Renaissance Time Again!

I'm very proud to report both of my boys earned another Renaissance card for the first quarter of school and the both earned the highest card again.  Tucker was a little worried that he wouldn't get a gold card again because 3rd grade is tough and they changed up some of the requirements and made it even tougher to earn one, but his hard work paid off and he did indeed get his Gold Card. 

 

Before the cards were given out, they passed out trophies for the kids in each grade that ran the most amount of laps during the FUNd run and Trey earned a trophy.  (It was a 3 way tie in 2nd grade!)

So proud of his trophy

After he got his gold card!

He was even picked to do the game, which was eating a 'campfire'

Tucker...despite his grumpy face in this picture, he really was happy to earn a gold card.

Trey was so excited!  This was the first trophy that he actually earned, not just given for participation, but actually earned...makes it even more special!!

Trey's 2nd Grade Program

During October Trey had his 2nd grade program.  It was so cute and all about bugs!

He looks a little nervous while waiting for it to start.

Playing an instrument



It still amazes me that back in preschool he wouldn't even walk up on the stage to get his diploma and now he is up there and he told me he's 'not even nervous.'

Singing with his class!

Fall Fun 2013

I always have loved fall, but this fall was extra special because Vinny was home to enjoy with us.

Pumpkins from Nana Joy's pumpkin patch

Beautiful scenery!

Huge pile of leave to play in

Pumpkin carving

Halloween Party

Ty's preschool party

and of course trick or treating!

Ty's 1st field trip!

Ty had his first field trip back in October to the pumpkin farm, he even got to ride the big yellow bus!! He was so excited about it and did great!  They got to explore the farm and then go to the field and pick a free pumpkin (any pumpkin they wanted as long as they could carry it!)  It was a great time!

So excited, he just got off the bus!

Searching very hard to the perfect pumpkin!

He took that job very seriously and searched and searched....

He found it!  Half orange half green, but perfect for Ty.

Very excited about it!

Celebrating a Milestone!

I just wanted to take a minute to congratulate my parents on a big milestone.  My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary!!!  They celebrated with a weekend getaway to one of the most beautiful places in Colorado and we surprised them with cake and flowers when they got back.

Best Fundraiser Ever!

At the boys school they only have to do 1 fundraiser for the entire year.  And it is seriously awesome!!!  They do what is called a FUNd Run.  They go around asking friends and family for pledges or donations and then one day at school they run a 1/10th of a mile track (the white line on the grass) for 15 minutes.  Parents give a kids a tally mark for every lap they run and when it is all over the kids go back to get their pledges or donations.  It is a huge deal for the kids, their class becomes a team, they create a name, and there are various competitions, like class that raised the most money, class that created the coolest name, class that ran the most laps.  Seriously Awesome! 

 

Ty and I go to do some tallies and watch Tucker and Trey run.  Tucker ran 16 laps in 15 minutes and Trey ran 17!  (I have to put out a disclaimer for Tucker's sake, Tucker ran 1st, so Trey knew how many laps he had to run to beat Tucker and he pushed himself really hard to beat him...Both my boys are fast!)  Ty actually ended up running about 8 laps, a couple with his Grandma, a couple with me, and a few on his own!

Tucker has the blue shoes on!

There goes Ty and Grandma

Trey is the single kid by himself with those long legs!!! He is such a good runner!

Me and My free time!

So some of you might be wondering what I have been doing with my free time when all 3 of my boys are in school...well, I am going to school full time too!  I just finished up my classes for this semester.  I took 1 class on campus, creativity in the young child and it was so awesome and it worked out perfectly where I would drop Ty off at school, then rush over to the college, take my class and rush back to pick up Ty up from school.  Then I took 3 more classes online.  2 early childhood and a sociology class.  I got all A's in my ECE classes and then a B in my sociology class.  I really despised the sociology class, I thought there would be lots of discussions and interesting information and I was totally wrong, it was intro to sociology and it was way more than I expected.  We had to read the chapter, do an Essay, and take a test every single week...and it was tough!!  So I'm very happy with my B in that class..besides it was an 88% so not too bad.

I am also working the other day while Ty is in class planning and prepping for my summer camp program. 

So between work, school, and all the homework that goes along with it, I don't really have a whole lot of free time, but I am enjoying it. 

Next Semester will be just as busy or even more so because I am taking a practicum class, where I have to go into a licensed child care facility and do things in there along with my regular work!  It's good though, it will be worth it in the end.

Ty was looking a little spotty again!

My poor Ty has had hives more than a couple of times in his short life!  From various things like amoxicillin, sunscreen, regular laundry detergents (which all make him break out pretty bad) to other random things that I'm not really sure what it is, but are very mild cases.  However on the last day of our Wisconsin Adventure I noticed Ty was breaking out in hives again.  They started off pretty mild, but ended up getting pretty bad about 10 days later.  They would be bad, then fade and then come back worse.  So I took him to the doctors a couple of times to try to figure out something, but because he was exposed to so much over vacation we were having a hard time narrowing it down.  By this time it was over 4 weeks of pretty bad/consistent hives, so our doctor sent Ty to see an allergy specialist for allergy testing.  My poor baby had to endure over 30 pricks on his back.  Those were the most common allergens.  All those purple dots represent a prick, the purple circles were hives that were already there.  So we wait to see if he has a reaction and no reaction to anything, so they have to go on to give 6 shots in one arm of a higher dose of the 6 most common things and no reaction to those either!  Although it really sucked for Ty, he took it like a champ.  He let me hold him and hug him and he just sat there completely still (while crying of course!!) and let them do what they needed to do.  I was really proud of the way he handled it.  So even after his extensive allergy testing, we still do not know what he is allergic (or maybe sensitive is a better word for it) to.  So he is allergic to something that is very uncommon and it will be very hard to narrow it down, if we ever can.  There is a possibility that he can grow out of this or it might get worse..only time will tell.   He ended up having these hive for just over 6 weeks and nothing major since then only a few spots here and there. 

To reward him for his brave behavior at the doctors I took him to Chuck e Cheese all by himself and then we ate some shrimp cocktail with his brothers!

Ty's 1st day of Preschool!!!

Ty had a very big thing happen this year!  He started preschool!!  He is going part time, 2 mornings a week for 3 hours.  The first day was pretty good and then the next couple of classes he had some separation issues and then he started looking forward to going and now he is still loving it!  Usually the only thing he tells me about his day is what they had for snack, but he always loves showing me what he brings home in his folder.  He has a few good friends already, one we go to church with so we see him a lot, which Ty gets really excited about and a couple of them he played soccer with, which he thought was 'awesome'!

Showing off the frog he decorated to hang up in his classroom.

Ready to go!

Look at that backpack.  He decided to use one of Trey's old backpacks instead of the new one I bought him.

So handsome!! 

My baby is growing up!

Showing me his hook and where to hang his backpack!

1st Day of School 2013-2014 School Year!

 I know I'm a little late, but at least I got this post done before the first half of the school year is over!

Tucker started 3rd grade this year and Trey started 2nd.  They were super excited about the school year and have been great students so far this year!

The didn't want me to walk them to the bus stop this year...*tear* they are getting so old!!