Picture Day! (5 yrs 5 mo)

Last week was picture day at the boys preschool. I ordered one class picture but not individual pics because I was too cheap, ha (I'll shell out the big bucks for pics once they start kindergarten)! So I made sure to take individual pics at home before school started.

CET are 5 years and 5 months old!

Caleb

Couldn't decide which one of C I liked better : )

Eli

Thomas

CET

Preschool Quotes

You may have to zoom in or click on this photo to see it better but I just thought these quotes were too cute. Can you find my three?

Well that's a strange place to have a snack?

His brothers quickly joined him, ha!

On a hike the other day we ran into this tree.
Doesn't it look like an elephant : )

Crowd Snob

I've become a "crowd snob" in that I hate going to any place that's crowded. Becoming a stay at home mom has made me this way. Whether it's the grocery store, mall, museum, zoo or otherwise, I'll only go if I know it won't be crowded. So because of this its been forever since we've gone out and done something fun during the week. On days we don't have pre-school we do our home school activities, which usually only leaves us a little time to maybe run around at the park if it's not raining. That leaves us with holidays to do fun things and we all know how museums get when school isn't in session, CROWED! This week the stars all aligned and we were able to go to the science museum here in Portland (OMSI). We had a fun time and even dad was able to come have lunch with us since he works close by. I love watching my kids play, it's so relaxing. I will miss this.

This all makes me realize how close we are to the next chapter in our lives. Our baby years, where I get to stay home with my boys, will be over when they start kindergarten in the fall. I may end up going back to work if I can find something in my field part time. The thing I get most nervous about is having to deal with crowds again (I know call me crazy!). But sheesh have you gone to Costco or Ikea on the weekends lately, it's a mad house! Also I keep thinking about the crowded bus full of commuters on my way to and from work. I've become so used to ample aisles where I don't have to say excuse me a thousand times to get through. Having museum exhibits all to ourselves. Finding an employee quickly to ask them a question. Gosh I really have become such a crowd snob I don't know how I'll ever re-assimilate back into normal society!

They made a tower.

They were very proud of their tower and they insisted I take a picture of just the tower by itself (which I later deleted, ha!).

Caleb

Thomas

Eli looking a little beat up after his brother stepped on his eye a couple days ago : (

Action shot!

Silly guys : )

My city boys take 1.

My city boys take 2.

Kindergarten Prep

We've been in the midst of open houses for kindergarten, gosh, can you believe it? Kindergarten! Seemed like it would take a life time to get to this point. It makes me sad and happy at the same time. I'm sad to see the boys leave my constant side but excited for them to have a new experience. I know they will just love school so much (at least for the first couple years, right?).

Aside from the Spanish immersion program we are looking at a couple different charter schools in the area. Because there is the possibility we won't get into Spanish Immersion we thought we'd see what else is out there. I love to idea of different approaches to learning since the traditional ways that are taught at most schools don't always work for everyone and aren't necessarily the best way to learn. I've watched a lot of documentaries about U.S. schools and the common theme is over worked and stressed out kids under mounds of homework. Children are seriously getting physically ill because of the pressure from school work. I really don't think young children should have any homework at all. My friend has her son at one of the charter schools we are looking at (it's a Waldorf school) and the kids there do get homework but guess what it is? They tell the parents to give the kids chores to do everyday! They also have a policy of no screen time on school days (I'm stealing that one for sure). Also the kids aren't taught to read until the second grade, crazy right!? Apparently this isn't a new method and other countries who've been implementing these types of teaching practices actually out perform American kids!

Sadly, I think the charter schools will be harder to get into than the immersion program because admission is based on a lottery system (with hundreds of kids applying for very few spots, one school only has 30 for kindergarten). So the probability that all three boys would all get into one school is slim and I don't hardly want them in different classes let alone different schools. The Spanish immersion program is also lottery based but we have much better chances at getting in since the boys would be considered native speakers (they want at least half the class to be native speakers). Last year they had 24 spots for native speakers and 26 kids applied. So knowing my luck I'll get two in and one boy won't get in, ha! No but seriously I'm really expecting that to happen. I feel worse for the non native speakers trying to get into the program because last year 109 kids applied for 24 spots!

