Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Snowfest


Here are the pictures of
Snowfest I promised. I don't know why Blogger is having such fits with layouts any more, but it has been an exercise in frustration to get any of these up. When we rounded the corner, the lizard was the first snow sculpture we saw. Malachi said, "Wooow, Wow!" and then "Roar!"

There were several types of competition and ice sculpting as well. The boys also enjoyed the petting zoo and the pony rides. It was a really great event. It did make winter a little more worthwhile. We plan to attend again next year.


Saturday, February 13, 2010

apologies...

I attempted an update with photos, and had all sorts of issues with the photos not appearing correctly. Then I got frustrated and said, "I'll fix it later." But I didn't want to deal with it, so it's been forever since I posted anything. I'll still try to get those photos up, but not today.

We are still house hunting. There is one we like but someone seems to have beat us to it. We would like to see it again and possibly make a competitive offer, but the realtors are not letting us in. I don't know what that's about. I do feel like I've lost my dream house, so it's frustrating and sad right now.

The boys are doing well. Chi is talking more, but not well. Most of the time it's just nonsense, but then he'll pull out a word like "outside" so I figure it's a matter of time before he talks. He has a brother that enjoys talking and a mother who understands his signs and nonsense so what need does he have to do it correctly? He does seem to have a bit of a lazy streak. Motor skills wise though he is leaps and bounds above his age. And quite literally leaping...he's a good jumper.

Gabe is reading now. He is one level past where he needs to be to enter Kindergarten. (Yes, you are expected read before Kindergarten now.) To give you and idea of where he's at, he can read a Dr. Seuss himself with very little trouble. And he can read some words that are harder than that. We are working on all the crazy spelling rules of English so he can understand when a vowel is a long or short sound. That is something they'd focus on more in first grade, but I don't want him to slow down with his reading. I want him steadily interested and going forward because reading opens up so much for a person. What is great is that he's not just saying the words on the page, but he's able to follow the story line and enjoy what he's reading.