Thanksgiving

It doesn't happen every very often, so I was thrilled to spend Thanksgiving Day at our house.  We watched the parade all morning and the girls helped me make puppy chow.  Since we were doing turkey in Chillicothe, I made the girls' their favorite meal: ham with mac and cheese.  In the afternoon we demolished our upstairs bedroom.  Hannah said, "This is the funnest day of my life."  The renovation deserves another post, but here is one picture: 

That night I was super excited to go to Plaza lighting ceremony.  Steve and I have been there once before, but it was the first time for the girls.  It was actually a good night for it and not too cold.

I wish I had a video of Olive's face light up with the lights came on.  I didn't tell them there would be fireworks, so that was a fun surprise!

I told the girls they can't be real Kansas Citians until they have seen the Plaza lights turn on. :)  Here is some video of it.

 This was our attempt at a family selfie.  We got an owl hat instead of an Olive face.

It was funny to see all the people in the hotel watching the lights.

The whole day was super relaxed and fun.  I love making memories together as a family.  It makes my heart happy. :)  Online Black Friday shopping also makes my heart happy.  That night I scored $85 boots and $100 vivofit for $30 each. Merry Christmas to me!  Friday morning we drove to Chillicothe to have Thanksgiving with my side of the family.  Saturday we visited my great uncle Dale and then saw Steve's side of the family.  The girls had a sleepover with their cousins.  I didn't get any pictures, but I did get my hair done several times when they played hair dresser.  Sunday we headed back to KC to put up our Christmas tree.

I took a couple pictures of Thanksgiving decorations before we took them down.  I found this picture in the guest room closet.  It's hard to remember the girls ever being this little.

Cousin Birthday Party

After spending the night in Lone Jack, MO we headed to Jefferson City for Ainslyn and Gwendolyn's birthday party.  The girls had a great time doing gymnastics at the Y.  Unfortunately, adults weren't allowed to play on any of the equipment this time. :(  I remember last time Olive didn't want to run and jump in the pit and this year she was fearless!

The girls are showing off their matching rings.

Cousin Power! Gwendolyn (4), Olive (5), Ainslyn (9) and Hannah (7)

Turkey Fry

We went to the annual Turkey Fry, hosted for the second year in a row at the Chases' house.  There were 18 adults and 10 kids.  Steve fried two turkeys.  Somehow I won every game that night.  The girls had a great time playing outside with Rose.  We slept over at the Chases' because we were going to Jeff City the next day.  And I only took one picture.

Second Grade Update

Hannah is loving 2nd grade!  There are 20 kids in her class- 8 girls and 12 boys.  Her favorite special is PE and her favorite subject is science.  Her least favorite thing is writing in her journal (although I've seen it and she is a great writer.)  Watching her reading progression has been amazing.  In kindergarten she was right on grade level.  By first grade she was one grade level ahead, and now in second grade she is two ahead (4th grade reading level). Our district started a no homework policy for K-5 this year and it is awesome!!  Hannah and I had homework battles last year and now we don't have to worry about it.  Of course I do lots of learning activities with her on my own, but there is no assigned homework.

First grade was a little rough for her.  I think it was a combination of going from half-day to full-day, having two teachers, and not knowing any girls in her class.  Hannah liked school okay last year, but now she LOVES it.  Steve and I have seen a big difference in her enthusiasm and confidence this year and I think it is mostly due to her teacher.  I'm a big believer in the power of a good teacher!  And Hannah's teacher is exactly what she needs: kind, gentle, and encouraging.  From a young age Hannah would get nervous if someone raised their voice (even if it wasn't directed at her).  Nobody wants to be around someone who is angry and yelling.  But some teachers are just naturally loud and "yelly" even when they aren't angry.  Hannah's teacher is the opposite: calm and soft-spoken.  And what's even better is that she loves Hannah.  All teachers like kids who are smart and well behaved, but from parent/teacher conferences we could tell that she really "gets" Hannah and likes her as a person.

