teacher conferences

November 2009, First Kindergarten Parent/Teacher Conference: A few days before Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to meet with the twins’ teacher and discuss their progress. In kindergarten the teacher provides a “progress report” rather than a “report card” and instead of using a letter grade for each category, the marks are CD - consistently demonstrates, PR – progressing, or ND – needs development. There are 42 categories! Alex and Chloe got all CD and PR’s which means they are doing what they should be for their age. Even though they don’t know how to read and write yet, there is standardized testing that the teachers administer a few times a year. The teacher explained some of the questions for the test, for instance the children would be asked for verbally identify as many letters as they could in 60 seconds from a group of randomly ordered letters. Both kids got better than passing scores on the test. The teacher was very enthusiastic to show me several examples of work the children had done in class. She said that most of the kids want to rush through the assignments and get them out of the way and she finds herself reminding them over and over to slow down and do their work carefully. But, she says, Alex is the exception. He insists on doing everything slowly and carefully until it is absolutely perfect. She showed me an assignment in which Alex was asked to copy a drawing of several simple shapes and she pointed out on the half-moon shape how it was evident that Alex had drawn, erased, and re-drawn it several times before he found his drawing acceptable. She said sometimes she’s almost tempted to tell him to hurry up because he’s often the last student to finish an assignment, but then she decides that it is best to let him work at his own pace. As for Chloe’s work, the teacher is most impressed with her writing. In fact, the teacher said that she has never met a kindergartener who can write like Chloe. A few times a week the kids are invited to write in their journals. The paper in the journal books is half lined and half open for drawings. Sometimes the teacher asks them to write about a specific topic, and sometimes the journal entries are free choice, but the teacher always encourages them to fill a half page so they can turn it over and start writing on the back. She said Chloe almost always writes enough to reach the back of the page, but the unusual thing is that Chloe also stays focused on her original topic and each new sentence discusses a new point rather than repeating herself. She also said that Chloe is reading at a first grade level. Even though I get to see the kids in the classroom for a few hours a week when I volunteer, it was very interesting to see a broader picture of what the kids are learning. Right now I feel confident that the kids are benefiting greatly from their education.