When I heard the knock on the front door this morning, I turned over in bed and cursed the door-to-door "sales people" When I heard the knock 5 more times, I got out of bed pretty po'd. I looked out of the window to see who it was, and that's when I saw the river flowing from our driveway, down the sidewalk, and flooding the street. Hmmm, I thought, "that's strange it isn't raining" I opened the door only to find out that a water main had ruptured underneath our driveway, and was collapsing our sidewalk and driveway. An hour or so later, the city showed up (oh I bet they were mad when they got that call during Sunday football) and said they were going to demo our driveway for the next 5 or so hours. He also said he was going to shut the water off to the whole block for the next 5 or so hours , and to throw in laundry now if I had to....yeah, he actually said that. It's ok, my response came in the form of a look, which was enough to shove both of his boots into his mouth. Soooooo I guess we wont be going anywhere anytime soon....but it looks like we'll have a new driveway by the end of the day. 

goofy kids....

Sitting down eating some good ol' Top Ramen~

Ava: "Mom, I'm almost finished with my Tok Obama" 

Ava (to Aiden): "Aiden, there's Tok Obama on your face"

Mike, Uncle Bubba, and Jesenia are trying to site in the telescope up in Jenner~

Jesenia to Mike (reading the directions): It needs to be in the horizontal position

Bubba to Jesenia and Mike: Start off in the horizontal position

Aiden to ALL: "That's not horizontal, that's oblique"

We all just sat there puzzled before we realized he was right.  Mr. smarty pants!!

Trip to the Fire Department

Today was Ethan’s class field trip to the local Rocklin Fire Department. It was his 5th field trip this year, but my first! We walked to the local fire station this morning, and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. The kids learned fire safety 101 from firefighters Rob & his partner. They toured the fire house, which included their really modernized kitchen, living room, bedrooms, office, and workout room/gym. Ethan got to actually climb into a fire truck…me, I wasn’t so lucky. But my favorite part of the field trip was when Ethan “accidentally” raised his hand and volunteered to race Rob at suiting up in full uniform. Of course Ethan won, but what a race! Ethan pulled on his fire pants, suspenders, coat & hat and bragged to Rob that he was #1. Can you guess what Ethan’s response was when I asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up? What a fun filed trip and great learning experience for the kids.

Apple Hill Face Painting

Just a few pictures to enjoy...the kids LOVED the face painting at Apple Hill.

Academic Update, T1

We’ve made it through the 1st trimester @ Rocklin Academy and I am very proud to announce that the boys are doing fantastic!! Aiden is reading well into the 3rd grade level and is very close to meeting his end of year second grade reading goal (100 wpm). The first week of school he tested at 100wmp, but that was at a first grade reading level. He has slowed down a bit, but he is being challenged at a much higher level. Of course reading and writing are Aiden’s strong points, so no worries there. Math has been challenging as well, but he is right where he needs to be. We really enjoyed Aiden’s life sized human body, almost as much as he enjoyed learning about it. Mike will say that Aiden’s shield of Troy and the Trojan War project were his favorite. They are stuffing their little brains everyday!

Ethan..…I pause because I am still taken back at how much he has accomplished in so little time. Before I get into Ethan’s progress I have to disclaim that he was home pre-schooled because he wasn’t socially ready for a classroom. His exacts words after the first week of preschool were, “please don’t ever make me go back” How could I make him? His lack of “structured” pre-school landed him with Mrs. Russ, our intervention teacher, shortly after school began. Ethan was a (very) small group of kids (3 to be exact) that did not know his phonics sounds (or reading for that matter!)-not one sound! Who would have thought that they don’t learn this stuff in Kindergarten anymore. After 3 weeks with Mrs. Russ, Ethan knew every sound and surpassed the majority of kids in his class. He went from a level A reading level (which is basically not reading a single word) to a level 4. His teacher said she has never seen such a drastic leap in that short amount of time. He has earned his nickname with her, “little sponge” We are also proud to say that Ethan was the only student who was able to identify more complex letter patterns, continue them, and explain them. This is something they learn at the end of the year, and he was able to recognize it immediately. The teacher thought she was so proud….we can’t stop bragging about it!

Both boys are doing very well with their academics. They also have the pleasure of learning Spanish twice a week and Art from their Art docents once a week. If you haven’t seen some of their art pieces, please check them out at artsonia.com. You can search their names Aiden220 and Ethan2350. They are some wonderful pieces….you may find a few framed and on our walls! http://www.artsonia.com/museum/art.asp?id=3684438

http://www.artsonia.com/museum/art.asp?id=4038948&exhibit=152796&gallery=y

So yes, we think our children are brilliant….but it’s hard not to when they are performing so well! :)