Hannah was very proud to be elected to student council by her classmates.  There is one girl and one boy representative per class.  She goes to meetings once a month and then reports back to her class.  She is also doing girl scouts again.  This year there are two meetings a month.  It was really hectic during soccer season when she would have student council, then girl scouts, then soccer practice all on the same night.  I was very thankful for the no homework policy on those nights!

From her first quarter report card:
"Hannah is a joyful girl to have in class.  She has super strong reading, writing, and math skills.  She does well with the various challenge activities given to her as well.  She is kind, on task, friendly, creative, a true friend and a hard worker."

Kindergarten Update

Olive loves kindergarten!  She has 17 kids in her class (9 boys and 8 girls).  She started school as a half-day student, but now she is full-day.

So here's the story with that:
I love half-day kindergarten.  I did it.  Hannah did it.  I wanted that for Olive, too.  However in between Hannah's kindergarten year and Olive's, our district made full-day kindergarten free.  Since Kansas is officially a half-day state, parents were paying the district $300 a month to cover the cost of full-day.  But when the district decided to cover the cost, just about everyone went full-day which meant there was no longer a half-day class.  Because who doesn't want free education/childcare in the afternoons?  Well, me.  I'm a little sad to see kindergarten turn into first grade.  About 10 years ago when I subbed in kindergarten classrooms, everyone was half-day (except for Title I schools).  And those few schools that offered full-day had a nap/rest time in the afternoons followed by lots of center time (which is basically free play).  Now kids go full-day at five years old and their whole day is filled with reading, writing, and math worksheets. But, I get it.  Teachers are under pressure to meet standards and have kids reading by the end of the kindergarten.  And working parents would much rather send their kids to free full-day kindergarten than pay for childcare in the afternoons.  And for working parents, their kids have been going to full-day daycare/preschools since they were 3 months old.  So by the time those kids are 5, they are more than ready for a full-day of school.  (Although I still argue that most of that time should be spent in play instead of academic work.)  But that wasn't our situation with Olive.  Her preschool was just three days a week for 2 hours a day.  So I thought it would be a big jump to all of a sudden go to five days a week for 7 hours a day.  And that's why we started her as half-day, but she was one of only two half-day kids in her class.  Everyone else stayed the whole day.  So of course she wanted to stay, too.  And that was my plan!  With Olive it is much better if SHE makes the decision that she wants something instead of me forcing her into it.  I thought she would switch to full-day after Christmas break, but she wanted it so much I promised she could do it after soccer season was over.  Her last game was Saturday, October 29.  So she started full day on Monday, October 31.  Yeah, I really should have looked at the calendar before I made that promise.

Anyway, Olive loves kindergarten.  Her favorite special is library.  She loves listening to stories.  And although she entered kindergarten only reading a few words, now she is reading "challenge" books beyond her grade level!  I knew she would pick up reading fast since she is excellent at using context clues to figure things out.  She is super proud of her reading ability.  Her writing is also amazing.  She never wrote anything besides her name before kindergarten, and now her favorite thing to do is write sentences.  She fills up whole pages with her stories.  I'd say she is definitely the best writer in her class.  Olive says her favorite thing about school is writing and her least favorite is art because "she tells me what to do."

Olive's teacher is perfect for her.  She is fun and energetic, but also firm when she needs to be.  She doesn't let kids get away with much.  Olive is also going to a speech teacher 30 minutes a week to work on articulation errors (the l and r sounds and consonant blends). I tried to get her into speech when she was three years old, but she didn't qualify.  I knew if she didn't get help early, she would eventually be in speech when she was school-age.  And here we are.  But Olive doesn't mind it all (it doesn't hurt that the speech teacher gives her candy).  I can already tell her "l" sounds have improved after just one month!