It's really interesting why they started immersion programs in the first place and you'd be surprised to know that it wasn't to create bilingual people. They started it to close the "success" gap between children who's first language was not English and children who's first language was English. Apparently kids who speak English will start school and of course do great where as kids who don't speak English really struggle not only in the beginning but throughout their entire k-12 experience (not to mention into adulthood as well). However if these children are placed in immersion programs they will do just as well as their English counterparts. A beautifully symbiotic relationship! Both types of kids will do great and they will learn a new language at the same time, isn't that awesome?

Before learning this I was starting to feel a little self entitled and grumbling to myself that my boys really need to get into this program. But now after learning all this I would honestly be ok if they didn't get in. I mean I still really want them to but in the end I don't think my kids are the "target native speakers" that the immersion programs are looking to help. They speak English very well and would do great in an English only setting just as they would in a Spanish only setting. Anyways, applications are accepted later this month and we find out in April whether or not we got in, so we'll see I guess : )

Buddies est. 2010

Check out this Fire truck that Thomas built all by himself!
I'm really impressed : )

Ok so he may have gone a little over board on the bumper : )

I love the hose detail and the realistic driver in the back.
And did you notice the color/pattern symmetry on both sides!

Thomas worked on this for like two days finding the right colored pieces and making it as realistic as possible with the help of nobody at all!

5 years 4 months!

Even though it's only been about 2 months since our last vacation, I'm feeling like we really need a vacation! With the exception of two snow days it's been a very warm winter; however, it's been the wettest winter since I've lived in Portland. That coupled with being sick so often this winter I'm really starting to feel cabin fever. January isn't even over yet and I'm already day dreaming about summer plans...camping, the beach, visiting family in Cali. It all sounds so good! I need to snap out of it or better yet, the rain needs to cease a bit and we need to stop getting sick every other week!

CET are 5 years and 4 months old!

Silly Eli

more silliness

Loving their kitty baby : )

Drawings

The boys love to draw as is evident by the fact that we never have paper in this house. I buy a big stack and within a week it's gone. Thomas is especially good at it and many times figures out how to draw something and his brothers learn to draw it from him. I can only hope they've inherited their dads artistic talents but I guess time will tell. For now I try to take pictures of the stuff they draw so that in the future I can see their progression. Here are some samples of their work : )

The Titanic, drawn with 4 smoke stacks as in real life.

I love Caleb's dinosaurs

Grumpy cat?

Police double propeller helicopter

Another great dinosaur : )

Toy rocket ship ready to launch (I think by Eli)

The Titanic, drawn with underwater propellers like in real life.

Love the claws on this dinosaur

A tiny submarine

Still love drawing trains.
And check out the Titanic in the background, it's sinking : )

Thomas not only draws a side view but he also draws the front view

The Sickening

Sorry for the lack of updating, we've all fallen ill to the sickening (possibly the flu). I don't ever remember feeling this terrible before. At one point I questioned whether or not I was dying. Caleb started first one morning and the other two plus myself started the next day. It was two days of really high fevers, which I should add my boys hardly ever get fevers. I also got fevers and I too almost never get fevers. Those two days were spent under the covers watching tv for the boys. I spent it in the dark with my eyes closed listening to NPR because that's all I could stand to do. That was a couple days ago and we still aren't 100% but at least we aren't ravished by fevers anymore, ugh!

We went through this much of a brand new bottle of children's Tylenol in two days.
Our last bottle lasted us over two years!

I'm used to at most 101 not 103!
At what point do children start convulsing?!

Caleb getting ready for a haircut two days before the sickening struck him.

Looking so handsome : )

Caleb drew this adorable portrait of Phil and I.
I love the way he drew my hair!