Her report card said, "Olive had a terrific first quarter.  She is quiet, but she is beginning to share more with me and her peers.  She loves our reading time and likes to write in her journal.  Olive is kind and friendly with all of her classmates."

We thought it was funny that Olive was described as quiet because she doesn't stop talking at home.  Olive takes school very seriously and does not want to get in trouble or break the rules.  She loves being a big girl and going to school all day.  She especially loves that she gets to play with Hannah on second recess because the 2nd graders are out at the same time as kindergarteners.  We are so proud of her!

Playhouse

We built a playhouse in our backyard two years ago.  We left the inside unfinished because the girls loved digging in the dirt.  But after they dug up all the grass...it was a muddy mess most of the year and nobody wanted to play in it. So we decided to finish the inside with materials we already had from our real house projects.

Here are the before pictures:

 And the after pictures:

Steve built a "porch" and inside flooring out of leftover deck boards.  The girls wanted to move our picnic table closer so it is part of the restaurant.  Their cafe is called H/O.

In one corner we left it dirt because it is an essential ingredient in most of their menu offerings.

We cleaned up the kitchen and mulched one corner.

And Steve built shelves for their dishes and hooks for their tools.  The girls love their new space!

Leaves

Olive Quotes

(talking about clothes)
Hannah:  I'm not very fancy.
me:  Me either.
Olive:  Yes you are.  You have fancy golden hair.

Olive: (trying to attack me)
me:  You are always fighting.  Maybe I should sign you up for karate.  Would you like that?
Olive:  No.  Because I would have to listen too much.

Olive: Let's play pretend swimming lessons.
me:  Okay.
Olive:  You be the teacher. I'll be the student.
me:  Okay.
Olive:  No, I'll be the teacher AND the student.  I don't want a teacher.

(We have a rule that the kids can't get up before 7:00am)
Hannah (telling on her sister):  Olive came into my room and jumped on me at 6:54 this morning.
Olive:  I couldn't wait!
Hannah:  But you get to spend the whole day with me.
Olive:  The day isn't long enough.

(listening to The Distance on the radio)
me:  This is Dad's favorite song.
Olive:  I like it too.  It sounds mean and fighting.

Olive:  Can girls get married to girls?
me:  Yes, they can now.  But just a few years ago it was against the law for girls to marry girls.
Olive:  Oh.  So that's why you married Dad.

Olive Fall Soccer

While Hannah has been kicking around a ball in the backyard since she was three, Olive has never shown any interest in soccer (or any other sport.)  In fact, she usually flat out refused to play with us in family soccer games.  I got an email about a kindergarten soccer team forming so I asked Olive about it, fully expecting to hear "NO."  Instead she surprised me with "okay, sure."  And that's how I ended up with two girls in soccer at the same time, which meant two practices during the week and two games every weekend for two months.

Olive turned out to be great soccer player!  Her natural aggressiveness really gave her an edge.  Her favorite position was defender.  All the girls would be running down the field at her and she would stand her ground with a mean look on her face ready to kick the ball.  She was also good at being a goalie because she wasn't afraid to jump in and grab the ball.  And she had to grab it a lot.  Her team never won a game.  But their growth was amazing!  They went from losing about 0-20 in their first game to tying the last two games.  And most of the last game they were ahead with lots of shots on goal!  I was screaming and nervous like I was watching a championship match.  I really wanted them to win.  But the kids didn't really care.  They never talked about winning or losing and in fact I'm sure if you asked Olive she would probably say they won every game. :)  

Olive played in the Leawood league and her team named themselves Pink Penguins.  Totally randomly, both Hannah and Olive had the number 4 jersey.  I thought that was cool.

Olive as a goalie.

This face.

I didn't get a good picture of her team together.  Here they are eating snacks after their last game.

One of the parents photoshopped this so they are in Lunch atop a Skyscraper.  Hilarious.  

I always think the girls look so grown up in their soccer gear.  Olive was super proud to get a soccer trophy just like Hannah's old one.